Classic films thread

[Perd Hapley]

Since we have a thread on cult favorites, how about a thread on older movies? They don't have to be "classic," but I'm thinking at least the 1970s or older.

The wife and I have been watching a lot of Hitchcock lately. We just saw The Trouble With Harry, which is really great. This is my first go-round, and I think I could watch it a few more times.

Obviously, I like the Dollar Trilogy, and Kurosawa. Aside from Eastwood, I haven't seen a lot of other Westerns. I just now saw The Quick and The Dead, with Sam Elliot. I liked it much more than I expected to.

My wife's favorites are anything with Bogie & Bacall, and anything with Gene Kelly. I prefer the former. Casablanca is probably my favorite Bogart movie, but it puts my wife to sleep. Her favorite is To Have and Have Not.

I also like Monkey Business, and Monkeys Go Home, for obvious reasons.  

[RoadKingLarry]

Ones that I will watch over and over again Some may not be quite as old as pre '70 but still classics

John Wayne:
McLintock & The Quiet Man (actually most of his but these two are probably my favorites)

In no particular order-
Other:
Kelly's Heros
Lawrence f Arabia
Operation Petticoat
The African Queen
Flight of the Phoenix (original version)
The Spirit of St. Louis
How The West Was Won
Paint Your wagon
Jeremiah Johnson

[freakazoid]

The Thin Man movies are great.
For Bogart movies not listed; High Sierra and also The Treasure of Sierra Madre.
Manhattan Melodrama with Clark Gable is good, that's the movie John Dillinger watched before he was killed.

[Tuco]

Annually
I like the part when he has The BAR "Omega Man"
The Bisley in  "For a Few Dollars More"
Luger in "The Blues Brothers"
The old luxury  cars in "Godfather"
J frame in "Goodfellas"
The rotisserie skewer in "Napoleon Dynamite"

Soon
I've been jonesing for "Kelly's Heroes" plywood Tiger Tank
"The Shining" makes me really nervous, I can see my worst self in Jack's tantrums.
"Citizen Kane" was really good, however I only saw it once, on a big screen in a classic theatre.

[Ben]

This is my kind of topic, but there are so many great old films (for me, "classic" is mostly 20s-40s) that I don't even know where to begin.

All the Bogart movies mentioned so far, especially Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Did someone mention Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon?
The John Wayne classics - Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, etc. For Christmas, The Three Godfathers.
One of my favorite John Wayne films is his first starring role, The Big Trail (make sure to get the theatrical release, not the Fox edit).
Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Die Nibelungen.
The Seven Samurai (subtitled, not dubbed).

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Also, not a film, but The Three Stooges (Curly only). :)

[Tuco]

Also, not a film, but The Three Stooges (Curly only). :)

Please drop the vernacular.
It's a derby!

[zxcvbob]

I used to really like Roger Corman movies in the 60's.  "The Man with the X-Ray Eyes", "The Wasp Woman", "Night of the Blood Beast", etc.  I should watch some of those again and see how well they held up.

[Hawkmoon]

I just now saw The Quick and The Dead, with Sam Elliot. I liked it much more than I expected to.

Interesting. I've seen that movie but I never knew it shared a title with the film of the same name starring Sharon Stone as a lady gunfighter.

One of my favorite old (maybe "classic," or maybe not) is Topper. (1937) It spawned a couple of follow-ups, and a television series called (IIRC) My Friend Topper.

[HankB]

A lot of very fine movies fall into the "1970s or older" category. Agree with praise for the "Topper" films.

Here are a few more "old" favorites, in no particular order:

Caesar and Cleopatra (Claude Rains, Vivian Leigh, 1945). Not as "big" a movie as the Liz Taylor/Richard Burton version, but better dialog, acting, and direction.
Zulu (Michael Caine, Stanley Baker, 1964) One of the finest war films made.
To Hell And Back (Audie Murphy as himself, 1955) The grenades actually smoked before exploding.  
Sergeant York (Gary Cooper, 1941) A fine telling of Sgt. York's story.
Comrade X (Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, 1940) A comedy about the Bolsheviks.
Spartacus (Kirk Douglas, 1960) Superior to any of the recent remakes
Ben-Hur (Charleton Heston, 1959) FAR superior to the recent remake
The Ten Commandments (Charleton Heston, 1956) FAR superior to the recent remake
Forbidden Planet  (Earl Holliman, Leslie Nielson, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, 1956) Inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, a solid contender for best sci-fi film ever made.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, 1938) A more "fun" movie than any of the remakes.
Horatio Hornblower (Gregory Peck, Virgina Mayo, 1951) One of the best of the "wooden ships and iron men" movies that were popular for a while
The Day The Earth Stood Still (Michael Rennie, 1951) Not to be confused with that abominable 2008 remake with Keanu Reeves.
The Three Musketeers (Gene Kelly, 1948) This film - particularly the 1st half - is better than any of the later remakes.
Call Me Bwana (Bob Hope, 1963) Funniest scene: Cannibal child comes up and pokes Bob Hope. Cannibal child's mom pulls him away, tells him "Don't play with your food."

The Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone were pretty decent.

[TommyGunn]

Okay .... here I go....

King Kong
Son of Kong
Wings
Most Laurel & Hardy films.
Many Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle silent films.
The Lost World (1925 silent version, not  1960 Irwin Allen version)
The Naked City
The City That Never Sleeps
He Walked by Night
The Searchers
The Lost Continent.
One  Million B.C.(first B&W version).
Gabriel Over the White House


If I think up more I'll add 'em later.

EDIT!:  HankB reminded me!!

Forbidden Planet  (Earl Holliman, Leslie Nielson, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, 1956) Inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, a solid contender for best sci-fi film ever made.

I agree! 
And;

The Day The Earth Stood Still (Michael Rennie, 1951) Not to be confused with that abominable 2008 remake with Keanu Reeves.

Oh YEA!  A CLASSIC!   my bad for missing them.  Thanks HankB!

[Hawkmoon]

Oh, yes. Definitely The Day the Earth Stood Still (the Michael Rennie version).

[Monkeyleg]

Bridge Over the River Kwai, Serpico, Patton, On the Waterfront,

[Perd Hapley]

Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

"We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

[roo_ster]

So many good classic movies. 

Another Bogie movie: The African Queen
Katherine Hepburn's Rosie is a true heroine, not just a male hero with tits.  Has one of my favorite movie lines.

By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William II, I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution.

[Perd Hapley]

No need to get explicit, dude. 

[Andiron]

The longest day was good.

[TommyGunn]

The longest day was good.

.....and ANOTHER ONE   I missed!

[freakazoid]

Can also add Journey to the Center of the Earth, the 1959 version.
Mysterious Island, the 1961 version.
Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times.

[agricola]

Some good choices so far, I would only add:

Yojimbo - from the moment Mifune throws the stick in the air, not a shot of the film is wasted.  Also I defy anyone not to laugh the first time they see the scene where he picks a fight in order to advertise himself.
Ikiru - a beautiful film in a way that is impossible to describe.  Roger Ebert said something about Shimura's character resonating with him more the older he (Ebert) got, and he was right.
The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets - both magnificent and very British
The Longest Day - the best war film ever made
Life of Brian - it would never be made nowadays

[Ben]

"We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

One of my favorite parts of that film is the bar fight scene. No special effects, no loud music. Just three guys hitting each other, and grunts, and the "real world" sound of fist hitting flesh. A fight scene that puts all the fancy choreographed fights in modern movies to shame.

[T.O.M.]

Blazing Saddles.  Brooks is brilliant.  This would never be made again.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  My dad's favorite movie, and guaranteed to make anyone laugh.
Animal House.
The Long Grey Line. Duty, Honor, Country.

[Monkeyleg]

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. 

That was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. "The Parent Trap", too, with Haley Mills. I was in love with her. Then I saw Sophia Loren and forgot all about Haley Mills.

[makattak]

The Forbidden Planet. One of the great scifi movies.

War of the Worlds. Not the Tom Cruise one.

Harvey.  Jimmy Stewart is always good and this is one of his best.  

Midway.  

Robin Hood, Captain Blood (both with Errol Flynn)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

[HeroHog]

Watching "The Sons of Katy Elder" right now.

[Sindawe]

Most of the older classics have been noted already.  Zulu is so good others have sampled some of it for their own movies.

Doctor Zhivago - Grand epic from the days when Hollywood made grand epics.
The Trap - Back woods tale with Oliver Reed & Rita Tushingham
Bringing Up Baby - Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and a pet leopard
The Naked Civil Servent - Seen on PBS back in the day, great work by John Hurt
The Naked Prey - Mad chase through Colonial Africa