9 Best Classic Movies on Netflix (June 2026): ‘Rocky’ and More

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, duhhhh, aa-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da – pardon my humming, but I can’t help it, and neither will you after you watch Rocky for the hundredth time. The seminal sports classic is back on Netflix, along with its many sequels and Creed spinoffs, and it’s just as fresh and hard-hitting as it was 50 (!) years ago when it was first released.

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is just another working-class bum in Philadelphia when he’s selected to fight the heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Rocky doesn’t stand a chance against the champion, but if he trains harder than he’s ever trained before, maybe he can show Apollo – and the world – that Rocky is no quitter, and he can go toe-to-toe with the world’s best – at least for a few rounds.

Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) is a Danish aristocrat who doesn’t mind being in a marriage of convenience with Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer). She gave him money to invest in a coffee farm in Africa, and he’ll make it such a success that she won’t have to worry about taking care of herself ever again. But as she settles in Africa and becomes enamored with the continent’s people and customs, a complication appears in the form of Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford). He’s a big-game hunter who stirs Karen’s practical heart, and they begin a love affair. But as the world plunges into a devastating war, can their love survive being torn apart by forces they can’t control?

The epitome of a big, sweeping epic, Out of Africa is gorgeous to look at – and I admit, sometimes boring to watch. Based on Blixen’s autobiographical book of the same name, it takes too long to get to the good stuff – Karen’s relationship with Denys – but once it does, oh boy, watch out because you might swoon. (The hair-washing scene alone will make you break out the Head and Shoulders as an aphrodisiac.) Streep and Redford are a couple straight out of a romance novel, and they’re so good you don’t mind that the director, Sydney Pollack, took some generous liberties with the real-life Karen’s story. Does it matter when the fantasy is so much better than the reality? Stream Out of Africa and judge for yourself.

Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) is a newbie streetwalker who strikes gold one night on Hollywood Boulevard when she meets Edward Lewis, a wealthy corporate raider who needs directions to his hotel. Vivian gives him a lot more than that, and they eventually strike a deal: she’ll be his “beck and call girl” for a week, and he’ll pay her $3,000 and leave with no strings attached. But their purely sexual relationship turns into something more personal, which forces them both to reconsider their lives.

What more is there to say about Pretty Woman? A rom-com classic, it’s a feel-good movie involving sex work, drugs, hostile corporate takeovers and opera. If you think about it, this film shouldn’t work at all, but it’s just about perfect due to its breezy direction by Garry Marshall, a sweet script by J.F. Lawton that toes the line between reality and fantasy and charismatic performances by Roberts, Gere and Héctor Elizondo as a hotel manager who cares a lot more about his clients than he should.  To paraphrase Vivian, it would be “a big mistake, huge” if you missed rewatching one of the most charming films ever made while it’s on Netflix.

During World War II, German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) needs workers for his newly built enamelware factory. With the help of Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), he hires hundreds of Jewish laborers who would’ve otherwise been shipped off to concentration camps or killed outright. As the Nazis step up their efforts to slaughter as many Jews as possible, Schindler risks his fortune and life to protect as many of his workers as possible.

Based on an incredible true story, Schindler’s List is one of the rare modern movies that can be called a flawless masterpiece. From its striking black and white cinematography to its haunting John Williams score, Steven Spielberg’s film evokes a time that witnessed one of humanity’s worst acts, one that continues to reverberate today. As the sadistic SS lieutenant Amon Goeth, Ralph Fiennes all-too-convincingly conveys the human embodiment of pure evil. The end, which depicts the survivors of the Holocaust thanks to Schindler’s efforts, is one of the most moving closing scenes in cinema history.

If you need a good cry, try streaming Fried Green Tomatoes. You’ll shed some tears, but you’ll also be hungry for some Southern cooking, too. Based on the hit Fannie Flagg novel, Fried Green Tomatoes tells two separate but interconnected stories:  Evelyn (Kathy Bates) and Ninny’s (Jessica Tandy) unlikely friendship in the 1980s, and Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth’s (Mary-Louise Parker) close bond in the 1930s. These women endure all sorts of trials and tribulations, including spousal abuse, racism and family tragedies, but it’s their friendships with each other that pull them through the tough times and make their lives richer and better.

The term “melodrama” gets a bad rap — they can be good, too, and Fried Green Tomatoes is a superior example of the subgenre. The story, which spans decades and includes a surprise twist, is always interesting to watch unfold, and the core four performances are pitch-perfect. The movie avoids feeling cliched and tacky; instead, it’s inspirational and moving in a way few movies past or present rarely are.

New York City cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) has a big problem — her refrigerator houses a giant demon from another dimension, Zuul. I hate it when that happens, and so do Peter (Bill Murray), Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon (Harold Ramis). Otherwise known as the Ghostbusters, the three men, alongside new recruit Winston (Ernie Hudson), soon discover Zuul wants to take over the city and needs Dana and nebbish neighbor Louis (Rick Moranis) to open otherworldly portals to let all kinds of supernatural forces run rampant in the Big Apple. Can the Ghostbusters live up to their name and bust some ghostly butt?

One of the defining hits of the era, Ghostbusters holds up surprisingly well — the special effects still seem special and all the jokes land as they should. This is a movie that has the right director, right script and right cast, and it was made when sci-fi comedies were the exception rather than the rule. It’s hard to pick a favorite scene, but the arrival of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man has to rank near the top.

While walking in a cornfield one evening, farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears a voice that whispers, “If you build it, they will come.” That “it” turns out to be a baseball diamond, which Ray builds even though it’s impractical and causes many of his peers to think he’s crazy. But once built, the baseball field does what that voice promised — they come, and they’re the ghosts of the disgraced 1919 Chicago White Sox team. They want to play ball again, and it seems Ray is the only one who can help them.

Field of Dreams is a great “dad” movie — nostalgic, sentimental and unabashedly old-fashioned, its stakes are as low as the dugout Ray digs near the diamond. Costner is peak-Midwestern Dude here, all soft smiles and warm platitudes, while recent Oscar winner Amy Madigan is fun as Ray’s firecracker wife.

George Romero’s iconic horror classic follows a group of people who are sequestered in a remote farmhouse during a night when corpses are reanimating from their graves and descending upon the flesh of the living. While Ben (Duane Jones) attempts to keep order, the other survivors are erratic and prone to panicking. Peace among the group dissolves as the zombies begin to find their way inside the house.

“They’re coming to get you, Barbara” is one of the most famous horror movie lines of all time, although the film was controversial upon release. Still, Night of the Living Dead became immensely popular in the years after, becoming extremely profitable with a passionate cult following. Critics and fans often regard Night of the Living Dead as one of the greatest horror films ever made.

In Spike Lee’s feature directorial debut, Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) decides to date three men at once to figure out what kind of man she wants to be with. She goes for Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell), self-obsessed, rich and handsome; Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), protective and macho; and Mars Blackmon (Lee), a good-hearted, if awkward, nerd. Despite widening her options, Nola feels ever further from reaching a decision.

She’s Gotta Have It features a provocative and boundary-pushing take on female sexuality and monogamy, allowing the lead protagonist the sexual freedom men are often allowed to enjoy. It’s an energetic debut from a confident new director who helped to bolster the American independent film movement of the 1980s