Do young people watch any old movies anymore?

Define "young" OP.

There’s no way in hell younger people are watching Gone with the Wind. It’s 4 hours.

The TCM festival in LA brings out a lot of young (under 30 say) film geeks.

Glad to hear that, R3. I am an actor (I'm 48) and it's unreal how my younger actor friends have literally never seen a film made before 1980. Not even The Godfather, something like that. That's not exactly The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Imagine not seeing The Godfather and being a professional actor!

I asked my 40 year old nephew to name an old movie star and he said 'one of the guys from the A-Team?'

I doubt kids even watch 'The Wizard of Oz', because it's just not violent enough. And that black & white -- or sepia beginning -- a HUGE turnoff.

r4 How do you, like...make a living doing that when it's been several months between projects? Do they pay you in lump sums or increments? If lump sum, do you then just live off of that and quickly work with your manager to find more projects before those funds run out?

I've always been curious about that.

^ I'm talking union, here, btw.

No. They're busy watching themselves on TikTok. Fucking narcissistic losers.

WHIPPERSNAPPERS! Always LOLLYGAGGING AROUND!

I do not make my living as an actor, R7. I have a side job, or "money job" as my friends call it.

My boyfriend is 27 and absolutely does not want to watch a black and white movie and considers anything from the early 90s to be "old." Which, to him, it is.

Jaws is considered an old movie to young people. It's all relative. You are aging OP. Gone with the Wind was considered an old movie in the 80s.

You get it now.

^ Jaws is an old movie for my parents. I’ve seen Pretty Woman, the original Top Gun, Working Girl, Overboard…. Campy and sappy but good movies!

Titanic and Jurassic Park came out when I was in grade school. That’s pretty old.

R12, face it Dorothy, he's limited.

I first watched 1930s-1950s movies on TV on Saturday afternoons when we didn’t have cable in Australia. It was that or the snooker or fishing shows. It’s more difficult to watch them now because there is too much content. Plus we’re in an era where teens today consider the original Top Gun and Indiana Jones as relics from another era.

I was amazed when I met a 30 yr old who'd never heard of Fred Astaire. If you were a kid of the 60s & 70s all that stuff was still very much around. I never liked the 30s and 40s films. Still don't.

They're not to fond of you either R17.

R18 🤣

I’m 29 and I’ve been obsessed with Old Hollywood ever since my early teens. I always thought I was a weirdo until I discovered online communities of other millennials who love old movies.

I don’t know about Gen Z, but many millennials grew up watching TCM.

[quote]R7 Do they pay you in lump sums or increments?

I thought this said [italic]excrement.[/italic]

!!!

[quote]...teens today consider the original Top Gun and Indiana Jones as relics from another era.

Of course they do. Those films were released 37 and 41 years ago. They are somewhere between 2x, 3x, and 4x the age of "teens today."

It's the "near past" that always looks the most dated because so many things are the same as in the present but the physical looks, the hair, clothing, language, colors, furniture and decoration...it's all a different world.

I loved old films as a kid but rarely bothered with ones from the decade I was born (1960s) or the decade preceding. Those often had a dated quality to them where I could see past the trappings of a 1930s or 1940s film to the quality of the acting, writing, direction, cinematography... 'Leave It to Beaver' and 'Hazel' were kicking around in syndication when I was a child, but they were antiquated in so many ways because the near past doesn't hold up. "I love Lucy", too, though it had at once a more timeless and a more antiquated feel - it felt old rather than old-fashioned and corny.

1950s films had for me in the late 1960s and 1970s a tired, dated that fell flat. It felt like listening to my parents talk about societal mores from their youth, which might almost as well have been Dickensian times in their remove from mine. Dickensian times were interesting, actually; things from 20 or 30 years ago (2x or 3x my age then) were not engaging.

Top Gun, Indiana Jones, Working Girl, Jaws...I don't think any of them are especially good films, just light entertainment of the period done well enough, not better than the more expensive sort of shit TV of the period. It has sentimental appeal to some people who remember the fuss about the film and with whom they saw it and where (maybe), but it's not great filmmaking, and most certainly not timeless.

I suspect most youngins only watch anything that resembles a video game.

Gone With The Wind opened 84 years ago. When I was a kid, I never watched movies that old. Because movies didn’t exist then.

[quote] Plus we’re in an era where teens today consider the original Top Gun and Indiana Jones as relics from another era.

That’s because they are. Top Gun opened in 1986, 37 years ago. When I was 13, a 37 year old movie was It Happened One Night.

[quote]r22 1950s films had, for me, a tired, dated feeling that fell flat.

I'm not young (53) but have always been drawn to old, B/W and even silent films. I guess it's a matter of taste. I think there's still interest in these and the classic studio system era films. Also the 60s and 70s films which were pretty fruitful. Things started getting more high tech in the 80s, to some films that's good and other films, not so much.

I believe its your parents or grandparents introducing u to old movies that makes or breaks your love for them. My dad and granny were huge laurel & Hardy fans and their enthusiasm rubbed off on me. My mom loved Doris Day and Rock Hudson..and I do too. I kinda found Judy the way most kids do, with Oz, and then couldn't get enough. In fact I loved her so much I found DeNna Durbin along the way; initially thinking she was Judy. (Did anyone ever make that mistake as a kid?). I recall my dad arguing with me thar it wasn't Judy but Deanna Durbin. Betty Grable was a big favourite as was Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Bob Hope, Cary Grant and Margaret Lockwood...and weirdly enough u loved Paulette Goddard. I plan on never being bored when I'm old as I'll watch all the Golden age movies again.

R5 your stupid nephew isn’t typical

[quote]Besides Gone With the Wind and maybe a few Hitchcock movies, young people don't seem to watch any old movies.

Whatever gave you the idea that GONE WITH THE WIND, of all films, is watched by young people in any appreciable numbers? If anything, I'm sure another movie from that same year -- THE WIZARD OF OZ --- is watched by far more young people.

Eh most young people never watched "old movies", even when I was a teen in the 90s...now I did, I loved them, but it wasnt the norm then and it isn't now.

I know a Gen Z guy who is only into old Hollywood films and TV shows. He could tell you Tallulah Bankhead’s entire history but wouldn’t know Taylor Swift from Miley Cyrus.

R32, good for him!

I think that Letterboxd (a film review / social media app) is ushering in a new generation of baby film critics who care about old movies. I follow several younger people on the platform who watch lots of obscure films. Bowen Yang's account is worth checking out.

I take that back, his reviews are not good lol

I've been told by several who have kids that they don't live black and white movies.

A lot of Americans won't watch foreign films, because they're too lazy to read the subtitles. Now add "old" foreign films, and their eyes start crossing.

I just watched the one with the 2 sisters and one seems a bit slow, carries a doll around, it was in Black and White. Forgot the name of the movie

r22 your comments about a dislike of the "near past" is just so perceptive. I recently came across an old photo I hadn't seen in decades of my mother from the early 1940s when she was quite young. When I was a child in the 1950s, looking at the photo, I never appreciated how beautiful she was because her clothes, hair and makeup looked so old fashioned to me. But now I see the beauty and when I recently posted it on Facebook it got 300 likes and lots of wows agreeing.

Same idea as what you're talking about.

[quote] I recall my dad arguing with me thar it wasn't Judy but Deanna Durbin.

Your dad might have a few secrets.

I'm 57 and frankly a lot of people my age don't watch movies from the 1920s to the 1960s. It's more of a gay thing. In the 1940s, there were few people interested in the stage reviews of the 1880s. Time does move on.

I think young people who are interested in film watch a lot of film noir and old Hollywood classics. But for the most part, young people can't go back beyond 1995 movies. That's VERY old to them.

No one watches the classics any longer.

I'm a high school teacher. Kids don't even know what Gone with the Wind is, and I'm in Texas. However, kids do watch movies with subtitles, and they are happy to watch foreign movies.

There will always be a minority of youngins into old films, I see plenty reviewing them or reacting to them on youtube,but they still are a minority in the grand scope of things.

I'm 25 and I've loved old movies my entire life. I like old media in general (I was obsessed with Twilight Zone reruns in Elementary school). My parents are on the older side so that probably has something to do with it. I think I became some kind of larval eldergay when I watched Judy sing "Over the Rainbow" in Wizard of Oz.

I have a friend who's also into old movies, we'll dish on decades old gossip and throw Valley of the Dolls quotes at each other.

Gone With the Wind? So you are lamenting boring movies form the past nobody under the age of 60 wants to watch anymore? Sit down Grandpa. Times have changed. Are you upset they added sound to talkies too?

Young people dont want your hand me downs and antiques anymore either. All that time and money went down the crapper. Hope you enjoy it, will sell for pennies on the dollar when they come take your stuff.

People your age weren't watching old films, either, OP

Youngins today have to pay $30 for admission and large popcorn and drink at AMC in Century City. In the 70s it was 1.25 admission for the weekend matinee and maybe $5 for a large popcorn and drink. For a double feature. The film industry has really screwed the pooch.

R50 - An inflation calculator says things are really about the same.

“Adjusted for inflation, $6.50 in 1973 is equal to $45.39 in 2023. Annual inflation over this period was 3.96%.”

I have 5 nieces & nephews. When they were in their teens, I tried getting them interested in "old" movies. I succeeded with 2 of the 5 - 1 niece and 1 nephew.

I particularly wanted my niece to know there was a time when women were the stars of the movies, not just an appendage to the male lead as in newer films.

Old movies were my goto gift for birthday and Christmas presents and they both now have very large movie collections.

My niece told me recently that she encouraged a friend to watch "Gaslight" since so many people misuse the word these days.

Popcorn and a drink back in 1973 was about 2.50 total. So in Today's prices that would be 18.00. not 45 .00. Still cheaper back then.

R52 I wish I had a family member like you. I don’t think modern audiences realize how much influence that female actors / producers/ costume designers/ etc. used to have over Hollywood, especially during WWII.

I don’t think modern Hollywood has as much female influence as it used to, although they try to pretend to be “progressive”.

Gone with the Wind was never a young people movie. People watch old movies when they age and acquire some curiosity about film history. Only ignorant idiots poo poo the great movie classics.

As has been mentioned here, if you want to get a young person into old movies, you have to start early and be deliberate in your choices. If it's a kid who has had a device in their face since they were a toddler you can probably forget it, they're a lost cause.

My son was really into electricity from the time he was a toddler until he was 5 or so (a missed opportunity Ms. Patty Ramsey would say), and he sat through Young Thomas Edison when he was 4 or so as it was of interest to him (I think we watched half one day and half another day). One thing I really like about kids seeing those movies is that they can see how things used to be done-- the fire wagon, old phones/call boxes, customs, dress, homes. The expressions people used and their manner of speaking is also very interesting to kids. Some people think it's hilarious and a source of pride that their kid doesn't know what a rotary phone is, or something along those lines. I hope the aliens come hoover up those people first.

Charlie Chaplin movies, Anne of Green Gables, those were good places to start for us. I have heard that Bringing Up Baby is a solid choice for a kid's first old movie. As for movies mentioned here-- I wouldn't expect GWTW to be a hit with a younger person. My son, now almost ten, wouldn't like Wizard of Oz, either, as he's not into 'fantasy'. A person has to put a little effort into finding shows that will be loosely to the tase of the potential viewer, or that will resonate to some degree, the same is true with literature if you want the kid to be a reader, certain music genres, etc. You will have more luck if you think about the kid's interests or their hopes/fears/troubles and then think of a movie that loosely correlates with what they're going through (until the old movie bug takes hold).

There will be hits and misses. I loved The Jerk (1979) when I was kid; I watched it with my son this weekend and I don't think he was feeling it like I did. Weirdly, he loved Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (he insisted on watching that). Sorry for rambling!

"Anymore?" Huh?? What??

When exactly did this golden age of "young people" watching old movies exist?? I'm in my 50s and remember being in college in the 80s and having to watch a black and white movie (cannot remember which) and half the class complaining because it wasn't in color and everyone "talked weird."

Young people generally like what's new and current because it's geared to them specifically. They don't like anything as old as their parents, and anything older than that is just awful to them. I'm

I don’t like movies. They often take too long. If someone tells me they like movies and ask me to watch them, they get crossed off the list.

R58 permanently crossed out as a potential date.

I don’t know where else to say this, but I don’t get the regard for Carnival of Souls. I’ve tried to watch it at least two times now.

I’m a terminal Datalounger, do any of my peers have opinions on this?

Terminal? How long do you have to live?

Wizard of Oz. Psycho. That’s about it.

Millennial here. I can't really "get" into anything made before circa 1970. The audio sucks in those old films, the dialogue sounds stilted and unnatural to me, and I struggle to keep the characters apart. It's not just the lack of color (in black and white movies); I also feel like everyone has the same kind of hair, dresses the same, moves the same, talks the same. Maybe I just feel that way because it's harder to see/hear nuance in something you're not familiar with? But it could also be because before the late 60s, people actually DID have less freedom to "express themselves". Women were expected to wear skirts/dresses, men with long hair were unheard of, tattoos and piercing were unthinkable etc.

[quote]Millennial here. I can't really "get" into anything made before circa 1970. The audio sucks in those old films, the dialogue sounds stilted and unnatural to me, and I struggle to keep the characters apart.

Sorry, but those are idiotic generalizations with hundreds of exceptions. And FYI, to your first point, excellent quality stereo audio has existed in movies (though not all movies) since the mid 1950s (with some experiments before that, as for example FANTASIA).

[Quote] Maybe I just feel that way because it's harder to see/hear nuance in something you're not familiar with? But it could also be because before the late 60s, people actually DID have less freedom to "express themselves". Women were expected to wear skirts/dresses, men with long hair were unheard of, tattoos and piercing were unthinkable etc.

You're a millennial-- not a baby anymore-- (you could be over 40 and you're part of a generation that has members over 40) and you aren't interested in old movies because they don't reflect your life experience?

Do you only read books that are set in current times? Do you only listen to current music?

Young people? When I visit my old out of town married college friends, I have brought some classic DVDs to watch. They only want to watch one of the latest streaming series that I have never heard of.

[quote]I don’t like movies. They often take too long. If someone tells me they like movies and ask me to watch them, they get crossed off the list.

Is that a joke? I literally have never heard anyone say that. And I have been on this planet for over 50 years

On average, R67, older movies tended to be shorter than present-day movies, with of course lots of exceptions on both ends.

R68 I miss the days of the 90 minute movie. I find sitting through a three-hour movie without a break completely unnecessary and exhausting.

Unfortunately, R69, the great critical and box office success of the amazingly boring OPPENHEIMER will is sue to spur other three-hour extravaganzas, and surely many of them will be equally pretentious snooze-fests.

Can someone explain why young people don't like b/w films? To me, that sounds the same as someone saying they won't read a printed page unless the ink is in different colors.

I understand where r63 is coming from about expressiveness seeming more limited in older movies; but that's only on the surface: Under those conditions (and this applies to past and current-day people as well as to movies), you learn to understand them by harkening to subtleties . . . and that develops a useful skill for everyday life.

To them, a movie from the 90's is an "old movie." To me it's practically new.

A movie even from the 60's would be like a silent movie would have been to me at that age.

I'm a xennial and I can't imagine life without old movies and shows. I don't have encyclopedic knowledge of the subjects but I really enjoy seeing how things used to be. I'm not saying I agree with it or wish I lived in those times, I just appreciate the snapshots in time, language, custom and so on.

Two years ago I wouldn't have had to put that last disclaimer in my post, it would have been a given, but now I have to spell it out so I don't offend our new guests.

[quote] You're a millennial-- not a baby anymore-- (you could be over 40 and you're part of a generation that has members over 40) and you aren't interested in old movies because they don't reflect your life experience?

Presumably you're not a baby either, R65, but you seem to struggle with reading comprehension. I didn't say I dislike/don't care for older movies because they don't reflect my life experience. I dislike them because (amongst other things) the characters all sort of look and sound the same to me.

[quote]Do you only read books that are set in current times?

I do prefer books set in current times, yes. With a few exceptions (e.g. The Physician), I tend to find historical novels unnecessarily long-winded. However, I like to watch period pieces - if they were made in the last 3 - 4 decades. I love films like Titanic, The Countess, The Other Boleyn Girl, as well as the first part of Lord of the Rings (not really a period piece, but it sort of feels that way due to the costumes etc.).

Those films certainly do not "reflect my life experience" in any way, shape, or form. But, the characters' very different life experience is looked at from a (relatively) modern perspective. And that, I guess, is why I'm able to enjoy them. Interestingly, with period pieces made in modern times, I don't have these aforementioned problems to tell characters apart, or feel put off by the "old-fashioned" way people speak.

[quote]Do you only listen to current music?

Absolutely not. I actually prefer music made between circa 1965 and 2000 to most of the current stuff. Oh, wait, I guess 1965 - 2000 is considered "current" on here?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm a millennial (32 years old) and I've always been drawn to anything "old", going back to when I was a small child. I was obsessed with vintage cars, old houses, historical events—you name it. My parents always joked that I was an old soul, and I guess they were right. I have also always loved movies, so this translated into that as well. I specifically have a penchant for the horror genre, but I will watch most things, and I'd say the majority of the films I watch were made before the year 2000. It takes a LOT to get me into a movie theater to see anything new, because most of it looks so unappealing to me.

I do tend to be drawn to the more offbeat fringe stuff than I am to monolithic classics like "Gone with the Wind". While I love all the decades, I tend to feel like the '70s had some of the most transgressive and interesting stuff happening, and I gravitate toward that (Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, Nicolas Roe, William Friekdin). I also love old studio film noir and dramas, ranging from the '30s to the '50s.... Ingmar Bergman anything, Frank Borzage...I can go on and on.

The one genre I tend not to love is the musical, though I do appreciate some of those old MGM musicals (stuff like the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers pairings). Speaking of Rogers, I recently watched "Storm Warning", where she plays (very much against type) a woman who finds her brother-in-law is in the KKK in a small southern town (Ronald Reagan and Doris Day co-star). It is an exceptionally weird quasi-political noir that at times looks like a horror movie. Very strange but worth watching.

[quote]I didn't say I dislike/don't care for older movies because they don't reflect my life experience. I dislike them because (amongst other things) the characters all sort of look and sound the same to me.

But your ridiculously, laughably broad generalization that, in old moves, "the characters all sort of look and sound the same" is a truly idiotic statement in itself -- maybe one of the most ignorant, untrue comments I've ever read or heard, and that is saying something.

I’ve heard young guys say, “it’s in black and white” as if it’s understood that disqualifies a film.

[QUOTE]I’ve heard young guys say, “it’s in black and white” as if it’s understood that disqualifies a film.

and I've heard plenty of people my age (57 but everyone says I look 28) and older say the same thing

They need to watch the old Bette Davis movies. Wonderful films.

I’m 25, probably one of the only Gen Zers on here. I fell in love with classic movies starting in middle school when I watched Sunset Blvd. on TCM one night. I still love classic movies today.

Forgot to say my sister is a millennial in her 30s and she can only watch old movies if they’re in color like Rear Window. I’ve tried to get her to open up to black and white movies but she refuses.

The ironic thing about some young people not wanting to watch old black and white movies is that there is that black and white is used not infrequently today in movies (OPPENHEIMER, MAESTRO, etc.),, TV commercials, music videos, etc.

I grew up in the 80’s/90’s and I came to love old films as they reminded me of my mum who used to always have them on in the background (older films were always shown on afternoons over here). I still love them for escapism; they evoke a simpler time, albeit one before I was alive. I get nostalgic for things I’ve never known. I also love older music, too.

The current generation don’t seem to have any real interest in what came before, except for some isolated examples—and that’s usually more because it’s a particular “aesthetic” they can parade on TikTok or whatever. A few years back I dated a guy who was 10 years younger than me (he was 25, I was 35) and I was amazed he’d never even heard of Cary Grant. That was when I began to feel old. I always loved him and a lot of the older stars; they had a class and grace that just isn’t much there in Hollywood now.

In answer to OP’s question—i don’t know. I wonder if growing up with social media has made people so inward and self focused that they simply don’t have the time, energy or inclination to investigate anything that isn’t current and trending.

[quote] I don’t know where else to say this, but I don’t get the regard for Carnival of Souls. I’ve tried to watch it at least two times now. I’m a terminal Datalounger, do any of my peers have opinions on this?

Well it is very low budget r60 and I think it’s just not a movie that everyone can get into. For me, the first time I watched it I was struck by the loneliness and isolation of the lead character because it was a time when I felt lonely and isolated myself. I found the ending creepy but that it also added atmosphere and intensity to that lonely isolated feeling. To me that rises above your typical horror film.

I’m glad I was born before cable TV. I watched some brilliant movies if only because there was nothing else to watch! Real art that even my kid brain was able to appreciate on some level, because it was just that good. I also saw really cool experimental stuff in movies that are long gone and forgotten.

PS The Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House has an entire episode that was very inspired by Carnival of Lost Souls. It’s the one where one of the characters goes back to the house and is dancing by herself in the ballroom. The whole episode is about how cut off and alone the character is from her family and people in general.

Gen Z no

Sad indeed. These old movies TCM kind of old are living breathing history just as it happened.

And I am so surprised these Z kids are not watching the historic old stuff. I can’t tell you how many nights my 20 something year old friends and I skipped watching the Graduate, Butch and Sundance, the godfather and so many others that were first run films and watched silent films from the real golden area instead.

So many times I won’t count them all