Classic Movie Recommendations

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ClayPot

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Recently, my wife and I have enjoyed "classic" films like The Great Adventure (Cary Grant), An Affair to Remember (Cary Grant), Mr. Deeds, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Roman Holiday (Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn).

I'm no movie buff, so I was wondering what other classic movies I should see?
 
Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman) is always a good one. The Maltese Falcon (Bogart) is also classic and a good introduction to "Film Noir." Frank Capra is a good director to start with: It's a Wonderful Life (Jimmy Stewart) and It Happened One Night (Clark Gable) are good starts with Capra.

Citizen Kane is a must-see for anyone who is interested in film. You might also try some of Rev. Charles Biggs' film guides here for recommendations and viewing companions from a Reformed perspective.
 
If you enjoyed those, I think you'll really like these:

The Quiet Man, with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

It Happened One Night, with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn

The Thin Man series, with William Powell and Myrna Loy

Any of the Marx Brothers movies

And for a rare treat, any of Harold Lloyd's movies, but you'll have to look hard to find them (not carried by most rental places)
 
It Happened One Night - won all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) in 1934. It will make you laugh, cheer, cry (not that I cried). It's seriously a great film.

----
Oh, I see Wayne just beat me to it! I guess it shows he has good taste in movies.
 
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House! I LOVE this film - hilarious.

And second African Queen - or anything else with Katie Hepburn, really. I also enjoy How to Steal a Million with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O' Toole
 
Andres said:
Oh, I see Wayne just beat me to it! I guess it shows he has good taste in movies.
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For most of our movie watching, we still abide by the Hays Code. :)

[Seriously, any real artist will tell you that art rises to its best when performed under specified rules and constraints. For movies, the Hays Code helped to provide some of that needed guideline and control. It has been a wild toboggan ride down a precipitous cliff ever since it was abandoned.]
 
My two all-time favorites are Ben Hur and Gone With the Wind. The old version of Sabrina is great, too.
 
The Man Who Knew To Much 1958 Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day Produced by Alfred Hitchcock.
or any movie with jimmy stewart in it.

Or Dune by Frank Herbert is a classic.
 
Ooooh so many!

The Hound of Baskerville with Basil Rathbone
Shane
The Sign of the Cross
My Fair Lady
Ben Hur
Man Who Knew Too Much (Worth it just for Doris Day's Que Sera Sera)
Elmer Gantry
Friendly Persuasion
To Kill a Mockingbird
Meet Me in St. Louis
Singing in the Rain
The Shop Around the Corner
Shenandoah
One Potato Two Potato (you will think and then you will cry)

That's all I can think of right now.
 
12 Angry Men
Cool Hand Luke
Papillon
The 39 Steps (old hitchcock flick)
Rope (James Stewart/Hitchcock)
Sergeant York
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Great Escape
Key Largo
The Sand Pebbles
Blackboard Jungle
Bringing up Baby
The Great Escape
 
reformedminister said:
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a good one. His character was not so recently on League of Extrordinary Gentlemen.
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Oooh! Yes! I second that! I stayed up till 1am one time watching that and it was totally worth it! That's the one with a very young Angela Lansbury.
 
jpfrench81 said:
Recently, my wife and I have enjoyed "classic" films like The Great Adventure (Cary Grant), An Affair to Remember (Cary Grant), Mr. Deeds, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Roman Holiday (Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn).

I'm no movie buff, so I was wondering what other classic movies I should see?
Click to expand...

For classics, I'd recommend:

The Manchurian Candidate
The Great Dictator
Best Years of Our Lives
Twelve Angry Men
judgment at Nuremburg
 
One of my favorite old movies is "Angel and the Badman" starring John Wayne.

One my wife introduced me to that really makes me laugh is "My fair Lady" starring Audry Hepburn and Rex Harrison. It's a musical but the comedy makes up for it. Harrison is hilarious in this one.
 
Some psychologist could have a hayday interpreting our movie choices and what they say about each of us.
 
For good, clean, British humor (not sure if that counts in "classics" or not), my husband and I really enjoy PG Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. It used to be a show on TV, so there's a whole set of 50 minute episodes. Great watching!
 
"Shop Around the Corner" is one that I've probably watched 60 times. (One of those movies I'd like to "live in." Can't pay a movie a higher compliment.)
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" - my DH and I differ, but I think it's the finest western that was ever made. (Sorry, to "Stagecoach" fans.)
It's a little gamy, but one definitely worth seeing is "Anatomy of a Murder." Lee Remick and James Stewart are priceless in it.
"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943) - if you want to see Joseph Cotten in one of his best roles, this is it.
The original "Waterloo Bridge" from 1931, with Mae Clark. The 1940 version is just a showcase for Vivien Leigh, whereas the 1931 version packs a wallop.
"Rebecca" (1940) and "Wuthering Heights" (1939), if you want to see Laurence Olivier in a couple of the first films that made him a star.
Light but perfect comedy: "The More the Merrier" (1943), with Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea at their bests. Another movie I'd like to "live in."
"Witness" (Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis)
And how could I forget "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)? Probably seen it 70 times.
"Notorious" with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman is also a great movie.
"Picnic" (1955) is fascinating, especially the performance of Rosalind Russell in it.
A great made-for-TV movie is "Duel" (1971) with Dennis Weaver. A guy's movie, definitely, but I'll watch it anytime it's on.

Hmm. "Duel" might have had a theatrical release after all:

[video=youtube;5MtAMc4i8OA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MtAMc4i8OA[/video]

"The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (1960) - Robert Preston, Dorothy McGuire, Eve Arden (who was also in "Anatomy of a Murder").

"A Place in the Sun" (1951) with Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Shelley Winters. I wish they'd cast someone else in Clift's role, though.

"Brief Encounter" (1945) with Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Rachmaninoff score, played throughout to great effect. It's one of those movies I liked before I was saved; it's odd but predictable, of course, how one has different feelings about everything after one is converted. This movie is one of them. A tape of the remake with Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, cut up *just so*, would make very nice kitty litter.

"Patton," of course, belongs on this list, or would if the language were better in it.
 
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Great choices. My preference is movies filmed before 1960. There are quite a few exceptions, but the movies of pre-60's vintage far outnumber the more recent ones for me. There is a great body of work to enjoy and learn from.
 
Plenty of suggestions already, but I would add the original Producers (1968) if you like comedy.
 
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