Famous Classic Movies You've Never Watched

[Thomas II]

Looks up top 100 movies.

Of the top ten, I haven't seen Chinatown yet, but it is on the list. Or Casablanca (or most of anything with Bogart in it excent Petrified Forest and African Queen). I haven't seen Citizen Kane. Good Fellas would be another one. I've only seen one Scorsese film (The Aviator). Odd seeing Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance most Fowl listed and not Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I think the later is one of the best films ever made.

"Classics" that can be skipped, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke.

I have seen most of these movies...Have not seen "Wadjda"...

Better use this list...https://thecinemaarchives.com/2023/10/17/thebest1000filmsofalltime/

And we both have seen "The Apartment"...

 

[Thomas II]

THE POWER OF FILM​

• BUY
• WATCH
• THE SERIES
• THE CREATORS
• NEWS
• THE BOOK
• CONTACTS

https://www.thepoweroffilm.com/series
https://www.thepoweroffilm.com/series

nife​

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Looks up top 100 movies.

Of the top ten, I haven't seen Chinatown yet, but it is on the list. Or Casablanca (or most of anything with Bogart in it excent Petrified Forest and African Queen). I haven't seen Citizen Kane. Good Fellas would be another one. I've only seen one Scorsese film (The Aviator). Odd seeing Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance most Fowl listed and not Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I think the later is one of the best films ever made.

"Classics" that can be skipped, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke.

I have seen most of these movies...Have not seen "Wadjda"...

Better use this list...https://thecinemaarchives.com/2023/10/17/thebest1000filmsofalltime/

Tougher list. I've only seen one of the top 20, The Godfather. Two of the top 30. Seems quite a bit more international. It doesn't include La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful), which I think is one of the most masterly crafted films of all time. Jean de Florette in the 900s, behind Titanic? Lists will always suffer from list issues.

 

[Swammerdami]

Looks up top 100 movies.

Of the top ten, I haven't seen Chinatown yet, but it is on the list.

Chinatown is very good, but somewhat over-rated. I love Jack Nicholson but he made several films better than Chinatown.
His One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the very best films ever.

Or Casablanca

Is there some reason you're avoiding Casablanca ? IMHO it is the perfect movie, #1 of all time. I am NOT any connoisseur, but I love the story, the acting, the dialog, etc. Since then I've watched a few YouTubes by professional directors explaining how details like lighting, scene design and script trimming contributed to the film's perfection.

It's creation is ironic: It was rushed out in 1942 to cooperate with FDR's desire for war propaganda; writing was erratic with the "surprise ending" supposedly undecided until filming was nearly complete. Despite having the best actors, best composer, etc. it was relatively low budget. Yet from this chaos came one of the most sentimental, endearing and unforgettable romantic tales of all time.

(or most of anything with Bogart in it excent Petrified Forest and African Queen). I haven't seen Citizen Kane. Good Fellas would be another one. I've only seen one Scorsese film (The Aviator). Odd seeing Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance most Fowl listed and not Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I think the later is one of the best films ever made.

"Classics" that can be skipped, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke.

I like both Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but none of their movies quite make my Top 30.
Redford's very under-rated Spy Game does rank about #31 on "my list"!

... Better use this list...https://thecinemaarchives.com/2023/10/17/thebest1000filmsofalltime/

Tougher list. I've only seen one of the top 20, The Godfather. Two of the top 30. Seems quite a bit more international. It doesn't include La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful), which I think is one of the most masterly crafted films of all time...

I agree that Life is Beautiful is great. I've seen about half of the top movies on that list. I liked La Strada and Fantôme d'amour (came out the year I lived in Paris) but have watched only a few foreign films.

A list should begin with "We surveyed a group of film directors or critics or [whatever]" but what's with THAT list anyway? Drawn randomly out of a hat?

I must repeat my objection to the #1 ranking of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I suppose I was impressed when I watched it as a teenager (a LONG time ago) but it is much too insufferably BORING when watched today.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Is there some reason you're avoiding Casablanca ?

For me I think it's because I just avoid watching romance stuff altogether, reminds me too much of various bad decisions (there are exceptions, The Fifth Element is too good to pass up). Plus I still enjoy not being in a relationship, so I can't exactly relate to romantic plots often.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Not avoiding Casablanca, just haven't watched it yet. I also own the Rifftrax to it. There are a ton of older movies worth watching.

My wife likes Bette Davis and Ginger Rogers so we watched a number of their films. I'm a huge fan of Grant and Lemmon, also watched a number of Gable films until it became apparent that his films got very similar.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Is there some reason you're avoiding Casablanca ?

For me I think it's because I just avoid watching romance stuff altogether, reminds me too much of various bad decisions (there are exceptions, The Fifth Element is too good to pass up). Plus I still enjoy not being in a relationship, so I can't exactly relate to romantic plots often.

Sorry, are you saying that The Fifth Element is in the romance genre?

 

[bilby]

Is there some reason you're avoiding Casablanca ?

For me I think it's because I just avoid watching romance stuff altogether, reminds me too much of various bad decisions (there are exceptions, The Fifth Element is too good to pass up). Plus I still enjoy not being in a relationship, so I can't exactly relate to romantic plots often.

Sorry, are you saying that The Fifth Element is in the romance genre?

Sorry, are you saying that it isn't??

 

[ZiprHead]

Is there some reason you're avoiding Casablanca ?

For me I think it's because I just avoid watching romance stuff altogether, reminds me too much of various bad decisions (there are exceptions, The Fifth Element is too good to pass up). Plus I still enjoy not being in a relationship, so I can't exactly relate to romantic plots often.

Sorry, are you saying that The Fifth Element is in the romance genre?

Sorry, are you saying that it isn't??

I would say it isn't. I would say it's a science fiction action movie with a romance subplot.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Is there some reason you're avoiding Casablanca ?

For me I think it's because I just avoid watching romance stuff altogether, reminds me too much of various bad decisions (there are exceptions, The Fifth Element is too good to pass up). Plus I still enjoy not being in a relationship, so I can't exactly relate to romantic plots often.

Sorry, are you saying that The Fifth Element is in the romance genre?

Sorry, are you saying that it isn't??

I would say it isn't. I would say it's a science fiction action movie with a romance subplot.

I did say "romance stuff" not that the movie was in the romance genre.

 

[Swammerdami]

I tend to use the word "romance" in a more general sense than "love story." Wiktionary is my favorite dictionary: "Love affair" is first but not the only of TWELVE meanings.

Noun
romance (countable and uncountable, plural romances)

1. An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair.
2. A strong obsession or attachment for something or someone.
3. Idealized love which is pure or beautiful.
4. A story, novel, film, etc., centred around an idealized love relationship.
5. A story relating to chivalry; a story involving knights, heroes, adventures, quests, etc.
6. A tale of high adventure.
7. A mysterious, exciting, or fascinating quality.
8. A literary or filmic genre about idealized love.
9. An embellished account of something; an idealized lie.
10. An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances. ("His life was a romance.")
11. A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real. ("She was so full of romance she would forget what she was supposed to be doing.")
12. (music) A sentimental piece of music; a romanza.

Other dictionaries also show "Love affair" as #1, but show an alternative as well.

2. a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life.
...
2...
: a medieval tale based on legend, chivalric love and adventure, or the supernatural
: a prose narrative treating imaginary characters involved in events remote in time or place and usually heroic, adventurous, or mysterious
...
the feeling of excitement or mystery that you have from a particular experience or event:
a story of exciting events, especially one written or set in the past

Casablanca is a romance in the fuller sense, though based on a love story ... or more precisely (Spoiler alert?) a love TRIANGLE.

 

[bilby]

I would say it isn't. I would say it's a science fiction action movie with a romance subplot.

Next you will be telling me that Die Hard isn't a Christmas Movie.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I would say it isn't. I would say it's a science fiction action movie with a romance subplot.

Next you will be telling me that Die Hard isn't a Christmas Movie.

Well, that’s just plain silly. Die Hard is the best Christmas movie ever!!

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

Back in the time of Wells and Verne the term science fiction hadn't been invented, and their stories were called scientific romances.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Man, about post 30 and already fallen into pedantry? Fifth Element is a treat to watch, it is easy to forget this film was released in the 1997 when special effects are really picking up but aren't anywhere where they would be ten years later, however, I wouldn't consider it a classic. It is a wonderfully over-the-top film that manages to remain within the bounds of sensical and was guilty of having under utilized Gary Oldman a bit. Also the issue of Leelu's education somehow missing the terms "atrocity" and "Holocaust" and "Jerry Lewis comedy" well before the word "war".

 

[Jarhyn]

I have seen enough of The Godfather to know I will never actually care to watch The Godfather because of how pretentious and pointlessly violent and criminally glorifying the film is.

The people who I have met that insist on The Godfather, and their appalling taste in other media (sorry sis, talking about your husband, here), are truly enough to make me realize exactly what The Godfather is: a sad tragedy about shitty people who I will not be invested in enough by the end of the movie to actually care how the movie ends other than 'hopefully with everyone's death, Scarface style'.

Edit: "Mafia!" On the other hand...

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Man, about post 30 and already fallen into pedantry?

It wasn't my fault! Well maybe it was technically. I did bring up the movie.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

I have seen enough of The Godfather to know I will never actually care to watch The Godfather because of how pretentious and pointlessly violent and criminally glorifying the film is.

The people who I have met that insist on The Godfather, and their appalling taste in other media (sorry sis, talking about your husband, here), are truly enough to make me realize exactly what The Godfather is: a sad tragedy about shitty people who I will not be invested in enough by the end of the movie to actually care how the movie ends other than 'hopefully with everyone's death, Scarface style'.

Edit: "Mafia!" On the other hand...

This is kind of why I don't watch The Sopranos either. It's just shitty people being shitty people.

Uh oh I brought up a TV show in a movie thread...

 

[Jarhyn]

I have seen enough of The Godfather to know I will never actually care to watch The Godfather because of how pretentious and pointlessly violent and criminally glorifying the film is.

The people who I have met that insist on The Godfather, and their appalling taste in other media (sorry sis, talking about your husband, here), are truly enough to make me realize exactly what The Godfather is: a sad tragedy about shitty people who I will not be invested in enough by the end of the movie to actually care how the movie ends other than 'hopefully with everyone's death, Scarface style'.

Edit: "Mafia!" On the other hand...

This is kind of why I don't watch The Sopranos either. It's just shitty people being shitty people.

Uh oh I brought up a TV show in a movie thread...

I mean, it kind of exposes the way those shitty people manage to be shitty?

 

[GenesisNemesis]

I have seen enough of The Godfather to know I will never actually care to watch The Godfather because of how pretentious and pointlessly violent and criminally glorifying the film is.

The people who I have met that insist on The Godfather, and their appalling taste in other media (sorry sis, talking about your husband, here), are truly enough to make me realize exactly what The Godfather is: a sad tragedy about shitty people who I will not be invested in enough by the end of the movie to actually care how the movie ends other than 'hopefully with everyone's death, Scarface style'.

Edit: "Mafia!" On the other hand...

This is kind of why I don't watch The Sopranos either. It's just shitty people being shitty people.

Uh oh I brought up a TV show in a movie thread...

I mean, it kind of exposes the way those shitty people manage to be shitty?

Maybe but I don't find Tony Soprano's character all that interesting to keep watching personally.