
I am not a film buff. Still, I don’t want to miss out on the movies that even today, inform our shared cultural conversation. There’s a lot to learn here about love, hope and coming of age–and about writing an awesome screenplay, too.
Classic Films for Older Kids and Adults
- A Face in the Crowd
- Airplane!
- An American In Paris
- Annie
- Annie Hall
- Babes in Toyland
- Babette’s Feast
- Bandolero
- Barcelona
- Barton Fink
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s
- Bright Eyes
- Brother Sun, Sister Moon
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Cabaret
- Casablanca
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Crimes and Misdemeanors
- Das Boot
- Doctor Zhivago
- East of Eden
- Hannah and Her Sisters
- Godspell
- Frankenstein
- Cries and Whispers
- From Here to Eternity
- How Green is My Valley
- How the West Was Won
- Igby Goes Down
- Il Dulce Vita
- It Happened One Night
- Lolita
- Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Mutiny on the Bounty
- National Velvet
- Night of the Living Dead
- North by Northwest
- Oklahoma!
- Oliver!
- On the Waterfront
- Orchestra Rehearsal
- Jesus Christ, Superstar
- Les Miserables
- Lil Abner
- Radio Days
- Planet of the Apes
- Platoon
- Rear Window
- Rebel Without a Cause
- Roman Holiday
- Singing in the Rain
- Sophie’s Choice
- Splendor in the Grass
- Strangers on a Train
- Suspicion!
- Taxi Driver
- The 39 Steps
- The African Queen
- The Bells of St. Mary’s
- The Birds
- The Exorcist
- Wild Strawberries
- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- The Lady Vanishes
- The Last Days of Disco
- The Lives of Others
- The Lord of the Flies
- The Man Who Knew Too Much
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance
- The Music Man
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
- 8 ½
- The Thirty-Nine Steps
- The Three Faces of Eve
- The Train
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- The Unsinkable Molly Brown
- Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
- To Catch a Thief
- Vertigo
- West Side Story
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- You Can’t Take It With You
- Zelig
- The Silent World
- The Sorrow and the Pity
- Stop Making Sense
- Salesman
- Sans Soleil
- Scared Straight!
- Nanook of the North
- Man with a Movie Camera
- Jaguar
- In the Land of the Head Hunters
- Harlan County U.S.A.
- Gates of Heaven
- Night Mail
- Night and Fog
- Primary
- The Arrival of a Train
- The Atomic Cafe
- The Times of Harvey Milk
- Titicut Follies
- Triumph of the Will
- Ben Hur
Modern Classic Films for Older Kids and Adults
- American Beauty
- American Psycho
- American Splendour
- The Absent-Minded Professor
- Raise the Red Lantern
- Wild at Heart
- A Scanner Darkly
- Being John Malcovich
- Clockwork Orange
- Clue
- Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
- Fight Club
- Pleasantville
- The Truman Show
- Naked Lunch
- Moonstruck
- Gummo
- High Art
- Four Rooms
- Jackie Brown
- Pulp Fiction
- Reservoir Dogs
- Kill Bill Volume I & Kill Bill Volume II
- M
- Man on the Moon
- Memento
- Lost Highway
- Parenthood
- Pi
- Primer
- Psycho
- Requiem for a Dream
- Summer of My German Soldier
- Run Lola Run
- Sabrina
- Saturday Night Fever
- Secretary
- Swimming Pool
- The Following
- The Gladiator
- The Princess and the Warrior
- To Live
- True Romance
- Adaptation
- Mulholland Drive
- Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight
Classic Children’s Films
- The Wizard of Oz
- Return to Oz
- The Princess Bride
- Alice in Wonderland
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- Labyrinth
- The Neverending Story
- Goonies
- The Karate Kid
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (original version)
- Ghostbusters (original version)
- The Muppet Movie (original version)
- The Lord of the Rings series
- The Chronicles of Narnia series
- The Harry Potter series
- The Anne of Green Gables series
- The Anne of Avonlea series
- Bambi
- Sleeping Beauty
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Lion King
- Cinderella
- Aladdin
- The Little Mermaid
- Snow White
- Pinocchio
- Dumbo
- The Sound of Music
- The Swiss Family Robinson
- Charlotte’s Web
- Benji
- Old Yeller
- Winnie the Pooh
- The Red Balloon
- The Jungle Book
- Totoro
- Spirited Away
- Finding Nemo
- Frozen
- Moana
- Babe
- Freaky Friday
- Big
- Home Alone
- Home Alone 2
- Matilda
- Wall-E
- The Sandlot
- Enchanted
- Tangled
- Pollyanna
- The Apple Dumpling Gang
Classic Christmas Films
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- White Christmas
- A Christmas Carol
- Miracle on 34th Street
- A Christmas Story
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Frosty the Snowman
- The Muppet Christmas Carol
Modern Classic Documentaries
- 13th
- 20 Feet from Stardom
- 306 Hollywood
- 500 Nations
- 500 Years Later
- A Lego Brickumentary
- Abacus
- Amanda Knox
- Being Elmo
- Bisbee ’17
- Black Gold
- Blackfish
- Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids
- Bowling for Columbine
- Breakthrough
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Capitalism: A Love Story
- Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary
- Capturing the Friedmans
- Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- Chernobyl
- Citizen Four
- Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey
- Crumb
- Devil’s Playground
- Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?
- Earth
- Exit Through the Gift Shop
- Faces Places
- Food Matters
- Food, Inc.
- Free Solo
- GasLand
- Gaza Strip
- Ghosts of Cité Soleil
- Going Clear
- Grey Gardens
- Grizzly Man
- Hale County This Morning, This Evening
- Hell House
- Herb and Dorothy
- Hoop Dreams
- How to Survive a Plague
- Human Planet
- I.O.U.S.A.
- Icarus
- Inside Deep Throat
- Invisible Children
- Iris
- Jesus Camp
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- King Corn
- Lake of Fire
- Life Itself
- Life and Debt
- Mad Hot Ballroom
- March of the Penguins
- McQueen
- Minding the Gap
- Momentum Generation
- Murderball
- No End in Sight
- Paper Clips
- Paradise Lost
- Paragraph 175
- Paris Is Burning
- Planet Earth
- RBG
- Restrepo
- Rize
- Room 237
- Shirkers
- Sicko
- Sour Grapes
- Spellbound
- Strong Island
- The Act of Killing
- The Barkley Marathons
- The Celluloid Closet
- The Cove
- The Future of Food
- The Gleaners & I
- The Last Race
- The Look of Silence
- The Rachel Divide
- The Thin Blue Line
- The Wolfpack
- This Is It
- Three Identical Strangers
- Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
- Trekkies
- Waiting for Superman
- Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
- Wasteland

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Some of those are a little ‘rough” perhaps for children in a recommended list.
However, more than half in the children’s section I love to watch – “Princess Bride” and “Labyrinth” are great and one of my very favorite movies is “The Little Mermaid”.
Mollie Great Movie list !!!! I also love Spirit. It is from Disney and tells the Story of the Old West. Cinema Paradiso it is an Italian movie. I love La la land and Green card with Gerad De pardiew. I am not sure how to write his last name.
Pirates of Caribean . The Tourist with angelina Jolie and Johnny Deep.
Great movie list !
Thank you so much! I will check out some of those. 🙂