Back in 2011, Google quietly rolled out the YouTube.com/movies section. Since then, its library of titles you can rent, purchase, or stream has grown considerably, adding up to more movies than you could watch in a lifetime. If you don’t want to pay for a streaming service like Netflix or HBO, you can view some free movies on Youtube, but it’s tough to find stuff that isn’t illegally uploaded in poor quality.
Many of the movies that are available are documentaries, campy horror flicks, and older titles from Hollywood’s “Golden Age,” and it’s tough to make an educated choice when you’re faced with numerous selections you’ve never heard of. So, to help save you some time in your search for something to watch, we’ve sifted through the site to bring you this list of the best full — and, of course, free — movies on YouTube.
The General
While Charlie Chaplin remains a household name more than 40 years after his death, Buster Keaton is an oft-overlooked filmic pioneer, and one of the first true silent film stars. The General met mixed reviews and poor box office returns upon release in 1926, but has since become regarded as Keaton’s greatest film and an all-time classic.
Adapted from Union soldier William Pittenger’s memoir, The Great Locomotive Chase, The General follows a Confederate train engineer forced into action after the father of his love interest (Marion Mack) is wounded in battle. The film includes two train chase scenes which proved to be the most expensive stunts ever in a silent movie, and features some impressive historical detail, all things considered.
A rare example of a successful Kickstarter film, Kung Fury promised its backers a spectacular homage to ’80s action films, and it delivered. Director David Sandberg also plays the lead, Kung Fury, a detective who gained superhuman fighting abilities after being simultaneously struck by a bolt of lightning and bitten by a cobra. Kung Fury uses his supreme combat skills to clean up the filthy streets of Miami, but faces his greatest challenge when no less a villain than Adolf Hitler (Jorma Taccone) arrives, intent on conquering all of time through his own mastery of kung fu.
If it’s not apparent already, Kung Fury is a film that makes no attempts at seriousness. That’s not all, either; a full-length sequel is on its way, with Michael Fassbender, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and David Hasselhoff involved. Yeah.
If you’ve never heard of Reefer Madness, you might be living under a rock. No matter your views on marijuana use, this absurd 1936 movie was made to “educate” young Americans on the dangers of drug abuse, but really it’s a propaganda film produced by a church group and distributed by notorious exploitation producer Dwain Esper.
In the film, pot abuse drives several young adults to violence, murder, and (of course) madness. At the end, Dr. Alfred Carroll (Josef Forte) breaks the fourth wall (uh, spoilers?) to warn viewers that their children might die after consuming marijuana. After a sort of reappearance in the 1970s, Reefer Madness took on a new life as a parody film for supporters of drug reform and cannabis legalization.
A seminal entry for American horror cinema, George A. Romero’s classic follows seven people who find themselves trapped in Pennsylvania as the terrifying walking dead surround them. They have to try to survive without understanding the terror that lurks outside. The movie has been noted as the first zombie film, and its influences can be seen in everything from 28 Days Later to Shaun of the Dead. Romero’s debut — he wrote, directed, edited, and acted in the film — made him into a superstar,quickly revolutionizing the genre on a budget of a mere $114,000.
This film noir follows Martha Ivers, a defiant orphaned teenager who ends up accidentally-but-kind-of-on-purpose killing her authoritarian aunt, her guardian and the town matriarch. 18 years later, Martha is married to Walter, the only witness to her crime, whom she does not love but agreed to marry after his ambitious father helped her avoid the consequences. The predicament places Martha — now the heiress of her aunt’s fortune and power —under the old man’s thumb. The movie is worth watching alone for Kirk Douglas, who delivers a brilliant on-screen debut performance as Martha’s weak alcoholic husband that’s far different from his later tough guy roles.
Trailer Park Boys offers a particular brand of humor that you’ll either love or hate. If it’s the former, you must check out Countdown to Liquor Day, the second feature-length film for the Sunnyvale crew and the follow-up to TV special Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys. This time around, the Boys are fresh out of prison. Upon returning to Sunnyvale, Bubbles finds his kittens are missing, Ricky works on completing his “grade 12” (for a high school diploma, which he thinks will change his life), and Julian opens an auto shop out of his trailer.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lahey is sober, and he’s leading a rival trailer park in hopes of ending Sunnyvale for good. This isn’t going in any historical film registries, but the list of legal-to-watch comedies on Youtube is short, and the Boys are funny.
An esoteric doumentary for cinephiles and filmmakers, From Dogma to Dogville explores the miniDV revolution of the late ’90s that influenced the independent cinema scene. Though a bit dry, the film’s interviews with three renowned cameramen who were particularly significant during that period provide insight into the process behind such films as My Brother Tom, A Map of the Heart, and The Feast.
This controversial docudrama opens with some college kids visiting Atlanta’s Bluff neighborhood, hoping to buy ecstasy. Immediately, dealer Curtis Snow robs them of their valuables and their camera. Curtis’ friends then use the camera to document day-to-day life in the hood, including Curtis’ exploits as a crack dealer, his gang’s involvement in violent encounters and shakedowns, and dealings with the police.
The film is extremely realistic; in fact, a fight broke out in the audience at the Atlanta Film Festival during one scene where a child puts his hands in a pile of crack cocaine with a razor blade. After the film’s release, acclaimed actor Michael K. Williams (The Wire, The Night Of) revealed himself as an executive producer on the project, saying it depicts “everything that is wrong with the hood.”
One of the best second-wave feminist films, His Girl Friday is a hilarious farce with electric chemistry between stars Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Hildy (Russell) may be newspaper editor Burns’s (Grant) protégée (and ex-wife), but when she announces to Burns that she’s leaving the business to get married, he concocts a scheme to delay her departure. Hijinks ensue and Hildy, not quite as unwitting a pawn in Burns’ game as he thinks, shows that the student has surpassed the master — while discovering that the student might also still be in love with the master.
Alfred Hitchcock’s penultimate British film, The Lady Vanishes, was also his first to receive wide box-office success, and helped propel his career across the Atlantic to Hollywood. The classic film which has seen multiple iterations since is a comic mystery, filled with cartoonish supporting characters and unlikely but entertaining capers. When a woman goes missing on a train, only a beautiful young dilettante seems able to recall that she was ever there to begin with and begins a search, aided by a handsome young musicologist.
In 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) held its Ministerial Conference in Seattle. The WTO was ostensibly meeting to shrink the world’s wealth gap and reduce hunger and disease across the globe, but a group of protesters — if you can call 40,000 people “a group” — didn’t buy their agenda, and planned a peaceful protest. Of course, some protesters took the opportunity to riot, loot, and fight, painting an uneven picture of the situation to outside eyes.
Battle in Seattle follows several fictional characters who occupy different roles within the conference and the protest, featuring a who’s who of Hollywood hotshots, including Woody Harrelson, Channing Tatum, Michelle Rodriguez, Ray Liotta, and André Benjamin. It’s an interesting blend of documentary and drama, and it’s well worth seeing if you’re unfamiliar with the protests.
This silent adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is often regarded as one of the most influential films in the history of cinema. While failing to acquire the proper rights to Dracula, German film studio Prana Film rebranded the legendary vampire as Count Orlok, and resorted to calling vampires “Nosferatu.” While it won’t scare the pants off you, director F.W. Murnau perfectly tells the story, harnessing the haunting atmosphere associated with German Impressionist cinema to great effect. Production designer Albin Grau birthed the film’s concept after speaking with a Serbian farmer who believed his father was one of the undead.
