Classics you wish you'd seen on the big screen

[SoRefined]

I'm sure everyone here loves watching films on the small screen, but are there any classics you wish you had caught on the big screen?

I for one am holding out for the the day Wait Until Dark comes to my local theater that plays classics.

Speaking of, I just checked their calendar and Once Upon A Time in the West starts in an hour... I think I'll get going!

Cheers.

[B-Independent.com]

I had the chance to see my favorite Hitchcock on the big screen a month ago, VERTIGO....and like a dummy i opted not to go. i've been kicking myself ever since. I'd really love to see CITIZEN KANE projected.

i'm lucky that many of my classic movie introductions occurred on the big screen. CASABLANCA and THE WILD BUNCH both were truly magical.

[SoRefined]

Hmm, Vertigo is playing around here next weekend... double feature with Rear Window. I've seen Rear Window on the big screen and am looking forward to seeing it again. They are having a Hitchcock series. I think I will try and catch Psycho, too.

Citizen Kane is a great one to see on the big screen, especially the "News on the March" scenes. The whole "Kane is bigger than life" sense is really enhanced in the theater.

I too was introduced to Casablanca in the theater and it is certainly a remarkable film. And though it's a little too young for this forum, my first viewing of The Godfather was in a theater, and it has remained near the top of my list since then.

Once Upon A Time in the West was great tonight--so glad I went. The shots of Monument Valley are breathtaking, as are Henry Fonda's eyes in closeup.

Cheers.

Edited to include words missing from the last sentence in original post.

[B-Independent.com]

Oh wow, just the thought of a triple feature of Hitch's best thrillers makes me giddy, and highly envious. You owe it to the group to report back.

As for the Godfather, I don't think a movie needs to be old to be considered a classic. I'm sure no one here would argue the worth of THE GODFATHER, or even something more recently like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

As big as my tv is, I think i'd really have to see CK on the big screen to get the full impact of that amazing camera work. The deep focus looks nice on the set, but I can only imagine the depth visable on a large screen.

You obviously live close to a damn, fine theater....and I'm envious. For me to see classics on the screen, I've driving 45-120 minutes.

[SoRefined]

There is a "Hitchcock's 50s" series going on. I am still trying to figure out which films I'll be able to make it to. I am definitely planning on Psycho, double features of Rear Window and Vertigo and also North by Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much. I think I can squeeze in a non-Hitch bonus on Saturday of Murnau's Tabu, which I haven't seen. Apparently, they'll be screening an uncensored, fully restored version.

I would really like to see double features of Stage Fright and Strangers on A Train, which is probably my second favorite Hitchcock after Rear Window, and Dial M for Murder and To Catch a Thief, but I fear work will be too crazy to allow for any of those because they're all playing midweek.

As you can probably tell, I think the theater I go to is awesome. (Those of you in the Boston area: go to The Brattle!)

In the last 4 months, I have seen Jaws, Children of Paradise, Some Like it Hot, Annie Hall, Midnight Cowboy, Planet of the Apes, The Apartment, the Bette Davis films Three on A Match and Bureau of Missing Persons, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, Touch of Evil, Woody Allen's Zelig, Monty Python's Meaning of Life, Bladerunner (The Final Cut), the super schlocky Danger: Diabolik, Barbarella and sing-along versions of Grease and The Muppet Movie.

Some of them were old favorites for me and others were films I was experiencing for the first time. And the crazy thing is that even having seen all those, there were so many great films I didn't make it to.

Anyway, I will definitely report back about the Hitch movies. (Also, B: The Wild Bunch is playing at the Harvard Film Archive next Friday--I should try to check that out, too!)

Are you green yet?

Cheers.

[B-Independent.com]

Danger: Diabolik One of the film films from the brilliant Mario Bava, aka The Italian Hitchcock, that I haven't seen.

You know... I almost moved to Boston a few years ago at the insistance of a filmmaking buddy of mine who was getting his company off the ground. The theater might have been the deal-sealer. I think I would have lived there.

STRANGERS OF A TRAIN is themovie where I learned how to watch Hitchcock, while still in High School, and is still a big favorite. It's hard for me to pick a 2nd favorite, as there's so many great titles, but VERTIGO always gets the top spot.

[Sevorin]

I was introduced to Casablanca and Citizen Kane when they were first shown on television. I've seen them on the big screen many times since then.

The Wild Bunch I caught in its opening run at a theater in Hollywood. Of course, it blew my ass apart. But I expected that kind of treatment. I'd already been following Peckinpah's career from his great, short-lived western series, The Westerner, with Brian Keith, a more-than-less comic-sentimental modern "western" teleplay he did for Desilu Playhouse with Lee Marvin and Keenan Wynn, and, of course, I had seen his pre- The Wild Bunch movies.

I was lucky enough to see The Wild Bunch at a special midnight show at another theater in Hollywood. At this screening both Warren Oates and Strother Martin were in the audience. Oates was, to put it diplomatically, "unable" to speak to the fans. But Martin was wonderfully articulate, an absolutely delightful man. He took the stage and talked at length before he was "given the hook" and the movie started. Of all the many times I've seen this movie -- and I drove a buddy 120 miles to see it at a revival house -- this time with Oates and Martin in the audience was the best. When Martin sniped, in his inimitable fashion, "It's covered, you two-bit, red-necked peckerwood!", the theater crowd started a cheer that didn't let up until the last end credit had run.

As for Vertigo, I first saw it at a drive-in movie during a re-release. Maybe that's the reason I've never liked it.

I've been lucky to live in a metropolitan area with plenty of movie houses. Many of them specialize in revivals of classics. So there aren't many films that I regret not seeing on the big screen. Pretty much whatever I've wanted to see that way has been available for me.

[Desertflower]

This may seem cliche, but I would have loved to see Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of OZ, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

[SoRefined]

I haven't seen Gentlemen Blondes in the theater, but I have seen GWTW and The Wizard of Oz... both look great on the big screen, especially The Wizard of Oz.

Today, I saw Vertigo and Rear Window at my local theater... hard to say which was cooler on the big screen.

Cheers!

[B-Independent.com]

The only time I ever fell asleep during REAR WINDOW was when I saw it on the big screen. Not sure what it was, but I was out pretty early in and woke near the end. I was pissed because it was the last showing of the night and I'd driven 70 minutes.....

[Sevorin]

All three of them I saw for the first time on the big screen. As it happens, it was at the same movie theater -- and it was not a revival house.

Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz I saw in re-issues. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was in its first release.

I know it's crazy to say this -- and though it happens to be true of these three, it's not necessarily true of any others -- I never enjoyed any of these pictures as much in a theater as I did while watching them on TV.

Something else I gotta get off my chest. Of the three of them I would've thought that The Wizard of Oz had the least chance of standing the test of time. As it turns out -- insofar as my own feelings are concerned -- I think it has kept a lot more of its punch than the other two.

[maryhatchbailey]

Last Christmas I got to see my all time fave, It's a Wonderful Life, on the big screen in a restored old time former vaudville theater. The movie was preceded by an old Laurel and Hardy short complete with live organ accompanyment. It was amazing. This fall I hope to see there one of my top five Hitchcock movies, The 39 Steps.

One movie I'd love to see on the big screen is Giant.
BTW- great discussion topic!

[B-Independent.com]

When I was researching a list on Screwball Comedy, I came across an article that discussed the screwball elements of THE 39 STEPS, and that was the only article I found that referenced the movie in such a manner. I've never actually seen the movie - would you consider it screwball?