Old Movies That Still (Legitimately!) Stand Up

liah

A lot of classics are kind of dated to watch now, e.g. Carrie or The Exorcist. Things get dated, and simply don't strike us the same way now that we're saturated with contemporary cinema that has reused and improved upon what was in those classics. Soundtracks can seem cheesier than they originally did, acting or story less interesting, scenes can seem too long or drawn out, the scenes have been parodied too many times ('what is seen cannot be unseen'), you know the type.

But what about the movies that still stand up? I've recently been re-watching the Hitchcock collection and other than a couple very brief moments, they still largely stand up to the test of time and have much the same tension as they did upon first viewing, e.g. The Birds or Psycho. Or, to get the focus off the horror/thriller genre, The Graduate still stands up amazingly well, I can't think of any part of it that struck me as cheesy or dated after watching it again a few weeks ago.

What are some other you think genuinely stand the test of time and are just as effective now as they were the first time you saw them? And what do you like about them?

krudler

The Thing, towers above horror movies today tension and effects wise. And the score is fantastic, its a draining movie to watch as its so pessimistic.

The Haunting (the original 1963 version) you'd think a b&w horror made 50 years ago wouldnt be scary, how wrong you'd be.

Interesting you think The Exorcist has aged, its one of those timeless movies to me. Watching it now its more the characters than the posession stuff that makes it riveting, and it still looks amazing, in both cinematography and the effects.

johnny_ultimate

Any film that wasn't from the 80s :P

There's an absolute tonne of films from all cinematic periods that still hold up wonderfully. I recently just saw the entirety of Metropolis on the big screen, and while cinematic techniques and storytelling have clearly advanced since 1927, there's no denying it's still a ludicrously ambitious, technically inventive and thematically rich science fiction film, and has lost little of the initial power it had in the 80 years since its release.

Obviously since I'm in my early 20s, there aren't too many films that have really aged in my lifetime. But like Metropolis there are a tonne which have still had a profound impact on me as I've discovered them. Ingmar Bergman is my favourite director, and his film's still shock and surprise me. Persona is one if not my favourite film, and in the 45 years since its released there have been few if any films that have dived into the same psychological depth as Persona. It's a structurally complex, intensely acted masterpiece that still retains its raw power after all this time. Similarly, the Seventh Seal isn't diminished by the hundreds of parodies of its iconic scene, and is still one of the most haunting films of all time.

Akira Kurosawa's films have barely aged a day either (bar a reliance on rough scene transitions that clearly had a bad influence on George Lucas ). Watch something like Yojimbo and it's still funny, tense and entertaining. Rashomon's structure and moral ambiguity remains extremely powerful.

I could name a tonne of films that haven't aged badly tbh, although having grown up with a high technical standard I'm certainly in no position to comment on the fact 'they don't make 'em like they used to'. However, there are times when good films have aged elements, but the best succeed despite the limitations of the time. I watched Polanski's Repulsion recently, and while some of the film-making, soundtrack etc... is clearly a relic of the 60s, there's no denying it's an extraordinary film, with a dark sexuality and disturbing energy that even today feels like its pushing boundaries.

Blisterman

I think most of the CGI heavy movies of the 90's especially, will be seen as very dated in the future. In fact they already do.

Cartoons are probably the most timeless genre of movie. Pretty much everyone has seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Are there any other movies over 70 years old that so many people have seen?

krudler

Blisterman wrote: »

I think most of the CGI heavy movies of the 90's especially, will be seen as very dated in the future. In fact they already do.

Cartoons are probably the most timeless genre of movie. Pretty much everyone has seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Are there any other movies over 70 years old that so many people have seen?

I find a lot of the cgi in 90s movies is better than what they do now in some cases. Jurassic Park is still the benchmark for cgi imo, its never been bettered.

Phony Scott

It's a while since I saw it, but 'It Happened One Night' hasn't dated at all. I'm not a fan of Frank Capra (personally think he's very overrated) but the film is a complete gem, which could easily be remade today, though I hope it's not.

Sad Professor

I agree with krudler about The Exorcist. It has aged extremely well imo. I'm actually hesitant to even call it a horror film. Friedkin always said he approached it as a drama which I think is precisely why it stands up so well. It's a great story whether you find it scary or not. Most of the people who were really shocked by it in 1973 were very religious. And it was the idea of the film that shocked them more than the head spinning and the crucifix stabbing.

Also, I think the key thing about Jurassic Park's special effects is that Spielberg didn't use CGI for everything. Most of the dinosaur effects were actually animatronics with CGI only being used for the full body shots.

mike65

This is the kind of thread that makes me feel really old

Two Kubricks, Dr Strangelove and 2001 (okay the reference to Pan-Am now looks a bit dodgy....) Blade Runner technically still knocks most films into a cocked hat, only the 2019 year seem wrong at this point.

Phony Scott

mike65 wrote: »

Blade Runner [...] only the 2019 year seem wrong at this point.

I'd say there's an arguement out there that the score dates the film badly too, though I think it's beautiful. Personally I wish Ridley Scott had bumped up the date to much later (maybe 50 years?) in the recent "final cut". I also wish that he could remove some of the dated advertising ie for Atari etc.

krudler

Phony Scott wrote: »

I'd say there's an arguement out there that the score dates the film badly too, though I think it's beautiful. Personally I wish Ridley Scott had bumped up the date to much later (maybe 50 years?) in the recent "final cut". I also wish that he could remove some of the dated advertising ie for Atari etc.

No. just no. leave it alone, Atari are still around btw.

Phony Scott

krudler wrote: »

Atari are still around btw.

:looks it up: ah, ok, they are still around, but there are other companies in the film that are advertised which have long since gone bust which does dated the movie.

Richard Dower

How old?....'cause i consider a movie from 2000 to be old.

don ramo

rewatched When Harry Met Sally a few months back just a good as the first time i saw it, probably puts most girl meets boy films of the last 15 years to shame, (thats the problem with benchmarks, anyone making a new film knows it only has to somewhere around as good as the benchmark, so theres no need to put so much thought into it)

i remember watching The Time Machine (1960) a year or two ago, i thought it was supperior in every aspect to the newer one,

everyone is going on about effects, i think its just films in general, stories and caracters, i like effects they make a lot of films possible, and help convey the image that the original writers saw in there heads, but i find some people overuse them simply to make the film seem like a lot of work went into them, when i watch a film i wanna watch a story unfold,

losthorizon

don ramo wrote: »

everyone is going on about effects, i think its just films in general, stories and caracters, i like effects they make a lot of films possible, and help convey the image that the original writers saw in there heads, but i find some people overuse them simply to make the film seem like a lot of work went into them, when i watch a film i wanna watch a story unfold,

I agree and thats why films with loads of effects tend to date quicker.

The effects should be the last thing a director should think about not the first.

Faith+1

I'd say Gladiator, I know it's only 11 years old but it's one of those films that still stands up todays releases and will still look as fresh in 20 years time.
Great score, great fighting scenes, great acting which includes phenomenal performances from the late Richard Harris and Oliver Reed, what more could a warm blooded bloke want!

I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE!!! :cool:

Goldstein

Terminator II: Judgement Day is 20 years old this year :eek:
I hope I'm not the only one who now feels very old after reading that.

I know of no other movie so heavily laden with special effects, to withstand technology and time's march so well. ILM did such an outstanding job with it there aren't adequate superlatives to cover their success.


To put that achievement into perspective, that same year the following video games were released:

• Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega-Drive
• Street FIghter II (Arcade version)
• Lemmings
• and Nintendo released the SNES.

That is just gob-smacking. Can you imagine putting one of those games next to what we have now and struggling to tell the difference?

don ramo

Goldstein wrote: »

Terminator II: Judgement Day is 20 years old this year :eek:
I hope I'm not the only one who now feels very old after reading that.

I know of no other movie so heavily laden with special effects, to withstand technology and time's march so well. ILM did such an outstanding job with it there aren't adequate superlatives to cover their success.


To put that achievement into perspective, that same year the following video games were released:

• Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega-Drive
• Street FIghter II (Arcade version)
• Lemmings
• and Nintendo released the SNES.

That is just gob-smacking. Can you imagine putting one of those games next to what we have now and struggling to tell the difference?

just one reason why james cameron is so great, even Aliens now 25 years old is still just as good as the day it came out,

i recently rewatched Terminator 1 and 2 and 2 was a great leap from 1, and to be fare to cameron part 1 was only his 3 directing credit,

The Shawshank Redemption is 17 years old and ive watched it at least 30 times and its just as great as it was the first time i saw it,

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, 36:eek: years old, honestly i found it shocking it was that old, such a great film,

Back To The Future, 26 years old, recently went to see the digital re-release, the whole film still looked great, i dunno how much they touched it up, but it didnt look like anything was really done but make it that bit sharper,

Die Hard, 23 years old, honestly who to this day would switch it off if it came on tv, damn i would probably rent it once a year if i didnt own it

the whole year inn

don ramo wrote: »

just one reason why james cameron is so great, even Aliens now 25 years old is still just as good as the day it came out,

i recently rewatched Terminator 1 and 2 and 2 was a great leap from 1, and to be fare to cameron part 1 was only his 3 directing credit,

The Shawshank Redemption is 17 years old and ive watched it at least 30 times and its just as great as it was the first time i saw it,

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, 36:eek: years old, honestly i found it shocking it was that old, such a great film,

Back To The Future, 26 years old, recently went to see the digital re-release, the whole film still looked great, i dunno how much they touched it up, but it didnt look like anything was really done but make it that bit sharper,

Die Hard, 23 years old, honestly who to this day would switch it off if it came on tv, damn i would probably rent it once a year if i didnt own it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSRIaZBsv5k

Reminds of this

major bill

12 angry men- brilliant film one of the best film cast acting wise of all time never gets boring!!!!

any sergio leone films.....the man was a genius.

Sticky_Fingers

liah wrote: »

But what about the movies that still stand up? I've recently been re-watching the Hitchcock collection and other than a couple very brief moments, they still largely stand up to the test of time and have much the same tension as they did upon first viewing, e.g. The Birds or Psycho.

The Birds was the first movie that I thought when I opened this thread. saw it again over Christmas and it still creeped me out (that scene where she is sitting in front of the school playground, jesus:eek:)


As an aside, since I'm in my late 20's I can only look back on the decades before my birth through film. I'm sure I'm not alone but the world before the 50's will always be imagined by me as being a grainy black and white, the 50's and early 60's viewed in soft focus garish primary colours while the 70's is grotty old browns and puke green. The only films that stand out for me are those that could have been filmed yesterday, be they b&w or colour, an example being Stalker (Russian b&w, impenetrable, bloated story but looks gorgeous)

The Pontiac

Has E.T. aged well (1982)? I haven't seen it since, but I imagine it did.

Watched Tootsie recently (also 1982), and it's every bit as good. A true classic!

The Godfather (1972) could have been made yesterday, or even 20 years from now. Probably the greatest film ever made.

Watched Kramer vs Kramer (1979) recently and it looked very dated. As does Fatal Attraction - it looked rubbish.

Pulp Fiction will still look great fifty years from now IMO. It's one of those classics.

Once Upon a Time in America (1984) looks every bit as good today. Maybe because most of it was set in the early 1900's, but many films were set in this era but they didn't have the same impact. The 'true' definition of a classic, I guess.

The Pontiac

major bill wrote: »

any sergio leone films.....the man was a genius.

Just read this after I included Once Upon a Time in America in my post.

Agree completely that Sergio Leone was a genius.

ziedth

major bill wrote: »

12 angry men- brilliant film one of the best film cast acting wise of all time never gets boring!!!!

any sergio leone films.....the man was a genius.

+1 to this it's 54 years old and still one of my fav films. I think a strong cast can make a film last a long time too. Gladiator was mentioned above I thing that will stand up for many years even when the special effects do look dated due to the acting alone.

FortuneChip

Any movie that's character centric should hold up.
I'm going to sound like a massive Al Pacino fan here but
Scarface (Which I was never blown away by) came to mind when I saw this thread.
Serpico, I only saw this about 5/6 years ago for the first time, and in no way thought "No, this movie doesn't feel right." Obviously you can tell it's a movie set in the 70's, but there's nothing in the movie that feels awkward or out of place. No ridiculous soundtrack or strange themes.

Scorsese movies should hold up against time as well, Goodfellas, Departed etc, I just can't see myself coming back to those and thinking "Yeah, it's not what it used to be"

spiritcrusher

I think North By Northwest still holds up as one of the finest action/adventure films ever. Cary Grant is endlessly enjoyable, both incredibly tense and often hilarious. It still contains at least two of the greatest action sequences ever put to film, the crop duster and Rushmore. Impeccably directed. I absolutely love how Hitchcock toys with the viewer for about 5 minutes at the start of the crop duster sequence. Quite possibly my favourite film.

The Third Man is another oldie I think has stood up very well. Cracking plot and expert acting. Joseph Cotten nails it as a borderline alcoholic and pretty crap writer investigating his friend's death. Things then get a whole lot more grim when Welles enters the frame.

I'd also say a lot of old films hold up quite well actually. I find that all that really dates them is maybe the soundtrack or that they've been borrowed from so heavily. A lot of the characters, particularly in film noirs, are every bit as morally dubious as any modern day anti-hero. Bogart in The Maltese Falcon for example, doesn't really give a sh1t about anyone but himself.

Even his murdered partner and his widow he was seemingly having an affair with.

I would also say that a lot of the classic actors were every bit as good as modern ones.

AnonoBoy

Some Like It Hot.

Saw it again recently - still fantastic from start to finish.

It's over 50 years old at this stage.

Paddy Samurai

Agree with has already been said about The Godfather and The Thing ,both are great movies that still stand up.

Another IMO is The French Connection .....it's an all time classic. Thanks to the acting/story it still holds up as a great film 40 years on.Hackman is at the top of his game in this one.

krudler

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Another IMO is The French Connection .....it's an all time classic. Thanks to the acting/story it still holds up as a great film 40 years on.Hackman is at the top of his game in this one.

The car chase has still never been bettered either.

Any movie that used mechanics/puppetry/robots will never age, I think. Alien and Aliens still stand the test of time.

krudler

Deleted User wrote: »

Any movie that used mechanics/puppetry/robots will never age, I think. Alien and Aliens still stand the test of time.

The alien queen is still one of the greatest animatronics ever. her reveal is one of those incredible movie moments.

karma_

liah wrote: »

A lot of classics are kind of dated to watch now, e.g. Carrie or The Exorcist. Things get dated, and simply don't strike us the same way now that we're saturated with contemporary cinema that has reused and improved upon what was in those classics. Soundtracks can seem cheesier than they originally did, acting or story less interesting, scenes can seem too long or drawn out, the scenes have been parodied too many times ('what is seen cannot be unseen'), you know the type.

But what about the movies that still stand up? I've recently been re-watching the Hitchcock collection and other than a couple very brief moments, they still largely stand up to the test of time and have much the same tension as they did upon first viewing, e.g. The Birds or Psycho. Or, to get the focus off the horror/thriller genre, The Graduate still stands up amazingly well, I can't think of any part of it that struck me as cheesy or dated after watching it again a few weeks ago.

What are some other you think genuinely stand the test of time and are just as effective now as they were the first time you saw them? And what do you like about them?

Could not agree more about Hitchcock. I can watch Dial M, Rear Window, Trouble with Harry & Vertigo over and over.

Ryaller

Nobody's mentioned Annie Hall (1977) yet? Brilliantly scripted and almost perfect. Doesn't insult it's audience unlike almost every romantic comedy made since. I don't know how many times I've watched it, but it makes me laugh every time.

liah

Deleted User wrote: »

Any movie that used mechanics/puppetry/robots will never age, I think. Alien and Aliens still stand the test of time.

Any movie is a bit strong, in fairness. I've seen some terrible practical effects that just do not stand up even when they're still contemporary.

And back on topic, I also watched Streetcar a month or so ago, still a fantastic film now that I think of it.

Jimdagym

karma_ wrote: »

Could not agree more about Hitchcock. I can watch Dial M, Rear Window, Trouble with Harry & Vertigo over and over.

Or Rope, my personal fav.

I watched Casablanca over Christmas for the first time and it blew me away. Having spent all my life hearing lines from it and seeing various parodies of it, it had become almost a characateur of a film in my mind. But the entire story had my gripped, and the eventual delivery of the lines I had heard so many times in my life were perfection personified. Bogart was outstanding.
Definately has not lost anything in the 69 years it has been around imo.

Jimdagym

Jimdagym wrote: »

Or Rope, my personal fav.

God, Rope was an incredible movie. Don't think I've ever been in such suspense over something as small as a maid picking up some books from a wooden box.

chin_grin

Harvey immediately came to mind. Just a magical movie. If it was remade today I'm sure it'd lose all its imagination and Harvey would be some stupid 3D yoke created on a computer and the whole thing shot in front of a green screen. Sterile, cold and lifeless.

edolan

Jaws I think still manages to hold up well, a bit before it's time I would say though.

Earthhorse

Hitchcock was the first name that came into my mind when I saw the thread title.

I don't watch many old movies but Dog Day Afternoon, Citizen Kane, In the Heat of the Night and Midnight Cowboy are all worth watching today in my opinion.

Voodu Child

Goldstein wrote: »

Terminator II: Judgement Day is 20 years old this year :eek:
I hope I'm not the only one who now feels very old after reading that.

I know of no other movie so heavily laden with special effects, to withstand technology and time's march so well. ILM did such an outstanding job with it there aren't adequate superlatives to cover their success.

I don't like the nuke scene in T2, it's like something from the 50s. It's very obvious you're looking at model cars and trees being blown over.

Sometimes model work can be amazing, you never feel like you are looking at small objects. But in T2 it really does just plainly look like a camera zoomed in on scale models.

AnonoBoy

chin_grin wrote: »

Harvey immediately came to mind. Just a magical movie. If it was remade today I'm sure it'd lose all its imagination and Harvey would be some stupid 3D yoke created on a computer and the whole thing shot in front of a green screen. Sterile, cold and lifeless.

There was talk of Spielberg remaking it, thankfully that seems to have not gone ahead.

chin_grin

AnonoBoy wrote: »

There was talk of Spielberg remaking it, thankfully that seems to have not gone ahead.

Yeah, heard about that. Thank fook! Wasn't there rumours that Will Smith was going to be the lead?

Sad Professor

Voodu Child wrote: »

I don't like the nuke scene in T2, it's like something from the 50s. It's very obvious you're looking at model cars and trees being blown over.

Sometimes model work can be amazing, you never feel like you are looking at small objects. But in T2 it really does just plainly look like a camera zoomed in on scale models.

T2 also has some embarrassingly bad rear projection work during one of the driving scenes. I don't think the cgi has aged well either. It's still one of the finest action films ever made though.

Blazer

The Thing - so good that that even Hollywood's afraid to do a remake but a prelude instead.

Midnight Sting (Diggstown) - Watched it recently and still a fantastic film..great acting by James Woods..

Terminator 2-the film is 25 years old and it's special effects still look good.

pickarooney

Ryaller wrote: »

Nobody's mentioned Annie Hall (1977) yet? Brilliantly scripted and almost perfect. Doesn't insult it's audience unlike almost every romantic comedy made since. I don't know how many times I've watched it, but it makes me laugh every time.

I watched this recently but didn't crack a smile. I don't know if it's aged badly or just was never funny to begin with.

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

T2 also has some embarrassingly bad rear projection work during one of the driving scenes. I don't think the cgi has aged well either. It's still one of the finest action films ever made though.

the escape from he hospital? yeah thats awful alright, rear projection is hard to do well though, always wrecks my head when people move the steering wheel back and forth constantly to show they're driving, the car would be all over the road!

don ramo

Sc@recrow wrote: »

Terminator 2-the film is 25 years old and it's special effects still look good.

the film itself stands up, not just the effects, theres a great story in there, and its acted fairly well also

jgr12

Night of the living dead holds up really well, I recently gave it to my 16 year old cousin to watch not knowing whether he'd even watch it and he loved it.

I 2nd The Haunting (the original), I recommended The Haunting to anyone who thought Paranormal Activity was good.

Saw the Battle of Britain on tv a few weeks ago and it still looks incredible

AnonoBoy

Sc@recrow wrote: »

Terminator 2-the film is 25 years old and it's special effects still look good.

Not unless you've jumped forward to the year 2016 it's not.

FLOOPER

chin_grin wrote: »

Harvey immediately came to mind. Just a magical movie. If it was remade today I'm sure it'd lose all its imagination and Harvey would be some stupid 3D yoke created on a computer and the whole thing shot in front of a green screen. Sterile, cold and lifeless.

Had seen Harvey before and enjoyed it (may have been after a few though). But tried watching it again over the Christmas and it came across as so cheesy. I know it's a farce and played as such but JS was impossible to watch as a clown. But not a big fan of those movies, like T L O Ron Burgandy. too far from reality. Though love Dumb and Dumber; go figure!

Love some of the adoptations from play like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar named Desire, The Odd Couple and Glengarry Glen Ross. All have extraordinary casting but I think that even with medicority cast, the films would still be stunning due to script, story and production.

mikhail

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Not unless you've jumped forward to the year 2016 it's not.

He's come back in time to become a moderator and delete this post.

Sarah Connor wrote: »

This is not a joke!

What is wrong with you people?

Skynet tired to wipe out John's entire existence.

They sent Terminators back through time with their only mission: to destroy the leader of the human resistance, John Connor, my son.

The first Terminator was programmed to strike at me in the year 1984, before John was born.

It failed.

The second was set to strike at John himself when he was still a child.

Just as before, the resistance was able to send a lone warrior, a protector for John.

It was just a question of which one of them would reach him first.

Do you think this won't happen again???

It this a joke for you fucking people?

They will come back, this is not over!!

This will NEVER be over!

John is in danger!

He will always be in danger!!

Wake up, open your eyes before your life is gone!

Before ALL our lives are gone!!

losthorizon

spiritcrusher wrote: »

The Third Man is another oldie I think has stood up very well. Cracking plot and expert acting. Joseph Cotten nails it as a borderline alcoholic and pretty crap writer investigating his friend's death. Things then get a whole lot more grim when Welles enters the frame.

I love that film so much that when I visited Vienna I managed to go and visit many of the sights that film shows (like the ferris wheel scene).

Two other great films that havent aged are Night of the Hunter and also The Magnificent Ambersons.

But, there are loads of films that havent aged. I watch quite a number of "oldies" and I discover new ones all the time.