I don’t have kids of my own, but do have a niece (12) and nephew (15) and when they were here today and talking about movies with me it got me to thinking. The movies they have today…are all CRAP LOL…my niece was talking about lensy lohan movies and my nephew was talking about Tom crusie stuff, and it got me to thinking.
I fall pretty much in between you and your nephew on the timeline, at 24, but the movies I remember were, really, slightly before my time.
I’m a huge Star Wars fan, as well as Indiana Jones, and was sad to see the new movies of both franchises not really doing the name justice.
Aside from those classics, I like odder movies like Pulp Fiction, and the Big Lebowski.
I also think that everyone, at some point, should watch at least one truly classic movie, or find one they like. For me, its Casablanca.
I think a big part of the change in movies today has been the advent of CGI. Why bother with great acting and a compelling story when it just looks so COOL???
For me, ( a little older ) here are a few;
John Wayne in True Grit
Michael Rennie in The Day The Earth Stood Still
Peter Sellers in The Party
Omar Shariff & Julie Kristy in Dr. Zhivago
Sean Connery in Hunt for Red October
i like movies but real enjoy the classics too. one of my favorite actors id humphry bogart, so naturally casablanca is real high on my list of favs as is maltese falcon, african queen, high sierra, to have and have not i could go on. then there is hitchcock, as a young child i saw the birds in the theater. my mother said i hid under my coat the whole movie, it was truely a frightening movie for it’s day and all time. is there a hitchcock film not worth watching several times? and yes there are more modern classics rocky, star wars ( the original 3), alien, top gun, shawshank redemption, and some recent movies lord of the rings (all 3), forest gump, brave heart, gladiator, when we were soldiers. plus many more. but now more movies relie on gimicks and sex to get audiences to show up instead of drama, characters and story lines. but i guess today, since we have more outlets for movies, we get more bad movies, but atleast we still get some great movies too.
In no particular order:
-The Indiana Jones movies…
-Grease
-Ferris Buehler’s Day Off
-Star Wars
-The Man From Snowy River
-The Breakfast Club
-Caddyshack
-Animal House
-Rocky
-Silverado
Plenty of good movies SINCE then…but I consider those to be top flicks from my childhood/teen years.
-Tombstone…a bit later, but another great movie!
I am 63 years old.
My two all time favorite movies are “African Queen” with Katherine Hepburn & Humphrey Bogart & “Quiet Man” with John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara.
The actors & actresses mentioned are also my all time favorites & I like just about all the movies I’ve seen starring one or more of them. I must say that I’m probably typical of many guys in my age group…John Wayne is THE MAN!!!
I don’t think today’s movies can compare with the old ones, but that’s just my opinion.
Mike
I can’t believe you bunch of carpetbagger haven’t mentioned “Gone with the Wind” which is a great movies, just a tad long, as was Ben Hur, also great and the Ten Commandments. I will have to admit my favorite involved John Wayne frequently in battle dress “The Longest Day”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “True Grit”, “The Cowboys”. But Mel Gibson has made some good movies of late Braveheart, THe Patroit, We were Soldiers. I like the early movies based on John Grisham’s books, and Tom Clancy’s series with Harrison Ford. But I also enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, and several of his westerns.
True Grit, Jeremiah Johnson, The Mountain Men, Quigley Down under, A Bridge Too Far, Green Berets…Great movies. And ANYTHING written by Louis Lamour:^)
I saw one of my childhood favorites on TCM just the other day. The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flinn. That and the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies were tops
When I was a '60s era teen it was rebellious movies like The Strawberry Statement and Harold and Maude
WHAT??? No one mentioned the Rocky Horror Picture Show???
The original Star Wars and Jaws in the theater in the 70’s
The Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemount High in the 80’s
“It Came From Beneath the Sea” was the first horror film I ever saw. Took me two weeks to get my heart out of my throat. The kids nowadays would laugh and point at the silly effects. Lots of my favorites have been mentioned. Look at the following names, and I’ll bet they conjur memories of your favorites. John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Catherine Hepburn, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall, Sydney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, Meryl Streep, Mel Gibson, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Maureen O’Hara, Brian Keith, Audie Murphy, Mel Gibson, Robert Redford, Stewart Granger, …Ooooh, it’s hurting my head.
I saw Jaws in the theater with an old girl friend. In the opening scene, when the girl got chomped in half, all of our popcorn (being held by my date) went airborne. Good movie, “We need a bigger boat.”
Hey, nobody has mentioned Jimmy Stewart yet!! And how about all the old war movies - The Longest Day, Battle of the Bulge, Sargeant York. In those days, when they ran the credits, it took a while before they got to the names of the actors that you didn’t recognize.
I had it pretty good when I was young. My parents ran a movie theater when I was in high school, so they kept me employed there. Then I got a job during college as a movie projectionist. I’d hate to count all the movies that I ran during those years. But it did result in lots of cheap dates while I was in school. And I always got preferred seating.
CJ
Star Wars…followed by any war movie, especially with the Duke. ET…phone home. 2001 (never came true, dangit) , Breakfast Club, Earth Girls Are Easy (boy was I disappointed in THAT storyline), The Sure Thing, War Games, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, any of the Lethal Weapon Movies, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Cheech and Chong, Hot Dog: The Movie.
Whoops, just remembered;
Old Yeller
The Yearling
God’s Little Acre
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Guns of Navarone
AND
All the “On The Road” shows with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby
And let’s don’t forget
Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy
My “all-time” favorite has to be “Mr. Roberts”. Other than “The Ten Commandments”, it is the only movie I have seen more than twice, and it is ahead of “TTC” on that count. Anything directed by Cecile B. DeMille. For scary movies, “The Thing”.
