Netflix has never said that its primary focus is on modern movies, but it’s hard to think otherwise when there are only a handful of films from the ’70s and ’80s. There are more options from the ’90s, but even those films are limited.
The selection of classic movies on Netflix is also in a constant state of flux. This month’s top choice, Goodfellas, is only sticking around through May 31. The others, including Psycho, The Breakfast Club, and Field of Dreams, will all be on Netflix for at least part of the month in June.
You can find those films and more among the best classic movies on Netflix right now.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
Goodfellas (1990)
There’s a moment in the crime movie Goodfellas when something terrible is about to happen, and the only thing one of the main characters has time to say is “Oh no.” It’s a shocking scene when it comes, but director Martin Scorsese set things up from the beginning when he chronicled the mostly true story of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro), and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci).
This trio wasn’t born into the Italian mafia, but they worked their way up the organization in the ’60s and ’70s. All three of them have their vices, and Henry’s is a mixture of cocaine and greed. Enough is never enough for Henry, and his ambitions eventually attract the wrong kind of attention from both law enforcement officials and the mob.
Watch Goodfellas on Netflix.
Psycho (1960)
Since May includes Mother’s Day, we’re reminded of one of Psycho‘s most famous quotes: “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) may not know what to make of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), but that’s partially because she’s got her own problems in one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies. Some of Marion’s bad choices make her extremely paranoid even before she checks into the now-infamous Bates Motel.
When Marion doesn’t resurface, her sister, Lila Crane (Vera Miles), and Marion’s boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), come looking for her. Norman isn’t very forthcoming about what he knows, and his beloved mother isn’t going to be providing any answers. Bernard Herrmann’s music from this movie is so popular that there’s a good chance you already know it. Once you hear it set to the film, you’ll know why it’s such an iconic horror score.
Watch Psycho on Netflix.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Breakfast Club was John Hughes’ second film as a director and arguably one of his most enduring movies. The entire film is set at Shermer High School during a Saturday detention session for five students — Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), John Bender (Judd Nelson), Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), and Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) — who broke the rules.
Vice Principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) openly shares his disdain for the kids while overseeing their detention. But his frequent absences from the room give the unlikely group a chance to speak with each other and bond in a way that wouldn’t have been possible during normal school hours. The film is intentionally ambiguous about whether those bonds will last, but this is one of the seminal teen films of the ’80s because of the way it makes the characters come to life.
Watch The Breakfast Club on Netflix.
Field of Dreams (1989)
“If you build it, he will come.” Those enigmatic words in Field of Dreams drive farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield despite facing financial ruin. Ray also has a hard time articulating why he’s undertaking such a fool’s errand until he meets Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta), one of the infamous players from the Black Sox scandal who died over three decades earlier.
Ray eventually realizes that what he’s created is a second chance for players to find some redemption on the field, including Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), a writer who never had the chance to live out his baseball dreams. The field really can make miracles happen, but can it really give Ray the one thing he actually wants?
Watch Field of Dreams on Netflix.
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
The late Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder were one hell of a comedy duo during their four films together from 1976 to 1991. Their penultimate flick was See No Evil, Hear No Evil, which cast Pryor as a blind man named Wally and Wilder as Dave, who is deaf. They work together at a small shop, and they help each other compensate for their disabilities.
Wally and Dave find themselves in danger when a stranger is murdered in their shop, and neither man witnessed the crime directly. When the cops believe that Dave and Wally are responsible for the murder, they have to evade law enforcement officers and the killer, Eve (Joan Severance), as well as her henchman, Kirgo (Kevin Spacey).
Watch See No Evil, Hear No Evil on Netflix.
Awakenings (1990)
Robin Williams shows off his dramatic chops in Awakenings, a drama based on the book by Oliver Sacks. Williams plays Malcolm Sayer, a doctor at a New York hospital in 1960 who is treating patients who contracted encephalitis lethargica nearly three decades beforehand. Although their illness is far from understood, Sayer correctly deduces that the drug L-DOPA may bring them out of their decades of slumber.
To everyone’s astonishment, the first test subject, Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), comes out of his catatonic state fully awake and eager to pick up the pieces of his life. It’s a miracle that gives Lowe the chance to find a romantic connection with Paula (Penelope Ann Miller), the daughter of another patient. But as more victims are awakened from their comas, Lowe and Sayer learn that their treatment isn’t the cure they believed it to be.
Watch Awakenings on Netflix.
