What are some of your favorite old movies?

[mish]

a great night at home is watching "sunset boulevard" over a big bowl of popcorn. one of the great old ones.

"i'm ready for my close-up, mr. demille"...

some of my other faves that i've seen recently are:
captains courageous, the mutiny on the bounty, the caine mutiny, solid gold cadillac, bridge on the river kwai, the african queen, chisum, true grit, ...

What a GREAT flick that was! Just reminded me of another - Pappilon (sp)...yep I know it's not a gangster, romantic or classic movie... but IMO there's nothing out there that compares to the old genre of movie making at its best.

A side note 'bout Once Upon a Time in America - it's probably not considered a gangster movie - if that's what you're looking for, but has a steller cast, music that sticks in my brain, a feeling of a time gone by in NYC. If I recall the movie was shot with two different endings...so I really wanted to see which one was finally released. (Okay maybe I'm partial to the flick, cause I helped pick out one of the clips.)

Most of the stuff out there, I consider fluff - quick boxoffice money makers.

One movie I thought was interesting/cool, for its time, was First Men in the Moon (or Men in the Moon) - with Martha Hyer -- with creatures that reminded me of looking thru the old green coke bottles. You'd have to see it, to appreciate it & see what I mean.

Re Romance - Somewhere in Time - Chris R. - great music as well.

 

[BreezyCooking]

"The List of Adrian Messenger", starring Kirk Douglas & George C. Scott, is a real oldie but goodie if you can find it. It's out on video but not DVD yet, & unfortunately doesn't make many appearances on TV.

It's a mystery, but what's fun is that a number of major stars at the time do minorly-disguised cameos - Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, & others.

Fun pic, & one of my all-time favorites. In fact, a few years back, when I was sleeping out in my barn awaiting the birth of my first foal I had the video playing in one of those little TV/VCR combos to help keep awake, & that's the movie I had playing - over & over & over.

 

[BreezyCooking]

"Once Upon A Time In America" was a great movie. Great cast, great script, great acting. One of my favorites.

I am SO unimpressed by movies these days. In fact, the last time I went to the movies it was to see "Finding Nemo", which was cute/good. Other than that, movies today seem to be all about slash/gore/torture/blood. All that proves is that no one today is capable of writing a decent script/story & need to rely on special effects.

Not to mention the effects of these movies on our youth. No one can convince me that the movies of today don't provide impetus for a lot of the current youth violence.

 

[buckytom]

breezy, you gave birth to a horse!!!!??????

i guess the maternity ward was full...

oh well, some pretty good people were born in a manger.

 

[mish]

Breezy, sounds like we have similar tastes in movies.

I worked in the "industry" for a long time, and perhaps I have a different view than the general movie-going audience/public re what is considered good filmmaking. Computer enhancement - really takes away from the guts of a film - acting, good script, direction, & score I find are lacking - not to mention a plot. I lived, breathed the movies, what made me get up and do a job I loved - but the crap out there is an insult to movie making and the acting profession. We all have our passions, likes & dislikes.

 

[Constance]

Years ago, they used to show a lot of old movies late at night.
I loved the Mae West movies...one in particular, The Train, in which she co-starred with W.C. Fields was a real classic.
Others include:
Casablanca
The African Queen.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Dr. Zhivago
A Patch of Blue
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Schindler's List
Scent of a Woman
Godfather I

 

[BreezyCooking]

Definitely!

I grew up in a film-loving family. My parents have a room that's devoted to a library divvied up to about 1/4 cookbooks, 1/4 mystery novels, & the rest devoted to books on film. They particularly like the old black-&-white film noir mystery classics & the old Universal horror films. Me too.

At this time I probably have about a thousand DVD's, at least - everything that's come out so far in the Universal & Hammer series, & a large number of "film noir" classics. If it's out on DVD & isn't a slash-&-gore-teen-flick, I probably have it on DVD - lol!!

Absolutely adore all the old Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff flicks - even if many of them were corny. And Johnny Depp's portrayal of Ed Wood? New, but definitely classic!!!!

 

[BreezyCooking]

Another goodie - "The Grapes of Wrath". Which just happens to be showing right now on the FMC channel.

I love this movie, even tho it's sad.

 

[Arcana]

Black N White

I'm very fond of old movies, as in black N white 1930's and early 1940's. I absolutely love the Thin Man series, Jean Harlow films, Bowery Boys, Laurel And Hardy and many others from that time. As you can tell, I'm a big comedy fan. Not too much into drama or serious stuff unless it's bizarre...like the serial killer or insanity stuff lol. (Someone else said the same thing in a post and I can totally relate.

About that film with the white mother and the girl raised as white. I saw that movie too and I can't think of the title. I'm thinking her mother's character was an actress and I remember when people found out she wasn't really white, they treated her badly.

 

[Arcana]

Forgot To Mention

Seems I pressed "enter" too quickly lol. I forgot to mention one of my alltime favorite actors Vincent Price...the KING of horror !!!! Peter Lorre too. Just loved him in the old horror and the Mr. Moto films

 

[mish]

Not too much into drama or serious stuff unless it's bizarre...like the serial killer or insanity stuff lol. (Someone else said the same thing in a post and I can totally relate.

Yep, that was me If you really want to be creeped out, and have never seen it, rent "The Bad Seed." Insanity at its best

 

[ps8]

BreezyCooking, I mostly agree with you that most movies made in this day and age are worthless, except every once in a blue moon, one will come out that is worth watching. I thought Cinderella Man was a good movie because it had a good message and was well acted.

 

[Sugar N' Spice]

I haven't experienced watching that many old movies but I am fond of Grease. For some reason I can't help but watch When Harry Met Sally whenever it comes on tv, especially since I normally don't like the romantic comedies.

 

[SizzlininIN]

You guys gave me some wonderul ideas for movies to watch....thanks! I guess when I said Gangster movies I meant the kind like Goodfellas. I'm a fan of a great deal of older movies but I can't think of the names of them.

I'm a fan of a variety of types of movies but the ones I truely can't bring myself to watch are westerns and sci-fi.

 

[buckytom]

darn, i was just gonna suggest "westworld"...

 

[ironchef]

Yeah what qualifies as an old movie? For me it's like Star Wars and Superman.

 

[Arcana]

Mish, lol, I pretty much grew up in the time of The Bad Seed and have seen it several times...it's a good one. Another creepy one on that level is The Nanny with Bette Davis.

 

[BreezyCooking]

"Old Movies", to me, are primarily the black & white classics. Sorry, but "Star Wars" & "Superman" don't even remotely make the grade.

 

[mish]

Mish, lol, I pretty much grew up in the time of The Bad Seed and have seen it several times...it's a good one. Another creepy one on that level is The Nanny with Bette Davis.

Arcana, this is why some species eat their young

 

[BreezyCooking]

Don't you want to smack that brat upside the head like, a dozen times, in the first 30 minutes of the movie? Lol!!!!