9 Classic Films That Are Still Relevant Today

A common criticism of classic films is often that they're "too old" to be of any contemporary importance. While some bonafide classics have not dated well, there are many others that transcend their social or political periods and give us insight into the human condition that even many contemporary films fail to accomplish. One could even argue that a film cannot truly be considered classic if it doesn't manage to live and breathe beyond the time period in which it was made. What can be most surprising about these films is how they treat of social problems and moral issues that are still the topics of debate even today. With this in mind, we present a list of 9 classic films that remain topical and even disturbingly prescient in the modern world, proving that it is good to remember that just because it's in black and white, that does not mean it doesn't still have something to teach us. Seven Days In May The 50s and 60s were a favorite time for conspiracy theories and political coups, but as far as I know there was only one film that actually proposed a scarily realistic conspiracy of what would happen in a takeover of the American government. Seven Days in May is a little known film from John Frankenheimer, with a script by The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling, which should give you some idea of the quality. Burt Lancaster is General James Mattoon Scott, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and virulent anti-Communist. He’s in direct conflict with President Lyman (Frederic March), who has just signed a treaty with the Soviet Union for both countries to begin dismantling their nuclear weapons. Scott believes that this will lead to the U.S. being attacked by the USSR when the Soviets fail to honor the treaty. Scott’s adjunct Colonel Jiggs Casey (Kirk Douglas) soon discovers that Scott is willing to go even further to stop what he views as the “dangerous” President Lyman: the general has been planning a military coup that will remove Lyman from the Presidency and place himself at the head of the country. Seven Days in May combines arguments against hysterical anti-Communism, then so prevalent in America, while touching on issues of democracy and the dangers of fear mongering. Scott’s speech to the masses just prior to the attempted coup is bone-chilling even now, with rhetoric similar to much of the contemporary fear-mongering rhetoric of the likes of Fox News. Seven Days in May addresses the concept of a military takeover of the United States and it does so with such realism and tension that one begins to wonder if it couldn’t actually happen here. 12 Angry Men Rightfully regarded as a brilliant courtroom procedural, 12 Angry Men takes us into the realm of the American justice system, the responsibilities of citizens to do right by their fellow human, and the assumptions made every time someone – particularly someone of the lower working classes – is accused of a crime. Set on a hot day in New York City, 12 nameless jurors meet to discuss the case of a young boy accused of murdering his father. While the case appears simple on the face of it, only Juror 8 (Henry Fonda) is a hold out for the boy’s innocence. Because a unanimous verdict must be brought in, the 12 engage in heated debate to convince Juror 8 that the boy should be found guilty. The film slowly reveals the prejudices, fears, and assumptions of the other jurors, from one man hoping to get out of the room in time to go to a baseball game, another hateful towards people of the working classes, a third easily brow-beaten into taking the perspective of the majority, and so on. As the jurors’ minds begin to change, more is brought to the surface. 12 Angry Men is an excellent courtroom drama in itself, but it also expands on the values – and shortcomings – of the American justice system. Prejudice in particular is the greatest culprit here, with commentary on the reasons why we so often assume that a man is guilty until proven innocent, despite our system being set up the other way around. While it is a film solidly set in the 1950s, 12 Angry Men could take place anywhere, any time, and still be as meaningful as it was in 1957. In the Heat of the Night Films about race in the 1960s can still be distressingly topical, especially now in the world of Ferguson and the death of Trayvon Martin. Sidney Poitier made massive strides as an African-American actor playing roles that took no prisoners and that forced America as a whole to look racial problems squarely in the face. However, few of his roles are more topical or fascinating as In the Heat of the Night. Set in the fictional town of Sparta, Mississippi, In the Heat of the Night has Poitier as Virgil Tibbs, a police officer from Philadelphia who stops in Sparta and winds up being arrested for being a black man with a lot of money in his wallet. Faced with the inherent and violent racism of the town’s inhabitants, Tibbs also becomes caught up in the investigation of the murder of a wealthy entrepreneur. Assisting the local sheriff Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) in his investigation, Tibbs helps to uncover a seething world of violence and rage beneath the already not-so-attractive exterior of Sparta. While In the Heat of the Night is ostensibly a murder mystery, it is more importantly about the various forms of racism that Tibbs encounters. The more prevalent distrust of the police officers gives way to the hatred of the working class whites and the politely racist wealthy men of the town. Tibbs’ relationship with Gillespie is the most interesting, however, as the pair begin to bond but ultimately cannot bridge the inherent racial divide of their respective worlds. It’s frightening how recognizable this story remains. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb When Stanley Kubrick made Dr. Strangelove, the United States was in a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, the Cuban Missile Crisis had almost resulted in a worldwide catastrophe, and the potential destruction of the human species was a very real possibility. Fifty years on, it’s quite terrifying to note just how topical Dr. Strangelove remains. Dr. Strangelove follows a set of characters – many of them played by Peter Sellers – as they attempt to either stop, start, or cause a worldwide nuclear disaster. When rogue General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) launches an airborne attack on targets within the Soviet Union, the U.S. government – headed by President Muffley (Sellers) – attempts to recall the airplanes. This almost works, except that one slightly damaged craft manages to get through without receiving the recall. The Russian ambassador soon reveals that there’s more here than just the danger of nuclear war: Russia has invented a Doomsday Machine that will cause worldwide nuclear fallout if the country is ever attacked. It’s meant to be the ultimate determent to nuclear attack, but it’s now likely to result in the destruction of the human race because it cannot be disabled. As the lone aircraft nears its destination, destruction seems inevitable. Dr. Strangelove bears the distinction of being one of the funniest films about a nuclear apocalypse ever made, its very darkness bringing out the inherent ridiculousness of the situation. While it very closely satirizes the political and military climate of its day, it is still one of those films that resonates across the years. The players may have changed a little over the course of the past fifty years, but the fears – and the humor – of Dr. Strangelove remains distressingly topical. People Will Talk A very different film from the others on this list, People Will Talk is a 1951 comedy about extra-marital sex, pregnancy, suicide, murder, and accusations of medical malpractice. It’s also one of the funniest, most heart-warming films you’re ever likely to see on those topics. Cary Grant stars as Dr. Noah Praetorius, a medical doctor who runs a clinic and gives lectures to medical students on his peculiar belief that a doctor’s primary job is to make sick people well. He becomes accidentally involved in the life of Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain), who faints in one of his classes. It’s soon discovered that Deborah is pregnant and unmarried, prompting the girl to walk right out into the hallway and try to shoot herself. After Praetorius saves her life, she vanishes, but not before realizing that she’s fallen in love with the good doctor. The rest of the plot involves Praetorius’s eventual courtship of Deborah and their marriage, complicated when he has to face accusations of medical malpractice from Professor Elwell (Hume Cronyn). People Will Talk raises a surprising number of contemporary issues, treating them with humanity and love rather than seeking to condemn. Issues like pregnancy outside of marriage and attempted suicide were topics often viewed with disdain in the 1950s, but even today films tend to take a much darker, more moralistic view, even if we’re willing to actually grapple with the problems. People Will Talk makes the case for universal humanity and against witch-hunting moralism: that the role of doctors is to make sick people well and that the role of human beings is to love one another and treat each other with understanding. Anatomy of a Murder As courtroom dramas go, there are few better than Otto Preminger’s multi-faceted 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder. The film also holds true even today, as its debates on sex, rape, and violence continue to resonate across the years. Jimmy Stewart is lawyer Paul Biegler, hired to defend accused murderer Lt. Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), a soldier who murdered a bar owner whom he claims raped Manion’s wife Laura (Lee Remick). While Manion’s guilt is indisputable, his responsibility for the death is drawn into question: did he act out of temporary insanity over the assault on his wife, or was this a deliberate and cold-blooded act? As Biegler follows the twists and turns of the case, he uncovers more information about the Manions and the murdered man, and reveals the underlying prejudices and structural beliefs of American society. Anatomy of a Murder makes explicit reference to rape and murder, unprecedented in 1959 and still somewhat shocking today. But the culpability of everyone involved becomes murkier as the film proceeds, finally culminating in brilliant courtroom sequences that take up the latter half. The case includes implications of whether Laura Manion “wanted it,” issues of what constitutes rape, and what can be put down to temporary insanity, all intertwining in a confusing and somewhat shocking denouement. There are no easy answers here, but Anatomy of a Murder remains shockingly topical in our contemporary world. Not much has changed since the 1950s. Victim By all rights, Basil Dearden’s 1961 film Victim should not still be a topical subject for a film. It largely concerns closeted gay men and the very real danger they faced in 1960s Britain, where homosexuality was still punishable by prison and chemical castration. But it’s also a film about what it means to be homosexual in a dangerously homophobic society, and the lengths to which people will go to conceal their natures from a judgmental public. Victim stars Dirk Bogarde as barrister Melville Farr, a wealthy and successful man with an attractive wife (Sylvia Syms) and an excellent career. When Boy Barrett (Peter McEnery) approaches him, Farr believes that Barrett wants to blackmail him with evidence of their romantic (but unconsummated) relationship. It soon becomes apparent that Barrett himself has been blackmailed and wants to warn Farr that someone has photographs of the two of them. This leads Farr into a hunt for the blackmailers in which he uncovers numerous other closeted men in London, all afraid of the destruction of their careers and the potential destruction of their lives. Victim uses Farr’s investigation of the blackmailers as a way of exposing the inherent hypocrisy of 1960s Britain, and the fear of exposure under which many men were living. Most poignant is Farr’s relationship with his wife, who reveals that she has known of his homosexuality since they married and wants to protect him. Farr’s struggle against the desires that society tells him are wrong might be somewhat dated now, but it contains an essential truth about those living painfully repressed lives, unable to express their desires and love whom they want. Victim, in fact, was instrumental in the lifting of Britain’s anti-homosexual laws. A Face in the Crowd The cult of personality is as an old and dangerous concept, but few films depict it with such chilling accuracy as Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, from 1957. A Face in the Crowd represents a powerful critique of the cult of personality and the ease with which people are duped by media representation. A Face in the Crowd stars Andy Griffith as Larry Rhodes, a drifter with a guitar who gets his big break when reporter Marcia Jeffries pulls him from jail and puts him on the radio. His blend of folksy wisdom and foot-stomping songs become an instant hit with the American populace, launching first his own radio and then television show. But Rhodes is essentially sociopathic, manipulating people and indulging his vices with a sovereign contempt for the masses that have put him on a pedestal. A Face in the Crowd is Andy Griffith before he became the down-home sheriff of Mayberry; he turns in a performance terrifying in its charisma and cruelty. Rhodes is almost fascistic, blithely using people and manipulating his audience to his own way of thinking. Even the inevitable downfall of the demagogue carries with it a sense that Rhodes will return, forgiven by the very people he so despises. It is a media commentary that still holds true, even as we’ve moved from radio and television to the power of the Internet. The Wrong Man Alfred Hitchcock is better known for his suspense thrillers, but he did make one or two social problem films in the course of his remarkable career. The finest of these is The Wrong Man, an almost neo-realist look at false accusations and the devastating effects of the criminal justice system on innocent people. Henry Fonda stars as Manny Balestrero, a musician in New York in dire need of money to help his wife Rose (Vera Miles) pay for having her wisdom teeth out. When he goes to his insurance company to try and borrow against his wife’s insurance policy, he’s incorrectly recognized as the man who tried to hold up the insurance office. The film then turns into an extended procedural, as Manny is arrested and shuttled from place to place to try and establish his identity as a criminal. The Wrong Man unflinchingly chronicles Manny’s distress and the suffering of his wife as the result of an entirely chance occurrence. Hitchcock’s subdued camera highlights the terror and surreality of what the characters undergo. It’s a universal story, one that offers no clear solutions and no clear critique, but a frightening glimpse into a world where an honest man can wind up in prison for something he did not do.