20^th Century Movies I Can Watch Over and Over

by Tony Medley

With the shutdown of the movie industry and theaters, old movies are becoming more important. Lots of movies are well made and enjoyable, but don’t have the appeal to view more than once. I would estimate that takes in more than 90% of the films made.

But there are films that are so entertaining that watching them a second or third time (or 10^th!) is often as, and sometimes more (the case with “Casablanca”), entertaining than the first. Here is my list of films that I can watch again and again and still enjoy. Maybe they all aren’t award winners, but they are winners in the best category there is; they can continue to entertain! They are listed in no particular order, so #1 should not be interpreted as the best. Also, there are probably others, but these are the ones that come to mind as I write this:

1.   The Firm (1993): Although Tom Cruise was miscast (in the book he’s a former star quarterback), he gives a good performance along with Gene Hackman, Gary Busey, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Holly Hunter in this crackling John Grisham thriller directed by Sydney Pollock .

2.   A Few Good Men (1992): Tom Cruise again, with Jack Nicholson, making Aaron Sorkin’s script sparkle.

3.   From Here to Eternity (1953): Director Fred Zinneman makes James Jones’ wonderful WWII novel come to life with Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Sinatra, and Ernest Borgnine; lotsa Oscars®.

4.   The Caine Mutiny (1954): Another great cast; Bogey, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson, Fred McMurray and an unheralded but terrific short performance by Tom Tully.

5.   Casablanca (1942): Every time I watch it, it gets better, but I pretty much like anything with both Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet. As an aside, years ago I played tennis with a lawyer named Epstein never knowing he was the son of one of the twins who wrote the script until after he moved away; opportunity lost.

6.   Singin’ in the Rain (1952): The best musical ever made, bar none highlighting Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor and a terrific comic song:

Moses supposes his toeses are roses

But Moses supposes e-ron-e-ous-ly.

Now Moses he knowses his toeses aren’t roses

As Moses supposes his toeses to be!

7.   The Final Countdown (1980):  About a modern nuclear aircraft carrier captained by Kirk Douglas with DOD observer Martin Sheen along for the ride that suddenly finds itself transported back to the Pacific on December 6, 1941. Charles Durning gives a good supporting performance. The best time warp movie ever made, by a longshot.

8.   A Walk in the Sun (1945): Classic WWII war movie with Dana Andrews and Richard Conte that has been remade several times without any accreditation, like Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

9.   The Maltese Falcon (1941): Sometimes credited with starting film noir, John Huston’s directorial debut made Bogey a star with a terrific cast, including the aforesaid Lorre and Greenstreet, making his film debut at age 61.

10.                An American in Paris (1951): Gershwin & Gene Kelly; how could it go wrong?

11.                The Sound of Music (1965): Magic with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Rodgers & Hammerstein and fantastic Austrian scenery.

12.                Gigi (1958): The best musical written solely for the silver screen by Lerner & Lowe (who wrote “My Fair Lady”) with a boffo performance by Maurice Chevalier.

13.                The Godfather I & II (1972 & 1974): Can’t beat ‘em.

14.                Bullitt (1968): Steve McQueen and the best car chase ever filmed with a scintillating Oscar®-nominated supporting performance by Robert Vaughn, along with the gorgeous Jacqueline Bissett

15.                My Dinner With Andre (1981): With Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory (who co-wrote the script) and directed by Louis Malle, dinner conversation has never been more captivating.

16.                Oklahoma! (1955): Changed Broadway musicals forever and the movie with Gordon MacRae as Curly was better than the stage play.

17.                West Side Story (1961): Even questionable casting couldn’t harm this magnificent music.

18.                The Music Man (1962): Robert Preston steals the show and the music is terrific.

19.                My Fair Lady (1964) (the absence of Julie Andrews notwithstanding): The lyrics are amazing, example:

Tonight old man you did it,

You did it, you did it.

You said that you would do it

And indeed you did.

I thought that you would rue it;

I doubted you’d do it.

But now I must admit it

That succeed you did!

20.                North by Northwest (1959): Two giants, Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant, reached their pinnacle, highlighted by the classic crop duster scene.

21.                The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) (the second one with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day): After trying once in the ‘30s, Hitch finally got it right brightened by the Oscar®-winning diegetic song “Que Sera, Sera” that Doris apparently felt was wrong for the movie and didn’t want to sing.

22.                To Catch a Thief (1955): Hitch starts the trifecta of his three best films directing Grant and Grace Kelly on the French Riviera in this charmer. Kelly got a husband out of it.

23.                The Pelican Brief (1993): Although I was disenchanted by Julia Roberts’ performance, this is a thriller I enjoy.

24.                Command Decision (1948): Clark Gable’s best post war film. Stellar cast. Although no credit was given to it, 2016’s Eye in the Sky is so similar in format it can’t be a coincidence.

25.                Under Siege (1992): Steven Seagal takes on Tommy Lee Jones after Tommy takes over the USS Missouri battleship. This is a sheer delight.

26.                Battleground (1949): William Wellman directs Van Johnson and others fighting the Battle of the Bulge in one of the best war movies to come out of WWII, “that’s for sure, that’s for dang sure!”

27.                Twelve O’Clock High (1949): Gregory Peck in a role similar to Gable’s, supra.

28.                High Society (1956): Crosby, Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Cole Porter in Newport; what could be better, especially the Crosby/Sinatra duet to the rewritten “Well Did you Evah” from DuBarry Was a Lady:

I have heard among this clan

You are called the forgotten man.

Is that what they’re sayin’? Well, Did you evah,

What a swell party this is!

29.                Dr. Strangelove (1964): Peter Sellers (playing three roles) as Dr. Strangelove, the only person who can save the world, but his right hand keeps trying to kill him. Seller’s sterling performance is challenged by George C. Scott’s equally stellar turn.

30.                A Touch of Class (1973): As George Segal tries to seduce Glenda Jackson, the first third of this is as funny as any movie I’ve ever seen, but then it runs out of gas.

31.                Young Frankenstein (1974): Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder at their best.

32.                South Pacific (1958): Director Josh Logan really botched this transformation to film but South Pacific is my favorite Broadway musical and I love Mitzi Gaynor. Ray Walston’s performance as Luther Billis is as memorable for me as Gable’s Rhett Butler.