They just don't make the pictures like this anymore! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the aspects of old-school movie-making that we miss!
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00:00Weren't you the one tasked to dole out the beatings, not receive them?
00:04Rusty, I guess.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo,
00:08and today we're counting down our picks for the aspects of old-school moviemaking that we miss.
00:12Me?
00:14I always tell the truth.
00:16Even when I lie.
00:20Number 10. Subtle trailers.
00:22Anybody?
00:26Anybody home?
00:30What do you want?
00:32Camping!
00:34Creating and editing a movie trailer is an art form all its own.
00:36Or at least, it used to be.
00:38Formidable filmmakers such as Joe Dante of Gremlin's fame,
00:40first got their start in the editing room for producers like Roger Corman.
00:44Oh, honey, I'm not very brave.
00:46Oh, this little guy's gonna kill me.
00:48Oh.
00:50Maybe I'll get a doctor.
00:52No, no, no. He's just different than Chris, that's all.
00:54Dante and fellow future director Alan Arkish
00:56collaborated on selling the sizzle for Corman's films,
00:58emphasizing the action and exploitable elements
01:00while also subtly ignoring budgetary constraints.
01:02Additionally, horror films and thrillers
01:04such as Magic and It's Alive
01:06created maximum amounts of suspense
01:08while showcasing little to no spoilery aspects of the films at hand.
01:10Is it a deal?
01:12Name it.
01:14Make Fat shut up for five minutes.
01:16Number 9.
01:18Equitable budgeting and marketing.
01:20Vote for me.
01:22Vote for me.
01:24Vote for me.
01:26Vote for me.
01:28And I'll set you up in Puerto Rico.
01:30The film landscape of the 1960s
01:32and 70s was very different
01:34from what we enjoy today.
01:36Oh, there were still a lot of pictures
01:38hitting movie screens, but radio advertising
01:40and newspaper pages from these eras
01:42showcased a much more equitable amount of
01:44fun set aside for promotion.
01:46Cinephiles confined advertisements
01:48for even the most auteur-driven obscurities of the day,
01:50and this speaks to the studio's desire
01:52to promote everything to everyone.
01:54Certain ten-pull priority films still made their presence known,
01:56and it's true that many movies
01:58often came and went in the theaters.
02:00However, it also wouldn't be uncommon
02:02for box office receipts and critical buzz
02:04to be reiterated week after week
02:06for many different kinds of films.
02:08Mr. Swope, I'm not a happy chappy.
02:10The agency that's currently
02:12handling my merchandise
02:14is the biggest nosebleed in town.
02:16Number 8.
02:18Fight choreography.
02:20People keep asking if I'm back,
02:22and I've never really had an answer.
02:24But now, yeah, I'm thinking
02:26I'm back.
02:28The nuts and bolts of moviemaking ebbs and flows
02:30with certain creative methods regaining popularity
02:32after moments of popular downtime.
02:34Franchises such as John Wick
02:36have reignited the desire for quality
02:38fight choreography among many movie fans,
02:40and this is a very good thing.
02:42Because for a while there, at least,
02:44it felt as if shaky camera movements
02:46and gimmicks hid the real, visceral kind of joy
02:48we receive from watching action movies.
02:50The kung fu boom of the 1970s,
02:52and especially the action-oriented VHS days
02:54of the 1980s,
02:56brought tons of talented performers
02:58into our living rooms.
03:00Names like Jackie Chan,
03:02Sammo Hung,
03:04and Cynthia Rothrock
03:06all gave their all to turn martial arts cinema
03:08into an art form.
03:10I don't know if you've noticed,
03:12but I've been a fan of martial arts
03:14since I was a kid,
03:16and I've been a fan of martial arts
03:18since I was a kid.
03:22Number 7.
03:24Hand-Drawn Animation
03:32There's no denying that some
03:34truly vibrant and emotionally affecting
03:36animated imagery can be constructed by CGI.
03:38That said,
03:40there's just something special about the hand-drawn
03:42animated features from back in the day.
03:48My name is a golden bell
03:50hung in my heart.
03:52I would break my body to pieces
03:54to call you once by your name.
03:56We understand that all movie fans watch in different ways,
03:58and that the physicality of hand-drawn animation
04:00may seem quaint or archaic,
04:02given all of the technological advances we enjoy today.
04:04That said,
04:06the artifice of these older movies allows for astonishing
04:08detail to be delivered,
04:10not only to characters and their emotions,
04:12but to backgrounds.
04:14In fact, it's often the sumptuous designs afforded to these landscapes
04:16that allow our imaginations to dive headlong
04:18into the story at play.
04:20Where do you live?
04:22By that big stone in the garden.
04:24Just stay out of trouble.
04:26Not to worry, Mrs. Spitz.
04:28I love kids, and kids love me.
04:30Number 6.
04:32Suspense over scares
04:36The aforementioned restraint afforded
04:38to many old-school horror trailers
04:40not only ties into the advertising,
04:42but also the films.
04:44Today, the term that's often brought up
04:46is slow burn, but we prefer to call it
04:48atmosphere.
04:54Jump scares have their time and place.
04:56They're designed to scare us, and they do their job.
04:58However, we'd argue that
05:00instilling an audience with dread or unease
05:02is a much more challenging task.
05:04Oftentimes, the classic
05:06gothic horror films of the 1960s,
05:08Italy's Giallo cycle of the 70s,
05:10or 1980s horror shockers
05:12would take their time in delivering the menace,
05:14and we appreciated them for it.
05:24Number 5.
05:26Practical effects
05:36They used to call it movie magic.
05:38The how-they-do-that wonder associated with
05:40effects maestros like Tom Savini,
05:42Rob Bottin, Rick Baker, and
05:44Dick Smith. This torch is carried
05:46today by people like Greg Nicotero
05:48and his KNB-EFX group,
05:50but the industry's halcyon era was definitely
05:52the 1980s.
05:58There's often a sense of nostalgia
06:00when it comes to the creature features and
06:02slashers from this era, but we must also
06:04give credit where it's due. It took a
06:06lot of hard work and dedication to
06:08bring these movies to life. The modern CGI
06:10landscape can achieve some wonderful things,
06:12but many people also just want something
06:14they can feel.
06:26Number 4. Morally ambiguous protagonists
06:38Has the massive
06:40influx of superhero movies skewed our
06:42perceptions of movie protagonists?
06:44Does the person whose story we're following
06:46need to be a good person, or simply
06:48an interesting person? The new
06:50Hollywood era that peaked during the 1970s
06:52featured a wealth of morally ambiguous
06:54protagonists, leads that felt more
06:56human. This meant that often
06:58our narrative point of view was corrupted,
07:00troubled, or downright unreliable.
07:08This made for more interesting choices,
07:10since our protagonists weren't hamstrung by
07:12acts of necessary heroism.
07:14This, of course, doesn't mean that old movies were
07:16bereft of heroic people. It's more that
07:18this bygone era better reflects how we must
07:20go through our lives on a daily basis.
07:28Number 3. Steadier pacing
07:38Today's streaming services
07:42seem to be getting the hint, since many ad
07:44supported options like Tubi or Pluto
07:46TV contain categories that cater
07:48specifically to movies under 90
07:50minutes. This speaks to the growing
07:52clamor by audiences against the bloat
07:54of the multiplex. In other words,
07:56don't take three hours to tell what you could easily
07:58do in two.
08:02Or, utilize more economical
08:04filmmaking by visually showing information
08:06as opposed to an exposition
08:08of dialogue. Speaking of dialogue,
08:10the attention paid to character conversations
08:12used to feel much more focused, with
08:14fewer cuts and editing. This lack
08:16of excessive framing allowed each
08:18conversation to breathe, thus transferring
08:20its information to the audience in a steadier
08:22fashion.
08:24You and I have gotten off to a rather
08:26shaky start, but things
08:28don't have to stay that way. What do you say?
08:32Let's keep it shaky.
08:34Number 2. Directorial
08:36Autonomy
08:38We never hold out on
08:40the pile. You're holding out on them now?
08:42I didn't tell them you were coming to this meeting.
08:44I told them you were going for a drive. Are we living in a
08:46neo-studio system? Some think
08:48so, since the era of directorial autonomy
08:50seems to be largely left by the wayside.
08:52There's an armed mob of
08:54paid men about
08:56to invade your county.
08:58Critics have pointed to the epic-sized
09:00financial blunders of efforts like
09:021980's Heaven's Gate or 1987's
09:04Ishtar as an example of why
09:06studios became more reticent to hand over
09:08blank checks to directors. If a
09:10filmmaker is only as good as their last hit,
09:12then it becomes difficult for modern directors
09:14to develop their style, for fear of
09:16failing at the box office. For every
09:18big name like Martin Scorsese and
09:20Steven Spielberg that feels bulletproof,
09:22there's a Brian De Palma, Michael Cimino,
09:24or Elaine May that offer cautionary
09:26tales about the Hollywood system.
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10:02Let's face it, movies will
10:04always be remade, and this isn't
10:06necessarily a bad thing. Brian De Palma's
10:08Scarface was a fantastic example
10:10of a remake being properly updated
10:12for its audience. That said,
10:14original ideas seem to be lacking in
10:16many film options today, with studios
10:18instead seeking out intellectual properties
10:20and fandoms to exploit.
10:29Again, this is nothing new,
10:31since many of the finest films ever made
10:33were adaptations of source novels.
10:35It's not that a movie is remade,
10:37but how it's remade is perhaps the question
10:39we should be asking. If there are no new
10:41original ideas under the sun,
10:43then maybe all we can ask for is for directors
10:45and screenwriters to speak from experience,
10:47from the gut, and
10:49from the heart.
11:03What's your favorite go-to
11:05classic movie? Let us know in the comments.
11:16Instead of a bum.
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