The modern movie landscape is vast, from the blockbuster superhero action of Marvel and DC to the horror gems of A24, but even with so many new releases to enjoy, film fans shouldn't neglect older films, as there are some pre-1993 movies everyone should see at least once. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Seven Samurai, many of these essential-viewing films are grand and revolutionary, taking the viewer on an unforgettable journey.
The following films span the decades before 1993, capturing a century in cinema, venturing across countries and genres, and showcasing only one film from many iconic filmmakers. While ardent cinema lovers may recognize many of these films everyone should watch once, it serves as a reminder of what made these so remarkable and gives readers a guide of what to watch or re-watch with new eyes.
Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men is the story of twelve jurors passionately debating a murder trial when all but one person votes to convict. The film's critique of the fragile U.S. justice system is also an intimate portrayal of prejudice, bias, and identity. With masterful blocking and powerful monologues, each actor gets a chance to shine, to break, and to potentially redeem themselves. The stark black-and-white imagery turns the most evident facts into an exhilarating gray mystery that makes the viewer question everything they think is true.
Stanley Kubrick's experimental science-fiction epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, is arguably the director's magnum opus and an essential film everyone should watch once. Covering life from the Stone Age to an eerie 21st century when sentient technology challenges humans, the magic of 2001: A Space Odyssey is that each viewer comes out of the film with a different meaning that ranges from existential terror to a life-affirming experience. With rotating sets, slit-scan photography, match cuts, and phantasmagorical colors, the 2001: A Space Odyssey's special effects are a technical marvel that remain breathtaking today.
The Godfather is a generational story about the Corleone family and how the patriarch's actions to keep that family together result in tearing it apart. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's use of warm color and low lighting immerses the viewer into a nostalgic 1940s setting on the cusp of great, terrifying change. The Godfather is regarded as an essential film in the gangster/crime genre, but Coppola does not glorify violence or crime. The Godfather conveys how characters Vito Corleone and his children become prisoners of the choices they make and how people's attempts to preserve their golden age can lead them to a shattered future.
The moment Dorothy steps into the land of Oz alone makes The Wizard of Oz an old film everyone should see once. The vibrant, shimmering colors, gorgeous sets, and meticulously crafted costumes immerse viewers into L. Frank Baum's fantasy world. The Wizard of Oz's story is deceptively simple while being universal in Dorothy's quest for home. The film ultimately shows that people's search for belonging, wit, empathy, and courage can be found within them.
From the first wide tracking shot of Rosie Perez dancing to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," Do the Right Thing is proudly confrontational depicting racism in the United States. Spike Lee's portrait of eccentric characters in a multi-ethnic Brooklyn neighborhood on the hottest day of the year is equally tense and entertaining. Orange and yellow hues, canted camera angles, and constant sweat on the necks of characters convey the rising instability and stress of this community. Do the Right Thing comes to a painful and relevant climax that offers no shallow solution, yet the film's portrayal of how people can clash and still come together is celebratory.
Blue Velvet encapsulates an ideal American suburbia and the darkness that lurks just under the surface. David Lynch's neo-noir mystery follows Jeffrey, a college student who finds a severed ear in the middle of a field and becomes fixated on uncovering the mystery behind it. The more Jeffrey searches, the more evil he uncovers in his small town and in himself. Lynch's vision is lush in theatrical lighting and color, while the picturesque version of America feels eerily familiar and nightmarish all at once. Blue Velvet captures the inexplicable sadness in a beautiful smile and the violent chaos that occurs underneath America's perfectly mowed lawns.
Steven Spielberg's Jaws conveys that what the viewer doesn't see can be the most terrifying image of all. In a film about a shark terrorizing a small beach town, Jaws makes the audience vulnerable by confronting the unknown. John Williams' prolific score is enough to evoke fear, but combined with point-of-view shots that put the viewer in place of the shark, Jaws is an example of inescapable and elusive horror. The shark's open-ended symbolism has been used to represent the dangers of climate change and the ignored trauma that slowly grows into a larger monster within all people.
Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless is celebrated for innovating techniques outside the Hollywood standard, easily making it an old movie everyone should watch. The hand-held camera and jump cuts create an intimacy and realism that is sure to inspire any aspiring filmmakers. Godard utilizes his own film language that is accessible to anyone who has a camera. Breathless examines the life of Michel, a crook who romanticizes Hollywood films, violence, and his volatile relationship with Patricia. As the film's techniques deconstruct Hollywood filmmaking, the story also dissects Michel's illusion of himself. This French New Wave film breaks convention and, by doing so, liberates the filmmaker and viewer to deconstruct their own identities.
House is the perfect film to watch with friends. This 1970s Japanese horror-comedy follows a schoolgirl and her six friends venturing to her aunt's house, where they fall victim to supernatural events and realize the house wants to eat them. Filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi doesn't want to scare the audience; he wants to tickle them mercilessly with stop-motion animations, splashy cartoons, and heavy chroma keying. There's no overt message within House, yet the film's heart bursts with so much unhinged joy that its bright, bold colors and catchy score spill off the screen and wrap the viewer into its dream.
Singin' in the Rain premiered seventy years ago and continues to entertain and inspire audiences. As well as being a masterful musical, the film is a satire of Hollywood, as it shows actors caught in the middle of Hollywood's transition from silent films to talkies. The sheer force behind Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor's performances is still the envy of modern performers. The dialogue is snappy, the songs are cheerful, and the choreography is dazzling in technicolor. Singin' in the Rain is a celebration of film, dance, art, romance, and, consequently, life.
Citizen Kane is the story of an ambitious newspaper tycoon whose pursuit of love leaves him powerful, mythical, and isolated. Director Orson Welles' filmmaking was equally ambitious for its use of deep-focus photography, allowing the viewer to fixate on the film's background and foreground as they both remain sharply in focus. The number of practical effects, from cutting holes in the floor for low-angle shots to using optical printing to combine matte paintings and stage footage, all make scenes more operatic and Kane more mythical. Citizen Kane is regarded as the greatest movie ever made and is credited for modern cinema, making it an essential film everyone should watch once.
The narrator is dead, floating in a pool, and this image is just the start of Billy Wilder's seductive and dangerous Sunset Boulevard. The film depicts screenwriter Joe Gillis as his life is consumed by Norma Desmond, a grandiose star of the silent film era. Actor Gloria Swanson portrays Desmond as a provocative yet delusional predator, slowly entrapping her prey. Gillis and Desmond's relationship is both unsettling and thrilling as they cling to each other for a glimpse at their more promising past. Sunset Boulevard remains a relevant cautionary tale of living in the past and ceaseless attempts at eternal life through fame.
My Dinner with Andre is a film that becomes more gentle and rewarding with age. The story takes place at a dining table in a restaurant as two old friends share their often contrasting philosophies and experiences over a meal. Writers and actors Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn create captivating and authentic characters that take turns listening and engaging in each other's profound anecdotes. My Dinner with Andre takes a minimalist approach to its filmmaking, but the rich dialogue makes the viewer feel as if they're sitting down at that dinner table too.
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo follows detective Scottie Ferguson as he becomes obsessed with a woman he's paid to investigate. Hitchcock's psychological thriller is an intoxicating and disorienting venture into how obsession can become an endless downward spiral. The frequent imagery of circles combined with repeated locations and Bernard Hermann's dizzying score engulfs the audience in Ferguson's deteriorating mental state. Vertigo is more than the title of the film or Ferguson's condition, it's the sensation the audience feels when watching the impressive and immersive movie.
Seven Samurai is a Japanese epic that depicts seven men's attempt to protect a small village from an army of bandits. The action in Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is thrilling because of the emotional investment in the battles. Unlike many action films today, the battles in Seven Samurai do not glamorize violence or make the protagonists invincible. Through long takes and panoramic shots, the viewer absorbs the consequences of violence and the full drama of the scene. Each frame of Seven Samurai could be a painting, but the inherent beauty of the story is about people willing to sacrifice their lives as guardians for a small piece of humanity.
After Hours is unlike any other Martin Scorsese picture. This surreal comedy takes place over one night in New York City and follows a beleaguered man named Paul as he just wants to get home after a date gone wrong. After Hours taps into the surreal characters and events that one might meet and experience downtown after midnight. The story indulges in the paranoia and anxiety of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Scorsese's hidden gem captures the dreamscape of a late night out, and like listening to a friend's outrageous story, After Hours has to be seen to be believed.
Monty Python gleefully dances across the line distinguishing highbrow and lowbrow comedy. Monty Python and the Holy Grail's thin plot makes it ripe to pack in as many absurd scenes as possible. While the film is technically about King Arthur and the Round Table's quest to find the Holy Grail, there are also invisible horses, taunting French soldiers, the relentless Black Knight, and a killer rabbit. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an off-the-wall comedy experiment that throws whatever it wants at the viewer, and the viewer has no choice but to laugh at the relentless absurdity.
Jacques Tati's Playtime is a series of visual gags that depict a futuristic, sterile, and hyper-industrialized Paris. Tati's comedic masterpiece primarily takes place in wide shots that provide the viewer with a feast of buffoonery happening in the background, foreground, and every corner of the screen. Playtime slightly follows one man, Tati's Monsieur Hulot, but never explicitly tells the viewer what to observe, allowing plenty of rewarding rewatches. The film's combination of satire and slapstick that critiques society's dependence on confounding technology continues to be funny and relatable today.
Lawrence of Arabia is a sweeping epic based on the real life of T.E. Lawrence, an English officer who influenced Arab tribes to unite and fight the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The historical drama captures the vast desert landscapes and Arab revolt in stunning wide-angle shots. Lawrence of Arabia is especially compelling due to Lawrence's diminishing romanticization of revolution, understanding that the political support is all a calculated move by other parties hungry for power. Lawrence of Arabia demonstrates that behind any people's movement towards liberation is another empire seeking control.
Considered one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time, François Truffaut's The 400 Blows follows a young boy's immersion into a life of crime. The meaning of the title refers to living a dangerous life, and the protagonist Antoine's restless search for belonging leads him to this life. Truffaut's utilization of handheld cameras and natural lighting creates a realistic portrayal of adolescence. Antoine wants to be seen, yet the only witness to his reckless actions is the audience watching him on screen. The 400 Blows follows Antoine on an endless run in a moment that captures his new freedom, uncertain future, and realization of both.