Just got Netflix. Name some great old movies.

[Felon]

Some of us may be old enough to remember when video stores were mom-n'-pop shops, and most of the movies you found weren't the latest, greatest, high-budget slick movies. They were old movies, many of which you'd likely never heard of or seen before. Blockbuster killed all of that. Now if you walk into your local video store and ask if they have Get Carter, you're lucky if they find the naughty word 2000 Sylvester Stallone remake--forget the 1971 Michael Caine original.

So, now I got a Netflix account and hey, they do have the Caine version of Get Carter. I'll probably dig up whatever Sam Peckimpah they've got as well.

Tell me about your favorite old movies that are hard to find. Stuff they don't show on TV. If you have found it at Netflix, by all means mention that.

 

[Darkness]

Moved to the Movie forum.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I don't know if it exactly qualifies as "hard to find," but Casablanca is my favorite movie by a long shot. Hmm....the old Pied Piper of Hamelin, with Claude Reins, is also very good.

 

[Lazybones]

Here are just a lesser-known films that come to mind:

• I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, with Paul Muni. A hard-hitting commentary on the justice system in the South during the Depression. Just released on DVD.
• The Best Years of Our Lives, 1948 Best Picture winner. Story of three vets returning from WW2 and the difficulties they have in readjusting to civilian life.
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, NOT the Adam Sandler remake.
• Meet John Doe, another lesser-known Capra piece about corrupt politics and mass mobilization of the public.
• The Big Sleep, Humphrey Bogart is Philip Marlowe.
• The Young Lions. Follows the experiences of several WW2 soldiers, including 2 Americans (1 Jewish) and 1 German.

Pretty much anything here: http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

 

[jsewell]

The Third Man, The General (silent), "La Jetee" (the inspiration for 12 Monkeys - be sure to get the English voice over unless you speak French: the film's visuals are key, so reading the subtitles will take away from the experience), "Hairy Knuckles" (seriously - I saw it at a film festival, so it may not be available. If you can get it, it's f-ing hilarious), Midnight Express, Double Indemnity, Amelie (OK - it's not old, but it's a must-see).

 

[Templetroll]

Casablanca was already mentioned. The Maltese Falcon is the other great Bogart movie.

Try The Court Jester with Danny Kaye and the Long Ships with Richard Widmark for some fun films.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Bridge on the River Kwai.
Doctor Zhivago.

I consider these hard to find, because I rarely see them in a video store around here. They're about two of the finest movies.

The old Pride and Prejudice (B&W) is a fine movie. Most of Errol Flynn's movies are a blast.

 

[Heretic Apostate]

January Man, with Kevin Kline as a quirky detective-consultant to the police

Day of the Dolphin, about a dolphin that's been trained to talk

The Madness of King George

Bullets over Broadway

Those are some good ones.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

I was surprised by the quality of Arsenic and Old Lace; A situation comedy that I thought was well ahead of its time. It’s a fast paced dark comedy about a bunch of dead bodies in the basement, two wacky old ladies, a delusional guy with a trumpet, and two impostors.

And netflix has it. That's where I got it from.

 

[WayneLigon]

I was surprised by the quality of Arsenic and Old Lace

Love, love that movie. "The window box? We've never had yellow fever there before!"

The Producers
The Great Race