15 Classic Films Turning the Big 5-0 This Year

One of Stanley Kubrick's epics, this sci-fi film is considered one of the most influential movies of all time. It tells the story of a group of scientists on a mission to Jupiter and how it all goes awry when the sentient computer on board the ship starts taking control.

Jane Fonda stars as the title character in this sexy sci-fi romp that is regarded as one of the classic "bad" sci-fi movies of the era. It's kitschy, it's campy, and Fonda is actually great in it.

If you're curious who the Ryan Gosling of the 1960s was, look no further than Steve McQueen. He has two entries on this list, Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair (and you should definitely check him out in The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and The Towering Inferno).

Bullitt is a police thriller that pits McQueen against the mob. It features a car chase through the streets of San Francisco that is generally regarded as one of the best chase scenes in cinematic history.

If you can't get enough of Bert in Mary Poppins, check out Dick Van Dyke in this lesser known musical fantasy film, where he plays an eccentric inventor helping his two children save a beloved race car from being turned into scrap.

Four years after earning a Tony nomination for starring in Funny Girl on Broadway, Barbra Streisand reprised the title role for the film adaptation and earned herself an Oscar (she tied with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter).

The show and film are loosely based on the life of Broadway star and comedian Fanny Brice.

Earning Katharine Hepburn her third Academy Award, this historical drama is about Britain's King Henry II and his imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitane, fighting over who should inherit his throne. The movie features Anthony Hopkins in his first major film role as Henry's oldest surviving son, Richard the Lionheart.

It may seem fairly tame to modern audiences, but any horror fan should see the grandfather of all zombie movies at least once. George Romero's horror classic was panned by critics at the time for its "explicit" gore, which will probably give Walking Dead viewers a good laugh, but it was an instant hit with horror fans, earning over 150 times its budget (which was just over $100,000).

Long before Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon were playing Oscar and Felix on CBS, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon were originating the roles for the screen in this 1968 film based on Neil Simon's hit play. Modern audiences know those two stars as the Grumpy Old Men, so think of The Odd Couple as the younger version of that.

The only G-rated film to ever win best picture, this musical is about a group of orphans, pickpockets, and thieves, singing and dancing around London.

Famous director Sergio Leone has his fingerprints and influences all over the Western genre and this film is one of his best. He brilliantly used everyman hero actor Henry Fonda as the villain, a hired gun with no qualms about killing children, and pitted him against star Charles Bronson as the protagonist, a gunman on the right side of the law.

If you like the updated versions of this franchise, take the time to go back and watch the original, starring Charlton Heston as an astronaut who lands on what he thinks is a distant planet far in the future, where primates are the ruling class.

Mel Brooks's first film, The Producers had one premiere in 1967 (and was so poorly received that the studio considered shelving it), but its wide release was in 1968 and it was honored with the 1968 Academy Awards, so we're including it here. This tale of two Broadway producers trying to put on a flop (and then keep the investors' money) wasn't very well received at the time, but has become more beloved over the years and has spawned a Broadway adaptation of the movie and a 2005 remake starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

Before Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio made everyone swoon in Baz Luhrmann's version of this classic Shakespearean tragedy, there was Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting bringing the Bard's words to life. Fun fact: Paul McCartney talks in his autobiography about being considered for the role of Romeo.

1968 was a big year for horror, and Mia Farrow's harrowing turn in Rosemary's Baby is one of the highlights. This horrific tale is about a woman drugged by her neighbors and raped by a demonic presence so as to usher the Devil into the world in the body of her baby.

If you prefer your Steve McQueen a little more polished than the police lieutenant in Bullitt, try The Thomas Crown Affair, in which he plays a businessman who orchestrates the heist of a Boston bank, then begins a cat-and-mouse game with the insurance investigator, played by '60s siren Faye Dunaway.