If you have read this posts in the past, you will soon know that I am a huge fan of pop culture. Movies, music, fads, and everything in between, I love it. It has always baffled me that I work with some young kids who have never seen Rocky, or A Few Good Men or even The Shawshank Redemption. I couldn’t believe that they had not seen those classic movies.
Then one night as I was flipping through, I came across Casablanca and realized I had never seen it. Then The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, Citizen Kane, I did a deeper dive and found more classics that I had missed including It’s A Wonderful Life. They only play that every Christmas and yet, I had never seen it. I found more I had never seen in Lawrence of Arabia, 12 Angry Men and on and on.
Embarrassing actually when you proclaim to be a big pop culture and you had never seen these classics. So, I came up with a new routine for me and one that I love. We spend so much time on all the streaming services trying to find anything good to watch and yet, these classics are just sitting there.
Just once a week, pick a classic film and sit down and watch it. Instead of surfing around, find one movie off the Top 100 classic movie list off of IMDB and go. I watched It’s A Wonderful Life, then The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane. I am loving every second of it, too. I just think what my Grandfather thought as he watched those movies back in the day and others as well.
You will soon discover how great the acting is, how great the writing is and how great all of it is when put together. No animation; no computer effects; just movie making how it used to be. Movie stars back then were called Matinee Idols and when you watch them, it all becomes very clear. I remember my grandpa telling me about going to the Matinee on the weekends to see these actors and actresses that were larger than life. On the big screen. In vivid color.
I am telling you that it is a great way to shut off the world for a few hours and discover and in some cases for people, rediscover what made classic movies classic.
