Closing out the Classic Movie Project

Eight months ago I set out to fill in the gaps in my Classic Movie watching experience.  I ended up watching 93 movies considered to be all-time greats by various sources.

Defining “classic” is a challenge when it comes to movie.  Does it mean “old” or does it mean “great.” I decided it means both “old and great” but I still needed a cut-off date.  Finally I settled on 1974, which is just one year after I was born. But also a time when the old Hollywood studio system was all but kaput, New Hollywood was at its peak, and in the coming year, Jaws would launch the era of the blockbuster.

I still have many movies I can watch (or rewatch) in the future, so I always welcome suggestions in the comments. You can also check out my complete list of Every Movie I’ve Ever Watched for links to more reviews and ratings.

Superlatives

Favorite Movie: Lifeboat (it may help that this was the only movie I saw at a cinema)
Least Favorite Movie: Top Hat
Biggest Surprises: The Great Dictator, Playtime, and The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Biggest Disappointments: Harvey, Fred Astaire movies, all the toxic masculinity in New Wave/New Hollywood movies
Director Discoveries: Leo McCarey, Billy Wilder, and Jacques Tati

All the Classic Movies I Watched

• The Kid (1921) – ***1/2
• Nosferatu (1922) – ***
• Safety Last (1923) – ***
• Sherlock, Jr. (1924) – ***1/2
• The Gold Rush(1925) – ***
• Battleship Potemkin (1926) – ***
• The General (1926) – ***
• Metropolis (1927) – ***1/2
• Wings (1927) – ***1/2
• Pandora’s Box (1929) – **1/2
• The Blue Angel (1930) – ****
• City Lights (1931) – ****
• M  (1931) – ***1/2
• Top Hat (1935) – **
• Modern Times (1936) – *****
• My Man Godfrey (1936) – ****
• Swing Time (1936) – **1/2
• The Awful Truth (1937) – ****
• Make Way For Tomorrow (1937) – ****1/2
• The Rules of the Game (1939) – ****
• Stagecoach (1939) – ****
• Jamaica Inn (1939) – ***
• The Great Dictator (1940) – ****
• My Favorite Wife (1940) – ***1/2
• Lady Eve (1941) – ***1/2
• Suspicion (1941) – ***1/2
• Cat People (1942) – ***
• Stormy Weather (1943) – ****
• Shadow of a Doubt (1943) – ***
• Double Indemnity  (1944) – ****
• Lifeboat (1944) – *****
• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) – ***
• Rome, Open City (1945) – ****
• Spellbound (1945) – ***
• Notorious (1945) – ****
• The Stranger (1946) – ***1/2
• Beauty and the Beast (1946) – ***
• Rope (1948) – ****
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – ****1/2
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) – ***
• The Third Man (1949) – *****
• Twelve O’Clock High (1949) – ***1/2
• All About Eve (1950) – ****
• Harvey  (1950) – **1/2
• Rashomon (1950) – ****1/2
• Sunset Boulevard (1950) – *****
• A Place in the Sun (1951) – **
• Strangers on a Train (1951) – ***
• High Noon (1952) – ****
• Ikiru (1952) – *****
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952) – ****
• Umberto D (1952) – ****
• Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) – ****
• Tokyo Story  (1953) –
• Sabrina (1954) – ***1/2
• Seven Samurai (1954) – ****
• Rebel Without a Cause (1955) – ***
• To Catch A Thief (1955) – ***
• Bus Stop (1956) – **
• The Searchers (1956) – **
• The Wrong Man (1956) – ***
• Funny Face (1957) – ***
• Paths of Glory (1957) – ***1/2
• Wild Strawberries (1957) – ****
• Island in The Sun (1957) – **
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) – ***
• The Hidden Fortress (1958) – ***
• Floating Weeds (1959) – ***
• The 400 Blows (1959) – ***1/2
• The Apartment (1960) – ****
• La Dolce Vita (1960) – **1/2
• Breathless (1960) – **
• A Raisin in the Sun (1961) – ***1/2
• Cleo, From 5 to 7 (1962) – ****
• Jules et Jim (1962) – **1/2
• 8 1/2 (1962) – ****
• The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1963) – ****
• Blowup (1965) – **
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – ****
• Playtime (1966) – ****1/2
• In the Heat of the Night (1967) – ****
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) – ***
• Night of the Living Dead (1968) – ***1/2
• The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) – **
• The Odd Couple (1968) – ****
• Midnight Cowboy (1969) – ***
• The Conformist (1970) – **
• The Last Picture Show (1971) – ***
• The Godfather (1972) – ****
• American Graffiti (1973) – ***1/2
• The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) – ****1/2
• The Conversation (1974) – ***
• Chinatown (1974) – ***
• The Godfather Part II (1974) – ***