Top 10 Old Hollywood Movies That Were Ahead of Their Time

These Old Hollywood movies were way ahead of modern times. For this list, we’ll be looking at the most notable classic films that were surprisingly prescient, presenting a progressive view with regards to their characters and/or stories. Our countdown includes "A Star Is Born," "Psycho," "Bonnie and Clyde," and more! What old school Hollywood flick do YOU think was ahead of the curve? Let us know in the comments!
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MsMojo is a leading producer of reference online video content of Top 10 Lists, Origins, Biographies, Commentary and more on Pop Culture, Celebrity, Movies, Music, TV, Film, Video Games, Politics, News, Comics, Superheroes. Your trusted authority on ranking Pop Culture.
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[@trinaq]

I love that Jamie Lee Curtis got to parody her mother's famous shower scene for "Scream Queens!" Talk about running in the family.

[@erenyeager6369]

Psycho is definitely one of the greatest classic thrillers out there . The fact that they came up with a movie based on DID(Dissociate Identity Disorder) back in the 1960s is mindblowing

[@DanGamingFan2846]

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is such an underrated gem in my opinion. And the fact that it came out at the height of the Civil Rights Movement made it's themes and messages all the more important.

[@MsBackstager]

BTW, Katherine H's movie daughter was actually her real neice.

[@BaseballPlayer0]

it's a disgusting film

[@sheilaholmes996]

Judy Garland should have won the Oscar for A Star Is Born. Quite a few of Hitchcock’s films are before their time. Rope, Vertigo.

[@judyalcatraz918]

Totally agree, JUDY was robbed of the Oscar everyone knows it........

[@skyeslaton3435]

I'm glad msmojo is uploading alot of stuff about old hollywood movies and it shows how important it was

[@angelaholmes8888]

Yes indeed

[@megalon73]

Rebel Without a Cause is the original “High School Genre” and “Coming of Age”. That’s why they gave us the modern version of high school movies tells the story of the teen chapter that nobody Hollywood never talks about.

[@incog99skd11]

How can you beat Natalie Wood, James Dean and Sal Mineo in one movie? I watch "Rebel Without a Cause" every once in a while. It is THAT good.

[@megalon73]

@@incog99skd11 Oh, Yeah. Those actor's alone are the most amazing talent's. Who I wish were alive a little more.

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

We will never forget Sydney Poitier.

[@karlimiranda5735]

Imitation of Life is so underrated imo. It doesn’t get the love it deserves. It’s soooo good! Great list 👍🏼

[@carastone3473]

I agree 100%! Great movie.

[@tayamijoy485]

Both versions are great

[@angelaholmes8888]

@@tayamijoy485 yes both are great

[@mr.decencykeepinitreal6348]

‘Psycho’, one of my top 12 most favorite old school slasher movies of all time.

[@incog99skd11]

Psycho was controversially filmed in black and white. Many, many theater goers recall seeing red blood in the shower scene. It was black and white so they didn't. Their minds played a trick on them. It was a true psychological thriller way ahead of its time.

[@MsBackstager]

The blood was actually chocolate sauce.

[@bettychatfield2544]

I always go back to Hitchcock and his interesting perspective in "Rear Window" The voyeurism exploration of watching your neighbors and the way in which the camera was used to represent Jimmy Stewart's point of view is an interesting study in cinematherapy

[@jamalvargas6146]

RIP Sydney Poitier Lived a Long Life

[@deeanna8448]

I'd include "Miracle in 34th Street". Susan's mother Doris was not only an assertive divorced woman in the 1940s, but she was also an executive at Macy's. There weren't many divorced executive woman portrayed on film at the time.

[@homersimpsonsfatguyhat9541]

A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith in a role worlds away from Sheriff Andy Taylor. It's an early example of the toxicity of celebrity.

[@voutsider190]

Garland was definitely robbed

[@chelseacanales8763]

Guess Who Coming to Dinner is so good; Sidney Poitier did a great job.

[@Omar-wq9dz]

Sidney Poitier was known for being a trailblazer

[@raymondhopwood9393]

Sadly, it was Spencer Tracey's final role. He was nominated posthumously for Best Actor, but lost.

[@skyeslaton3435]

@@raymondhopwood9393 passed away days after filming

[@BaseballPlayer0]

it's terrible and disgusting and should have never been made. Estas loca

[@wowbobwow37]

FYC: The Manchurian Candidate Gentleman's Agreement

[@irenadijetetresa3073]

I feel Splendor in the Grass should've been on the list...it covered some pretty deep and important topics which weren't that widely/openly discussed during that era

[@tfe1788]

1. Citizen Kane 2. Modern Times 3. Psycho 4. Geuss Who's Coming for Dinner 5. Rebel Without a Cause 6. The Apartment 7. Johnny Guitar 8. Gone with the Wind 9. Wizard of Oz 10. Vertigo

[@hollywoodhistoricals]

A Star is Born, is my absolute favorite premise that has also succeeded in modern remakes.

[@davidz3879]

Psycho is brilliant & successful. Why didn't slashers become popular until Halloween was released 18 years later?

[@do9138]

Psycho isn't a slasher film at all. In fact, we never see Marion stabbed and only see the knife touch skin one time. It is actually a psychological horror.

[@PixieLovesItAll]

Psycho is a psychological thriller, "horror" movies were FAR more stigmatized back then. Slashers became popular over the release of Texas Chainsaw in 1974, and then became blockbusters (to the point of parody) come Halloween and Friday the 13th in 78 and 80 respectively.

[@raymondhopwood9393]

​@@PixieLovesItAll As well as the "Elm Street" and Chuckie franchises.

[@PixieLovesItAll]

@@raymondhopwood9393 Of course, those were just much later in the 80s after the formula had been developed. In that way, Freddy Krueger is actually a fusion slasher, bc Wes Craven took the inspiration of a basic slasher and gave it a supernatural spin in a way that was appealing after a decade of "real, human maniacs". And Chucky's the same, the fusion of supernatural and the soul of an evil person.

[@music18021]

All the A Star is Born movies brought some sort of innovation in my mind the original Janet Gaynor version was the first successful movie in technicolor

[@michaelmonthey5974]

The original 1934 adaptation of Imitation of Life tackled the same issue and it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. Why was the 1959 remake chosen for an honorable mention over its 1934 counterpart?

[@angelaholmes8888]

Betty Davis movie now Voyager should be on this list

[@PhilMoskowitz]

My god. Not only is "Network" (1976) not on this list, it should be number one.

[@nita409]

So glad you at least mentioned Imitation of Life. It doesn’t get enough attention. So underrated.

[@bheast86]

IMITATION OF LIFE was a remake of a 1934 film. Sidney Poitier had already portrayed a interracial marriage: To Rosanna Schiaffino in THE LONG SHIPS, but that was in a historical setting and she was playing an Arab (or other North African Semite) - and was thus deemed to be up for anything? ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, OF MICE AND MEN, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, CAT PEOPLE, MAN HUNT, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, INTRUDER IN THE DUST

[@chrismulwee4911]

I think the 1934 version is WAY better. I, personally feel the remake suffers from too much overacting, and the ending is too abrupt. The earlier version at least gave us an epilogue that told we viewers that Peola(renamed Sarah Jane in the remake) had FINALLY straightened out her life and had accepted that she's a light skinned African American. The latter remake left things rather open ended.

[@harryorenstein1144]

As good and thought-provoking (for its time) as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is, it still takes the easy way out at the end by having the couple move to Africa rather than facing the issue of intermarriage at home.

[@artim1s]

you forgot " The graduate "

[@hunterhurlbut258]

One movie that I think was ahead of its time was The Crimson Kimono. For those of you who have never seen the movie or never even heard of it, it's about two cops (one white and one Japanese) who investigate the murder of a stripper and they develop a love triangle with a white woman. The Japanese partner finds out that his partner is against interracial dating and becomes disillusioned because he always believed that his partner didn't have that kind of racial prejudice

[@patdoe5242]

Psycho was one of my favourite movies to watch back in the day and Janet Leigh was an amazing actress

[@Merylstreep1949]

Thank you for reminding me about Jean Arthur! ❤ she was my big pre Meryl Streep crush and The Devil And Miss Jones!!!omfg still funny!! ❤❤❤

[@mr.decencykeepinitreal6348]

5.020 subscribers. Wow, keep up the good work, MsMojo.

[@incog99skd11]

"Imitation of Life" was also daring on how it imitated Lana Turner's real life when it was made. Lana's real daughter in real life killed her mafia boyfriend thinking he was going to hurt Lana. It was a huge scandal and Hollywood knew how to profit from it with this movie. In spite of that, it is an emotional soap opera with teeth.

[@leisastalnaker3790]

Citizen Kane. Still the best movie ever. Brilliant to this day. It broke ground, in story and cinematography. Just brilliant.

[@yadielenielbellecolon982]

Good Video 😁💞

[@rebelscum7596]

If you’ve never seen Ginger Roger’s “Kitty Foyle”, you should! It is so far ahead of it’s time for female independence and empowerment.

[@AKWolf24]

Glen or Glenda was truly a movie ahead of its time

[@equusquaggaquagga536]

The Man who shot Liberty Valance was the first western to condemn the violence the genre was known for

[@CaptainMcTubeSnoot]

Metropolis? 2001: A Space Odyssey? Star Wars?

[@AmberLizzieBow444]

Clara bow’s acting in call her savage was definitely ahead of its time.

[@angelaholmes8888]

The apartment totally belongs on this list it was ahead of its time

[@karanvirkooner1993]

Psycho(1960) is Alfred Hitchcock’s magnum opus

[@DreamerX08]

The Graduate- the feeling of uncertainty after graduation minus Mrs. Robinson.

[@sujatahazra7807]

Where is 2001 Space Odyssey??? Even in this age of CGI it is so difficult to pull off such a stuff, just think of Stanley Kubrick who did it without CGI. It certainly was way way ahead of it's times.

[@davidrennicke9852]

Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger, new techniques in filmmaking with the use of green screen technology.

[@waittillfamewtf2385]

"Titanic" (1953)

[@Xenaga]

I think you missed featuring The Children’s Hour. For those who are unfamiliar, it’s really the first movie exploring lesbianism and it featured two huge Hollywood stars in Shirley McClain and Audrey Hepburn. If not in the top 10, I think I deserved a mention over or in addition to Morocco.

[@clarajays]

Sydney Poitier 👌🏻

[@donovandelaney3171]

Top ten movies ahead of their time. Number one: Metropolis.

[@rfm2006]

Why isn't Gone with the wind in the list? If it wasn't ahead of its time then I don't know what is

[@mewesquirrel6720]

I mean not really, besides Hattie

[@donovandelaney3171]

Johnny got his Gun was ahead of it’s time.

[@RandomAndysChannel]

How is The Children's Hour not on here?

[@vasyavasilevs3310]

What... What about "Gone with the wind" ?!

[@missjoshemmett]

I was in the front row (not my choice) for Bonnie and Clyde and thought it was very well done...and then they ended it. I sat there horrified and couldn't even close my eyes. I kept thinking the horror would stop and just didn't. I was 21 and to this day, I thought it ruined the film. It reminded me of 1969, The Untouchables TV series which opened every week with all those Feds and their machine guns shooting at one man so many times his body couldn't fall. Sickening.

[@Merylstreep1949]

Forbidden Planet and This Island Earh needed to be here as FP pretty much made Sci fi into what it is today

[@MC-mf7zj]

How is Guess who's coming to dinner ahead of its time? It was perfectly of its time otherwise the film wouldn't exist. This was an issue that was happening at that exact time. Just because it was fresh doesn't mean its ahead of the time. Hell the law for the whole country was changed during production, making it a discussion perfect FOR its time.

[@MarissaFloro]

I don't want to know and then she says but I want you to know what a power line most men can't handle that.

[@LeonardoKlotz]

"Fortune favors the bold"

[@jasonbean2764]

Rosebud. Because.

[@SexySkoChick]

A Streetcar Named Desire is WAAAY ahead of it's time in the way NO one had TRULY seen acting the way Brando did it in the film 😳 AND the way it pushed movie BOUNDARIES back then in the 1950's 😱 the content was dare I say ahem....HIGHLY sexual for the time period 😏 ALSO to add that it didn't help that Marlon's character Stanley was soo HOT 😍 he was like the TOP Male sex symbol in Hollywood of ALL time 😌 I mean you LITERALLY need a glass of cold water and a fan nearby when HE'S onscreen fo' SURE! 🥵 and that ALONE says a LOT

[@michaelmonthey5974]

It’s funny that Citizen Kane has parallels of the Trump era.

[@bennymora3086]

When you watch the film in #1, just imagine the character’s life if he wasn’t famous.💭

[@agustinprystupa280]

Why is 1959's Imitation of Life in this list? I mean what about the 1934 with Claudette Colbert

[@hugolewis4896]

Rlly, no Casablanca?

[@greatfilmmaker]

I think invitation to life should be number one. Number 2 should have been island in the sun. When the first time on the screen, a white guy kissed a black woman. The black woman was Dorothy Dandridge

[@mattmc5069]

I think "the breakfast club" was in that it showed real teens acting like real teens. Not exactly "old timey" but at a time when silly teen sitcomish humor was the norm this took a realistic approach. Also it's characters where not the usual "good guys" but rather a mis understood group and refined "hero"

[@Griffinmc]

Conservatives who screech that Hollywood is too liberal should watch this video and make note: only one of these ten progressively groundbreaking films was voted the Oscar for Best Picture: The Apartment.

[@maddog6620]

You are cool 😎

[@angelapalmer3464]

Ugh! I despise Citizen Kane!! Gone with the Wind should've been on the list.

[@jerome2022]

Kane is ahead of ALL movies!

[@donovandelaney3171]

I disagree completely. Metropolis is number one.

[@Fibonacci64]

“Hollywood movies”

[@irawilliams343]

Too bad Hitchcock was a Harvey Weinstein of Old Hollywood

[@slystone4892]

2001 Odissey is considered old Hollywood? Because if so it deserved to be here.

[@JoReGr]

1961's West Side Story, happy musical....but it had it's not so good moments, racial tensions,i.e. Go back to where you came from, spic, polack, one of your own kind, and not to mention gang fights... well it;s my view on it...