zen Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 (edited) Discuss your favorite classic films (pre 1990) .... List your 10-15 favorites (not necessarily greatest and/or biggest hits) Below is my dynamic list (can change) from the films that I have in my library (and watched relatively recently) excluding 007, musicals and silent films .... in English .... from the top of the mind recall and in the order of release: Rebecca (1940): Hitchcock's only film to win the best picture Oscar. Highlights the gothic environment brilliantly .... Mrs. Danvers Notorious (1946): Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman take on the Nazis in South America .... the danger is real .... inspired the crappy Mission Impossible 2 Black Narcissus (1947): Beautifully shot film about the challenges that a group of nuns face in a remote location Roman Holiday (1953): Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn cross paths in Rome To Catch a Thief (1955): Cary Grant and Grace Kelly light up the French Riviera Vertigo (1958): Obsession of discovering the truth can lead to dire consequences North by Northwest (1959): Cary Grant gets entangled with Eva Marie Saint. The Mount Rushmore finale Psycho (1960): Norman Bates Spartacus (1960): Kubrick's epic on Gladiators taking down the Roman Empire .... Because Kubrick was not given a free hand relatively speaking, he disowned this film The Guns of Navarone (1961): An allied group disrupts a Nazi operation in Greece Lawrence of Arabia (1962): David Lean's masterclass Charade (1963): Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn solve a mystery in Paris .... Inspired many Bollywood films including Chaila Babu and its tune/song the "gumnaam hai koi" song Dr. Strangelove (1964): Sarcasm at its wittiest The Day of the Jackal (1973): An intelligent thriller about a hired assassin assigned to bump off the French President Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): An action adventure film unlike others Not surprisingly, many of the films on my list are Hitchcock's. The actor with most films is Cary Grant. Though films such as Suspicion are not even listed. Edited November 17, 2020 by zen Sonix768 and Banton 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 (edited) 1980s had some great action classics including: Indiana Jones series Mad Max Conan the Barbarian Lethal Weapon Diehard Batman There were First Blood, The Terminator, Jackie Chan films like Police Story (do not know how it will hold up now), John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, etc. .... Even films such as Beverly Hills Cop, Tango & Cash, Black Cobra, Commando, Red Heat, etc., were a good timepass Edited November 17, 2020 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Longest Day The Great Escape 12 Angry men To Kill A Mocking Bird Birds 2001 A Space Odyssey Mackenna's Gold Magnificent Seven The Airplane Airport 77 (The whole series) The woman in red A Fish called Wanda Quo Vadis Benhur My Fair Lady The Sound of Music Serpico The French Connection On The Waterfront One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest I haven't come to 70s and 80s/ Sonix768 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 @coffee_rules did you watch the films relatively recently (say in the last 2-3 years) or listing them from memory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 4 minutes ago, zen said: @coffee_rules did you watch the films relatively recently (say in the last 2-3 years) or listing them from memory? I had watched some long time , some like Quo Vadis when I was a kid. Have re-Watched some recently like Serpico French Connection The Great escape 12 Angry Men 2001 Mackenna’s Gold On the waterfront Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 13 minutes ago, coffee_rules said: I had watched some long time , some like Quo Vadis when I was a kid. Have re-Watched some recently like Serpico French Connection The Great escape 12 Angry Men 2001 Mackenna’s Gold On the waterfront Try to list the ones you saw in the last 2-3 years as taste can change .... of the ones above 2001 & The Great Escape, I have in my library .... Both brilliant films Recently watched Mackenna's Gold (liked the "old turkey buzzard" song) & On the waterfront on Criterion Channel (https://www.criterionchannel.com/) Others I saw them a long time ago (probably more than 3 years ago) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 18, 2020 Author Share Posted November 18, 2020 Watching “It Happened One Night (1934)” starring Clarke Gable .... the film has had a huge influence on Bollywood inspiring films to various degrees including Chori Chori, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, and DDLJ (esp. the Euro trip part) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 Ben-Hur (1959) Pros: Messala, one of the most cunning villains of AT. Chariot race. Grand sets. Good performances. Nice background score. Technically, a solid film esp. for its time. Cons: Length (close to 4 hours). Religious tone may appear campy to some. Overall: Because of its focus on drama, still holds up nicely. One of the AT Roman era epics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 22, 2020 Author Share Posted November 22, 2020 The Ten Commandments (1956) Pros: Ancient Egypt (and a biblical tale) brought to life. Interactions among key players esp. how the characters are guided by their motives. Good remains good, while evil evil. Acting Cons: Similar to Ben-Hur's: Length (close to 4 hours). Religious tone may appear campy to some .... Visual effects may appear dated now but it is not a big deal Overall: Another nice classic epic film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ankit_sharma03 Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) Amadeus Taxi driver Edited November 22, 2020 by Ankit_sharma03 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) Limiting to 15 is tough, very tough. Will give it a shot, not my ranking... 1. Ben-Hur 2. The Ten Commandments 3. Doctor Zhivago 4. Lawrence of Arabia 5. The Bridge on River Kwai 6. 12 Angry Men 7. Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor one) 8. Roman Holiday 9. Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back 10. Spartacus 11. The Sound of Music 12. All the President's Men 13. Wall Street 14. Dead Poets Society 15. The Great Dictator Another day, I will have some other list (missed out movies like Citizen Kane, E.T., The Untouchables, Amadeus, Godfather I&II, Papillon, Kramer vs Kramer, Mackenna's Gold..... ) but at least 10 names from here will always be in any of my lists when it comes to pre-90 movies. . Edited November 22, 2020 by Gollum Sonix768 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 @Ankit_sharma03 did you only see 2 classics recently? Taxi Driver has influenced the recent Joker @Gollum you appear to be in to epics .... like that you picked the Great Dictator (for some reason, I forgot that it is a talkie). Great film! Gollum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ankit_sharma03 Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 Just now, zen said: @Ankit_sharma03 did you only see 2 classics recently? Taxi Driver has influenced the recent Joker Nope , but many u have mentioned and many i cudnt think of and i saw most of them when i was in film school as i keep thinking ill keep adding like Joker was influenced by 2 films- taxi driver n king of comedy (king of comedy bombed but i think its as good as any scorcese film) Cinema paradiso godfather Casablanca king of comedy n after hours ( if not hit is a criteria) Any kurosawa or kubrick film will keep adding as i think of more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 BTW, Bond movies are back on Prime. Continuing my Bond Film Festival @zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 (edited) 21 minutes ago, coffee_rules said: BTW, Bond movies are back on Prime. Continuing my Bond Film Festival @zen Great! Let's do Brosnan films festival some time soon ..... Prime may have the new 4k transfers of Brosnan films (GE looks better) but these are not on Prime Canada. But I have them on blu-ray so not a big deal PS our review thread has been archived so let's continue the discussion here Edited November 24, 2020 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) HMSS is top-notch. Sexist for its times, but action and plot is great. I was wrong about this bond George Lazenby, he was not all bad, but the direction and action was beyond its times of 1969. Esp the skiing and luge race. Sad ending for a bond movie, just like Skyfall/casino royal. Does Bond take revenge on Blofeld in a later movie? As the next movie was Sean Connery back on DAF, the story seems to have abruptly ended in OHMSS. Edited November 24, 2020 by coffee_rules Cricketics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) 41 minutes ago, coffee_rules said: HMSS is top-notch. Sexist for its times, but action and plot of s great. I was wrong about this bond George Lazenby, he was not all bad, but the direction and action was beyond its times of 1969. Esp the skiing and luge race. Sad ending for a bond movie, just like Skyfall/casino royal. Does Bond take revenge on Blofeld in a later movie. As the next movie was Sean Connery back on DAF, the story seems to have abruptly ended YOLT -> DAF OHMSS -> FYEO (the pre title sequence appears to be linked) OHMSS & FYEO should ideally watched in conjunction with each other OHMSS is closed based on the book, which leads to YOLT & TMWTGG .... The latter two films were made differently (little in common with the books except some concepts) and the order changed as well Edited November 24, 2020 by zen coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 ^^^Except that YOLT was released earlier than OHMSS, My next is TMWGG. DAF starts and ends with Blofeld, so there is closure. I will rate OHMSS over DAF, GF, LALD . Worst being LALD , it is racist as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, coffee_rules said: ^^^Except that YOLT was released earlier than OHMSS, My next is TMWGG. DAF starts and ends with Blofeld, so there is closure. I will rate OHMSS over DAF, GF, LALD . Worst being LALD , it is racist as well. Yeah as I said they were released in a different order. IIRC, there was not enough snow or something like that to shoot OHMSS so they went ahead with YOLT (which only has a few things in common with the book) BTW, DAF would be seen more as continuing from YOLT where Blofeld escapes at the end (also that is how it would proceed in Connery’s collection and also considering DAF’s campy tone). An injured “Blofled” (were not able to use him or SPECTRE in later films due to an issue with one of the writers who co-wrote TB. Only returned recently in SP) returns in FYEO’s pre title sequence with it opening with Bond paying his respect .... For Roger Moore’s films, no particular order is required so you could go on with FYEO after OHMSS (maybe LALD -> TMWTGG and TSWLW -> MR for Sheirff Pepper and Jaws respectively if concerned with minor characters related details) After Connery resigned, Peter Hunt, a long time editor of 007 films, was given the director duties for OHMSS. He wanted to make the film as close to the book as possible Lazenby was supposed to do DAF too but he wanted more money or something like that (not happy with contract, etc) or may be that was the reason given by them. Connery was brought back for the last time for a record amount (a part of it donated to charity by Connery if I am not wrong) OHMSS is usually rated highly along with FRWL, TSWLM, CR, etc. .... I also rate TB and TLD high .... LALD is a different type of Bond film and among my big favorites -> Moore’s debut in style, great group of villains, memorable sequences including the escape from alligators/crocs, boat chase and Mrs. Bell’s ride, voodoo elements, feet tapping background score and one of the best Bond girls. I have Roger Moore’s diaries for the film as well (nicely written but yet to finish it) .... There is usually something to like in every 007 film .... My low rated ones “relatively speaking” would be DAD & SP (though watched them many times esp. when they were new and still enjoy them when in the right mood) Edited November 24, 2020 by zen coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Bond Theme song inspired by Indian classical music, see the connection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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