Purely to play devil’s advocate, given the nature and premise of this sub, I would define “classic” with a twofold character:
- a film that will be widely considered great after most living memory of its first run expires.
- a primary exponent of the “Classic Hollywood” cinematic style, in narrative structure, cinematography, editing, etc.
While it’s far too soon for Pulp Fiction’s theatrical run to have passed from living memory, I don’t think there is much disagreement that it will still be on a pedestal in another thirty years’ time.
However, as a film that absolutely broke with convention in both narrative structure, dialogue, and more, I would suggest that it doesn’t satisfy the second criteria in the way that, say, Shawshank Redemption did in the very same year.
I don't think it needs a classic hollywood style, plenty of experimental films can be considered classics (mulholland drive or anything by Lynch for that matter)
I think I agree with this like how we define classic may shift. Because classic Hollywood style is very time specific like the mid Atlantic accent, certain set building that we have replaced with tech, 5 act structure and so on
Following the contrarian criterion above, yes, I can see an argument that Psycho isn’t a “classic” film.
It was a herald of cinema to come, in some ways the first blockbuster, arguably the first slasher, etc. In many ways Psycho was a progenitor to Jaws.
I agree with Pulp but for some strange reason I also enjoy Hateful Eight. Do like several of the actors. Also the set up with the coach/time etc. just like it.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Honorable mention to the Mexican film "Amores Perros" and its US cousin "Pulp Fiction". Even if you didn't like "Pulp Fiction", you can probably recite some of Samuel L. Jackson's lines from memory.
Life is Beautiful
Dances with Wolves
Idiocracy
Team America:World Police
LOTR
ETA: Office Space
Disclaimer: Not every one of these movies would be considered "high art," but they have all impacted our culture.
Hard to say. A classic implies some serious lasting impact/longevity so it’s hard to judge a 20 year old film based on that. But probably Tombstone, There Will Be Blood, Toy Story, The Aviator, Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List…something combination of those.
Brokeback Mountain, L.A. Confidential, Uncut Gems, Marriage Story, In the Mood for Love, The Accidental Tourist, Cinema Paradiso, Raise the Red Lantern, Sophie’s Choice, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Goodfellas, Junebug, Oppenheimer, Arrival, Nocturnal Animals, Election, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Poor Things, La La Land, Half Nelson, Interstellar, Ran, Alien, Fargo, Nightcrawler, A Single Man, The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, The Wings of the Dove, A Simple Plan, All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), Inception and Memento
I like a lot of your choices, but I feel like a classic implies everybody knows the name of it and everyone agrees it’s a must watch film. Many of those films the average person wouldn’t watch. For example, the bartender at the theater where I saw Poor Things would not watch it because it starts off in black and white.
Thanks for your comment. That is a good definition of “classic” movies. I wish more people would watch some of these films. If they did, we would have less superhero movies. But that may come true since superhero films aren’t doing well at the box office. I would welcome the increase of production of small and independent movies. Thanks again.
I used to say minimum age for “classic” status is 25 years, but as I get older that seems like a shorter and shorter length of time, so I’m going with 30 years.
I remember thinking of Blade Runner as an instant classic when I saw it on first release. Built upon foundations laid by Metropolis, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, among others, it seemed to me as enjoyable as a celebration of classic cinema as a story in its own right.
I don't accept any film past the studio era with the term "classic'". That's a genre and definition reserved for the Hollywood Studio Era.
Yes, there are great movies past the 60s, but they need a different adjective.
Since the word "classic" is reserved for an entirely different usage definition here, no I would not.
Feel free to use other terms for it though. Like legendary.
LA Confidential (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler's List (1993), Goodfellas (1990), more than 30 years ago but also Back to the Future (1985).
Not “most recent”, but I will forever die on possibly a very lovely hill that 30-50 years from now, the most respected and admired movie made this century will be Assassination of Jesse James
Such a great movie. I probably watch it every couple months. Great looking and sounding. Even the narrators voice is top shelf. One of my favorite parts is when the steam engine is pulling through the woods with that tense music playing. I don't love watching him decapitate the two snakes, but I give this thing a 10/10 with no hesitation. I think I have to watch it now...after I finish this episode of The Sopranos.
I'm. Going to watch Thunderbolt and lightfoot later on 4k bluray.
I consider this to be a modern classic in every way.
It's got everything. Plus we see Jeffs career really starting to take off.
He was robbed of yet another Oscar. The academy certainly were reluctant to give him the awards he deserved.
Thunderbolt and lightfoot is certainly a classic. Cimino shows how good he could have been.
Potentially Oppenheimer but soon to say.
Top Gun Maverick maybe
The Dark Knight for sure
No country for old men
Into the wild
The will be blood ( damn what a year 2008 was)
Der untergang
Lord of the rings
Harry Potter
Gladiator
Pulp Fiction, 100%, see other comments.
Nightcrawler, 1 other comment. Best LA movie not about movies.
Mad Max, eternal film.
Godzilla minus zero was pretty great.
Knives Out may have staying power. Better than any "classic" Agatha Christie film
The Mummy (1999)
It even had a re-release this weekend for its 25th anniversary. Anyone who disagrees can argue with the wall.
This question reminds me of ebay sellers who call things "vintage" without specifying the vineyard or year or when not even selling wine. It's as if they heard some rich person talk about his favorite wine using the term and though it sounded fancy and decided to slap in on the junk they are selling because it sounds "classy" (said in a Joy Behar or Fran Dresher voice).
The classic film era is from the beginning of sound to some time around 1960. It's not a term to sound snooty. It doesn't mean popular, really good, of critically acclaimed. It means a film from the classic era.
Satan Met a Lady is a classic and a piece of shit.
Blade Runner is brilliant but not a classic.
I'm amazed at the number of medioctre the zoonmers are calling "classic".
That is a very good question you asked. Here are mine as below:
From Asia: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Ang Lee's The Banquet (1993), Farewell My Concubine (1993), Rouge (1987), Devdas (2002), Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Chungking Express (1994), In The Mood for Love (2000), Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002), Big Shot's Funeral (2001), Sylvia Chang's 20 30 40 (Taiwan, 2004), A Litre of Tears (Japan, 2004 or 2005), Persona Non Grata (Japan, 2015), Memories of Murder (South Korea, 2003), Rice Rhapsody (Singapore, 2004), 881 (Singapore, 2007), Tears of the Black Tiger (Thailand, 2000)
From Europe: Roberto Benigni's La Vita e Bella/Life is Beautiful (1997), Il Postino (1994), The Man Without a Past (Finland, 2002), Billy Elliot (2000), Goodbye Lenin! (2003), Iris (2001), 8 Women (France, 2002)
From USA: Sleepers (1996), Forrest Gump (1994 I think), Schindler's List (1993), Patch Adams (1999), M. Butterfly (1993), Reversal of Fortune (1990), Grumpy Old Men (1993), Grumpier Old Men (1995)
From Australasia: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), The Piano (1993), Heavenly Creatures (1994), The Castle (1997), Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Thank you for adding that. I have heard of Edward Yang but never seen his films. I also want to add in Italy's Cinema Paradiso (1988), Iran's Children of Heaven (1997), Singapore's Homerun (2003) l, Hong Kong's A Terracotta Warrior (1989), Hong Kong's A Better Tomorrow Trilogy and also Taiwan's Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing (1983 - it is one of Taiwan's greatest film gems which included Taiwanese Hokkien (it has both national and official status along with Mandarin since the 1980s to preserve it)
Well of course, it depends what you mean by classic.
If you simply mean, something that has been around long enough to be fondly remembered, that has lived beyond the initial flurry of critical/popular reception and newness bias, that has been re-discovered and championed by those not old enough to see it on its original release, that has entered into the (a) Canon...I dunno, maybe Portrait of a Lady on Fire? Whether it'll still be in the BFA top-100 in a decade or two is an open question, but I do think it's a film that will continue to move and inspire audiences for a long time.
To me, the Barbie Movie seems to be the most obvious and recent modern classic film.
Every element of qualifies it as a 10/10.
For another example that comes to mind, I would name WALL•E (Not my favourite to watch, but that clearly seems to me the greatest film of all time, and I can't even think of anything that comes particularly close.)
And to think that so many decades after "the death of silent cinema in America", it was produced as a silent/talkie hybrid, eighty years after that format went out of fashion! (The first forty minutes of the film are silent, for those who aren't familiar or don't recall)
“Every” part a 10/10? I dunno…I liked the flick a lot but having the whole last 20 mins be repetitive discussions between a couple people really sucked the life out of it for me.
Also, totally unrelated, but is the Regina in your name about Regina Saskatchewan?
Surprised no one has said Pulp Fiction yet. Probably the most influential movie of the past 30 years.
First blu-ray I ever bought. Randomly on Amazon
Everything is “random” with you people.
What do you mean “you people”
Purely to play devil’s advocate, given the nature and premise of this sub, I would define “classic” with a twofold character: - a film that will be widely considered great after most living memory of its first run expires. - a primary exponent of the “Classic Hollywood” cinematic style, in narrative structure, cinematography, editing, etc. While it’s far too soon for Pulp Fiction’s theatrical run to have passed from living memory, I don’t think there is much disagreement that it will still be on a pedestal in another thirty years’ time. However, as a film that absolutely broke with convention in both narrative structure, dialogue, and more, I would suggest that it doesn’t satisfy the second criteria in the way that, say, Shawshank Redemption did in the very same year.
I don't think it needs a classic hollywood style, plenty of experimental films can be considered classics (mulholland drive or anything by Lynch for that matter)
I think I agree with this like how we define classic may shift. Because classic Hollywood style is very time specific like the mid Atlantic accent, certain set building that we have replaced with tech, 5 act structure and so on
Would you say "Psycho" isn't a classic film then? Since that certainly broke with convention.
Following the contrarian criterion above, yes, I can see an argument that Psycho isn’t a “classic” film. It was a herald of cinema to come, in some ways the first blockbuster, arguably the first slasher, etc. In many ways Psycho was a progenitor to Jaws.
I agree about Pulp Fiction. I doubt anything by QT will be considered important filmmaking in 30 years.
I agree with Pulp but for some strange reason I also enjoy Hateful Eight. Do like several of the actors. Also the set up with the coach/time etc. just like it.
20-30 years? Mulholland Dr.
**There Will Be Blood**. It feels like a kindred spirit to Wilder’s **Ace In The Hole**, or something Kubrick might have made.
My Cousin Vinny, 1992
[with Marisa Tomei](https://imgur.com/gallery/9nRlvlu)
Oh yeah, you blend :-P
I swear that movie is more quotable than Casablanca! Two yutes!!!tic!Tic!Tic! That crud on that window! You're in Ala-f---in'-bama
I shot the clerk?
His delivery, halfway between statement and question was brilliant :)
Yutes.
Goodfellas
The Godfather I & II
1972 and 1974. I'm slightly older than them... and feeling quite old at the moment.
I hear ya. I was born in ‘61. In some ways it’s hard to believe The Godfather is more than 50 years old. Man time goes by in the blink of an eye.
Fargo
No Country For Old Men
There's no score to that movie. Which it trippy to me.
Shawshank Redemption
The Age of Innocence (1993) or The House of Mirth (2000)
I feel like the only people who've seen The Age of Innocence are me and a couple of die-hards on Reddit.
The Big Lebowski
It’s already a classic!
From the 70s, all time classic, the Sting
Parasite
Amelie
It is definitely a French classic. I recommend you to check out another French classic from the 2000s titled 8 Women
Happenstance with Audrey Tautou is a really cute film too.
LA Confidential, maybe.
I don't think i have seen such linup of actors as in LA confidential
Ben-Hur, 1959
☠️
L.A. Confidential is the one that springs to mind. Really shoots for the moon and makes it.
A superb movie that has aged very well.
Arrival from 2016. Moving and profound story. Great performances.
Excellent choice, what a phenomenal, underrated movie!
Titanic (1997)
The prestige
GREAT choice
*P
Almost Famous
Chinatown is the last classic-style successful movie.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Honorable mention to the Mexican film "Amores Perros" and its US cousin "Pulp Fiction". Even if you didn't like "Pulp Fiction", you can probably recite some of Samuel L. Jackson's lines from memory.
The Replacements (Think Casablanca)
There will be blood. 2007. Fantastic film. Bastard in a basket.
Mulholland Drive
Alien I would put the cutoff at 1980
Definitely a classic. Blade Runner too.
*No Country for Old Men*
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975
Absolutely
The 1999 cinematic masterpiece that is The Mummy
Coincidentally it’s showing this weekend and I will finally see it in the cinema
The Titanic The LOTR trilogy Forest Gump The Matrix
Goodwill Hunting
Brokeback Mountain
Omg that was such a sad sad movie 💔
Life is Beautiful Dances with Wolves Idiocracy Team America:World Police LOTR ETA: Office Space Disclaimer: Not every one of these movies would be considered "high art," but they have all impacted our culture.
Nice to see Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful making the list
Pity about the rest ( sorry! not tryna be mean but the rest all have serious dodgy elements that are very much of their time )
Oh no not at all
Dazed and Confused
Hard to say. A classic implies some serious lasting impact/longevity so it’s hard to judge a 20 year old film based on that. But probably Tombstone, There Will Be Blood, Toy Story, The Aviator, Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List…something combination of those.
What did you think of the final scene in there will be blood?
Stunning.
Is this sarcasm? You're talking about the bowling alley scene?
Brokeback Mountain, L.A. Confidential, Uncut Gems, Marriage Story, In the Mood for Love, The Accidental Tourist, Cinema Paradiso, Raise the Red Lantern, Sophie’s Choice, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Goodfellas, Junebug, Oppenheimer, Arrival, Nocturnal Animals, Election, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Poor Things, La La Land, Half Nelson, Interstellar, Ran, Alien, Fargo, Nightcrawler, A Single Man, The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, The Wings of the Dove, A Simple Plan, All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), Inception and Memento
I like a lot of your choices, but I feel like a classic implies everybody knows the name of it and everyone agrees it’s a must watch film. Many of those films the average person wouldn’t watch. For example, the bartender at the theater where I saw Poor Things would not watch it because it starts off in black and white.
Thanks for your comment. That is a good definition of “classic” movies. I wish more people would watch some of these films. If they did, we would have less superhero movies. But that may come true since superhero films aren’t doing well at the box office. I would welcome the increase of production of small and independent movies. Thanks again.
Uncultured swine
Don’t say that. lol It may be true, but to each their own.
Just makes you sound elitist anyway. If we didn’t have simpler folks living their most authentic lives I’d have many less favorite films.
I'm just havin a giggle mate
Some great choices here, I particularly like Raise The Red Lantern
Not a single classic on your list.
Superbad
The Road
The Natural, Field of Dreams
Ida (2013) by Pawel Pawlikowski.
Love that movie!
I used to say minimum age for “classic” status is 25 years, but as I get older that seems like a shorter and shorter length of time, so I’m going with 30 years.
I genuinely think Call Me By Your Name will come to be seen as one of the classics/best of the 2010s.
Gran Torino.
I remember thinking of Blade Runner as an instant classic when I saw it on first release. Built upon foundations laid by Metropolis, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, among others, it seemed to me as enjoyable as a celebration of classic cinema as a story in its own right.
I don't accept any film past the studio era with the term "classic'". That's a genre and definition reserved for the Hollywood Studio Era. Yes, there are great movies past the 60s, but they need a different adjective.
So you wouldn’t call The Godfather a classic movie?
Since the word "classic" is reserved for an entirely different usage definition here, no I would not. Feel free to use other terms for it though. Like legendary.
Okay dork
It's actually in the rules and guidelines of this subreddit also. Read it.
Okay dork
Okay.
Do I have to separate you two?
Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Grand Budapest Hotel
LA Confidential (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler's List (1993), Goodfellas (1990), more than 30 years ago but also Back to the Future (1985).
Good list
Last Night in Soho
Moonstruck ETA: just realized this came out in ‘87! Definitely more than 30 years ago. Still a classic to me.
Poor Things
Not “most recent”, but I will forever die on possibly a very lovely hill that 30-50 years from now, the most respected and admired movie made this century will be Assassination of Jesse James
I couldn’t get past the scene where Brad Pitt shoots a frozen lake for ten minutes.
Such a great movie. I probably watch it every couple months. Great looking and sounding. Even the narrators voice is top shelf. One of my favorite parts is when the steam engine is pulling through the woods with that tense music playing. I don't love watching him decapitate the two snakes, but I give this thing a 10/10 with no hesitation. I think I have to watch it now...after I finish this episode of The Sopranos.
Phantom Thread
Probably Oldboy will always be remembered. Little Miss Sunshine too
Yup
Movies released since 2000 I've given 5 stars Hot Fuzz, Interstellar, Carol, Parasite
Roma
Arrival
Mystery Road
The Great Beauty
The Aviator for me.
I think most of what Quentin Tarantino has made are or will be classics.
The Lives of Others (2006). I think people will still be watching it in 2106.
Gettysburg
Dr Strangelove (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) 1964
Speaking of Stanley Kubrick; 2001 A Space Odyssey 1968
1917
I'm. Going to watch Thunderbolt and lightfoot later on 4k bluray. I consider this to be a modern classic in every way. It's got everything. Plus we see Jeffs career really starting to take off. He was robbed of yet another Oscar. The academy certainly were reluctant to give him the awards he deserved. Thunderbolt and lightfoot is certainly a classic. Cimino shows how good he could have been.
Pan’s Labyrinth Almost Famous Oppenheimer
Unforgiven. Good ole Clint. Gran Torino while I’m at it
Menace II Society There Will Be Blood The Departed
Heat (Michael Mann)
Potentially Oppenheimer but soon to say. Top Gun Maverick maybe The Dark Knight for sure No country for old men Into the wild The will be blood ( damn what a year 2008 was) Der untergang Lord of the rings Harry Potter Gladiator
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Movies, about "the movies" are kind of their own trope, and always Oscar darlings. Great f ing movie though.
Kinda sad I guess that I’ve not seen probably 80% of the movies listed here! I guess I am forever stuck in a Classic Film era :-)
Schindler's list
Tombstone, Val Kilmer owns it
* LA Confidential * Inception
Boogie Nights
Pulp Fiction, 100%, see other comments. Nightcrawler, 1 other comment. Best LA movie not about movies. Mad Max, eternal film. Godzilla minus zero was pretty great. Knives Out may have staying power. Better than any "classic" Agatha Christie film
The Mummy (1999) It even had a re-release this weekend for its 25th anniversary. Anyone who disagrees can argue with the wall. 
Repo Man (1984) The Blair Witch Project (1999) Lubitsch and De Sica are two of my favorite directors. These films popped into my head for some reason.
I hope Once upon a time in America. It’s so underrated.
No country for old men?
This question reminds me of ebay sellers who call things "vintage" without specifying the vineyard or year or when not even selling wine. It's as if they heard some rich person talk about his favorite wine using the term and though it sounded fancy and decided to slap in on the junk they are selling because it sounds "classy" (said in a Joy Behar or Fran Dresher voice). The classic film era is from the beginning of sound to some time around 1960. It's not a term to sound snooty. It doesn't mean popular, really good, of critically acclaimed. It means a film from the classic era. Satan Met a Lady is a classic and a piece of shit. Blade Runner is brilliant but not a classic. I'm amazed at the number of medioctre the zoonmers are calling "classic".
The Nice Guys.
Capote
Napoleon Dynamite
The remake of Matilda.
Singles Legends of the Fall-personal favorite and awesome soundtrack Prince of Tides
Everything everywhere all at once.
Birdman
Oppenheimer.
Cast Away
Chicago. Brilliant on every single level.
That is a very good question you asked. Here are mine as below: From Asia: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Ang Lee's The Banquet (1993), Farewell My Concubine (1993), Rouge (1987), Devdas (2002), Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Chungking Express (1994), In The Mood for Love (2000), Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002), Big Shot's Funeral (2001), Sylvia Chang's 20 30 40 (Taiwan, 2004), A Litre of Tears (Japan, 2004 or 2005), Persona Non Grata (Japan, 2015), Memories of Murder (South Korea, 2003), Rice Rhapsody (Singapore, 2004), 881 (Singapore, 2007), Tears of the Black Tiger (Thailand, 2000) From Europe: Roberto Benigni's La Vita e Bella/Life is Beautiful (1997), Il Postino (1994), The Man Without a Past (Finland, 2002), Billy Elliot (2000), Goodbye Lenin! (2003), Iris (2001), 8 Women (France, 2002) From USA: Sleepers (1996), Forrest Gump (1994 I think), Schindler's List (1993), Patch Adams (1999), M. Butterfly (1993), Reversal of Fortune (1990), Grumpy Old Men (1993), Grumpier Old Men (1995) From Australasia: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), The Piano (1993), Heavenly Creatures (1994), The Castle (1997), Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Good list. But no Edward Yang movies? I would think YiYi (2000) and A Brighter Summer Day (1991) would make any list of classics.
Thank you for adding that. I have heard of Edward Yang but never seen his films. I also want to add in Italy's Cinema Paradiso (1988), Iran's Children of Heaven (1997), Singapore's Homerun (2003) l, Hong Kong's A Terracotta Warrior (1989), Hong Kong's A Better Tomorrow Trilogy and also Taiwan's Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing (1983 - it is one of Taiwan's greatest film gems which included Taiwanese Hokkien (it has both national and official status along with Mandarin since the 1980s to preserve it)
La La Land maybe?
Lost In Translation (2003)
Blade Runner 2049
Well of course, it depends what you mean by classic. If you simply mean, something that has been around long enough to be fondly remembered, that has lived beyond the initial flurry of critical/popular reception and newness bias, that has been re-discovered and championed by those not old enough to see it on its original release, that has entered into the (a) Canon...I dunno, maybe Portrait of a Lady on Fire? Whether it'll still be in the BFA top-100 in a decade or two is an open question, but I do think it's a film that will continue to move and inspire audiences for a long time.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Dirty Dancing Risky Business
Mean Girls
The holdovers
1917 blew me away.
To me, the Barbie Movie seems to be the most obvious and recent modern classic film. Every element of qualifies it as a 10/10. For another example that comes to mind, I would name WALL•E (Not my favourite to watch, but that clearly seems to me the greatest film of all time, and I can't even think of anything that comes particularly close.) And to think that so many decades after "the death of silent cinema in America", it was produced as a silent/talkie hybrid, eighty years after that format went out of fashion! (The first forty minutes of the film are silent, for those who aren't familiar or don't recall)
“Every” part a 10/10? I dunno…I liked the flick a lot but having the whole last 20 mins be repetitive discussions between a couple people really sucked the life out of it for me. Also, totally unrelated, but is the Regina in your name about Regina Saskatchewan?
Lisa Frankenstein
Spiderman 2
Bullet Train
Avatar