Movies from Long Ago

My Netflix queue is a rich and strange thing (although it doesn't seem to contain Hitchcock's early Rich and Strange). I have ruthlessly pruned it down below 300 films, with about 50 saved and 125 in the Watch Instantly queue. I add a few every week, some recent hits, some from Netflix recommendations, some from the blogs my Inspirations and Obsessions blogroll.

I do not just watch whatever is on the top of my queue. In fact, I'm more likely to watch from the bottom of the queue - last in, first out - since it is on my mind. If none of my recent adds appeals, I flip through the queue, often looking for something to balance my other selections - a crime story if I have too many comedies, a classic black and white if I'm watching a lot of modern movies. As a result, the top of the queue tends to be mostly movies that I've passed by.

So, what's the oldest movie in my queue, the movie that's been there the longest without getting watched? Until recently, I think it was Malcolm X. It might have been the first movie I queued up when I joined Netflix. Somehow I was never in the mood for a long emotional uplifting downer type movie. I cleared it out of my queue last year. I'll queue it up again when I'm ready to watch it.

I think the oldest movie is now The Horsemen, a costumer by John Frankenhiemer starring Omar Sharif and Jack Palance as Afghans. Tell you what. I'll either watch it within this month, or strike it from the queue. Consider it spring cleaning.

Next year, I can delete another movie that I'm never going to watch.

Update: Monday is the end of the month. It is Saturday and I do not have this movie at home. I am not going to watch it. It is off the queue.