Must see classic movies....

[haybierman]

Interested to hear your "must see" classic movies.

For sake of definition, I'll put a date restriction on this - the movie has to be pre-1988. That means at least 20 yrs old. God, that makes me feel old!

Anyway, the date restriction will at least prevent some people from listing The Matrix or some bs like that.

Also for the benefit of our younger brethren who haven't experienced these classics as of yet you should list the year, the notable actors, and a shot synopsis of the plot.

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Some of my faves - (I'll do one from each decade)

The Great Escape (1963) - Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, etc... Several hundred Allied POWs plan a mass escape from a German POW camp. Awesome movie.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) - Clint Eastwood - A Missouri farmer joins a Confederate guerilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.

Red Dawn (1984) - Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, etc... It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers bands together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces.

All I have to say is "WOLVERINES!"

[theproudestmonkey]

other than the "big name" movies (the godfather, star wars, indiana jones, jaws, etc) here are a few of my faves:

On the Waterfront (1954)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Serpico (1973)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)

[OnePimpTiger]

I could go on for days on this one...love The Great Escape, Josey Wales, Waterfront and Cool Hand Luke, great recommendations. Here's a few of mine:

Rope (1948)
Rear Window (1954) --- Both are Hitchcock. Love most of his stuff, but those are my favs
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Harvey (1950)
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) ---Jimmy Stewart's in all of these so far...anything w/him is great.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Sting (1973)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Chinatown (1974)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
M*A*S*H (1970) ---Never was a fan of the show, but the movie was awesome
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

[john1170]

other than the "big name" movies (the godfather, star wars, indiana jones, jaws, etc) here are a few of my faves:

On the Waterfront (1954)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Serpico (1973)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Serpico is a great choice. Al Pacino at his finest. Here are a few of my suggestions.

Planet of the Apes 1969 (Heston, Mcdowell)
Godfather 1 & 2(Al Pacino, Robert Deniro, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, etc)
Taxi Driver(Deniro & Foster)
Once upon a time in America(Deniro, James Woods)
Jaws(Roy Scheider,Richard Dreyfuss,Robert Shaw)
Halloween(Jaime Lee Curtis)
The Cincinnati Kid(Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson)
One Flew over the Cuckoos nest(Jack Nicholson)
Dog Day Afternoon(Pacino)
Apocalypse Now(Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando)
The Hustler(Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason)

Too many to list, those are just some. Al Pacino sure did make some great movies in the 70's

[11chaos]

Stalag 17
William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger and many others starred in this movie
When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German POW camp barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer

Sand Pebbles
Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna.
Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat U.S.S. San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China.

Harvey
James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow
When Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend, Harvey, a pooka in the shape of a six-foot, three and a half-inch tall rabbit, to guests at a society party, his society-obsessed sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter Myrtle Mae and their family from future embarrassment

[haybierman]

The Wild Bunch (1969)
High Plains Drifter (1973)

The Wild bunch had the sweetest shootout scene in film history. SOOOO many dead.

High Plains Drifter is a very very close second to Josey Wales as my favorite western of all time. AWESOME movie.... I'd also put Pale Rider up there.

[OnePimpTiger]

The Wild bunch had the sweetest shootout scene in film history. SOOOO many dead.

High Plains Drifter is a very very close second to Josey Wales as my favorite western of all time. AWESOME movie.... I'd also put Pale Rider up there.

Honestly, The Wild Bunch probably wouldn't even be on my list if it weren't for that scene!

I love westerns...a lot of my favorite movies are Eastwood (and I was this close to listing Pale Rider, love the Preacher), John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and others...but High Plains Drifter always sticks out in my mind because he has the town painted red...love that part!

[DaClyde]

Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan brings his over-the-top action sequences and acrobatic martial arts style into the present day crime drama with this ground breaking cop-socky flick that would re-launch the martial arts/action movie genre for the rest of the world (except the US for a good 8 more years). Still an awesome movie even by today's standards.

A Better Tomorrow (1986)
The John Woo/Chow Yun Fat collaboration that began the whole "heroic bloodshed" trend that directly influenced almost every gun battle in every movie that came after. The style would be exaggerated greatly in most Hong Kong actioners that followed to varying results.

No Time For Sergeants (1958)
See how Andy Griffith's career could've been had he not been stuck with Mayberry for all those years. One of the best comedies ever made!

The D.I. (1957)
Probably Jack Webb's best on-screen performance as a hard-nosed Marine drill instructor on Parris Island. Webb's deadpan, machine gun delivery works better here than it ever did on Dragnet.

The Fuller Brush Man (1948)
Slapstick comedy at its best! While it slows a bit when they need to move the plot along, the last 10 minutes are absolutely hilarious. If you don't know Red Skelton, it's high time you made his aquaintence.

[haybierman]

High Plains Drifter always sticks out in my mind because he has the town painted red...love that part!

Sheriff Dan Shaw: Well, I been needin' to talk with you; now's as good a time as any.
The Stranger: What about?
Sheriff Dan Shaw: Billy Borders.
The Stranger: Don't know the man.
Sheriff Dan Shaw: Well, you missed your chance; you shot him yesterday.

[osiderida06]

Rudy, for sure. The ultimate sports under dog movie!