Top 5

Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

I was searching for an early morning breakfast on campus on a Saturday when I met a well-published author on the same quest. I led him to the Students' Union Building coffee shop, and he said that although he was quite prepared to like movies he didn't really because there was almost nothing--except Away From Her--that he could think of that was made FOR and ABOUT people his age (about 60). I didn't argue with him, but it got me thinking . . . What are the Top Five movies for/about elderly people? (I'll send him the results if this generates any discussion.)

1. Iris--Iris Murdock, one of the foremost intellectual writers, gets Alzheimer's Disease, and her faithful husband tries his darnest to cope but cannot.

2. Spy Game--a CIA officer days before retirement must use all his wiles to fight against the bureaucracy and help his protege.

3. The Straight Story--A guy too old to drive safely steers his lawn tractor through a serious of wise and amusing adventures to see his dieing and estranged brother.

4. A Song for Martin (Sweden)--A career musicain going senile and the effects on those around him.

5. The Human Stain--The college professor suffers an ignoble end to his career but, through his determined romance with a battered younger woman, has a noble end to his life.

On Golden Pond--I haven't seen this is so long that I hestate . . . but I still remember the scene were the grumpy old guy is dieing and he asks for a kiss on the cheek.

I'm sure you can add some better ones . . .

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

1. Umberto D.

2. Harold and Maude (geezerette?)

3.  Bruce Almighty (in case you're counting the Almighty as an old geezer)

4. [I'm going to ask the Missing Film guy about the one where a couple retires to grow lavender in the countryside.]

5. Two Bits (Pacino chewing the scenery as an old geezer called "Grandpa.") 

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

JimBell:

I think that just as people in their late teens often take to Brick easily, just as kids are easily rivoted to Nemo's misadventures, so people around 60 might identify more easily with a movie like The Human Stain or Iris...The other key idea is that Hollywood's heavy focus on younger, theatre-going audiences creates the false impression in the public's mind that there are almost no movies aimed outside that demographic. I thought it would be fun and enlightening to focus on the older/oldest demographic for bit.

Thanks! I agree that the current focus on gross receipts from the multiplex in the first two weeks of distribution has created the demographic monster that is Shrek3/POTC3/Spiderman3.

Having said that, and speaking as someone who is over 60, I hate the idea that I might relate more easily to The Human Stain and Iris  than to Rocky. Hope it's not true, for me or for all the other geezers. (Btw, I had the notion that older viewers experienced a greater  resonance vis a vis Brick than teen viewers did, because of the noir vibe, as opposed to a typical teen-movie  vibe.) 

Some movies that might  perk up the geezers (and not Proof, with yet another character slipping off into dottiness): 

The Mother - Grandmother gets it on with Daniel Craig. Yes!

The  Queen - Royal geezers

Old Man and the Sea - Healthy activities for the older citizen

The Mighty McGurk - Forget Rocky. Beery still has it at 62.

Propero's Books - At 87, Giegud, surrounded by naked flesh 

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

So anyway, I asked myself what my 60s demographic would want in a movie and how that would compare with other age groups. Started jotting down thoughts and realized that this wasn't going to be easy:

1. Nothing to be gained by comparing the tastes of this demographic with that of teenagers. But might be interesting to ask what the difference is in tastes between someone 40 and someone 60.

2. Tastes of the members of any demographic are all over the map.

3. A study of happiness indicates that happiness takes the shape of an inverse bell curve over a typical lifetime. The most unhappy are 40-year-olds. 60-year-olds in the aggregate are measurably happier than 40-year-olds. Consequences for movie tastes?

4. Those in their 60s have seen 20 more years of movies.

5. Less libido in the 60s?

6. Formative movie-going: 1940/1950s vs 1960/1970s. Significant?

7. Older viewers more aware and/or more set in their preferences?

8. Do older viewers go back and watch more or fewer movies again than 40-year-olds?

9. Important: 60-year-olds don't feel 60. They still think they're the same person they were when they were 40, even if they aren't.

10. Are older viewers less patient?

11. I've noticed many times that older readers and viewers become more interested in fact and less interested in fiction.

12. 60-year-olds were 40 in 1987, when movies were.... what?

13. Being older doesn't necessarily mean the viewer has more interest in themes involving older people. "Away from Her" was made by a young woman, for example. 99% of the time, I'd rather watch American Pie than The Human Stain, even thoughI love Philip Roth.

14. I've been watching those films in the IMDB top 250 that I've spent years avoiding, just to be able to say that I've seen them.  Significant that I'm doing this now?

At this point, I realized that I have no idea what a 60-year-old demographic would want to see, and it seems like it's going to be a lot of work to figure out, whereas I'm just here to have fun. But  I do know what I like, and it ain't Iris.

 

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers

Geezers in action:

1. Innocence

2. Shopgirl

3. The Limey

4. Anything with Vanessa Redgrave in it 

5. Death Wish V 

Re: Top Five Movies Regarding Old Geezers