Recommend me an older film (before 1980) that you consider to be an absolute classic

[chaostrophy]

(1927)

 

[Mona]

Jaws
2001: A Space Odyssey
Dr. Strangelove
Rear Window
12 Angry Men
Wizard of Oz

 

[nightstalker962]

Blue Collar (1978). It has Harvey Keitel and Richard Pryor in it on their prime.

 

[bionic77]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Click to shrink...

All of the man with no name movies are fantastic.

And you can never go wrong with Kubrick.

 

[Mansa Mufasa]

The Godfather

 

[Yerffej]

The Long Hot Summer
To Have and Have Not
Alien
Godfather 1 and 2

 

[DrFunk]

Already been said but:

 

[Deleted member 2317]

Metropolis

The Seventh Seal

 

[Deleted member 18407]

The Bride of Frankenstein. That movie had me on the verge of tears.

 

[Garlador]

I love Metropolis and classic Universal Horror monster movies (Dracula, Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc.).

Also a fan of 30s and 40s era comedies, in particular Bringing Up Baby.

 

[meowdi gras]

 

[Axon]

How about Nosferatu?

Silent film from 1922 with chilling imagery that holds up even today.

 

[Steamlord]

Persona
Modern Times
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Marketa Lazarová
Repulsion
Tokyo Story
Man with a Movie Camera
Harakiri
Nosferatu
Seven Samurai
Ordet
Woman in the Dunes
The Red Shoes
Last Year at Marienbad
Ikiru
Eraserhead
City Lights
The Human Condition
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles
Vampyr
Rosemary's Baby
Cries and Whispers
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928 dir. Epstein)
2001: A Space Odyssey

All 10/10

 

[kmfdmpig]

Came here to suggest Double Indemnity which has been suggested 4 times (rightfully so).

I'll go with Shadow of a Doubt. A lesser known Hitchcock film that is great.

 

[leddmonkey]

The Shop around the corner
Strangers on a train
Laura
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Gaslight
Now, Voyager
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf
Scrooge/A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim

 

[Gwenpoolshark]

 

[Bladelaw]

Technically it's 1980 but Airplane! is one of the greatest comedies of all time.
On the Waterfront (1954) is my favorite Brando piece and deserves more mentions.

 

[Slayven]

 

[Cugel]

Star Wars

 

[Landford]

Stalker is my favorite movie of all time.

 

[TheXbox]

Sansho the Bailiff
Paths of Glory
2001
Solaris
Chinatown
Barry Lyndon
Star Wars
Close Encounters
Alien

Leaving out Kurosawa and David Lean since OP mentioned those. I don't watch enough movies pre-1960, but those are all top shelf.

 

[Deleted member 13798]

Notorious

 

[gforguava]

From 1941 to 1948, Powell and Pressburger had the greatest run of films in the history of the medium. One a year for eight years they released masterpiece after masterpiece.

• 49th Parallel (1941)
• One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
• A Canterbury Tale (1944)
• I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
• A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
• Black Narcissus (1947)
• The Red Shoes (1948)

 

[Parisi]

Jaws
The Godfather 1 & 2
Chinatown
Some Like it Hot
Nosferatu (1922) - Silent Film
Bullit - Still has the best car chase ever put to film
Enter The Dragon

 

[TheWooniestWoona]

Already been said but:

Click to shrink...

Just make sure you don't watch the director's cut. It butchers that movie.

 

[turtle553]

The Court Jester!

Click to shrink...

Agree. I just watched it the other night for the first time in years. Such a fun movie.

 

[denx]

Doctor Strangelove, still one of the best satirical comedies ever made.

 

[DrForester]

 

[Bing-Bong]

The Night of the Hunter

Click to shrink...

Entered the thread just to recommend this one, weird that no one mentioned it earlier. This film is just fantastic.

 

[WillyFive]

Jaws
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The General
Network
To Kill a Mockingbird
Star Wars
Once Upon a Time in the West

 

[saladdays]

I know everyone else has probably said these already but:
Eraserhead
Taxi Driver
Wild Strawberries
The 400 Blows
Harakiri (This is my favorite samurai film by far, beats out any Kurosawa imo)
Bicycle Thieves
Battleship Potemkin
aaaaaaand Modern Times. Why not.
Edit: Oh yeah, if you're a fan of David Lynch, Night of the Hunter is fantastic too!
Edit edit: Everything I listed is at least a 9/10 in my books, by the way, so that might entice, idk

 

[Fjordson]

There are so, so many. Way too many to list. Just going to name a few random ones:

In a Lonely Place (1950)
L'Avventura (1960)
The Apartment (1960)
Harakiri (1962)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Barry Lyndon (1975)

Could honestly go on for days, so I'll just leave it that.

 

[venom slime]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Stalker

High Noon

 

[tulpa]

if I could pick only one?

 

[Plinko]

Going My Way starring Bing Crosby.

I'd also add White Christmas to the list.

 

[Stinkles]

A Touch of Zen (1971)

Click to shrink...

ive never seen this but it's apparent Ang Lee was homage-ing the shit out of that. I don't mean WuXia generally I mean specific shots and atmosphere.

 

[Advance.Wars.Sgt.]

A Streetcar Named Desire to see Marlon Brando give the greatest performance ever put on film.

Click to shrink...

Seconded

 

[LordAlu]

Ain't gonna mention obvious ones like The Godfather, The Exorcist, Rocky, Star Wars etc, so here's a few... lesser known ones?

• To Be or Not To Be (1942)
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• Fail Safe (1964)
• The Double Man (1967)

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[kamineko]

If people have mentioned wild strawberries and seventh seal, I agree with them

I also agree with vertigo and 2001

third man?

 

[KomandaHeck]

You may have already seen it since you're working through Kurosawa's work, but Ikiru (1952) is my favourite film. I consider it essential viewing for everybody.

The Apartment (1960)
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
Tokyo Story (1953)
The Exorcist (1973)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Network (1976)
Casablanca (1942)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

It was released just after the cutoff point but watch Das Boot (1981) as well.

 

[SeanBoocock]

One of my favorite older films is Flight of the Phoenix(1965)

 

[Kronotech]

A fun future-take movie from 1976

 

[sibarraz]

I have a huge baklog of classic movies, but never have a placento watch them legally (or are us exclusive)

 

[Jeffolation]

Rear Window
Foriegn Correspondent
Rebecca
Psycho
Vertigo

Sunset Boulevard
One, Two, Three
Ace in the Hole
The Lost Weekend
Double Indemnity

Some of my favourite Hitchcock and Wilder flicks. Essential directors.

 

[Bradford]

Eraserhead.

 

[KDR_11k]

Despite being critical about Imperial Germany it was banned by the GDR (where it was filmed). I guess its critique of the rich and powerful is timeless. Feel free to draw parallels to modern politics too.

 

[Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy]

Ace in the Hole, 1951
Sweet Smell of Success, 1957

Some of the most blistering films about media and journalism ever made.

The Big Heat, 1953
Detour, 1945
Murder, My Sweet, 1944

Scathing, brilliant crime noir.

Night of the Demon, 1957 - amazing supernatural horror-noir.

 

[Rangerx]

Eraserhead. One of those rare seventies films that seems completely removed from it's time.

 

[affeinvasion]

Trying to come up with something that hasn't been said a million times already:
A Shot in the Dark
Return of the Pink panther

Not quite sequels, but the two best Pink panther movies imo.