Suggestions for classic movies to make my kids watch

Uncle Buck

Back to the Future ET Indiana Jones Princess Bride

Big Trouble in Little China!

\* Ghostbusters \* Beetlejuice \* Who Framed Roger Rabbit \* Groundhogs Day \* Ferris Buellers Day Off \* Hook If you're thinking about 'The Birds'. I'd also suggest Rear Window, really great. I saw it a bit later (19 YO) but it moves along quite well.

My sons (7 and 10) and I have a Movie Night every once in a while. We make popcorn and I let them drink soda (not a common occurrence). They love it. The last few that I've shown them: Raiders of the Lost Ark Home Alone The Nightmare Before Christmas Gremlins Cinderella Next up is probably Jurassic Park

The Sandlot

some solid picks already! for classics, how about "The NeverEnding Story," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," or "The Goonies"? also, "Stand By Me" is a great coming-of-age flick that they might dig too. got a good mix of adventure and nostalgia going!

The Fifth Element

Who Framed Roger Rabbit Secondhand Lions The Sandlot Newsies Captains Courageous Bedknobs and Broomsticks The Court Jester Monty Python and the Holy Grail An American Tale

The Lost Boys The Goonies Short Circuit Wagames Flight of the Navigator

I mean, I was 9 when my parents took me and my older brother (who’d have been 14) to see Airplane! back in 1980. It was rated PG back then. Since sci fi is on the table, maybe some classics like Alien, the Terminator, or maybe something classic classic like Forbidden Planet. If they can handle it, John Carpenter’s The Thing is *still* scary.

As a kid I always loved Adventures of Robin Hood, with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone. They released a DVD of an afternoon at the theater with previews, a news reel, a cartoon, and a musical number. Lots of Fun.

The. Mask of Zorro Field of Dreams Cool Hand Luke The Maltese Falcon Close Encounters of the Third Kind All the old Bond movies... Goldfinger to start maybe The Birds Logan's Run Where Eagles Dare American Graffiti

Hudsucker Proxy "You know - for kids!"

WIZARD OF OZ

Plug for A24's film suggestion book for kids. Generally younger, but I think it goes up to 12-14: https://share.google/IGZDlcmfU3D9FJg5i

My dad showed us kids It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and What’s Up Doc? on a rainy Saturday while my mom was out of town. It was such a fun and goofy day. I still enjoy both of those movies immensely. Another one I remember watching with my dad is The Family Jewels, but I haven’t seen it in years, but I remember thinking it was hilarious.

The Adventures of Baron Muchausen

ZULU, I loved it as a kid,(and still now)loved the bravery of this true story. Also my kids really enjoyed 'Napoloen Dynamite'.

Beetlejuice, Clue, Twins, all the Pink Panther films, Galaxy Quest, Top Secret, The Producers, See No Evil Hear No Evil.

The Matrix. It's aged incredibly well and they'll probably know a lot of it from memes. Jaws, Terminator 2 Watched them with my 13 year old and he loved them. The Dark Knight, Fury Road

For a real classic that might look boring to kids but will end up being very entertaining I say 12 Angry Men. This movie sounds boring on paper to a kid most likely, black and white and only dialogue, but is in my opinion one of the best movies ever made. It's so captivating and will really teach that it's important to not judge until all the information is available and makes sense. A great movie with a good lesson is always great for developing minds!

Classic movies? Toy Story (1995)

My kids were blown away by Apollo 13 recently 

Instead of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I’d suggest Hero. It’s shorter and might keep their attention longer since it’s more colorful. Casablanca is pretty timeless. If your kids like Star Wars, have them watch The Hidden Fortress and they can see how much George Lucas ripped off from it for A New Hope.

Clue!

To Sir With Love. A classic coming of age movie

Singing in the Rain

I had them watch Usual Suspencts and it did NOT land.

Star Wars

Young Frankenstein.

* The Magnificent Seven (OG) * The Great Escape * Bullit * Kelly's Heroes * Goldfinger * Heat * Point Break (OG) * Forbidden Planet * Planet of the Apes (OG) * Jurassic Park (not Jurassic World) * The Abyss * The Martian * Godzilla Minus One (highly recommended) * Hope and Glory * F1 * Planes, Trains & Automobiles * The Breakfast Club (anything John Hughes did prior to Home Alone)

Logan's Run, or The Last Starfighter

The Sting

Ferries Bueller’s Day Off

Paper Moon

Star Wars Hook

Shawshank Redemption

Being There

The Graduate

Dragonslayer

Cool Runnings!

Heavyweights (1995)

We have a mix of older and younger kids, but this is the list I've been working from. I added a few from this post as well. Thanks! A few aren't "classics' per se, but ones I really enjoyed, or thought they should see at least once. (I had Claude sort them by rating) 🟢 G 101 Dalmatians (1961 animated) 2001: A Space Odyssey Flight of the Navigator The Little Mermaid Planet of the Apes (1968) 🔵 PG Apollo 13 Beetlejuice Big Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Cannonball Run Crocodile Dundee Encino Man Ferris Bueller's Day Off Gremlins Groundhog Day Honey I Shrunk the Kids Indiana Jones (all) Night at the Museum Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Sister Act Smokey and the Bandit Space Jam Spies Like Us Teen Wolf Three Amigos The Truman Show Turner & Hooch Uncle Buck Who Framed Roger Rabbit Willow 🟡 PG-13 Armageddon Austin Powers City Slickers Dragnet Forrest Gump Happy Gilmore Hot Shots! The Imitation Game Independence Day Justice League (all) Marvel (all) Men in Black Naked Gun Pirates of the Caribbean (all) Robin Hood The Sixth Sense Source Code 🔴 R 48 Hrs Almost Famous A Bronx Tale Beverly Hills Cop Conan the Barbarian Coming to America Donnie Darko Drive Erin Brockovich Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas From Dusk Till Dawn The Gentlemen Gone Girl Good Will Hunting Hush The Irishman Kingsman Lethal Weapon Little Miss Sunshine Looper Moneyball My Cousin Vinny Nightcrawler Police Academy (all) The Professional Revenge of the Nerds Speed Superbad Terminator V for Vendetta Young Guns

12 angry men.

Lord of the rings.

Pretty much any Carey Grant. Arsnic and old lace, bringing up baby etc if you want to show them b&w can be funny. The african Queen and We're no angels for some bogie and the bonus Hepburn from above. The Wall, Floyd. Watership Down, Old Yeller and Turner and Hooch if you wanna see them cry, i recomend this fir any tough-guy teens for sure. Any Tarantino cause, ya. Easy Rider to crush their hopes. The City of Lost Children, a must see for all and subtitles. Yojimbo, almost all Kirosawa. 7 samuri, Magnicant 7 Dirty Dozen. For brain bleach after this objectavly rude list? The Fisher King, The Jerk, The Three Amigos.

To Kill a Mockingbird

* **Action-Adventure:** the original Indiana Jones trilogy (1981, 1984, and 1989), *The Wind and the Lion* (1975), *Police Story* (1985; well, it has the "action" part down pat, not so much the "adventure" part), *The Adventures of Tintin* (2011), *Mighty Joe Young* (1949), *King Kong* (1933) * **Comedy**: *UHF* (1989), the Naked Gun quadrilogy (1988, 1991, 1994, and 2025) * **Gangster:** *Dillinger* (1973), *White Heat* (1949), *The Public Enemy* (1931), *Scarface* (1932), *'G' Men* (1935), *The Penalty* (1920) * **Horror:** *Island of Lost Souls* (1932), *The Most Dangerous Game* (1932), *The Night of the Hunter* (1955), *Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror* (1922) * **Kids & Family:** *The Wizard of Oz* (1939), *The Wild Robot* (2024), *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* (1971), *Flow* (2024), *The Jungle Book* (1967) * **Neo-Western:** *Bad Day at Black Rock* (1955), *Blowing Wild* (1953) * **Science-Fiction:** the original Star Wars trilogy (1977, 1980, and 1983), *Metropolis* (1927), *Soylent Green* (1973), *Planet of the Apes* (1968) * **Thriller:** *The Fugitive* (1993), *This Gun for Hire* (1942), *Touch of Evil* (1958) * **War:** *Rough Riders* (1997), *The Great Escape* (1963), *The Guns of Navarone* (1961), *Khartoum* (1966), *Casablanca* (1942), *Kelly's Heroes* (1970), *Sergeant York* (1941), *Wings* (1927), *Where Eagles Dare* (1968) * **Western:** *The Magnificent Seven* (1960), *High Noon* (1952), *Shane* (1953), *Vera Cruz* (1954) If you have any questions about any of these movies' contents, feel free to ask. EDIT: added *Where Eagles Dare* to the war films list and corrected the year of release for *Vera Cruz* (it's 1954, not 1955)

Raiders Of The Lost Ark E.T.

I made this list for my then-teenage boys 12 years ago.  My criteria was that they should watch the movies that were culturally defining for the generation of people who would hire them in the future.  Stuff that my generation would recognize with a single quoted line.   - “Make him an offer he can’t refuse.” - “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” - “Shaken, not stirred.” - “These are not the droids you’re looking for” - “Be the ball”

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

16 Candles

How about something of the classic Universal horror movies?

* E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial * Star Wars' OG Trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) * Home Alone 1 & 2 * The Wizard of Oz * The Nightmare Before Christmas * The Goonies * Jurassic Park * The Sandlot

McFarland, USA. Under the radar, feel good movie. True story too. Stars Kevin Costner. Great kid or young teen movie without any of the political garbage or naughty innuendos.

Popeye

Flight of the Navigator

To Kill A Mockingbird. Lawrence of Arabia. Mr.Smith Goes To Washington.

I have a whole list I was just making for this exact thing. When I get home I'll post it - commenting do I reference to come back

Different answer but, depending where you're at, you can look up local theatres to see if they're replaying any classics/anniversaries.

Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, The Adams Family, Airplane, Groundhog Day, Shaun of the Dead, Mrs Doubtfire, Clueless, Mean Girls, Die Hard, Terminator 2, Predator, The Matrix, Jurassic Park, The Mummy, Mission Impossible, Bourne Identity, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Rock, Gladiator, Braveheart, Batman Begins, Spider-Man, Alien, Aliens, Forrest Gump, Castaway, ET, 2001, Contact, Twister, The Thing, The Sixth Sense, Interstellar, Karate Kid, Wargames, Goonies, Bill and Ted, Tropic Thunder

Bugsy Malone Titanic

Flight of the Navigator! Sci fi for the whole family and you can explain to them that YES children were allowed to go outside at night without cell phones

Stand by Me. I showed it to my kids a few years ago. It's probably my 16 year olds favorite movie. The Tim Burton/Michael Keaton/ Jack Batman. Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Jaws

The Burbs Stand by me Caddyshack

Short circuit, flight of the navigator, goonies, princess bride is an absolute must, if they don’t know, Star Trek introduce them to it also Lord of the rings and The Hobbit

Are they into superhero stuff? I think it would fun to show changes over time like - From Batman (1966 movie version of the Adam West show) to Tim Burton's Batman to Batman Begins. Otherwise, some stuff that I really dug at their age (although they weren't classic, they were pretty current movies for me) - Superman: The Movie. OG Planet of the Apes series. Beastmaster.

The Princess Bride, Blade Runner, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and Time Bandits.

Candleshoe (1977). Available on Disney+. Early Jodie Foster, live action. Best way to describe it is 50% Anastasia, 50% Goonies.

a Bronx tale

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a good one. I'd recommend King Kong (1933).  Definitely show them The Neverending Story. 

Just don’t. This road leads to disappointment.

House (1985)

Young Frankenstein and Stir Crazy

Here’s some I’m working through with my 14 year old: [ ] Stand by me - [ ] Blade runner 2049 - [ ] Inception - [ ] Oppenheimer - [ ] Young Guns - [ ] Oceans 11 - [ ] Braveheart - [ ] Tremors - [ ] The Prestige - [ ] Commando - [ ] Kickboxer - [ ] Bloodsport - [ ] Red dawn - [ ] Dark City - [ ] Uncle Buck - [ ] Memphis Belle - [ ] Miracle - [ ] Back to the Future - [ ] New planet of apes movies - [ ] The good the bad and the ugly - [ ] Glory - [ ] Planes trains and airplanes - [ ] Ronin - [ ] Blackhawk down - [ ] Zero Dark Thirty - [ ] The Thing - [ ] Lethal weapon - [ ] Poltergeist - [ ] Underworld - [ ] Forrest Gump - [x] Kick ass - [x] Saving Private Ryan - [x] 28 Days Later - [x] Bill and Ted’s - [x] Bourne - [x] Gladiator - [x] Shaun of the dead - [x] Knights tale - [x] Blade - [x] Mad max - [x] Alien - [x] Aliens - [x] Lost boys - [x] Gremlins - [x] Ghost busters - [x] Dune - [x] Predator - [x] The Meg - [x] New Jurassic movies. - [x] Terminator 2 - [x] Dumb and dumber - [x] Beetlejuice

You can go way back to the classics, like Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, and The Thin Man movies. They’re always fun.

Commando

ET Close Encounters of the Third Time Vacation

Beauty and the Beast. Not the Disney live action version. Not the Disney cartoon. The 1944 French version. With subtitles. By Jean Cocteau, a true artist. Made while occupied by the Nazis. Magical.

I can't believe nobody's mentioned the classic Bond movies. From Russia With Love, For Your Eyes Only, License to Kill. Just pick some of your favorites that aren't too pervy and pepper them in there.

North by Northwest

Old Yeller. A necessary rite of passage.

Spiderman from 2002 is a good pick i would say Eragon is goated Percy Jackson for mythology is nice ngl Dark Knight trilogy is awesome also If they love Gosling The Fall guy is cool, his romance movie Notebook is cool, also pretty much like over half of his movies are great but watch out for the ones that are rated 18+ as Nice guys, even though they are an awesome movie ngl.

Kids just watched mars attacks they loved it 9 and 13

The Thin Man Various Thin Man sequels Captain Blood other Errol Flynn dashing, vaguely suggestive pirate movies, like Sea Hawk. Or Adventures of Robin Hood Then there are the great Bogart movies- Maltese Falcon, Casablanca... I liked Katherine Hepburn (in everything) in African Queen And that brings up all the Hepburn movies. Too many to list. She is terrific. Orson Welles? Just about any of his boy-genius moves is pretty classic- War of the Worlds, The Third Man (one of my favorites) and of course, his commentary on Hearst- Citizen Kane. You mentioned Sci Fi? How about Forbidden Planet (The Tempest), or (the original) The Day the Earth Stood Still (relevant today!) As you might can tell... I'm old ;)

Maybe towards the end of the list so they have a few more years under their belts but, Godfather 1&2.  On the sci-fi side the Star Trek trilogy 2-4, and it’s been mentioned but another vote for Logan’s Run. 

The Dish, about Australia's participation in the original Apollo Moon landing using their radioastronomy dish, it's a cozy movie. Waking Ned Devine, about a small town in the UK which tries to hide the fact a local l****** w***** died, so they can cash in the ticket. Also a cozy movie.

From my sister and friends who had kids that age, the movie they loved the most was "Ferris Bueller's Day off". The one they hated most was "16 Candles" - apparently, it didn't age well.

Repo Man, Better Off Dead, Casablanca, The Thin Man

It's sometimes hard to pick this kind of thing, as standards of behavior have changed so much in the last 75 years. (Prior to that there are not that many films that are now commonly available.) I loved the Sean Connery 007 films when I was a kid, but really cringe at them now. Sexist and racist, so unsuitable for a 12 year old unless you think they can understand the changes in society since then. That being said I will list my favorites that I would love sharing with my nieces and nephews in upcoming years: Das Boot, Casablanca, The Apartment, The Third Man, The Three Amigos, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, About Time, Babe, A Hard Days Night, Stop Making Sense Some are serious, some silly, all excellent, but sometimes with a scene or two that might be problematic. Have fun!

Labyrinth Mary Poppins Sounds of Music Who framed Roger Rabbit

The Last Starfighter!

Stardust, My cousin Vinny, The Witches, Count of Monte Cristo, Bill and Ted, Matilda, Look who's Talking, The Last Dragon, Adventure's in Babysitting, Labyrinth.

How am I not seeing Casablanca anywhere????

Buster Keaton One of the U.S. greatest actors and directors The General A love story. Girl loves boy. Boy loves train. A war. Incredible athleticism. Magnificent train wreck.

The Thief of Baghdad - They might enjoy comparing this classic version with the modern animated story.

How about a classic comedy from the 1940s? Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) directed by H.C. Potter - Cary Grant stars as an advertising executive living in a cramped New York apartment with his wife Muriel (the great Myrna Loy) and their two daughters. After realizing the family needs more space, he decides to buy a fixer-upper in Connecticut and move his family there but he suffers one mishap after another in his attempts to remodel the property. A funny movie and magnificently shot by the legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe. The 1986 comedy The Money Pit directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long was a loose remake.

Neverending Story

Champions

To Kill A Mockingbird was a defining movie that I watched at that age.

Young Frankenstein I showed my kids this after watching Frankenstein, the 1931 version, as a double feature. They loved the original, and were delighted that Mel Brooks reused original props for his laboratory, rescuing them from storage over 40 years later. It really set up the parody, seeing the original first. As a side effect, it aroused their interest in classic B&Ws. They've enjoyed Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, M, Captain Blood, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Moby D***, and more. Seeing It Happened One Night, they recognized Clark Gables' carrot chewing wiseass as the prototype for Bugs Bunny.

Don’t let them sleep on Miyazaki. Totoro and Kiki are great for kids of ANY age, but if they crave more mature fare, go for Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke (which became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history when it was released, so it wasn’t just kids watching).

I am having an existential crisis with 80s movies now being old enough to be considered 'classic' lol Some legit old ones: The Yearling Old Yeller National Velvet My Friend Flicka Swiss Family Robinson The Andy Hardy Series The Ma & Pa Kettle series.

It honestly might be worth trying to hook them on Seven Samurai.

If they liked Raising Arizona, go down the Coen Brothers route. O Brother Where Art Thou is a family favorite in my house.

Breakfast club and airplane

Love Bug What's Up Doc The Ghost And Mr. Chicken Apple Dumpling Gang Better off Dead (maybe)

Are they opened to foreign films? the Lives of Others about a east Berlin officer that is set to monitor a group of rebel artists and becomes fascinated with them and protects them from the government without them knowing. Dr Strangelove is also a classic.

Tremors The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Remo Williams

Shawshank redemption...my favorite!

- DUNE (1984) - To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything… (1995) - Du Barry Was A Lady (1943) - Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) - The Three Musketeers (1993) - Godspell (1973) 👀 I swear I’m not a religious nut, they just might be fun to watch especially now during Easter - The Prince of Egypt (1998)👀👀

Don't sleep on older films like "Kind Hearts & Coronets" then you can segue to "Tootsie" & "Mrs. Doubtfire" and a Star Wars movie with Alec Guinness. They might get a kick out of seeing Sir Alec over a 30 year time span. Along the same lines, if you can find "Darby O'Gill & the Little People" which was Sean Connery's first film then follow up with Indiana Jones that could be fun.

Twelve Angry Men Citizen Kane The Caine Mutiny Treasure of the Sierra Madre Paths of Glory Ben Hur Lawrence of Arabia That is a start.

Heaven Can Wait

Edge of Tomorrow Groundhog Day Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version) Big Castaway Ferris Bueller's Day Off Rat Race Holes Galaxy Quest Spaceballs Billy Madison The Love Bug They Live Short Circuit

The Lord of the Rings trilogy might be worth a shot, but you'll probably have to do each installment in two parts if you're starting them out with the concept of a movie that is more than background noise and longer than 2 hours of runtime.

Currently going thru the same experience of re-watching with my kids who are roughly in the same age range. Tried to share some influential or memorable movies with some success and failure. Here’s some that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: 1) Searching for Bobby Fischer 2) Can’t Buy Me Love 3) Remember the Titans 4) Batman Begins 5) Stand and Deliver 6) Karate Kid Good luck!

Older, but how do they feel about classic musicals? Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and Guys and Dolls for starters.

The Princess Bride Galaxy Quest Young Frankenstein (does have some implied sex and innuendo though, just be warned)

Since so many have already stated so many of the obvious ones at this point let me add one that probably hasn't been mentioned which is perfect for the kids. Cloak And Dagger starring Henry Thomas.

If black and white isn't a deal breaker: Casablanca or Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The Goonies

Anything Humphry Bogart is in. The Maltese Falcon is a good one.

We watched a bunch of studio ghibli movies with our kids. It was fun to see them get so into it, and start quoting them.

Forrest Gump

I'm not sure if it's considered to be a "classic," but I still wish I would've seen The Breakfast Club before high school.

My kids loved Rear Window, North by Northwest, 12 Angry Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The 400 Blows, A Hard Day’s Night, Rio Bravo, Bonnie & Clyde, Duel, Withnail and I, After Hours…

Neverending Story Labyrinth Dark Crystal Dennis The Menace The Last Starfighter Batteries Not Included Breakfast Club Adventures in Babysitting The Love Bug Escape To Witch Mountain The Apple Dumpling Gang Every Which way But Loose The Ugly Dachshund Million Dollar Duck Flubber Hook

Goonies, Monty Python & the Holy Grail (kinda has extreme rabbit-caused violence), Herbie the Love Bug, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Singing in the Rain, Rumble in the Bronx (PG rated violence), The Last Unicorn, Labyrinth, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, TRON, Powder, The Fall, Big Fish, Home Alone, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Mary Poppins, Legend

Dollars trilogy! 

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 version please).

For the 14 yo: Little Darlings

My Bodyguard

Aliens. T2

The Cornetto trilogy ? Hot fuzz, Shaun of the dead and The world's end. And "The boat that rocked", I love this one.

The last of the mohicans, and event horizon for the 14 year old.