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Classic Movies

Touch of Evil is my favourite Orson Welles film. His performance, the reveal of the body in the hotel room and of course the (three-minute?) opening shot are three of the reasons. Oh yes, and Marlene Dietrich. Four reasons.
 
On classic must-sees, Am I alone in being unmoved watching ‘Citizen Kane’?

Maybe it’s on the back of hearing everywhere how brilliant is, and the resultant expectation bias?

Ha! Just came to this thread to say exactly that! I was most unimpressed...

Apparently it has lost it's rating of "best film ever made" to "The Third Man", which is a much better film... IMHO...
 
The Kenneth More 39 Steps was the first I saw...possibly at the cinema. It wasn't bad for that era. Other notable More films include the delightfully middle class and 50s soaked Genevieve ..and North West Frontier which is a 'ripping yarn'.. well shot and with many genuinely exciting scenes. Suffers a bit now from colonial attitudes. I also recall seeing a More comedy called Man in the Moon... not great. His role as Douglas Bader in 'Reach For The Sky' has not aged well IME.
Genevieve is very good & also stars John Gregson who is largely forgotten; Talking Pics have shown Gideon's Way of late which is actually better than I expected.
 
Ha! Just came to this thread to say exactly that! I was most unimpressed...

Apparently it has lost it's rating of "best film ever made" to "The Third Man", which is a much better film... IMHO...
3rd man is a great film, Welles didn't direct it but stole the movie really with his performance. I still really rate Citizen Kane even though it took a few views to appreciate it.
 
In the last Sight & Sound poll (2012) Vertigo was the film that beat it. The Third Man was #73 and Touch of Evil #57 (hooray!)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sight_&_Sound_Greatest_Films_of_All_Time_2012

Well that's bizarre to me! I'd have bet £1000 on that without a moments hesitation! I remember, as fact, in my own mind, there being quite a song and dance about The Third man overtaking Citizen Kane as best film ever and only around 2-3 years ago... a while googling it and all I can find is The Third Man was rated best ever British film... and yet I have no recollection of Vertigo being mentioned in these polls... the mind can play tricks on one it seems...:rolleyes:

I don't particularly rate Vertigo.
 
still wondering...
Sorry, I didn't see this.

I would put the cut off around the early 70s as that gives enough time for films to be rediscovered, also I am a little obsessed with some films of this era.

Some films I love from this era:

Soylent Green
The King of Marvin Gardens
Network
The French Connection
There days of the condor

I really admire certain directors, Sidney Lumet for example.

I also think Robert Redford made some great films in the 70s & his poster boy image obscures what a great actor he is.
 
70's...oh well then..
The 50's was a great era...sort of something very significant ending in Holywood, with those massive american soul searching novels (like 'mockingbird) being replaced by the 60's NEW of movies like The graduate. Still for me it was still an exploration into who we are. John Wayne again appears as my unlikely hero in that role, this time in 'The Searchers', and whilst that and '12 angry men' have the USA looking to see if they know what this world is about to bring and who they are, the new generation then launched James Dean in 'Rebel without a cause'. 3 Films that everyone might see to help put that decade in perspective.

Then ofc the 60's landed.

Since that was 'my time' ofc I am biased but so many timeless and brilliant films came out of the 60's that picking a few classics is near impossible, but...

'IF'. Just watch it for Malcolm McDowell.
'True grit'. Not for John Wayne this time but his female teen co-star who shines through all the big names around her. Kim Darby.
'Hombre' with Paul Newman. Brilliant end to the cowboy era.
Jack Lemmon's best film IMO. 'The apartment'. How did this happen in the same decade as 'The graduate'? Sometime in the mid 60's Hollywood shifted!
'Breakfast at Tiffany's'.
Dustin H again. 'Midnight Cowboy'.
And then in '67, but feels like it should have been '57, 'Look who's coming to dinner'.

And as for the 70's...
For me, 70's was the start of the violence era. Taxi Driver, Apocolypse Now, The Deerhunter, Clockwork Orange.
We'd never seen so much blood and gore :)
Anyway this was less to my taste so I sifted the decade for a bit of enduring subtlety!
'Harold and Maude'. Possibly in my top 5 films of all time.
'Annie hall'. Allen's best film for me.
'The life of Brian'. had to be.
'The french connection'. Perfect cop movie. Brilliant performance by Gene Hackman.
'Clockwork Orange'. What you can do when censorship rules loosen.
and, one of the best films of all time IMO. 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'. How brilliant is Jack Nicholson when he cares about the film he's in?
 


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