History OnceOriginalNowCommon / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/JurassicPark''. First, this is often considered ''the'' movie that introduced CGI creature effects to its audiences on such a large scale. Before this time, CGI in movies tended to be one or two scenes out of a whole two-hour movie due to its expensive nature, with the rest being taken up by puppetry, stop motion animation and miniature work. ''JP'' was one of the first movies to use CGI in the majority of its creature special effects. Nowadays, with films like ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' being more CGI than real, a few of the effects look dated (though it still holds up better than in even earlier films, such as ''Film/TheAbyss''). Second, this was one of the very first feature films with a wide audience to do away with a lot of old dinosaur tropes, having bipedal dinosaurs stand horizontally and having them act more like birds and less like lizards. However, the film gets hit by a bad case of ScienceMarchesOn (for example, the Raptors lack feathers, which scientists are now certain they possessed).

* ''Film/DieHard''. In the eighties, action films preferred {{invincible hero}}es who slaughtered mooks by the dozen with casual disdain. ''Die Hard'' popularized grittier and more realistic action, with heroes who are vulnerable and suffer from character faults. It also popularized the concept of action movies confined to limited space, a setup that this very wiki calls "DieHardOnAnX". (For example, ''Film/{{Speed}}'' is "''Die Hard'' on a bus.") Also, at the time it came out, people were shocked at the idea of a comedic actor like Creator/BruceWillis being an action star. Nowadays, what with TomHanksSyndrome, comedic actors doing serious roles aren't nearly so amazing. [[LeslieNielsonSyndrome Younger fans might not even know Willis got his start in comedy]].

* ''Film/DieHard''. In the eighties, action films preferred {{invincible hero}}es who slaughtered mooks by the dozen with casual disdain. ''Die Hard'' popularized grittier and more realistic action, with heroes who are vulnerable and suffer from character faults. It also popularized the concept of action movies confined to limited space, a setup that this very wiki calls "DieHardOnAnX". (For example, ''Film/{{Speed}}'' is "''Die Hard'' on a bus.") Also, at the time it came out, people were shocked at the idea of a comedic actor like Creator/BruceWillis being an action star. Nowadays, what with TomHanksSyndrome, comedic actors doing serious roles aren't nearly so amazing. [[LiamNielsonSyndrome Younger fans might not even know Willis got his start in comedy]].

* ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight'' comes off like a ClicheStorm these days: BuddyCops, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Decoy Antagonist]], and VitriolicBestBuds in the DeepSouth. At the time, not only were all of these unique concepts, the storyline was contemporary, and even included such unbelievably edgy moments as a black man slapping a white man.

* The ''Film/{{Scream}}'' films. While other horror films (such as the 1991 parody ''There's Nothing Out There'' and Creator/WesCraven's own ''[[Film/WesCravensNewNightmare New Nightmare]]'' in 1994) had featured GenreSavvy characters who knew they were in a horror movie, what set the ''Scream'' films apart were their commercial success and how they took the idea all the way into PostModernism, [[BetterThanABareBulb lampshading every single horror movie cliche]] while still paying loving tribute to them, creating a tongue-in-cheek brand of ComedyHorror that has been aped countless times. As a result, some degree of GenreSavvy came to be all but expected from horror movie characters that came in ''Scream''[='=]s wake. Even ''Film/Scream4'', made fifteen years after [[Film/{{Scream 1996}} the original]], [[https://youtu.be/pKCEkyWGlMc noted]] how derivative its own series had become in the context of the new horror world it created.

* ''Film/{{Rashomon}}''. The film's framing device of showing the same story from different character's perspectives made it extremely intriguing and novel to Western audiences, but the fact that it has [[RashamonStyle its own trope]] for similarly written stories shows that it's no longer such a unique premise, lessening the impact of the film.

* ''Film/AmericanPie''. Although all of its components are household shtick today (just try to find more than a few individuals who ''don't'' know what a [[StacysMomMIL]] is), it's impossible for anyone under the age of 35 to appreciate what a milestone that film was, even the EndOfAnEra. Look no further than the scene in which the boys [[TheInternetIsForPorn upload Web links]] of [[SensualSlavs the sexy Czech exchange student]] stripping down to her underwear and then taking off her bra before putting on Jim's ''unbuttoned'' pajama top. Not only does the camera ''not'' cut away, but it lingers on Shannon Elizabeth's breasts for what seems like forever. For over a decade prior to 1999, makers of teen films had been terrified of exposing a single nipple for fear of losing the coveted PG-13 rating--and along comes this R-rated teen comedy that's not afraid to be what it essentially is, and becomes surprisingly successful too. The mainstream media certainly took notice, comparing ''American Pie'' to the original (and R-rated) "teen-sex" movies of the late '70s and early '80s, like ''Film/{{Porkys}}'' and ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh''. You might even say that the ''Pie'' franchise, together with the internet and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', triggered a second sexual revolution in American popular culture.

* ''Film/PulpFiction'': The Tarantino-style dialogue, in which characters have long conversations about trivial, pop culture-laden topics that don't seem to relate to the plot, was virtually unknown and highly influential. TheNineties were littered with irreverent crime films heavily borrowing from ''Pulp Fiction'''s tone.

* The ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' movies seem almost cliched by this point, having seen all the action movies inspired by them.
** The second film did copy an already common cliche, namely re-fighting the Vietnam War except with an American victory this time. Gene Hackman had made ''Film/UncommonValor'', which saw release in 1983, two years before ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII''. (This film in turn resembles J.C. Pollock's novel Mission: MIA and a point in The Shadow Unmasks). Tom Laughlin introduced Vietnam Veteran ''Film/BillyJack'' in the late 1960s. Don Pendleton introduced Mack Bolan in 1969.
** The irony of the sequels is that they were made in response to the shift in the way that action movies were made in the 80s. ''Film/FirstBlood'' was nothing like them, and in fact, is more of a thriller than an out-and-out action movie. The creators of ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII'' and ''Film/RamboIII'' found themselves competing with films like ''Film/{{Commando}}'' and ''Film/{{Predator}}'' and tailored their movies according to audience expectations. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness It can be odd to see Rambo as a trauma-wracked veteran on the run from an unjust pursuit]], rather than the WeDoTheImpossible OneManArmy he became in later movies.
* ''Film/{{Rashomon}}''. RashomonStyle is always ''exactly the same trope'' they used in that other damn movie.

* Creator/RayHarryhausen, Willis O'Brien, and stop-motion animators in general. Nowadays their work looks jerky, silly, and anything but frightening to modern audiences so used to watching CGI getting far more realistic animation across. But the thing of the matter is: that all this animation was done by hand, overcoming problems such as continuity errors, shadowing, moving different body parts, and perspective shots. If it weren't for these pioneering techniques special effect makers today would be nowhere. And there is still a charm to their craft that CGI can never surpass.
* ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' set the formula for almost every underdog sports story that has been released in the decades since, so the original film can seem incredibly cliche and quaint by newer audiences familiar with the genre (often called Rocky clones). Perhaps most notable in the famous TrainingMontage sequence with Rocky running up the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art which has been parodied countless times and thus no longer seems as uplifting as it once did.

-->"A bunch of articulate teens sit around and deconstruct horror movies until Ghostface kills them one by one? It's been done to death, the whole self-aware, post-modern meta shit. [[XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack Stick a fork in 1996 already.]] ... I can't do it. These sequels don't know when to stop, they just keep recycling the same shit. Even in the opening scene, there's always some random girl who gets a call that undoubtedly ends up getting her killed, it's all so predictable. There's no element of surprise, you can see everything coming!"
** Likewise, it brought back whodunits in slasher flicks and popularized the idea of the killer having an accomplice. While the slasher icons of the '80s, like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]], [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]], and [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]], had their identities known right from the start, Ghostface was a mystery man in a store-bought Halloween costume. For a modern viewer who's seen many similar whodunit slashers, the identity of Ghostface in the first film is easy to figure out, as is (by extension, especially after a certain scene) the fact that there are ''two'' killers.

-->'''Charlie:''' "Modern audiences get savvy to the rules of the originals, so the reverse has become the new standard. In fact, the only surefire way to survive a modern horror movie... [[PreserveYourGays you pretty much have to be gay]]."
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' was so influential to modern film that nearly ''everything'' in the movie - from cinematographic tricks to plot devices - has been rendered a cliche. It's hard for a modern viewer to realize just how fresh and original it all seemed when it was first made.

* ''[[Film/{{Solaris1972}} Solaris]]''. "Oh, so the aliens make clones of dead people and the guy decides to live in a [[LotusEaterMachine flawed fantasy world]]? It's been done."

** While leaving scenes on the cutting room floor has been an inevitable part of the film editing process as long as movies have existed, the advent of [=DVDs=] suddenly made it possible to include those scenes as a special feature, giving curious fans greater insight into films by showing them ideas and plot points that didn't make the final cut. Though they might be seen as a "standard" feature today, there was a time when audiences couldn't see ''any'' part of a film that didn't make it into the final version, since films couldn't be seen anywhere but in the theaters. Case in point: part of the reason that the ''Franchise/StarWars'' rereleases got so much buzz in the mid-1990s is that they reinserted many cut scenes from the original films, which even the most devoted of fans had never seen before, and couldn't see anywhere else; in a time before audiences knew to ''expect'' {{Deleted Scene}}s in any $20 DVD, there was something undeniably exciting about getting to see lost footage in a classic film from 1977.

*** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' attempted to bring back some of the darkness of the Force lightning by treating it like a symptom of a disease; i.e. when Rey uses it by accident, she's terrified and disgusted by it, and briefly believes it even killed one of her friends.

* ''Film/JurassicPark''. First, this is often considered ''the'' movie that introduced CGI creature effects to its audiences on such a large scale. Before this time, CGI in movies tended to be one or two scenes out of a whole two-hour movie due to its expensive nature, with the rest being taken up by puppetry, stop motion animation and miniature work. ''JP'' was one of the first movies to use CGI in the majority of its creature special effects. Nowadays, with films like ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' being more CGI than real, a few of the effects look dated (though it still holds up better than in even earlier films, such as ''Film/TheAbyss''). Second, this was one of the very first feature films with a wide audience to do away with a lot of old dinosaur tropes, having bipedal dinosaurs stand horizontally and having them act more like birds and less like lizards. However, the film gets hit by a bad case of ScienceMarchesOn (most glaring of all, the Raptors lack feathers, which scientists are now certain they possessed).
* ''Film/KingKong1933''. At the time of its release, people thought it had the greatest effects in film. Now, with 80 years of technological advancement, two remakes of which used it, the power is somewhat lost on most people.
* ''Film/TheKiss'' (1896) is a good example. All that we see are a man and a woman kissing, nothing more than that. However, according to legend, it caused an outrage on its premiere. MoralGuardians felt the movie was "disgusting", "pornographic", and that it ought to be banned. The modern-day viewer will probably not understand all the commotion, but it was the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain Victorian era]] after all. One must also understand that people had never seen such intimacy between two people on a big movie screen before.
* ''Film/{{Koyaanisqatsi}}''. SlowMotion / TimeLapse footage of things like factories and traffic and clouds, put to music, was a new thing in the early '80s but has since become standard.
* ''Film/TheLastDetail'' (1973) was noted for the time as having over 60 uses of the [[PrecisionFStrike "F"-word]], something that made the studio hesitant before finally releasing it and was, back then, a record. But since the 80s, films have been made with the use of the word going well into the 100s, making the language of the film look tame compared to other movies like ''Film/Scarface1983'' among others. Nowadays it's hard to believe this caused controversy.
* Among its [[SceneryPorn other]] [[Creator/PeterOToole virtues]], ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'''s editing style was extremely innovative for its day. Hard cutting (i.e., changing abruptly from one scene to the next) or {{match cut}}ting (cutting between parallel or "matching" images during a scene transition) were virtually unknown outside of art house films like the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave; most movies still used traditional dissolves and fades. One only needs to compare ''Lawrence'' to David Lean's previous movie, ''Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai'', with its more conventional editing scheme. Since contemporary movies use hard cutting as a matter of course, this aspect of ''Lawrence'' might not register with modern viewers.

* ''Film/TheMagician'', a silent film from 1926 featuring a MadScientist Hypnotist. At the end of the movie, when the BigBad's castle blew up, you may think to yourself, "Hey, they stole that scene from ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein''", but then you realize that ''Bride'' wouldn't be made for another nine years. While ''The Magician'' may seem like a hopeless ClicheStorm now (borrowing liberally as it does from Creator/MaryShelley, Svengali, and Victorian Melodrama), it ''did'' go on to influence many horror films that were to follow in the coming years.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: When ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' came out in 2008, many people were awestruck by [[spoiler:Tony Stark's cameo]] in TheStinger. This was Marvel's intent, as they were attempting to build a [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse shared universe of movies]] that would lead to, in Stark's words, [[Film/TheAvengers2012 "a team"]]. After ''other'' movies in the MCU, namely ''Film/{{Thor}}'', ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' - which was a culmination of the previous movies - This stinger no longer has the same awe that it once had.
** The big draw for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' was that it was going to be the first movie where superheroes who were popular enough to carry their own films (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk) would crossover in a single film and interact with each other while fighting a common foe. Nowadays, with each successive MCU film featuring cameos from the other heroes or even having them play supporting roles, the characters are now expected to show up in each other's movies. Captain America: Civil War, which was ostensibly supposed to be the character's third solo film, has nearly every superhero in the franchise play a role in the plot and Thor: Ragnarok has the Hulk and Doctor Strange appear even though it's primarily taking place away from Earth. Meanwhile, the DC Extended Universe launched soon after The Avengers' release and had its three most popular heroes (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) crossover in only its second film and before its big superhero team-up film was released. With the abundance of superhero crossovers that will continue for the foreseeable future, it will be difficult for new audiences to understand just how much of a big deal The Avengers was.
* ''Film/TheMatrix''. Heavily influenced by anime, religion, and cyberpunk, the first film was such a success and caused such a major shift in culture — and SpecialEffects, with the proliferation of WireFu and BulletTime in action sequences — that it was imitated constantly. Many elements of the film, like the martial arts fighting, the slow-motion gunfights, and the "bullet dodge" scene, were so frequently copied and parodied throughout the TurnOfTheMillennium that audiences [[DeadHorseTrope grew tired of them]]. Viewers today can find it very difficult to see how fresh and exciting the film was when it was first released.
* In 2003, film professor Thom Andersen made a documentary called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Plays_Itself Los Angeles Plays Itself]]'', about how the home city of the American film industry is depicted in movies and TV, consisting entirely of clips from movies and TV with Andersen's voiceover analysis and commentary. He showed it only in his classes, at special screenings and to guests at his home, since it would have been prohibitively expensive to get all the rights to the scenes he'd used. The few people who did see it said it was remarkable not only for its subject but for how it reinvented the documentary. Andersen did manage to get a commercial release in 2014, but by then the video-essay style that was new with his film had been widely emulated on Website/YouTube and did not seem so revolutionary.
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': The best jokes from this movie have been memes for so long and are so familiar by now that it might not be clear why they were ever really funny in context. [[DiscreditedMeme In fact, quoting the movie around LARP groups is often strictly frowned upon]], especially if it's a newcomer to the group who has never done a LARP before. Not only because they've all heard those references before, but because if one person starts doing it, everyone will start doing it.

** The fact that the first film's protagonist is black was very unusual for its day, which can be lost on modern audiences.
** The fact that the origin of the zombie apocalypse is never explained and the problem is never resolved was highly unusual for the day. Usually, B-movies would end with some sort of technobabble summation assuring everyone that the problem had been solved. ''Film/TheBirds'' was another example of a film around this time that subverted the trend. Films with such open endings are much more common in recent days.

* ''Film/PacificRim'' got lots of praise in particular for Mako Mori - being a strong ActionGirl lead who doesn't end up as the love interest, and has established backstory and motivations. The hype around her seems a little odd in hindsight of TheNewTens where female-led blockbusters became far more bankable - ''Film/TheHungerGames'', ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'' and ''{{Film/Divergent}}'' all proved that audiences would go to see female-led films. This led to Rey becoming the protagonist of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the release of the long-awaited ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', and the likes of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' and ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' having strong feminist themes. As the years have gone on, it's notable that Mako is still a supporting character whose story does [[NeverASelfMadeWoman technically involve a man]]. But at the time, she was a big step in the right direction.
* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure''. In 1985, the notion of having a child - or ManChild - character who [[TheUnfettered is completely uninhibited and does whatever he wants without regard to how annoying or disrespectful his behavior comes across]] was still pretty novel. Traditionally, this type of character had been cast either as a villain or as extremely unsympathetic (Lampwick in Disney's version of ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', for example); the most heroic (or at least sympathetic) such character up to that time had probably been [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]. Now, after [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]], [[Film/HomeAlone Kevin McAllister]], [[Film/MaxKeeblesBigMove Max Keeble]], and every character Creator/AdamSandler has played, Pee-wee is par for the course.
* ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure''. Just try to watch a DisasterMovie and ''not'' spot any scene, plot, or subplot that hasn't either been spoofed, homaged, recreated, or otherwise by even ''any'' action movie. It can be quite hard to believe that this movie was so novel back in the 70s (even today, it's an unlikely premise).
** Another potentially off-putting thing in ''Poseidon'' would be the presence of Creator/LeslieNielsen in one of his many dramatic roles, as mentioned above.
* ''Film/TheProducers''. In 1968, only 23 years after the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, audiences were shocked that Creator/MelBrooks created a comedy featuring The Nazis. However, the movie did exactly what he had intended: made Nazis such a laughing stock that nobody would ever take their ideas seriously again. Today the ThoseWackyNazis and AdolfHitlarious tropes are so prevalent that it has made the idea of a Nazi-themed musical tame to modern audiences.

* Creator/JohnHughes. When he was making teen films, it was rather rare for there to be films based purely on teenagers and their inner angst. It was actually unique to take the usual school archetypes and see what makes them tick. Nowadays, with at least three generations of teen dramas (as well as countless parodies and homages) that have replicated or even advanced from the analysis of such films as ''Film/SixteenCandles'' or ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', Hughes's bite doesn't seem as sharp. [[Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff Ferris Bueller]] doesn't seem much like a suave troublemaker when compared to recent characters such as [[Series/{{Skins}} Tony Stonem]].
* Creator/JohnWoo. He effectively created the HeroicBloodshed genre with his Hong Kong film ''Film/ABetterTomorrow'', pioneering the idea of [[GunFu highly stylized]], intricately choreographed [[GunsAkimbo two-gun]] action scenes, and popularizing slow-motion gunfight sequences in the west. However, after coming to Hollywood his career proceeded to hit the rocks somewhat, and he became associated with B-grade action fare. Today, the usage of the stylized gunfighting Woo helped to popularize tends to be derided as unrealistic and cliche in no small part due to the [[FollowTheLeader numerous imitations]] of Woo's work. His Hollywood films like ''Film/FaceOff'' are now regularly compared to ''Film/TheMatrix'' style of gunfights ([[OlderThanTheyThink even though Face/Off pre-dates the Matrix by two years]]), and the stylized violence and other tropes that used to be associated with him, such as the MexicanStandoff, are now credited to Creator/QuentinTarantino.

* Creator/FritzLang. Ditto the sci-fi tropes in ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''. And the criminal mastermind/underworld tropes in the ''[[Film/DrMabuseTheGambler Dr. Mabuse]]'' films. And the backwards countdown in ''Film/WomanInTheMoon''. In fact, this might as well be called Creator/FritzLang Is Unoriginal.
* ''Literature/FlowerDrumSong'' (the movie version) was positively revolutionary when it came out. These days it gets criticisms for casting Japanese and Thai actors as Chinese characters (though there were some Chinese cast members). But not only did it feature an all-Asian cast (using nearly every Asian performer in Hollywood at the time), it broke stereotypes at the time; there was a divide between Chinese immigrants holding onto traditional values and second-generation children who were more Americanized, and the story involved finding a balance between the two. A film exploring the cultural identity of Asian-Americans was simply not done at the time. Likewise is the character of Linda Low - an archetypal GoldDigger. At the time, the depiction of Chinese women was either as demure lotus blossoms or the evil DragonLady. Linda was a GoodBadGirl who broke stereotypes at the time.

* ''Literature/GreatExpectations''. Modern viewers watching Creator/DavidLean's adaptation of the Dickens classic might roll their eyes upon seeing [[JumpScare Magwitch pop out of the frame at Pip in the graveyard like a cheap horror movie jack-in-the-box]], genuinely startling though it is - because they won't know that this was the first time that ever happened in a movie. The same thing might occur with [[spoiler: a seemingly dead Alan Arkin [[OnlyMostlyDead suddenly lunging out]] at Audrey Hepburn]] in ''Film/WaitUntilDark''. It shocked everyone at the time because they weren't used to [[spoiler: the villain doing that after he'd been apparently killed off]], but today most people will likely see it coming.
* ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'': While today it seems like a cliched slasher when released, this independent film built and codified many of the tropes associated with the slasher genre of horror: A silent killer with opaque motivations, who stalks a group of teenagers, gruesomely picking them off one by one, and a plucky FinalGirl who is resourceful enough to outwit the killer and survive (also abstaining from sex and drugs). The 80s would see numerous franchises take these basic building blocks and make a new horror genre.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' is ''the'' TropeCodifier for most adventure movies - almost every AdventurerArchaeologist has at least some ShoutOut or {{Homage}} to Franchise/IndianaJones, whether done intentionally or not. However, Indiana Jones was not without his inspirations (including ''Franchise/TheAdventuresOfTintin''), being just a modernised version of a FilmSerial.
* ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight'' comes off like a ClicheStorm these days: BuddyCops, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Decoy Antagonist]], VitriolicBestBuds in the DeepSouth. At the time, not only were all of these unique concepts, the storyline was contemporary, yet included such unbelievably edgy moments as a black man slapping a white man.

* Creator/JackieChan. Through the 1970s, Chinese martial arts films were a deadly serious business, with grim plots and frequent {{Downer Ending}}s probably best known today from the films of Creator/BruceLee. Then Chan came along with the idea that you could make a martial arts film that was supposed to be fun or even a straight-out ''comedy''. Also, Jackie Chan pioneered many filming techniques to add excitement to the action scenes. The majority of these techniques have been used so much that they are considered horrible cliches at this point.
* ''Film/JacobsLadder'' was the first notable film to use the visual effect of {{undercrank}}ing an actor shaking his head to make his face a creepy blur of motion. Today, that effect has become a bit cliche.

** ''Dr. No'' was also very violent for 1962, to the point the producers said they had to add comedic elements such as [[BondOneLiner quips after people are murdered]] to make it less objectionable. Only some parts, like Bond, repeatedly shooting Professor Dent, can be considered as ruthless to the modern eyes - the very next movie had a train fight that's possibly more brutal than all the brawls in ''Dr. No''.
* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'': The [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic so awesome]], but now sadly [[StandardSnippet so clichéd]] use of the movie's theme. In addition, it's now become a tradition of monster movies to not show the creature much until the end to increase suspense. Nowadays, everyone knows what a shark looks like and that they normally don't eat people.

* Creator/BruceLee's martial arts movies. Today, his fights against opponents who [[MookChivalry attack one at a time]] can look cliche until you remember that at the time, he was pioneering not only the tropes of the genre but the genre itself. ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' was ''Film/TheMatrix'' of its day.
** ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' stands out especially, as it was the last film Lee completed before his tragically untimely death and today it holds up as one of the greatest martial arts films ever. Countless other works have used the "martial arts hero participates in an exclusive tournament on an exotic faraway island to get revenge on the BigBad hosting it" in reference to this film's first use of the premise.

* ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'' was considered the definitive car chase movie in its time, but others have copied it. Unlike typical examples of the trope, the sequence ''still'' holds on its own, being only slightly dated due to a few editing tricks that became "cheap" over the decades... but there is the rest of the movie, which feels like the check-list of all the "loose cannon CowboyCop" cliches imaginable, especially after the 80s action rompers. Keep in mind this movie ''invented'' the ever-present CowboyCop as known today.

* ''Film/CitizenKane'', often times trumpeted as "The Greatest Movie of All Time," tends to inspire "what's the big deal?" responses from first-time viewers, especially since PostModern movies have become the norm and the cinematography has influenced so many other films. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And everyone knows]] [[ItWasHisSled what the twist at the end is]].
* It might be lost on newer fans just how different ''Film/TheCraft'' was when it first came out in 1996. Teen UrbanFantasy was not a mainstream genre - the likes of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' wouldn't hit the air for a couple of years - and as producer Andy Wick said "It was before YA. There were very few female heroines like that.", and the notion of a girl-centered teen movie called to mind something like ''{{Film/Clueless}}'' as opposed to anything dark. The filmmakers didn't even know who they were really marketing the film to - until hundreds of goth and punk girls showed up to the preview.
* ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', the first Chinese {{Wuxia}} (periodic Kung-Fu) movie to become truly successful in the West, suffers from this. It has been imitated repeatedly in many "Hollywoodian" action films for years, becoming the bedrock to build the "new type" of fighting scenes on. It wasn't even original per se, as Wuxia films were already seen as dated in their homeland (China/Hong Kong), but in the West, this was regarded as a new phenomenon and therefore taken with more respect. It won an Academy Award and still lingers around the middle of IMDB's Top 250 list - and for many good reasons other than the dazzling fights.
* ''Debbie Does Dallas''. To modern eyes, it watches like a porno ClicheStorm. That's because it was more or less the comedic template for the porn industry. Likewise, ''The Devil In Miss Jones'' for the more dramatic fare.

* ''Film/DieHard''. In the eighties, action films preferred {{invincible hero}}es who slaughtered mooks by the dozen with casual disdain. ''Die Hard'' popularized grittier and more realistic action, with heroes who are more vulnerable and suffer from character faults. It also popularized the concept of action movies confined to limited space, a setup that this very wiki calls "DieHardOnAnX". (For example, ''Film/{{Speed}}'' is "''Die Hard'' on a bus.") Also, at the time it came out, people were shocked at the idea of a comedic actor like Creator/BruceWillis being an action star. Nowadays, what with TomHanksSyndrome, comedic actors doing serious roles aren't nearly so amazing. Plus, like with Nielsen, some people don't even know that Willis got his start in comedies.

* ''Film/LaDolceVita'' is a film where the "hero" is an amoral CasanovaWannabe journalist type who hangs around lots of decadent celebrity parties and [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand can't get no satisfaction]]. Precisely what made it seem so racy and different in 1960 and so long and ordinary now.
* ''Film/TheExorcist'': First-time viewers today appreciate the film's quality, but aren't too scared by it because so many of the things that were new about it when it came out, the things that led many of the sellout crowds who waited on line for hours to see it even if they threw up and fainted[[note]]Or worse ... one woman supposedly miscarried during the performance, and a psychiatrist [[https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1975/12000/History_and_Perspectives.1.aspx actually wrote a paper about "cinematic neurosis" induced by the film]][[/note]] have been so widely imitated and emulated that they don't come across as shocking the way they did in 1974.

* ContractualPurity was a big deal back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, and it was an even bigger deal for [[DoubleStandard women]]. They were expected to be glamorous, fashionable and attractive - or at least wholesome and respectable. Two performances from that era don't look as influential these days but were key in codifying the BeautyInversion trope. The first was Creator/BetteDavis in ''Literature/OfHumanBondage''. Her character Mildred is a manipulative floozy who has a baby out of wedlock and imposes on the DoggedNiceGuy of a hero - eventually ending up on the streets as a prostitute [[spoiler: that dies of tuberculosis months after her baby has also died]]. Numerous female stars of the day wanted nothing to do with the role, and people advised Bette against taking it, terrified it would destroy her glamorous image. Warner Brothers only loaned her out to do it because they were convinced [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail it would sink without a trace]]. Needless to say they were shocked when she was petitioned for an Oscar. The WhamShot of [[spoiler: Mildred's dead body lying against the bed]] would have been shocking at the time. Closely related is Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth in ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' - who begins the film as a devout nun that suffers SanitySlippage and [[spoiler: tries to murder the Sister Superior]]. These days it's a given that the BeautyInversion is almost guaranteed to get an aspiring actress some respect, so the efforts of those two don't look as effective as they once did.
* A lot of slapstick comedy from the first half of the 20th century, like Creator/CharlieChaplin, "The Keystone Kops", Creator/HaroldLloyd... Today most of the gags, comedic archetypes and situations have been used by later comedians. As a result many of these slapstick comedies now don't look so original.

* Creator/KevinSmith himself, director of ''Clerks'', is considered to be past his prime after a few turkeys. It's hard to imagine now, but that independent movie achieved cult status because back then, the "pop-culture obsessed young adult slacker" archetype hadn't been used much, especially not as an identifiable main character. Smith was also partially responsible for creating a nerd/[[ToiletHumor Frat-boy]] hybrid that has been greatly influential within geek culture. It's hard to imagine the TwoGamersOnACouch genre without him.

** The film was originally an intentionally corny, funny comedy. However, its corny style of humor has been imitated and parodied many, many times. Similarly, Creator/LeslieNielsen was a respected dramatic actor prior to this film, and the whole joke with his character was seeing him bring his usual gravitas to this kind of material. Afterward his career took a hard right turn into doing nothing but these kinds of films, until [[LeslieNielsenSyndrome they completely eclipsed his public image.]]
** ''Airplane!'' also loses some of its impact with modern audiences because it actually completely [[GenreKiller killed the genre it was satirizing]], namely, airplane disaster films. The plot of the film is essentially a direct adaptation of ''[[Film/ZeroHour1957 Zero Hour!]]'', a 1957 film (played deathly straight) about an endangered airplane. Huge portions of the script are direct quotes from the film. Modern audiences may not realize that this genre even ''existed'', much less that it was an extremely profitable and popular film premise.
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' codified a number of sci-fi tropes, namely the "UsedFuture" aesthetic. Many spaceship interiors are strikingly similar to that of Nostromo (dark, full of stuff, and with occasional steam jets), and the second film specifically is '''the''' example of how a futuristic base should look like, among other things. One could say that every military sci-fi that came after Aliens took ''at least'' some inspiration from it.

-->'''Epic Voice Guy:''' "...[[{{Manga/GhostInTheShell}} the source]] [[{{Anime/GhostInTheShell}} material]] was so influential that now it feels like it's copying the films that it inspired.".
* Creator/AlfredHitchcock. This trope could just as easily be called ''Hitchcock Is Not Suspenseful.'' Anything of his was '''the''' defining work in suspense when originally produced, but has been copied to death.
** ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' was groundbreaking for its time by essentially founding the slasher film genre, but now [[PsychoShowerMurderParody the infamous shower scene has been referenced (and often parodied) by other horror films to the point of saturation]]. When it was first released, the shower scene was an enormous shock - the idea of killing off the character played by the best-known actress in the film one-third of the way into the running time was unheard of.

* ''Film/AmericanPie''. Although all of its bits are household shtick today (just try to find more than a few individuals who ''don't'' know what a [[StacysMom "MILF"]] is), it is perhaps impossible for anyone under the age of 35 to appreciate what a milestone that film was, even the EndOfAnEra. Look no further than the scene in which the boys [[TheInternetIsForPorn upload Web links]] of [[SensualSlavs the sexy Czech exchange student]] stripping down to her underwear and then taking off her bra before putting on Jim's ''unbuttoned'' pajama top. Not only does the camera ''not'' cut away, but it lingers on Shannon Elizabeth's breasts for what seems like forever. For over a decade prior to 1999, makers of teen films had been terrified of exposing a single nipple for fear of losing the coveted PG-13 rating - and along comes this R-rated teen comedy that's not afraid to be what it essentially is, and becomes surprisingly successful too. The mainstream media certainly took notice, comparing ''American Pie'' to the original (and R-rated) "teen-sex" movies of the late '70s and early '80s, like ''Film/{{Porkys}}'' and ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh''. You might even say that the ''Pie'' franchise, together with the internet and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', triggered a second sexual revolution in American popular culture.
* ''Film/AnimalHouse'' was the TropeMaker or TropeCodifier of many of the [[WackyFratboyHijinx frat-house comedies]] that followed it. Nowadays, it seems cliched, but it was doing a lot of these jokes for the first time.
* ''Film/AnnieHall'' is the TropeCodifier for a great deal of modern American film, so much so that it won the Academy Award for Best Picture [[ComedyGhetto despite being a comedy]]. Its use of NoFourthWall and non-chronological editing was mindblowing for 1970s audiences. Now, not so much, as many films have aped its style, FunWithSubtitles first and foremost.
* ''Film/BasicInstinct'' codified the erotic thriller along with ''Film/FatalAttraction'' but, nearly thirty years on, the titillation has worn off, with easy access to internet pornography and increased sexualization of popular culture. The ClicheStorm nature of the plot being copied many times since then no longer makes Catherine come across as an ingenious FemmeFatale but rather as an incredibly unsubtle manipulator and DevilInPlainSight. Nick no longer comes across as a brooding TragicHero but as a gullible lemming. It's co-codifier is actually a lot more [[ValuesResonance Values Resonant]] for dealing with the realistic consequences of infidelity and stalking and its moral ambiguity.

* The early [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] movies, like ''Film/AHardDaysNight'' and ''Film/{{Help}}'', were very innovative in terms of cutting scenes to the beat of the music, using quick-cut camera work and inventive angles that perfectly matched the energy of the music. Richard Lester's work has been imitated so much ever since that even twenty years later when MTV arrived, a lot of it looks not that spectacular today.
* In the early 1930s, and for many years thereafter, ''The Big House'' (1930) was hailed as a masterpiece of authentic, gritty, edgy (there's even a blatant cocaine reference in the very first scene), and anti-establishment American cinema, complete with a near VillainProtagonist (who's a sociopathic murderer) portrayed as a LoveableRogue, [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority rebellion just for the sake of rebellion condoned and encouraged]], and a DownerEnding for a film produced at the start of the Great Depression! What's even more incredible is that the studio willing to take a chance on ''The Big House'' was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the most socially conservative of the five major studios. But it was so popular that it inspired countless imitators over the next decade, some of them [[PlayedForLaughs outright parodies]]. As a result, any film critic can walk you through it and point out all the "prison-film" stereotypes that have been done to death in the eight decades since (and it also doesn't help that the aforementioned SociopathicHero is portrayed by Creator/WallaceBeery, an actor who is a walking ClicheStorm).
* ''Film/TheBestYearsOfOurLives'' was one of the first major Hollywood films to tackle the subject of post-traumatic stress disorder. The film deals with three soldiers returning home from World War II and their difficulties in adjusting to normal, mundane lives. It can be easy to overlook how ground-breaking such material was at the time. The American public had been bombarded with propaganda in the form of Frank Capra's ''Why We Fight'' series, emphasising the BlackAndWhiteMorality of the war. The public knew WarIsHell but the film told audiences that it wasn't just on the battlefield; it was the first film to show the war as it was. Nowadays with ReturningWarVet and ShellShockedVeteran being such stock tropes, it can be hard to understand the impact the film had at the time.
* ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}'' invented or popularized many features that are standard in modern cinema, such as cutting between different locations to increase suspense during action scenes. Someone watching the film nowadays won't think twice about these innovations.
* ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' mentioned above also was revolutionary for its use of striking colour at the time. Crowds went nuts for one particular shot showing a field of pink flowers. This is a film made in post-war England in 1947. That being said, the film does hold up quite well in other parts, and viewers are often astonished to discover none of it was shot on location; sets and various optical tricks were used to transform Pinewood Studios into the Himalayas.
* ''Film/{{Blade}}''. The rebirth of the SuperHero movie genre also comes to mind. Most people credit ''Film/XMen1''[='=]s smooth cinematography and darker take... and completely forget that ''X-Men'' borrows heavily from it. At the time, it was a sleeper hit and probably the film that truly revitalized the comic book movie market after ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' single-handedly killed it.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' popularised a [[FantasticNoir number]] of [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman sci-fi]] [[CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain conventions]], and as a consequence, the impact can be somewhat lost on audiences who have already seen the many imitators and their intellectual androids, ugly dystopias, and drunken future cops.

* ''Film/BrightonRock''. In addition to being arguably the first true "teen movie" ever made, the film was also unique for being among the first to do away with the [[ChildrenAreInnocent utterly wholesome depictions of children and teenagers that were so prevalent in movies before then]] (the movie was, in fact, made in response to the youth counterculture movement that was bubbling at the time - which would be more fully realized in TheSixties). Creator/RichardAttenborough's teenage character gets caught up in a gang and takes on a life of crime to rebel against his highly conservative (but loving and supportive) parents. What's more, the film actually demanded the audience to ''sympathize'' with his character and question some of his mother's and father's parenting practices. While some aspects of the film are quite shocking even today, the lack of swearing, sex, etc. certainly diminishes its impact when compared to more recent films depicting troubled teenagers.
* ''Film/TheBroadwayMelody'', the second film to win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture and the first all-sound musical, was a '''huge''' deal when it was released. However, its look at the goings-on on a Broadway musical became clichéd by the mid-'40s, thanks to nearly every movie about Broadway copying its basic set-up. Add the fact that, as it was the first movie musical, Hollywood still had a lot to learn about blocking musical numbers to avoid looking 'stagey'.

** The big draw for The Avengers was that it was going to be the first movie where superheroes who were popular enough to carry their own films (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk) would crossover in a single film and interact with each other while fighting a common foe. Nowadays, with each successive MCU film featuring cameos from the other heroes or even having them play supporting roles, the characters are now expected to show up in each other's movies. Captain America: Civil War, which was ostensibly supposed to be the character's third solo film, has nearly every superhero in the franchise play a role in the plot and Thor: Ragnarok has the Hulk and Doctor Strange appear even though it's primarily taking place away from Earth. Meanwhile, the DC Extended Universe launched soon after The Avengers' release and had its three most popular heroes (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) crossover in only its second film and before its big superhero team-up film was released. With the abundance of superhero crossovers that will continue for the foreseeable future, it will be difficult for new audiences to understand just how much of a big deal The Avengers was.

* ''Film/JohnCarter'' is based on the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The series is probably one of the most influential in all of sci-fi pop culture history, influencing stories as late as ''Star Wars'' and ''Star Trek''. However, rights issues and other legal squabbles with the Burroughs estate meant that a film adaptation didn't appear until 2012, long after its spiritual successors had popularized its best elements. Plus once the more dated elements (the series was first published in 1912) had been stripped from the plot, there weren't any new elements that filmgoers hadn't seen already, despite being the progenitor of many space fantasy/space opera tropes.

* ''Film/WarGames''. More than half the world's hacker films are sons of this one. Yet, some of those who see it now think "another hacker-boy-saving-the-world movie". No, he was '''the''' hacker boy who saved the world. ([[UnbuiltTrope After nearly precipitating its destruction]]. Way to save on major characters.).

* ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', the first Chinese {{Wuxia}} (periodic Kung-Fu) movie to become truly successful in the West, suffers from this. It has been imitated repeatedly in many "Hollywoodian" action films for the past ten years. It wasn't original per se, as Wuxia films were already seen as dated in their homeland (China/Hong Kong), but in the West, this was regarded as a new phenomenon and therefore taken with more respect. It won an Academy Award and still lingers around the middle of IMDB's Top 250 list - and for many good reasons other than the dazzling fights.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' is ''the'' TropeCodifier for most adventure movies - almost every AdventurerArchaeologist has at least some ShoutOut or {{Homage}} to Franchise/IndianaJones, whether done intentionally or not. However, Indiana Jones was not without his inspirations (including ''Franchise/TheAdventuresOfTintin'').

* ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'' was considered the definitive car chase movie in its time, but others have copied it. Unlike typical examples of the trope, the sequence ''still'' holds on its own, being only slightly dated due to a few editing tricks that became "cheap" over the decades... but there is the rest of the movie, which feels like the check-list of all the "loose cannon CowboyCop" cliches imaginable, especially after the 80s action rompers.

* ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'' was considered the definitive car chase movie in its time, but others have copied it.

* ''Film/{{The Red Shoes|1948}}'' was a unique film for its time due to its groundbreaking use of Technicolor, integration of ballet as a central narrative element, metafictional elements, complex characters and themes, and innovative editing and narrative structure. It stood out for its visually stunning sequences, exploration of psychological depth, and its influence on cinema history.

* ''Film/RomeoAndJuliet1968'' broke new ground by presenting a rare cinematic depiction of young love, which was considered shocking for its time. Adaptations of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's classic plays that were HotterAndSexier were not commonly pursued. The film's revolutionary approach included [[ChildrenVoicingChildren casting actual teenagers to portray the teenage leads]], a departure from the prevailing [[DawsonCasting practice of using older actors]]. Furthermore, its bold portrayal of adolescent sexuality was ahead of its time. In comparison to today's explicit on-screen depictions of intimacy, ''Romeo and Juliet'' now appears relatively innocent and chaste.

* ''Film/RomeoAndJuliet1968'' was shocking for its day, when cinematic stories of young love were rare. At the time, nobody wanted to dare an adaptation to a Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet classic]] that was HotterAndSexier. Casting two actual teenagers playing teenage leads was revolutionary in its day, when, at the time, most movies resorted to DawsonCasting. Also, its vivid portrayal of adolescent sexuality was ahead of its day. With sex scenes on screen becoming more explicit in the years since it was released, ''Romeo and Juliet'' looks chaste.

* ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. In addition to being arguably the first true "teen movie" ever made, the film was also unique for being among the first to do away with the [[ChildrenAreInnocent utterly wholesome depictions of children and teenagers that were so prevalent in movies before then]] (the movie was, in fact, made in response to the youth counterculture movement that was bubbling at the time - which would be more fully realized in [[TheSixties the following decade]]). Creator/JamesDean's teenage character gets caught up in a gang and takes on a life of crime to rebel against his highly conservative (but loving and supportive) parents. What's more, the film actually demanded the audience to ''sympathize'' with his character and question some of his mother's and father's parenting practices. The (slight) suggestion that the father of Creator/NatalieWood's character may be somewhat attracted to, and thus feel threatened by, his teenage daughter was also ''very'' unusual for a 1950s movie. While some aspects of the film are quite shocking even today, the lack of swearing, sex, etc. certainly diminishes its impact when compared to more recent films depicting troubled teenagers. A matter not helped by the fact that the "rebellious music" he and his friends listen to is... swing and jazz music!

* ''Film/TheLastDetail'' (1973) was noted for the time as having over 60 uses of the [[PrecisionFStrike "F"-word]], something that made the studio hesitant before finally releasing it and was, back then, a record. But since the 80s, films have been made with the use of the word going well into the 100s, making the language of the film look tame compared to other movies like ''Film/{{Scarface}}'' among others. Nowadays it's hard to believe this caused controversy.