I've gotten more into it, these last few years, but a lot of the "classics" we frequently hear referenced are actually still excellent.
Casablanca is my favourite movie of all time. To Catch a Thief is bloody good (Grace Kelly!), as is North by Northwest (Eva Marie Saint!). It's a Wonderful Life has grown on me, over time, and, as a Christmas movie, it's definitely above average, if rather bleak. Spartacus, while cheesy, is pretty good, too. The Magnificent Seven (original) is fucking great. Towering Inferno (original) is also, I feel, rather underrated, these days. Hatari (John Wayne) is great, too. Even Logan's Run (just before blockbusters really took off) is very good, if a little weird. Network is a biting satire, far ahead of its time. And the original Pelham 1,2,3 is ahead of its time, too. I didn't really like The Graduate, but the soundtrack is very good.
Even some silent films (notably Metropolis by Fritz Lang, Nosferatu, etc) are pretty good too, in hindsight.
So yeah, I'm not claiming that Hollywood was ever particularly "based", or anything like that, but some of these "Silver Age" and "Golden Age" Hollywood productions are actually very, very good. Credit where credit is due.
No real point to this - just saying, if you are yet to really give "classics" like some of that lot a go, well, maybe it's worth it, for a break from all the woke shit of Current Era, lol...
Any other recommendations welcome, ha.
It's a Wonderful Life is one of those movies that's very interesting with the benefit of 80 years' of hindsight now that we all live in Pottersville.
George is clearly a smart guy; one of the smartest in Bedford Falls. And he's a driven man who directs that drive toward his people. But what's he want to do at the beginning of the movie? Go off to college and never return to Bedford Falls. What would have happened if he had? The town probably would have been much the same as it was had he never been born, excepting his brother would still be alive and the pharmacist wouldn't have poisoned those kids.
What started to happen in the 60s and really kicked into overdrive in the 80s and 90s? More universities were built, and more people like George were able to live their dream of going to college. And many did in fact never return home when they graduated. It's similar in concept to the "Brain Drain" concept less developed countries go through when their smartest citizens immigrate to more developed ones.
Of course something that a Hollywood movie made in that era wouldn't want to bring attention to is that sometimes in real life people like Potter are simply gunned down in the street in broad daylight, and sometimes when that happens the sheriff (who may also be under the thumb of that someone) is too "busy" to find out who did it.