The Thing has aged amazingly well for an F/X heavy movie made in 1982.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Some wonderful titles have been mentioned I could add quite a few but I'll just keep it to one..........Sunset Blvd.

There ARE so many.

Which is why we collect them.

Tons of great movies before 1980.

I watched City Lights the other night... still get choked up at the end...

doesn't this really depend on what you mean by test of time? test of time like the film doesn't seem aged, or the message of the film is still applicable?

Charade

Probably doesn't count as it is only 8 years old, but The Shawshank Redemption will definately be on the list in another 10 years.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT MATTHEW
THE SEVENTH SEAL
RASHOMON

The Great Escape

Enter the Dragon

M

Some that haven't been mentioned yet:

12 Angry Men
The Wizard of Oz
Casablanca
Patton
Bridge on the River Kwai
Snow White & the Seven Dwarves
Gandhi
Planet of the Apes (the original)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

This are just the first that come to mind.

>>>

How bout:
Lawrence of Arabia
Taxi Driver
The Godfather
The Godfather pt. II
Midnight Cowboy
THe Graduate
The Deer Hunter
2001
On the Waterfront
The French Connection
The Exorcist
The Sting
Chinatown
Jaws
One Flew Over A Cuckoo's Nest
Star Wars
Apocalypse Now
Raging Bull
The Elephant Man
Platoon
Rain Man
Silence of the Lambs
Goodfellas

Star Wars

A few movies I didn't see listed above but might qualify:

Ben Hur
African Queen
Mister Roberts
M*A*S*H
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Third Man
Patton
Inherit the Wind
Cabaret

There are a number of less well known movies that I think could be said to have stood the test of time. An example would be The Philadelphia Story.

The Godfather
The Third Man
The Last Emperor
Ghost in the Shell
Akira
Conan the Barbarian
Batman
Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho
Unforgiven
Clerks
Airplane!
Braveheart
The French Connection

That's all I can think of right now...

I am glad to see that I would not have to be the first to mention Patton, Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape...

also...
The Quiet Man (and most other John Wayne movies, like True Grit, etc.)
The Natural
The Goonies (the greatest children's movie ever made!)
Field of Dreams
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Tombstone
Christmas Vacation
Fletch

The Godfather Trilogy
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Sound of Music
The Seven Year Itch
Star Wars Trilogy
Rear Window

can anyone think of movies that DO NOT stand the test of time?
logans run
tron (sorry gatordeb)
all those 3d movies from the 80s

I watched my new copy of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest this weekend. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. I hadn't seen it in 25 years. It probably means more to me today than it did back then.

It's such a great look at the strength of the human spirit and asks the eternal question "Who's crazy?"

I gotta agree with you. I saw Tron for the first time this past summer, and me who likes every film, and most Disney films, nearly fell into a coma. So boring. Sobering. It's a bit of fun if you saw it in theaters 20 years ago and dug computers back then, but even if you still like it today, how can you say it stands the test of time?

And Rocky, while it's pretty good, is very much dated and VERY much pales in comparisons to the other films that were considred great in the 70s.

As for my picks for movies that stand the test of time, I'll say (many of which were already mentioned and I agree with):

The Wizard of Oz
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Jaws (although some of it seems dated, it's still very effective for a movie almost 30 years old)
2001: A Space Odyssey (not the best movie ever, but certainly able to stand the test of time)
Godfather I + II
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Third Man
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
12 Angry Men
A lot of the good Hitchcock stuff (Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho)
and the majority of Disney animated features, but particularly from the oldest:
Pinocchio, Dumbo, and The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad

...and Citizen Kane

Amadeus
The Godather
Black Hawk Down(at least in my opinion)
The Godfather Part 2
Patton
Lawrence Of Arabia
Spartacus etc...

First one that popped into my head.

Oh hell yeah.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

A few more titles not mentioned yet:

Brazil
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Notorious