I had rented several CD for watching this weekend, 2nd Top Gun and Avatar movies, those movies were not as good as the first ones were in my opinion
I saw a two CD discs set on display on a really old movie from the mid 1950s titled "East of Eden starring James Dean, that I never saw back in the day. I rented and watched it last night
I remember hearing all the sadness reported about him dying in a car wreck in the mid 1950s, I'm not sure exactly when that wreck occurred, sorry.
The movie was good, his acting was good also
I had seen the other two movies he made before getting killed in that accident, he was a car guy that liked going fast also, too bad that he got killed at an early age having fun driving one of his favorite cars on the streets
What a difference in Holly Weird standards, ratings, on showing scenes from back then compared to today standards on nudity and sex scenes

I find that old movies have one important thing in common with new movies: Some are good, and some ain't. Every once in a while I'll sit down and watch a oldie that's a "timeless classic." Some are real gems. Just a few years ago, I watched "Casablanca" for the first time. It was pretty good. "Gone With The Wind" was worth watching, but a lot of the acting is over-done, simply because much of the cast was trained for the stage, and it comes across badly on film. Over New Years we started watching "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", with Paul Newman. I turned it off after about half an hour, just because the acting was waaay too over-the top. James Dean was very good in "Giant", and I recall him being pretty good in "East of Eden."

I find some old movies that are rated excellently don't age well. The "oldness" is immediately apparent. Others are timeless. I have not seen a lot of old movies but one I watched recently and rate highly was "Requiem for a Heavyweight".

Fictional aging heavyweight Louis "Mountain" Rivera (Anthony Quinn) is felled by young Cassius Clay, the future Muhammad Ali, and finds his professional career over. His manipulative manager (Jackie Gleason) owes money on bets placed against Rivera, and convinces him to become a wrestler. Humiliated by the notion, Rivera examines the few options available in the afterglow of a boxing career. Rivera is broken and battered, but he continues to have the support of his trainer (Mickey Rooney).

I have not seen East of Eden.

I was so bored trying to watch Casablanca. Sorry.

The thing about old movies - or any movie - is to immerse yourself in its time and place.
Sometimes the over-acting is the Director's choice of what gets edited in vs out.
Back in my days living in Hollywood, we'd have people over - most of whom worked in the industry - and it was funny to see what they called out:
Mic booms being in the scene
Vehicle-tire tracks in westerns
Jet plane contrails in movies set in a pre-jet era
Things in scenes that hadn't been invented yet

Many of my favorite movies from the '80s & '90s were independent films, great cinema that didn't hit major theaters.
Come to think of it, same applies to music and comedy...so much great stuff that isn't "commercial", as we called it.

Yes lots of great indie films

I catch all kinds of edit errors in Adam-12. But it's because I can now rewind and replay unlike way back.......

I saw an airplane in Gunsmoke the show recently. I couldn't tell if it was a jet or prop but it was clearly a plane.

Well you have to define "old". My opinion of "old" is movies before 1960 and there are only two i can think of. I don't watch black and white anything except the three stooges and Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Blob was in color.

I just watched "The Caine Mutiny- Court Martial." Its a 2023 version covering only the Court proceedings. Kiefer Sutherland portrays Capt Queeg. At first I thought this would blasphemize the original but it was actually a very good courtroom drama. Well done.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24249946/

That sounds interesting. The original is an icon, but I've never been sure that Bogart was the best choice for the lead.

Recently saw "The Train" with Burt Lancaster from 1964, about Nazis moving a trainload of stolen art out of France. Filmed in high-contrast black and white. Good movie.

just watched the "cain mutiny" last night. [for the umteenth time]