Drop everything & Watch

[rjb1]

Another "drop everything and watch" movie is "Thunder Road". Robert Mitchum in his prime... The fact that the original story was by Mitchum, the film was produced by Mitchum, and the song "Whipporwill" was written by Mitchum adds a lot to it. Also, the fact that it treats country/Southern people respectfully is a big plus. (And it has his son in it...)

 

[vitanola]

Dodsworth

The Big Parade

Sunrise

One cannot turn away from them.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Bump!

 

[MisterCairo]

Anything from David Lean!

 

[Fading Fast]

Top Threes

Classics
12 O'Clock High
The Lost Weekend
The Bishops Wife

Lesser Known Old Movie:
Separate Tables
In Name Only
The Country Girl

More Modern:
Godfather I & II (counts as one)
Jaws
Breakfast At Tiffany's

James Bond Movies:
Dr. No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger

Hitchcock
To Catch a Thief
The Birds
North by Northwest

Ones I'm Not Proud Of:
48 Hours
Angles in the Outfield ('51)
Some Kind of Wonderful (don't judge me)

Musicals:
The Sound of Music (that's it, in general, can't watch them)

 

[LizzieMaine]

Diplomaniacs -- Wheeler and Woolsey, 1933
It's A Gift -- W. C. Fields, 1934
Horse Feathers -- Marx Bros, 1932.
Roman Scandals -- Eddie Cantor, 1933.
King of Jazz -- Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, 1930
Footlight Parade -- James Cagney, Joan Blondell 1933
Wake Up And Live -- Ben Bernie, Walter Winchell, Jack Haley, Alice Faye 1937
Hallelujah, I'm A Bum -- Al Jolson, Harry Langdon 1932
Girl Shy -- Harold Lloyd, 1926
The Big Broadcast -- Bing Crosby, Stu Erwin, All-Star Cast, 1932

 

[Benzadmiral]

Skyfall
Double Indemnity, Spirit of St. Louis, The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard
Ghostbusters

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

In no particular order:

Cape Fear (the original with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck)
An American Werewolf in London
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Bridget Jones Diary
Casablanca
Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Young Frankenstein
The Graduate
Death at a Funeral (UK version)

 

[Zombie_61]

Intriguing to see so few pre-1970s films cited here. A love of classic cinema is mostly what inspired my interest in vintage clothes, furniture, housewares, music, etc., but it seems plenty of folks here are into vintage without being as fond of old movies.

I realize this is an older post, but I'd like to address it anyway since no one else has. I think the issue isn't that we don't like classic cinema, but that many classic movies aren't being broadcast on television these days (with the obvious exception of channels like TCM), and certainly not with the frequency of some "modern" movies. And since the primary criteria for a "drop and watch" movie is that you come across it unexpectedly on television, movies that aren't being broadcast frequently don't come to mind as quickly.

 

[rkwilker]

Here's one I like..."Leaving Las Vegas". Tragic tale of a man racing to self destruct. On the flip side I watch "It's a Wonderful Life" everytime I catch it on TV.

 

[Panadora]

Even without UK/US subs one or two might hang on for quite a while

In this sober and moody documentary, director Anders Østergaard explores the life - and death - of Swedish wonder kid jazz pianist Jan Johansson through a rain-soaked windshield. A very well-produced documentary about a fascinating, brilliant and mysterious musician. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197061/plotsummary

 

[Fading Fast]

Here's one I like..."Leaving Las Vegas". Tragic tale of a man racing to self destruct. On the flip side I watch "It's a Wonderful Life" everytime I catch it on TV.

I watched "Leaving Las Vegas" once and thought it was a fantastically well done film, but was so overwhelmingly depressing that I have never watched it again.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ones I'm Not Proud Of:
48 Hours
Angles in the Outfield ('51)
Some Kind of Wonderful (don't judge me)

War of the Gargantuas

Though they haven't shown it on TV in years, I used to look forward to it as a kid whenever they aired it.

 

[greatestescaper]

I've several films that are a drop everything and watch, many of which have been posted already! However, at the present my wife and I have only internet, no television, so we choose to get distracted, sort of. There are some films I just get an itch to watch, over, and over again. As such we've set a calendar to it. In May we watch the original Star Wars Trilogy (May the Fourth be with you and all that.) In September, as summer comes to an end, and it's just too early for the Halloween celebrating to begin, I reread and rewatch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Well, I start with the book the Hobbit and take it from there. Other films I find myself watching/marathoning, are Raiders of the Lost Ark and it's sequels (yes, even the fourth one), Independence Day (late July 4th night), Jaws, and a few of my favorite westerns (especially John Wayne and Clint Eastwood films). Come Thanksgiving, Yule, and the New Year, there are probably 20 or so films I squeeze in around the festivities! We gather friends and family for all these, and have themed celebrations. During the Lord of the Rings we fix Medieval foods, for Star Wars we make blue milk. Lately I've been on a noir kick and that has lead to the Maltese Falcon (the film and book). It's been a bit of a rabbit hole, as these things tend to be.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Here's one I like..."Leaving Las Vegas". Tragic tale of a man racing to self destruct. On the flip side I watch "It's a Wonderful Life" everytime I catch it on TV.

The long "Pottersville" sequence gets me every time, too. It's excellent fantasy with a disturbing creepy edge to it.

 

[MisterCairo]

Zulu.

 

[2jakes]

 

[Fading Fast]

Scrolling through TV last night as my girlfriend was making dinner, I came upon "Dr No." Darn it, it's a DE&W movie even if I don't want it to be. The British version of Rat-Pack-cool style, Connery not playing Bond yet, but being Bond and Ursula.

Yup, they got that one right and there is never a time that you don't want to see it, unless your, most of the time, in-favor-of-watching-a-good-Bond-movie girlfriend says, "not tonight, unless you really want to." Sigh, but it will be on again.

 

[Fading Fast]

Good catch, just checked out the schedule - whole lot of good stuff on TCM tomorrow.

 

[Kiko123]

Broadway Rhythm from 1944. A little-known Technicolor musical full of funny skits. A boring story line, but if you catch it on TV while they show this you cannot stop watching:

It's so progressive for the times with their risque outfits and weird moves, yet so 40s at the same time. Watch and you'll never forget! To me the end is the best exit scene ever in any movie I've seen!
Ironically, the whole movie tried hard to make country life seem dull and worse than city life, but IMO it failed as it made me long for having a farm with bales of hay lol. And these three girls are more talented than almost any star we have popular now. This scene should be shown at art colleges and vintage fairs all over the world, to see what the Greatest generation was capable of, during the WWII no less. It also shows you that if someone can do THAT, almost anything is possible. Sure, there are some cringe-worthy moments, but in general it's very empowering.