10 overrated classics

[Quigley Brown]

I must say that I agree with them on a few of these titles:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/moviesfeature/dvd/not-classic-movies?GT1=28002

 

[Dr Doran]

Nice site.

I hated Arsenic and Old Lace passionately. I found it sick. Not sinister, just sick. Killing those old people wasn't funny to me at all. I hated the idiot yelling "Charge" also.

The other movie classic I cannot stand is It's A Wonderful Life. Gag me. Jimmy Stewart's accent in that flick gives me the hives. It took 20 years before I could watch any Jimmy Stewart film again -- and after seeing Rope, I love him. But in It's a Wonderful Life his character and accent were intolerable to me. The folksy Americana thing is hard to pull off as well .... I don't hate all positive message movies; I loved Wings of Desire; but to do a feelgood movie there are traps one wishes to avoid.

Everyone else loved It's a Wonderful Life except me, as far as I can tell. People get shocked, mortified when I say I hated it.

 

[AmateisGal]

After hearing all the hype surrounding Arsenic and Old Lace, I was prepared for a really good movie. When I finally watched it, I felt supremely let down. It wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be, though I did think the guy yelling 'Charge!' was funny. (Sorry, Doran!)

 

[Sefton]

I must say that I agree with them on a few of these titles:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/moviesfeature/dvd/not-classic-movies?GT1=28002

Go on...name names!

I agree with Easy Rider. The only thing that wasn't said was that many of the supposed "revolutionary" cinematic technics so heavy handidly employed were done years earlier and with less pretense by others, chiefly Jean Luc Godard. Oh,and I hate the music too.

 

[Dr Doran]

I did think the guy yelling 'Charge!' was funny. (Sorry, Doran!)

The first two times were mildly amusing, I'll grant. After 100 times did it still amuse you?

The first time or two that my gay acquaintances called me a "breeder" (a funny, slightly insulting term for a heterosexual) I thought it was humorous; but after a dozen times in which it is said as though it is a clever or funny thing to say, I just roll my eyes.

 

[PhilS]

Except for GWTW...

and maybe Giant, I wouldn't have put any of these movies in "classic" status. Some were considered stiff and dated when they were released (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Gentleman's Agreement) and others (Love Story, Easy Rider) are reflections of time and place that haven't survived the culture that spawned them. The rest, GWTW excepted, are 3 star or 3 1/2 star movies on a 4 star scale.

Strike that, I'll give Ten Commandments a grudging 4 for spectacle (maybe because of, rather than in spite of, the stunt cameos).

One could make several similar lists and have no overlap -- heck, you could populate a whole list with the Wilder/Diamond collaborations alone, not to mention more recent directors such as Spielberg and Scorcese.

Many of the directors on this list had better pictures - Steven's Shane, Kazan's On the Waterfront, Rossen's The Hustler, almost everything else by Capra -- that have stood the test of time.

 

[jake_fink]

I agree with all of them - and there are a few missing.

I do like The Seven Year Itch more now than I did in the past. (Because I'm married? Because I'm old?), and Tom Ewell is much better than he's given credit for in the article. Also, Dean's performance in Giant kind of, pretty well saves a movie that is really just a huge, hideous, bloated soap opera, spray paint grey notwithstanding.

Arsenic & Old Lace is a truly awful film, but no worse than Bringing Up Baby.

Most over rated "classic" of all time... gimme an S, gimme a T, gimme an A...

 

[LocktownDog]

Can't stand Gone With The Wind. Now that I think about it ... I don't like much with Clark Gable.

 

[Quigley Brown]

Most over rated "classic" of all time... gimme an S, gimme a T, gimme an A...

gimme an R???

 

[jake_fink]

gimme an R???

And a space....

Now gimme a W...

 

[jtcarrey]

Can you believe I've never seen Gone With The Wind lol

 

[Real Swell Gal]

"Being in love means never having to say you're sorry"

Wretch, gag, ewwwwwww...

I always hated Love Story,especially that line.
Even when I was single I hated that movie now that I'm married I hate it even more.

Love means having the guts to say you're sorry even if you didn't do anything wrong!

And I don't like Gone With The Wind or It's a Wonderful Life.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Gone With The Wind may not be High Film School Art, but it put fannies in the seats in 1939, 1947, 1954, and 1967, and when it's shown theatrically today it still has the power to rise above its own soapiness and absolutely transfix the crowds. We showed it a couple years ago, and trust me -- it is a show that *must* be seen on a big screen, with a full house, for maximum appreciation. It isn't a "film" -- it's a MOVIE. There is a big difference. The same could be said for Ten Commandments, and I think Cecil B. DeMille himself would have been very quick to agree it was never about "art."

I don't know anyone who considers "Arsenic" to be a classic -- it's a typical frenetic early-forties Warner Brothers star comedy, and nothing more. This is the first time I've ever seen it referred to as a "classic," even in the context of claiming it not to be one. "The Man Who Came To Dinner" and "The Male Animal" are similar Broadway adaptations from the same period, and no one goes on about them being "classics."

 

[imoldfashioned]

Interesting list.

I'd agree about all of them except The Seven Year Itch--to me it's a movie that still stands up. I really enjoy Arsenic and Old Lace and Gone With The Wind, but I realize they're both pretty cheezy.

To replace The Seven Year Itch I'd nominate Lawrence of Arabia. I even waited to see it on the big screen and I was still bored out of my mind.

 

[Aviator]

Yeah, I would agree that GWTW is a big, giant popcorn spectacle. Cringe at some of the characterizations (I do), but it is still a lot of fun to watch (despite the length).

And I think the premise of the list is a little off. The author makes it seem that popular movies from an earlier era should be judged by todays standards, and that all of these classics are critics darlings...which they are/were not. I was just watching Hitchcock's The 39 Steps; very enjoyable (I like Robert Donat), but the acting was a bit wooden in parts. Still, I take it for what it was.

Star Wars is certainly not the finest pic that came out that year; but it is one of the funnest, and its profound effect on film can't be denied. I remember leaving the theater with my parents (who had to be coerced to take us) and both of them being impressed.

 

[miss_elise]

i didn't like gone with the wind... but that's probably more because i don't like gone with the wind... i read the book and i just kept wanting to slap scarlette and tell her to pull her head in...ergo the movie based on the book was never goning to be a winner with me...

 

[Zemke Fan]

... I don't know anyone who considers "Arsenic" to be a classic -- it's a typical frenetic early-forties Warner Brothers star comedy, and nothing more. This is the first time I've ever seen it referred to as a "classic," even in the context of claiming it not to be one.

Guess it must have been CC that made it special for me... and I really loved the old maiden aunts!

 

[Zemke Fan]

And as for over-rated...

On the Waterfront is on my list... I just didn't buy Marlon's angst... Great story, yes. But over-rated IMO.

 

[scotrace]

Gone With the Wind? The authors have cranio-rectal inversion.

 

[mtechthang]

I dunno. . .

The list. Well, something doesn't have to stand up to current popularity to be an important part of film history- so I don't quite get this after the fact removal of "classical". I dare say that most of the "classics" in silent film would not appeal to most either. I've had many students who "just don't get" things in movies far better than some of those on this list (I teach some film courses- focusing mainly on the psychological aspects- representation of psychology and mental illness etc.). The thing is, when it comes right down to it, one can recognize, as the article does, that some of these movies had an important place in cinema history but still not like watching them.

Seriously, can you actually make it all the way through CK without a bit of help from our tiny friend the ethanol molecule? I love parts of the film. It is way shorter than some. (Just doesn't seem like it sometimes!) I can recite and diagram unique contributions, the cinematography is so well done as to border on incomprehensible unless you stop frame it. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

On the other hand, *Hollywood* will always remind us that these are Entertainments and not intended to be art! If that's the case then all these criticisms are valid because it boils down to "Did you find it entertaining?" From the standpoint of cinematic history though, I think this notion of removing "classic" status borders on silly. lol lol