Great Old Movies To Watch With Your Kids
Written By Ty Burr
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Top Movies for Kids Ages 7-8
Top pick:
North by Northwest (1959)
By this time, classic-savvy kids are ready for Hitchcock. Start here, the master's greatest (and least scary) windup toy. Suave Cary Grant plays a man mistaken for a spy and chased all over the country, from a cornfield with a biplane attacking him to Mount Rushmore, where he scrambles down the presidential faces just ahead of the bad guys. (Hitch wanted to call the film The Man in Lincoln's Nose; cooler heads prevailed.) The movie is light, funny, and in color: a perfect introduction to suspense movies in general and Hitchcock in particular. (Besides, all young boys should know Cary Grant as a role model.)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
A child's first science-fiction movie — a gripping B&W drama with a spaceship, a central kid character, one of the best robots in movies, and a great secret pass-phrase: Klaatu barada nikto.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Probably the funniest movie ever made. Too sexual for a small fry? Nope. To kids, Hot's a hilarious cartoon — it'll only seem dirty if you tell them it's dirty. There's a lot to be said for seeing old movies through young eyes.
