What are the Top Ten Movie Classics Pre-1975?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around participants sharing their opinions on the top ten movie classics made prior to 1975. The scope includes a variety of genres and personal favorites, with participants listing films they consider significant or influential.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest titles like "Roman Holiday," "Dr. Strangelove," and "Casablanca" as classics.
  • Others propose films such as "The Godfather," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "Jaws," indicating a mix of genres and styles.
  • Several participants mention specific actors or directors, such as Mel Brooks and Clint Eastwood, while discussing their favorite films.
  • Some express confusion about the time frame, with mentions of films made after 1975, leading to corrections from other participants.
  • There are mentions of lesser-known films and personal favorites, such as "Mrs. Miniver" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai," showcasing a range of tastes.
  • Participants also share humorous or off-topic comments, including references to non-classic films and light-hearted banter.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

There is no consensus on a definitive list of top ten classics, as participants present a variety of opinions and preferences, leading to multiple competing views. Some participants also express frustration over others not adhering to the pre-1975 criteria.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention films that do not fit the pre-1975 criteria, leading to corrections and clarifications within the thread. The discussion reflects a broad interpretation of what constitutes a "classic," with varying definitions among participants.

Who May Find This Useful

Film enthusiasts, classic movie fans, and those interested in exploring diverse opinions on influential films from the early to mid-20th century may find this discussion engaging.

  • #61
Ladykillers-British version
A shipload of whiskey (?) (It is possibly called Whiskey Galore)
King Kong
Dr. Caligari's Cabinet
M
Metropolis
The Seventh Seal
Gaslight (?) (Ingrid Bergman film)
Psycho
Seven Samurai
 
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  • #62
This one is right on the cusp -

Three Days of the Condor (1975) - Robert Redford.

Can we admit this one. A really good suspense movie, kind of like the Bourne Identity and Enemy of the State.
 
  • #63
Astronuc said:
This one is right on the cusp -
Three Days of the Condor (1975) - Robert Redford.

Oh wow, absolutely!
 
  • #64
Astronuc said:
I was also thinking about - Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965). I saw it when it first came out. :biggrin: I've probably seen it at least twice.
A similarly funny and delightful movie (at least to me :biggrin: ) is The Great Race (1965), staring Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood (boy did I have crush on her) and Jack Lemmon (hilarious bad-character). I saw it when it came out.

I always liked the old British comedies. American efforts often tend to be heavy-handed and adolescent in style ("The Graduate" being an exception). I call them 'Teen-Age Boy Flicks'. I'm hoping that the remake of "The Pink Panther" won't gravitate in this direction - - but I don't harbor too much hope.

Another one that I might put on the list of recommendations is "The Mouse That Roared".

KM
 
  • #65
Kenneth Mann said:
The Mouse That Roared (1959). KM
Yes, definitely. That is a great movie, staring Peter Sellers, in which "an impoverished backward nation declares a war on the United States of America, hoping to lose." Absolutely brilliant! :smile:

The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force to New York (armed with longbows) which arrives during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets. Wandering about to find someone to surrender to, they discover a scientist with a special ultimate weapon that can destroy the Earth. When they capture him and his bomb they are faced with a new possibility: What do you do when you win a war?

Another hilarious classic comedy with Cary Grant - Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
 
  • #66
Astronuc said:
Another hilarious classic comedy with Cary Grant - Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

I never saw the movie, but did see a stage version and a TV adaptation, so at least I have an idea. I have always suspected that older movies were better simply because the producers, writers, etc. hadn't yet come up with their adaptation formulas and thus hadn't yet learned how to distill the essence out of a story. They were more apt to stick with the plot than to substitute their pre-learned, canned "improvements".

KM
 
  • #67
Funny, I walked in the living room today just in time to see the first few seconds of Fail-Safe on TMC. I haven't seen this in at least ten years - had to stop and watch it.

I found myself sitting there with clenched, white knuckles.
 
  • #68
I forgot Yujimbo as well the japanese version of a fistfull of dollars. And yes it is whiskey galore I had that on my list too:smile:

I once saw a hilarious send up of that film called Heroin galore about a small scotish seaside community who wind up finding a wreck full of grade A heroin. Very funny.
 
  • #69
tribdog said:
and for the $50 gift certificate to PF, who wrote Chitty, chitty, Bang, Bang?

Ian Flemming who also wrote the original James Bond novels.

Funny how many of the good movies are based on plays or books.
The Sting
Lawrence of Arabia
Yojimbo
Singing in the Rain
Snow White
The Caine Mutiny
Dr. Zhivago
Arsenic and Old Lace
Casablanca
The Mark of Zorro (1920 -- this is the Douglas Fairbanks version)

The outlaw Josey Wales (1976) barely misses the cut.
 
  • #70
Doctor Zhivago (1965) - Great Movie!
 
  • #71
Top Ten Cult Classics

Rocky Horror Picture Show
THX 1138... or was it 555 1212? [one of my favorites]
Billy Jack [here too]
Ra Expedition
Chariots of the Gods
Everything that you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask
Deep Throat [never saw it]
Fritz the Cat [never saw it... really!]
Night of the Living Dead
Exorcist
 
  • #72
What does "cult classic" mean anyway?

Deep Throat? like the porno? Wasn't some guy in the watergate scandal called deepthroat?

I've only heard of three of those you listed.
 
  • #73
I was thinking of movies that had great success, but that were only popular for some quirky reason other than quality; though some cult films are quite good.
 
  • #74
Oh. The Rocky Horror Picture Show wasn't good? I bet it was fun... or stupid.
 
  • #75
Mentioned in another thread, some people saw it hundreds of times. They would all dress up [in drag] like characters in the movie , take rice and other stuff to throw, and the audience participated in and re-enacted the movie as it played.

I never knew about the drag queen business until I watched the movie for the first time last year. I thought people were just dressing like women in the movie, and not like men dressing like women...well...you know. Now I'm really glad I never went! :biggrin:
 
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  • #76
Ivan Seeking said:
Mentioned in another thread, some people saw it hundreds of times. They would all dress up [in drag] like characters in the movie , take rice and other stuff to throw, and the audience participated in and re-enacted the movie as it played.
I never knew about the drag queen business until I watched the movie for the first time last year. I thought people were just dressing like women in the movie, and not like men dressing like women...well...you know. Now I'm really glad I never went! :biggrin:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the screen adaptation of "The Rocky Horror Show" which is a musical. The 'stock' audience participation stuff - rice, water pistols, and so on - were all part of that before they were part of the movie scene. I'm pretty sure that watching the movie at home is not at all like seeing it with a live crowd, or seeing a stage production.
Because audience participation is so central to the experience, going to, say, the 2000 Broadway revival of the "Rocky Horror Show" is going to be a very different experience from going to see it at the movie theater on Sunset Boulevard in LA.
 
  • #77
TOP WORST MOVIE CLASSICS

1. Gone with the wind (stupid romantic chick-flick, choked on my own vomit it was so stupid)
2. The wizard of oz (this would have been #1 if it didn't have flying monkeys in it)
3. The exorcist (not even remotely scary, just stupid)
4. Mary Poppins (painfully bad)
5-10. Any Disney cartoon (movies like these make children weak)
 
  • #78
NateTG said:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the screen adaptation of "The Rocky Horror Show" which is a musical. The 'stock' audience participation stuff - rice, water pistols, and so on - were all part of that before they were part of the movie scene. I'm pretty sure that watching the movie at home is not at all like seeing it with a live crowd, or seeing a stage production.
Because audience participation is so central to the experience, going to, say, the 2000 Broadway revival of the "Rocky Horror Show" is going to be a very different experience from going to see it at the movie theater on Sunset Boulevard in LA.

There was something like this that my wife, Tsu, got into a bit. It was a play called Tim and Tina's wedding. The play was the wedding and reception, and the audience interacted with the wedding party as if they were guests at the wedding, and not the audience for a play. So basically it was a fake wedding that you had to pay to see! :smile: But the wedding party actors were highly skilled and apparently most entertaining as they interacted and even danced with the audience. And of course everyone got completely wasted, just like at real weddings. In fact, I'll have to ask Tsu, but I think that someone was even passing around a pot pipe at one showing.
 
  • #79
I know this is late but I can't resist.

Evo said:
Hey, this is about movies PRIOR to 1975.

Sorry Granny, but I'm barely prior to 1975 myself! :smile:
 
  • #80
Deep throat cost less that 100,000 to make and made almost a billion. Arguably the most successful movie ever made. plus it is sometimes funny. however it is before the bikini wax was invented.
 
  • #81
M*A*S*H (1970)

I can't believe everyone including myself forgot this one. My father took us to see it at a drive in. Interesting considering the scene with Hotlips in the shower when the side came off the tent, and i was probably about 13 years old and my brother was 12.

Quite a few parents thought my father was a bit nuts, or too progressive.
 
  • #82
In no particular order, and not necessarily my favorites, but I do think these are all good:

1. Godfather (I like the dual nature of these 2 films, "a family" and "the family")
2. Godfather II

3. Casablanca (Very witty dialoge)

4. The Birds (scenes from this movie have stayed in my mind for years. Brilliant use of sound editing of the bird noises, I forget the details of this, but I read it was very inovative.)

5. Arsenic and Old Lace (Charge! Extremely clever comedy. See this if you haven't)

6. Wizard of Oz (It's got flying monkeys. It also creates a mood and feeling of otherworldliness that I feel lifts it above most other early attempts to create fantasy lands, such as King Kong or the Land the Time Forgot.)

7. Mr Smith Goes To Washington (Dated and hokey, but I still like it. Watch the Senate Leader, his amusement over the drama is fun.)

8. Flight of the Pheonix (A toy airplane is something that you wind up and it runs across the floor...interesting power struggle.)

9. Jaws (Scary, even today. Oddly, it also captures the feeling of summer vacation.)

10. The Great Escape (the actual event that this movie was based on was a lot different from the movie, of course, but I still like the movie. Interesting characters)
 
  • #83
Astronuc said:
M*A*S*H (1970)

I can't believe everyone including myself forgot this one. My father took us to see it at a drive in. Interesting considering the scene with Hotlips in the shower when the side came off the tent, and i was probably about 13 years old and my brother was 12.

Quite a few parents thought my father was a bit nuts, or too progressive.

I've seen movies with full frontal nudity with my dad since I was seven or so (this was in an age where cinemas and censors were more lax about such things). There's nothing intrinsically harmful to a child in the naked human form.
 
  • #84
Mr. Roberts (1955) staring Henry Fonda, Jack Lemon and Jimmy Cagney. It's showing tonight at a regional theatre.

I'm feeling a bit notstalgic. :biggrin:


RIP Mr. Whipple. :frown:
 
  • #85
Never Ending Story, part 526
 
  • #86
Forbidden Planet
The Great Escape
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
PredatorAnd for comedy... Young Frankenstein :D
 
  • #87
Animal House (1978)

(Three years off. Sue me)
 
  • #88
I just thought of another that might be added. Does anyone remember "On The Beach", which includes a non-dancing Fred Astaire?

PS. It's been quite a while since I was last on this Forum!
 
  • #89
Mr. Smith goes to Wahington
Casablance
The African Queen
On the Waterfront
Wizard of Oz
From Here to Eternity
2001: Space Odyssey
Dr. Strangelove
The Bridge over the River Kwai
Star Wars Episode I
 
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  • #90
The Hustler
Gigot
To Kill a Mockingbird
High Noon
Shane
The Searchers
Casablanca
Arsenic and Old Lace
Fort Apache
Slim
Dr. Zhivago
 
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