45 Best Classic Movies (1970s and Before) You Can Watch Right Now
Exactly what makes a film a “classic” varies greatly depending on the viewer, as does the relevant time frame. For some, a movie from ten years ago may be appropriate (I call these movie buffs “kids”). For others, you’ll have to go back much further. Today I’m going to do the latter by taking a look at some of the great (or at least very interesting) films that were released no later than the late 1970s. (Even if I personally hate calling films younger than me “classics.”) Semantics quibbles aside, these sentences prove how useful it can be to delve into the back catalog of film history from time to time.
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Virgil Tibbs’ (Sidney Poitier) arrival in Sparta, Mississippi, at the start of this intense, socially conscious police thriller plays out like a scene from a horror movie, making clear the dangers of being a black man in a Southern city after dark. This is, of course, before the sheriff realizes that Mr. Tibbs is the only one who can solve the murder. Although its politics are dated, this Oscar-winning film directed by Norman Jewison remains a landmark film of the civil rights movement.
Where to watch: Tubi, Hoopla, Freevee
Rocky (1976)
The long-running franchise has had its ups ( the Creed films ) and downs (that robot butler in Rocky IV ), but the original is one of the best sports movies ever, with a huge heart, supported by characters that feel like real people. It beat out Network and Taxi Driver for Best Picture, and it’s hard to be mad at.)
Where to stream: MGM+
All About Eve (1950)
I’m not sure Hollywood has ever produced a more edgy and funnier script than this one. If Bette Davis had only starred in All About Eve , she would still be a legend. Is this one of the best black and white films ever made? Yes.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Sounder (1972)
Cicily Tyson and Paul Winfield are phenomenal in this drama about a Depression-era family of sharecroppers in the Deep South who struggle to survive and stay together.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Freevee.
Casablanca (1940)
Everyone’s favorite golden age Hollywood film has earned its reputation: Bogart and Bergman have amazing chemistry, and the film combines an atmosphere of doomed romance with real tension and a sense of humor that keeps the wartime atmosphere from becoming too heavy.
Where to stream: Max
Jeanne Dielman, Quai des Commerce, 32 (1975)
Chantal Akerman’s three-hour epic, recently named the best film ever made in the stupidly controversial Sight & Sound critics’ poll , shows us three days in the life of a Brussels single mother; it’s gripping and tragic in its depiction of everyday drudgery, even if the antics of part-time sex worker Jeanne prove to be the least interesting part of her day.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel
Black Girl (1966)
The film that brought international attention to sub-Saharan African cinema. In Black Girl, Mbissine Thérèse Diop plays Diouane, who is isolated and treated like a human being by her French employers as she reflects on her former life in Senegal.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel
Metropolis (1927)
Fritz Lang’s story of a future city sharply divided between the haves and have-nots remains visually stunning, and its themes are no less relevant today than they were almost a century ago.
Where to watch: Tubi, Crackle, Kanopy, Redbox, Pluto TV, Plex.
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
With snappy dialogue, interesting, believable characters, and women who are at least as cool and interesting as the men, Howard Hawks’s romantic adventure is mostly about pilots just hanging out in a South American city where every takeoff and landing can become potential tragedy.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Two musicians disguise themselves to escape mobsters in this classic Billy Wilder vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, here at the peak of her powers. Nobody is perfect, but this movie comes close.
Where to watch: Max, Kanopy
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick and company’s deliberately engrossing film takes us from the origins of violence to a hypnotically fascinating and highly detailed mid-century modern future where we come face to face with our own evolution.
Where to watch: Max, Prime Video
American Graffiti (1973)
Nostalgia is nothing new. George Lucas’s American Graffiti takes us back to a group of teenagers’ last day of high school in the 1960s, as the director makes it clear that some aspects of growing up are quite universal and that he has something to say about more than just galactic events. space battles.
Where to watch: Paramount+
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Another flashback to a bygone era, set in a dying small town in Texas. One of the best films of the 1970s, Peter Bogdanovich’s breakthrough film thankfully lacks the rosy glow that 70s high school movies relied on.
Where to watch: Mubi
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
A cinematic slice of pure joy, with lots of truly great musical numbers interspersed with some truly hilarious performances. For my money, the best musical of the era (and a lot weirder than you probably imagine).
Where to stream: Max
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
A towering, candy-colored musical about young lovers (Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo) separated by circumstances in the titular city. Almost every word is sung. In French. Check it out anyway!
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy.
Killer of Sheep (1978)
A powerful insight into the life of writer and director Charles Burnett. In Killer of Sheep, Henry J. Sanders plays Stan, a Watts slaughterhouse worker whose daily life is punctuated by random misfortunes that make him question the very idea of having hope.
Where to watch: Kanopy
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Gloria Swanson was only 50 when she was cast as the horribly outdated silent film star at the center of this very dark comedy/film noir. It doesn’t matter, she kills him.
Where to watch: Kanopy, Hoopla, Pluto TV.
Sunrise (1927)
Featuring some of the most dazzling cinematography and cinematography of the silent era, F.W. Murnau tells a tale of romance (and attempted murder) that feels epic, even if the stakes are ultimately no higher than a troubled marriage couples from the film. .
Where to watch: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Hoopla.
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Just an old-fashioned love story about the romance between a young engaged couple, a genderfluid scientist, and a lab experiment gone wrong. The cult classic is now so famous that it qualifies as a cult classic, and for good reason.
Where to watch: Hulu
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
A seemingly sweet girl from Kansas travels to the magical Land of Oz, announcing her arrival by killing a woman and stealing her shoes. In fact, at this moment there is only one thing left to do: kill her sister too.
Where to stream: Max
Psycho (1960)
Towards the end of his career, Alfred Hitchcock reinvented American horror cinema and introduced a true screen slasher: Norman Bates’ mother and best friend, Norma.
Where to stream: Peacock
It Happened One Night (1934)
Frank Capra’s risque romantic comedy won an Oscar in its year, and leads Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert made a brilliant pairing in a film that defined the rom-com and remains one of the best of its kind.
Where to watch: Tubi
Bambi (1942)
Even though it’s not as technically innovative as some of Disney’s earlier films, it’s still absolutely gorgeous, and its simple, down-to-earth story is emotional, gripping, and poignant in a way that the animator’s fantasy films can’t match. .
Where to watch: Disney+.
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Fred Zinnemann’s drama Pearl Harbor is remembered for its stellar cast (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, etc.) and giddy romance, but it is also a powerful and harrowing recreation of the 1941 terrorist attacks and their aftermath. on the Americans at their center.
Where to stream: Max
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
This historical drama brings medieval Europe to life, depicting Arthur, King of the Britons (Graham Chapman), scouring the English countryside for people brave enough to join his Knights of the Round Table, desperate to find out if swallows can, in fact, carry coconuts. Everything is very serious. (Cough cough.)
Where to watch: Netflix
Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
With Lew Ayres at the helm, the original All Quiet remains a harrowing experience – a recreation of the events of World War I so realistic that it is considered one of the true, greatest anti-war films of all time.
Where to watch: Tubi
The Godfather (1972)
Many people say that the second film is better… and they are not wrong, although the first is an equally brilliant example of filmmaking and is definitely worth starting with when watching or re-watching Francis Ford Coppola’s saga.
Where to watch: Pluto TV.
M (1931)
Peter Lorre is terrifying as the child killer in Fritz Lang’s thriller. Besides being a masterful film in its own right, M influenced every crime drama, serial killer movie and police procedural that has come since.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy.
Gilda (1946)
One of the greatest and most interesting film noirs of its era also highlights one of the hottest bisexual love triangles you’re likely to find in cinema.
Where to watch: Tubi
Nuremberg verdict (1961)
The star-studded cast may be a little distracting, but Stanley Kramer’s courtroom drama remains powerful and depressingly relevant in its depiction of normal, everyday people forced to commit atrocities with minimal encouragement.
Where to watch: Tubi, Freevee, Pluto TV.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
It has a reputation as a beloved holiday classic, but few Christmas movies before or since have been as deep and dark, chronicling the very long, very dark night of George Bailey’s soul.
Where to watch: Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Plex.
Pather Panchali (1955)
India’s answer to the French New Wave, Satyajit Ray’s gorgeous yet down-to-earth drama finds universal truths in the complex relationships between desperately poor Apu, his sister Durga and their mother Sarbajaya. (The next two films in what became known as the Apu Trilogy are equally great.)
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Collection, Kanopy.
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
The General is often seen as Buster Keaton’s masterpiece, but I prefer Sherlock Jr. , in which an ordinary dunce is literally sucked into the movies. It’s an acrobatic and often hilarious journey through film history.
Where to stream: Tubi, Kanopy, Plex
Funny Girl (1968)
Barbra Streisand scores big with this funny (naturally), touching and ultimately epic tale of the rise of real-life comic actress Fanny Brice and her troubled romance with Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif). It’s like butta.
Where to watch: Prime Video
His Girl Friday (1940)
One of the genre-defining films is the edgy, fast-talking screwball comedy, starring Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant as an ex-reporter couple trying to uncover the truth about a convicted murderer’s story.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Tubi, Crackle, Pluto TV, Shout Factory TV.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Otto Preminger’s gripping courtroom drama is not a crime procedural but an exploration of the fallibility of memory and the dangers of relying too much on any one person’s ability to accurately reproduce our own narratives.
Where to watch: Criterion Channel.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
On the eve of his wedding, Dr. Frankenstein is tempted when his old mentor appears in town. The two run away together with the intention of giving birth to a new life.
Where to stream: Peacock
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Mel Brooks’ most cohesive film is an homage to the old Frankenstein films, as well as a quotable, consistently hilarious parody of the entire Universal horror era.
Where to stream: Max
Modern Times (1936)
Have you ever felt like you’re just a cog in the capitalist machine of life? Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece is the perfect movie for anyone who’s ever been stuck at work.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy.
Grease (1978)
It may not be a stellar piece of filmmaking, but Grease is the enjoyable, silly cinematic fare we all need from time to time.
Where to stream: Max
Rashomon (1950)
Not only is Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai Story a huge influence, but it is the film’s ultimate statement about the unreliability of memory and the ease with which we tell stories for our own gain. The Killing of a Warrior is told by a number of characters, each with a similar story, but with details that differ significantly.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy.
Jaws (1975)
Steven Spielberg created a thrilling and gut-wrenching summer blockbuster to top them all back in 1975, shaping the cinematic landscape we still live in, for better or for worse.
Where to watch: Netflix
High Noon (1952)
Decades later, it’s hard to believe that this simple story of a sheriff abandoned by a frightened town was one of the most controversial films of its era. There’s a lot going on just below the surface here, including a determined dismissal of the Red Scare and its accompanying Hollywood blacklist.
Where to stream: Fubo, Hoopla
Carrie (1976)
One of Stephen King’s earliest works, this is an unforgettably bloody coming-of-age tale about a shy young woman (Sissy Spacek) with growing telekinetic powers, caught between her overbearing mother at home and her cruel classmates at school.
Where to stream: Max
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia MacNeil, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn and Louis Gossett Jr. star in this family drama about a Black family about to receive a small windfall, and the intergenerational conflict and trauma that affects on how family participants want to spend it, and even express their ideas about a better life.
Where to watch: digital rental.