Classic Movies

[Sir T]

I'm a serious Vincent Price fan, love pretty much everything he was in.

But if I had to pick favorites

The House on Haunted Hill - is a good thriller, mared by the stupid stunts the director put in it to make it "scary".

The last man on Earth - The inspiration for every Zombie flick ever

Master of the World - Price said this was one of his favorite roles. Price and Charles Bronsen have several intelligent conversations that really make you think about who is the "good guy" in the movie. The movie leaves that unclear, unheard of in that era. Bronsen actually had his first acting role in another Price movie "House of Wax."

The Raven - a silly movie that is pretty much good fun with a lot of the stars of the old Horror era. It's Jack Nicholson's first acting role as well afaik.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes - A very black comedy, dark, macarbre and gothic.

[naum]

Casablanca is one of my favorites, and we re-watch it periodically.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was mentioned, and Capra probably more famous for the xmas-themed It's a Wonderful Life, but I think It Happened One Night (1934) and You Can't Take it With You (1938) are better. And see Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), if not other than to cleanse your memory of the Adam Sandler remake (actually, the Sandler version wasn't too bad).

Sullivan's Travels (1942) - Coen brothers films have riffed on this one (Barton Fink, O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

Some other classic films worth viewing:

12 Angry Men
North by Northwest
Rope
Rear Window
A Streetcar Named Desire
Cool Hand Luke (is 1967 too recent to be considered "classic"?)
The Manchurian Candidate
Spartacus
The Bridge on the River Kwai
A Fistful of Dollars
Rebel Without a Cause

[jgsugden]

What about Breakfast at Tiffanyy's?

[WayAbvPar]

I liked the song 

[jgsugden]

I liked the song 

Then the proper response was, "I think I remember the film..."

[Trippy]

What about Breakfast at Tiffanyy's?

Good movie except for all the racist bits. Of course pretty much everything Audrey Hepburn did was good.

[Samwise]

What about Breakfast at Tiffanyy's?

Good movie except for all the racist bits.

What are you talking about?  I love a movie that can make me cringe like that.

[HaemishM]

And wasn't George Peppard's character in the books gay, something they glossed over for the movie because '50's?

[Trippy]

Mickey Rooney played a Japanese character in the movie as a caricature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.Y._Yunioshi

Edit: past tense

[WayAbvPar]

El Dorado had a scene with James Caan doing a hideously racist Chinese coolie imitation. Apparently they leave that bit out of the edited broadcasts these days.

[jgsugden]

If you are going to eliminate Classic Films because they have material offensive to modern sensibilities, you're going to have very few classics left that are acceptable.  You'll pretty much just be left with Song of the South...

[Margalis]

I love The Raven. The wizard battle at the end is so awesome.

[WayAbvPar]

Caught The China Syndrome the other day on TCM. I remember seeing it when I was a kid, but it made a hell of a lot more sense to me this time around. Very well acted, good script, but the ending was a bit abrupt. Worth a look if you have the time.

[WayAbvPar]

As part of my ongoing John Wayne quest, I watched Red River. Apparently this was Montgomery Clift's first big role, and he was very good. Even more surprising was the fact that John Wayne was very good as well. Good movie, good example of the genre, and worth watching. Glad I took the time.

[Zetleft]

Most of what comes off the top of my head has been mentioned but as far as westerns go I'd give Gunfight at Ok Corral a watch.  Kirk Douglas was a damn amazing Doc before Val Kilmar. 

If you haven't I'd definitely watch All Quiet on the Western Front.  Das Boot is the best submarine movie ever, don't let the near 3 hour run time dissuade you if you see the criterion cut. 

I don't know if its quite old enough to be called a classic but to see the man that opened up western eyes to kung fu movies then watch Enter the Dragon to see Bruce Lee on top of his game.

[Yegolev]

Yes, I'd definitely call Enter The Dragon a classic.

[satael]

Yes, I'd definitely call Enter The Dragon a classic.

It's over 40 years old so there shouldn't be a problem considering it a classic (and Rotten Tomatoes for the lack of a better source seems to agree)

edit:then again RT seems to consider the Lord of the Rings movies as classic too so who knows

[Merusk]

Yes, I'd definitely call Enter The Dragon a classic.

It's over 40 years old so there shouldn't be a problem considering it a classic (and Rotten Tomatoes for the lack of a better source seems to agree)

edit:then again RT seems to consider the Lord of the Rings movies as classic too so who knows

They ARE 14 years old. They're a "modern classic." Give them another 5 and you'll find all kinds of kids who've never seen them and wonder what you're on about.

[Ironwood]

It's a nice thought.  Give it enough time and we might have a generation that doesn't know about The Hobbit films and therefore won't have to deal with the horrendous disappointment.

On a thread related note, I always love watching Fantastic Voyage when it's on.  I'm not quite sure 'Classic' is in my mind, but it's so delightfully dated and yet wondrous.

[Merusk]

It's a nice thought.  Give it enough time and we might have a generation that doesn't know about The Hobbit films and therefore won't have to deal with the horrendous disappointment.

On a thread related note, I always love watching Fantastic Voyage when it's on.  I'm not quite sure 'Classic' is in my mind, but it's so delightfully dated and yet wondrous.

Yep, our Grandkids won't have to know it, just like my kids have no inkling of the animated Hobbit movie. (Not my choice, they just aren't interested in old animation. I can't get them to watch The Last Unicorn, Flight of Dragons or Heavy Metal, either.)

[Yegolev]

Watched Battle of the 5 Armies on Saturday and it was pretty awful.  Worse than Bad Taste.

[Ironwood]

Flight of Dragons.  Now there's a name I've not heard in a long time.  A Long Time....

[Zetleft]

Speaking of old animation styles I really love Wizards as well.  Also just watched Secret of Nimh today for the first time in years.  Should round it out with a viewing of Watership Down while I'm at it to see some terrifying bunny violence.

[Ironwood]

Was Wizards the one where the old magic dude just plain up shot the guy at the end ?  That film freaked me the fuck out.  There was all sorts of Subtle Nazi stuff in there too.  (Do I need to green anymore ?)

[Zetleft]

Was Wizards the one where the old magic dude just plain up shot the guy at the end ?  That film freaked me the fuck out.  There was all sorts of Subtle Nazi stuff in there too.  (Do I need to green anymore ?)

Yes he straight up shot his brother, and it wasn't subtle at all they talked about how they recovered old nazi film and equipment. 

[Ironwood]

I'll add the green.

[Khaldun]

Wizards is fun if uneven. (The gimmick with the Nazis is that it's actually a post-apocalyptic world rather than a pre-modern one.)

Secrets of Nimh always disappointed me when I was younger because Don Bluth was about as subtle as an icepick to the eyeball, so he took what was a charming book and dialed up all sort of shit in it to the point of unrecognizability.

Watership Down is pretty decent. Hard book to adapt.

[Zetleft]

I'll add the green.

Lol yeah I don't know exactly how I missed that.

[WayAbvPar]

On the matter of different animation methods- I introduced my kids (6 and 3) to the original Clash of the Titans. It is cheesy and dated, and WOW does SLO mail it in as Zeus (was he actually dead by then, and they just animated his corpse?), but I still dearly love it. Predictably, the kids loved Bubo. 6 year old was a tad disappointed that there wasn't a long explicit scene of the Kraken kicking the shit out of Argos ( he is a big Godzilla fan).

[Rasix]

Being in Arizona, I think that movie would scare the shit out my son.

[Merusk]

Having seen some Arizona scorpions I always assumed that part was from a documentary.

[WayAbvPar]

Watched Paint Your Wagon the other night. Very strange to see tough guys Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood singing, to say the least. It was reasonably amusing, but nothing I would sit and watch again. Interesting tidbit- according to Hollywood legend, Lee Marvin (who plays a drunk) insisted on using real whisky instead of tea in all his scenes. I read about this before I watched, and in one scene where he shares a bottle with Eastwood, you can see Eastwood wince slightly 

[Teleku]

Paint your wagon was awesome.  Thanks for the reminder, I need to watch it again (been a long while).

[WayAbvPar]

Paint your wagon was awesome.  Thanks for the reminder, I need to watch it again (been a long while).

I think it would have worked better as a play (which it was originally). I still liked it though.

[WayAbvPar]

Latest viewing- The Deer Hunter

I saw bits and pieces of this 30+ years ago, but had never sat and watched the whole thing. I was bored to fucking tears. The interminable wedding sequence was especially egregious. The sharp turn to Vietnam was OK, but I really wanted more story about them arriving in country, getting into the routine, then the capture and torture. It felt more like it was just an excuse to introduce Russian roulette so they could use it again in the third act. Which mostly sucked. Acting was decent, but the story flow, the editing, and the sheer length of the thing just weighed it down too much. I am about an hour into Heaven's Gate and suffering from much of the same angst, so it might just be Michael Cimino I hate.