The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together [Paperback]

Ty Burr (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 13, 2007

If a child can watch Barney, can’t that same child also enjoy watching Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers? And as they get older, wouldn’t they grow to like screwball comedies (His Girl Friday), women’s weepies (Imitation of Life), and westerns (The Searchers)? The answer is that they’ll follow because they’ll have learned that “old” does not necessarily mean “next channel, please.”

Here is an impassioned and eminently readable guide that introduces the delights of the golden age of movies. Ty Burr has come up with a winning prescription for children brought up on Hollywood junk food.

FOR THE LITTLE ONES (Ages 3—6): Fast-paced movies that are simple without being unsophisticated, plainspoken without being dumbed down. Singin’ in the Rain and Bringing Up Baby are perfect.

FOR THE ONES IN BETWEEN (Ages 7—12): “Killer stories,” placing easily grasped characters in situations that start simply and then throw curveballs. The African Queen and Some Like It Hot do the job well.

FOR THE OLDER ONES (Ages 13+): Burr recommends relating old movies to teens’ contemporary favorites: without Hitchcock, there could be no The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, without Brando, no Johnny Depp.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Every parent has asked for Ty Burr’s book. Every movie-mad child will steal it from the parents. This is a guide to classic movies for kids, written with verve, humor, and pep. A winner.”
—David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film

“A treasure, a delight, and quite possibly a marriage-saver as well. Ty Burr’s advice on when, how, and even why to share with our children the movies we cherish from our own youth is funny, hip, and wise. My ten-year-old stole the book right out of my hands.” —Julia Glass, National Book Award–Winning Author of Three Junes

“Terrific, necessary, and carried out with integrity, intelligence, sensitivity, and totally without condescension. Ty Burr's book can lead to a lot of pleasure–of the life-long kind.” —Peter Bogdanovich

About the Author

Ty Burr is the film critic for The Boston Globe, and the father of two. For over a decade he wrote about movies for Entertainment Weekly, and estimates he has seen 10,680 films.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; First Edition edition (February 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400096863
• ISBN-13: 978-1400096862
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Movie Advice March 14, 2007

By Einer Elhauge

Format:Paperback

I bought this book expecting to just be instructed, and came away thoroughly entertained and entralled. Full of verve and funny but telling observations, this is one of the best written books I have read in years. Part culture critique, part movie review, part parental memoir, all written with energy, subtlety, and great humor. I laughed out loud many times. How can one be hip and parental at the same time? I don't know, but this book pulls it off. My only complaint is that this book undersells itself, as if it were just some reference book one should dip into for particular movies. It is just a rollicking good read, and one learns about a lot more than movies along the way. So well-written that you have to wonder whether Ty Burr's time might not be better spent writing some movie scripts, so we can have modern movies with characters whose dialogue crackles like this book's sentences do.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Great Time this Book is! June 4, 2007

By R. Stanton

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a gateway to a GREAT family movie experience! I have a 4 year old son, and although this book is a little more bias toward girls, it in no way forgets the boys. In fact the strength of the book, is in laying the groundwork to open up the world of classic movies (mostly Hollywood, but not exclusively) to young children by combing the various movie genres for age appropriate material and by emphasizing that each child is different. This to me is what makes this book succeed.

I've experimented with "Singing in the Rain" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood" so far with universally positive results (my son was somewhat fidgety during the dialog portions of "Singing in the Rain", but was riveted by the singing, dancing, and comedic scenes). "Robin Hood" was a hit from frame one.

This book is also a pleasure to read with regard to Mr. Burr's antidotes. You can tell he learned a lot through this process and had a great time doing it.

Highly recommend!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful guide to classic movies to watch with your kids July 4, 2007

By Guy S. Wiggins

Format:Paperback

I bought this book because there are so many wonderful old movies out there and I wanted a guide to which ones I should watch with my daughter. I was not disappointed. Ty Burr is a wonderfully witty and humorous and knowledgeable film critic with years of experience at both Entertainment Weekly and now The Boston Globe, and this book is clearly a labor of love based on the experiences he had watching these movies with his children.

The book starts out with what Ty calls "Starter Kits" - 5 movies to watch with kids of different ages. For example, the Toddler starter kit includes the original Robin Hood (Ty calls him the original super hero), Meet me in St. Louis, Bringing up Baby (The sell: The Cat in the Hat with a Bryn Mawr accent :); Singin' in the Rain and StageCoach. I've watched three of these already with my 6 year old and she has really enjoyed them and, I think, learned a lot from them as well.

Other chapters are organized according to the type of movie. There are chapters on Comedy, Drama, Musicals, Actions and Westerns, Horror and also Foreign Language classics. Each movie is succinctly reviewed, with headings on who directed and starred in the movie, the age group that is appropriate, the sell (For the Marx Brother's Duck Soup he says: "You think you and your brother are nuts? Watch these guys."), the plot and why he choose the movie. There is also a useless trivia section. (Bet you didn't know that Duck Soup was banned by Benito Mussolini.)

In the past, it was hard to find many of these movies at your local video store but now that we are in the age of NetFlix, the book has more relevance than ever.

These movies are a huge change from the usual diet of Nickelodeon stuff like Spongebob that she usually watches - but what's truly wonderful is that they are enriching and memorable movies for the whole family to watch. It has been a genuine thrill for me to rediscover these movies and watch them through her eyes.

These classic movies are also a valuable lens through which a child can learn about how Americans lived in the past, and their attitudes and foibles. Ty's witty guide is a must buy for anyone that believes that classic movies are an essential part of a child's upbringing and education - and a welcome change from the current media diet our children are exposed to. Highly recommended.