One of my dearest friends in the world broke my heart the other day when she said, “Julie, I don’t like old movies. Especially the black and white ones. They’re so boring.”
After I gasped all of the oxygen out of the room and warded off the tears, I calmly and rationally explained to her the value of such glimpses into past American culture, the windows into history and the sweet little joys of life that these films give.
Friends, I understand that we are all college students with a serious lack of extra time and energy, but if you spend your time on TV, please avoid Netflix for one evening. Even if you are not a movie buff, even if “you don’t like TV” (I think you’re lying), even if you just think they’re boring, if you’ll try these films, you will fall in love with the silver screen and the beautiful elegance of classic art.
Trust me, there are several examples that I could give you, friends, but let’s start with the five big ones.
“Casablanca” (1942)
I know most of you assumed this would be included in the list, but I just could not help it. This 1942 Billy Wilder production is considered to be one of the most classic films of all time. It has six quotes listed on the American Film Institute’s Top Quotes list. Starring anybody who was anybody of the 1940s film industry, it depicts occupied French Morocco during the Second World War and the “problems of three little people” torn between patriotic duty and the heartbreak of lost love.
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman play Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lunde, an old romance torn apart by war. They meet again a few years later, where Ilsa and her husband, Victor Laslo, played by Paul Henreid, are seeking exit visas away from the German occupation of France. His leadership of the Resistance makes him a wanted man in war-torn Europe.
Filmed in only six days (yes, I said six days), “Casablanca” was not assumed to be the great hit it would become. MGM studios generally produced a film per week, and to the production team, it was just another one of these. According to legend, the famous and heart-wrenching ending wasn’t written until the day before it was filmed, and when it was filmed, it was done with a cardboard cutout of a plane on a stage. That, my friends, is talent.
“Ben-Hur” (1959)
This film, starring the flawless Charlton Heston, tells the story of a Judean leader in the first century A.D. Following his life from riches, to slavery, to the chariot races of ancient Rome, Judah Ben-Hur is one of the most loveable characters to ever hit the silver screen. This character faces a changing world, where his best friend pledges allegiance to Rome, where all of his wealth is lost, where he survives as a slave and where he witnesses the ministry of Jesus Christ firsthand.
Often called a “biblical epic,” please be aware that this story does not portray the life of a biblical character, but it does create a fictional character who witnesses actual biblical events.
Cinematically, “Ben-Hur” is considered to be one of the best-made films of all film history. In the 1959 Academy Awards, it took 11 Oscars. This record has only been matched one time since then: “Titanic” (1997), – a terrible comparison, I believe- but it has never been beaten.
With some of the most ornate sets and one of the most talented casts ever assembled, “Ben-Hur” will capture your attention from the get-go. Whether it’s fascination for the beauty or love of the original script, it will begin a love affair for the classical epic.
“The Godfather” (1972)
This drama, based on Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name, along with its sequels that appeared throughout the rest of the decade, follows the mafia family of Done Vito Corleone, played by the ever-twinkly eyed Marlon Brando. Also featuring an all-star cast of Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton, The Godfather follows the path of destruction left by the youngest brother of the Corleone family, Michael (Pacino). As he struggles to maintain a normal life, he gets pulled further and further into organized crime and the separate and dark life that it creates.
White cats and Italian accents mark this as one of Francis Ford Coppola’s greatest productions. A number of iconic lines are forever immortalized into Brando’s never-wavering gaze. Watching this film is just “an offer you couldn’t refuse.”
“Apocalypse Now” (1979)
I know many movie fans will scratch their hipster beards with this one, but I assure you I have my reasons. Based off of Joseph Conrad’s novella, “Heart of Darkness,” the story follows the main character, Captain Benjamin L. Willard, as he goes on a secret mission during the Vietnam War to assassinate a renegade and crazed Colonel Walter E. Kurtz.
Yet another wonderful Coppola production, the cast stars Martin Sheen as Willard, Marlon Brando as Kurtz, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms and a very quotable Dennis Hopper as the American photojournalist.
Producing over 24 hours of film and editing down to two and a half hours to show, the team dealt with numerous complications in filming. Brando showed up 100 pounds overweight having not read the script or the novella, and he was paid for three months work before having ever filmed the first scene. Environmental problems also faced the team as they filmed on site.
All of that said, this film produced some of the most iconic, quotable lines in history, especially considering Dennis Hopper’s chemically-induced ramblings of poetry and allegiance to Colonel Kurtz. (You will know it when you see it.)
It was a box office failure, as they went extremely above budgeted funds for production, but the fact remains that it was etched into the halls of movie fame. I guess it just “smells like victory.”
“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)
Most known for being a Christmastime favorite, this film enters deeply into the world of make-believe. Following the young family man, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, the setting is a fictional town called Bedford Falls.
On Christmas Eve, George Bailey considers suicide, wishing he had never been born, as everything starts to fall apart in his life. Thus, God sends his guardian angel, Clarence, to intervene and to show him what would really happen if there had been no George Bailey.
Jimmy Stewart, with Donna Reed as his wife, Mary, and Lionel Barrymore as the dreadfully wicked Mr. Potter, star in what Frank Capra considered even his favorite of his directions.
Every time you hear a bell ring, you’ll picture Christmas in America and the joy of family and the grace of God.
I could delve a whole lot deeper into this, because trust me, I’ve only scratched the surface, friends. Titles like “Gone With the Wind,” “The Exorcist,” “Roman Holiday,” “Psycho” and, even recently, “Braveheart” will make you fall in love with the world of make-believe and make you an active part of living history all at once. There are movies like this that need a popcorn and a Coke and a big comfy chair. They need red velvet curtains framing their screens, because when you get up and go home to real life, you’re still reminded of another world. You get to be someone else, if only for a little while.
– Julie Williams, Copy Editor
