Those movies you know you should've watched but...

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... just never got around to.
For example, right now I'm watching Taxi Driver. So far, good movie... widely regarded as a classic, but I'd just never gotten around to watching it.
Same thing with Citizen Kane... finally got around to watching it a few years ago. Liked it, didn't love it, but I saw why it's regarded as a classic.
Another one, Casablanca. We all know some of the lines... 'Of all the gin joints in the world...', 'Play it, Sam.' and so on. Finally saw this one last year. Loved it. Went out n bought the DVD.
And yet another, Bridge on the River Kwai. Man, who doesn't know how to whistle 'Col. Bogeys March'? And yet, I'd never seen it. Finally saw it... loved it. Alec Guinness and Toshiro Mifune were outstanding. Considering adding that to our collection.

So, my question... anyone have any like this? I'm not looking for 'personal classics' so much as I am 'widely regarded as a classic', simply because... well, I personally regard 'Seven Samurai' and 'Ran' as classics, where others don't, just by way of example.

The Godfather. I've tried to watch it a couple times. Just never have been able to finish it.

I would say most of Stanley Kubrick's movies are classics, but a lot of people have trouble watching. I tried watching 2001 and Dr. Strangelove when I was younger and didn't make it through. Now that I am older these are among my favorite movies.

Midnight Cowboy really grew on me after a few watches

I'm with you, QL... I had to force myself to watch the entirety of the Godfather trilogy. It was good, not only a technical sense, but also as entertainment, but it was soooooo slow.

Kubrick... he's a lot like Coppola, to me. Takes forever to make his point but it looks great while he's getting there. Enjoyed 2001, so-so on Clockwork Orange and I've never yet gotten around to Strangelove. Couldn't stand 'Eyes Wide Shut', however (aside from Nicole Kidman gettin nekkid). Absolutely loved Full Metal Jacket. That one and Stones' 'Platoon' had my dad quiet for several days afterwards, and I don't think he's ever watched them again.

Midnight Cowboy, that's another one I need to get off my ass and watch. Thanks for the reminder.
I think this weekend I'm gonna try n track down African Queen. Two others I want to see are 'Angels With Dirty Faces' and Howard Hughes' 'Hells Angels'.

Scarface, with Al Pacino. I'm currently going to have another go with it.

From what I've heard, movies such as 'Breakfast Club', 'Pretty in Pink' and 'Saint Elmo's Fire' are regarded as classics. Personally I haven't gotten around to seeing them yet (I keep meaning to, I just never find the time...). If you want some real classics go straight for Monty Python. 'Monty Pythong and the Holy Grail', 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' and 'Monty Python's The Meaning of Life' - their brilliance cannot be denied. If you're still in need of more 'classical' classics, I suggest doing a google search for the top ten classics of the 1940's. 'Casablanca' and 'Citizen Kane' are on there, but if you haven't seen the rest t could be a good starting point.

I've never seen Final Fantasy: Advent Children of Jackass 2 yet.

The Godfather is big one. Also the two Kill Bill films, although I'm not sure if I want to see them because I'm not fond of gore.

I rent movies that I honestly want to see but not bothered to watch them. I rented To Kill A Mockingbird last and told myself over and over again that I had to watch it but by the time I actually was ready to sit down and watch it I had to return it. I haven't seen it since grade school.

I can tell you, there are movies I really wanted to watch when they came out.
About ten years later and I still haven't seen them!

A lot of "classics," simply because I doubt I'll like them.

For example, I don't like Hitchcock movies. I know they have a really important meaning in the history of cinema (especially horror movies and thrillers), but...I base my opinion of films largely on how much of the time my emotions are successfully manipulated. So in other words, if I'm not having fun during at least 60% of a "fun" movie or feeling the power of a more serious movie for a majority of the time, then it's hard for me to like it. To me, Hitchcock is all about an hour and a half of largely boring buildup to one or two good, thrilling scenes.

Others:
-Other really old "classics," like Citizen Kane or Casablanca. Everytime I try watching some old black and white classic, I get seriously bored. I think it's hard for me to relate to the characters because of the huge generation gap, and it's hard for any of it to effect me when the resolution is so low and the sound quality so fizzled. Also, all those "classic lines" have been repeated so many times by now that they're cliche and annoying. Might not have been at the time, but it's hard for me to not get annoyed by stuff like that. Mind you, I like it when modern films use black and white like Sleepy Hollow, Sin City (though I disliked that movie overall), etc. but OLD black and white movies, well, I usually don't like them. The only ones I remember liking were To Kill a Mockingbird and Inherit the Wind, because they were both about subject matter I felt strongly about.

-I just don't like Stanley Kubric movies, so I don't give many a chance. Watched 2001 and was bored stiff the entire time. I'm afraid to see A Clockwork Orange because I'm afraid it'll disturb the living s**t out of me.

-I watched part of The Godfather: Part One, but wasn't gripped enough to watch the rest. I'm not into crime films, I guess. I liked the first two hours of Apocalypse Now, though I hated the last half hour on the acount of its super-slow pace.

-Interview With a Vampire. I watched the first half-hour, got disguisted and turned it off, but I feel a little bad about that because it's one of the most well-regarded vampire movies ever and, as someone who writes about vampires, I feel like I have a little responsibility to know this sort of thing. (Maybe I'll read the book sometime.)

-I finally got around to watching Seven Samurai recently, and frankly I was bored to tears throughout most of it. I can respect the amount of work that went into that, and normally I love long epic movies, but...it just didn't get to me. I'm sorry.

-All kinds of 80's movies, like The Breakfast Club. Sorry, but I hate 80's movies. I just hate the mindset, the music, the style, the low resolution, the low video quality, the attitude, the fashion, the hair, the lack of any decent visuals, etc. It just seriously turns me off. I didn't even like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when practically everyone likes that movie. I thought it had a few very funny scenes but not enough for 2 hours, with too much boring fluff and fat, and I didn't like how cruel Ferris was to his best friend. But I'm not a hedonist at all--I'm not the sort of person who'd have any fun with ANY of that stuff that they did the entire day. I'm the sort of person that'd just have more fun in school. So it's no wonder I didn't like it.

-Rocky. I hate boxing. It, to me, represents much of what is wrong with humanity. Wow, let's go watch people pummel the s**t out of each other! No thank you. I know that Rocky is about hope and all that, and that boxing takes a backstage, but I doubt I'd enjoy watching this movie.

-Kill Bill Vol. 2. I watched the first one and absolutely HATED it because it was so friggin' gory. Everyone else is like, "Oh, it's so funny!" Yeah, whatever--that tone was 100% serious and depressing most of the time. I never got around to watching the second one because I hated the first one so much, even though I heard it wasn't as violent.

-Other Quenten Tarantino movies. I know Pulp Fiction is supposed to be a classic, and I might like the storytelling style, but the violence sounds way too much for me.

-Gandhi, but I've got it on the Netflix Queue.

Waterworld. I keep on finding it on TV either in the middle or ending. and of course I get an odd assortment of stations, what I wish I had was Disney, Cartoon Network, and Sci Fi.

I wanna see Scar face.