Famous Classic Movies You've Never Watched

[ZiprHead]

Inspired by these comments...

Never seen The Godfather, or Scarface. Partially because I have other stuff to do. Not a huge Star Wars fan either.

I like movies but am far, far from a film buff. There are many huge films I've never seen.

I have never watched Gone With The Wind.

 

[Tharmas]

There are many I've never seen. But for the most popular classic I've never seen, I'd say "The Sound of Music."

 

[ZiprHead]

There are many I've never seen. But for the most popular classic I've never seen, I'd say "The Sound of Music."

I think I may have seen it when I was a kid but I don't remember it.

 

[WAB]

I have not seen:

Midnight Cowboy
Deer Hunter
French Connection
Cool Hand Luke
The Hustler
St. Elmo's Fire
Breakfast Club
Dirty Dancing
Napoleon Dynamite
Papillion
Coming Home
any Harry Potter movie
Caligula
Titanic
The Color Purple
Fried Green Tomatoes
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Sophie's Choice
many others...

 

[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.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I’ve never seen The Godfather or Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

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 can say I am a Wallace and Gromit fan.

 

[Swammerdami]

I've not seen Jaws nor Avatar nor most of the Star Wars films nor the old Charlie Chaplins nor most of the super-hero and action genres. My son tells me we watched The Matrix together, but I have no recollection of it.

I’ve never seen The Godfather or Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.

Wow! You are missing the 2nd-best movie ever made AND the very best movie (by far) ever made. (In my humble opinion, of course ). Even Lawrence of Arabia -- with a 2nd half that drags on much too long and which is a bit over-rated -- still falls in my Top 30.

(How old are you, Shadowy Man? My hypothesis is that young people for whom WWII is an ancient bygone will lack the visceral connection that helps make Casablanca so compelling.)

To put your opinions of these films in perspective, can you tell us which films you do rate near the very top?

 

[Shadowy Man]

I've not seen Jaws nor Avatar nor most of the Star Wars films nor the old Charlie Chaplins nor most of the super-hero and action genres. My son tells me we watched The Matrix together, but I have no recollection of it.

I have seen Jaws but not in a very long time. I have seen Avatar and it had good effects at the time but the story wasn’t particularly compelling so I never watched the sequel. I remember seeing The Matrix in the theater when it came out and going in with basically no information was amazing! Too bad it was ruined by a series of ever worsening sequels.

I’ve never seen The Godfather or Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.

Wow! You are missing the 2nd-best movie ever made AND the very best movie (by far) ever made. (In my humble opinion, of course ). Even Lawrence of Arabia -- with a 2nd half that drags on much too long and which is a bit over-rated -- still falls in my Top 30.

I’ve seen Good Fellas and The Untouchables but generally gangster movies don’t hold much appeal for me.

(How old are you, Shadowy Man? My hypothesis is that young people for whom WWII is an ancient bygone will lack the visceral connection that helps make Casablanca so compelling.)

Well, I’m hoping enough to not have been alive in WWII, that’s for sure. You can take a guess at my age.

To put your opinions of these films in perspective, can you tell us which films you do rate near the very top?

I tend not to think of things that way with ratings and top lists. But one of my favorite movies is Memento. I watched it in theaters twice in one week when it came out. I thought The Insider (1999) was a great movie at the time but I haven’t seen it a very long time. Gattaca and Interstellar are likely my favorite Science fiction movies. Princess Bride is way up high on my list of favorites. My favorite foreign film is The Syrian Bride, which I first saw in a movie festival.

Not sure this is my ultimate list but Maybe this gives you a flavor of what I like.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I define classic as movies made before I was born, or nearly so. I'll take it into the mid sixties but that's about it. Some of these movies listed by others were made when I was an adult.
Almost everything from the fifties and earlier I haven't seen. By and large, I can't tolerate the acting, mainly the emotional displays are so often over exaggerated and therefore inappropriate. There were some actors who could get this right. Then in the seventies, it seemed there was a move toward the opposite, a lack of emotion when there should be some accompanied by the camera holding on the particular actor for much too long. I think this lack of emotion was suppose to be interpreted as cool.
There are some movies, dramas and light comedies made in the sixties that are great viewing if I'm high. I love that feeling of nostalgia that rushes over me. Friday night is often TMC night.

I never made it out of the wedding reception in the Godfather. Tried three times.

 

[Ford]

I've never seen E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

I chalk it up to my dad...who took me and my brother to see "Jaws" when it came out, and also took the fam to see Star Wars and Close Encounters, but when it came to E.T., we showed up and there was a line around the building, no parking in the lot, and he basically said "screw this...let's go out to get something to eat and call it a day."

I never watched it on home video, and I think it's maybe a weird way of honoring my dad. Nothing against Spielberg...I'm just never gonna watch that fucking movie.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I've not seen Jaws nor Avatar nor most of the Star Wars films nor the old Charlie Chaplins nor most of the super-hero and action genres. My son tells me we watched The Matrix together, but I have no recollection of it.

I’ve never seen The Godfather or Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.

Wow! You are missing the 2nd-best movie ever made AND the very best movie (by far) ever made. (In my humble opinion, of course ). Even Lawrence of Arabia -- with a 2nd half that drags on much too long and which is a bit over-rated -- still falls in my Top 30.

Lawrence of Arabia is what it is from the remarkable cinematography (I think they shot it at f/infinity) and the musical score (to be lifted by John Williams). It is otherwise a pretty good, not terribly inaccurate, historical film. The visuals are just insanely great!

(How old are you, Shadowy Man? My hypothesis is that young people for whom WWII is an ancient bygone will lack the visceral connection that helps make Casablanca so compelling.)

Naw. Just takes a while to understand that films from the 30s to 60s can be great. I'm not as young anymore, but I remember watching Lawrence of Arabia (on a 27" CRT yak!) on TCM for the first time just out of college or Mister Roberts, where my fandom of Jack Lemmon began (seen almost every one of his films). Once I saw Bringing Up Baby, I had a greater appreciation for "older" films. I had seen lots of Marx Bros films by that point, but that was the extent of my classic film watching... well that and To Catch a Thief. Grant wasn't the greatest actor, but man, he was just perfect on screen.

 

[Swammerdami]

Memento is also one of my favorite movies. I've watched it a few times, even though it's one (a la Sixth Sense or Fight Club) where the surprise ending is key so it can never be quite as good the second time.

There are several "classic greats" I do not like. Citizen Kane is a favorite among professional cinematographers but for those of us who focus on story, witty dialog and character it's not so great. I am amazed that Vertigo makes #1 all-time best on some lists. I consider it very flawed and boring. (My favorite Hitchcock films are Dial M for Murder and Rope.)

Godfather is NOT at all a typical gangster film. It's more of an epic depicting the development of Michael. (Godfather II is a good watch if you loved Godfather. Forget Godfather III.)

I never made it out of the wedding reception in the Godfather. Tried three times.

In the olden days when you payed money to sit in a theater for 3 hours, walking out was an extreme seldom-used option. I thought the long opening at the wedding reception, introducing most of the major characters, was excellent and interesting. Some was extraneous (e.g. the guy doing the obviously obscene dance though the precise obscenity is available only to Italian speakers).

Was the opening, with lots of little subplots, confusing? Or just boring?

 

[WAB]

 

[ideologyhunter]

All the Harry Potter shit, if that qualifies as classic. Same with Lord of the Rings. Also haven't read one sentence of the books in both cases. Hearing about both, superficially and at a distance, from the fans, I concluded that these were not worlds I wished to wander into. As with hip hop music, I'm content to only encounter the details when they show up in the NYT crossword.

 

[Swammerdami]

Lawrence of Arabia is what it is from the remarkable cinematography (I think they shot it at f/infinity) and the musical score (to be lifted by John Williams). It is otherwise a pretty good, not terribly inaccurate, historical film. The visuals are just insanely great!

Especially famous I think is the scene where you strain your eyes: Is there a tiny camel in the distance?

I don't think it's much of a spoiler to show the funniest(?) dialog in the film:

Omar Sharif: "It is written."​

Several hours later,

Peter O'Toole: "Nothing is written."​

Several hours later,

Anthony Quinn: "It was written."​

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

All the Harry Potter shit, if that qualifies as classic. Same with Lord of the Rings. Also haven't read one sentence of the books in both cases. Hearing about both, superficially and at a distance, from the fans, I concluded that these were not worlds I wished to wander into.

I knew nothing of LotR. I enjoyed each of the movies quite a bit. Even the extended versions, well after they were in the theaters.

Harry Potter is enjoyable, but pop movie.

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

I have not seen:

Midnight Cowboy
Deer Hunter
French Connection
Cool Hand Luke
The Hustler
St. Elmo's Fire
Breakfast Club
Dirty Dancing
Napoleon Dynamite
Papillion
Coming Home
any Harry Potter movie
Caligula
Titanic
The Color Purple
Fried Green Tomatoes
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Sophie's Choice
many others...

I haven't watched about half of those either (if counting Harry Potter as just one, otherwise it makes only a third I haven't watched).
Although I knew for many years the plot and all the songs, I watched for the first (and only) time The Wizard of Oz only recently (about one to two years ago). There are many other "classic" movies that I haven't watched.

 

[ZiprHead]

I've never seen E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

I chalk it up to my dad...who took me and my brother to see "Jaws" when it came out, and also took the fam to see Star Wars and Close Encounters, but when it came to E.T., we showed up and there was a line around the building, no parking in the lot, and he basically said "screw this...let's go out to get something to eat and call it a day."

I never watched it on home video, and I think it's maybe a weird way of honoring my dad. Nothing against Spielberg...I'm just never gonna watch that fucking movie.

I first watched ET probably 3 years ago.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I never made it out of the wedding reception in the Godfather. Tried three times.

In the olden days when you payed money to sit in a theater for 3 hours, walking out was an extreme seldom-used option. I thought the long opening at the wedding reception, introducing most of the major characters, was excellent and interesting. Some was extraneous (e.g. the guy doing the obviously obscene dance though the precise obscenity is available only to Italian speakers).

Was the opening, with lots of little subplots, confusing? Or just boring?

As I recall, boring. It was something they should have moved on from and perhaps came back to as necessary. I'm usually a sucker for a long movie which is why I gave such an effort.

All the Harry Potter shit, if that qualifies as classic. Same with Lord of the Rings. Also haven't read one sentence of the books in both cases. Hearing about both, superficially and at a distance, from the fans, I concluded that these were not worlds I wished to wander into. As with hip hop music, I'm content to only encounter the details when they show up in the NYT crossword.

I had The Hobbit presented to me in tenth grade and was fascinated by how imaginative the book was. I was hooked and then found the trilogy in our school library.
As for the movies, I don't know if there is a book I've read made into a movie I didn't feel compelled to watch.