There are fewer classic movies on Netflix at the beginning of 2025 than there were at the end of 2024, but the category hasn’t been completely neglected. There aren’t as many 1980s movies on Netflix, so we had to dip into the early 1990s to fill out this list. The good news is that two of the latest additions, The Sting and Schindler’s List, are both considered to be among the greatest movies ever made. Meanwhile, Apollo 13 and Awakenings are pretty good in their own right.
These older films don’t tend to stick around on Netflix longer than a couple of months, so catch them while you can. Chances are high that they may not be there by the time we have our next update of the best classic movies on Netflix right now.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
The Sting (1973)
Four years after co-headlining Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman and Robert Redford reunited with director George Roy Hill for The Sting, one of the greatest heist movies ever made. Redford plays Johnny Hooker, a con man during the Great Depression who swindles the courier of crime lord Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). In retaliation, Lonnegan has Hooker’s partner, Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones), killed.
After narrowly escaping with his life, Hooker seeks out Coleman’s former associate, Henry Gondorff (Newman), to get his revenge on Coleman. Gondorff reluctantly agrees to help Hooker put together the con of a lifetime, even as Lonnegan’s assassins and the FBI make their criminal endeavors nearly impossible to pull off.
Watch The Sting on Netflix.
Apollo 13 (1995)
Tom Hanks is the last performer to win Best Actor back-to-back at the Oscars for his leading roles in Philadelphia and Forest Gump. He probably should have had a three-peat for Apollo 13, director Ron Howard’s meticulously crafted drama about a real-life disaster in space.
Commander Jim Lovell (Hanks) leads his Apollo 13 team, Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise (Bill Paxton), on a mission to land on the moon. When their ship experiences a major malfunction and begins leaking oxygen, White Team Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and the rest of NASA attempt to bring the trio safely home. But without the navigation systems, Lovell and his men don’t have much room to make any mistakes.
Watch Apollo 13 on Netflix.
Schindler’s List (1993)
Before he became an action icon, Liam Neeson was nominated for Best Actor for his turn as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. This World War II drama is based on the true story of Schindler’s experiences, including his status as a war profiteer and a member of the Nazi party.
But as Schindler’s eyes are opened to the atrocities of the Holocaust, he and his right-hand man, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), focus on saving as many Jewish lives as possible. It’s an endeavor that drains Schindler’s fortunes and forces him to make difficult choices that come to define him.
Watch Schindler’s List on Netflix.
Awakenings (1990)
Robin Williams shows off his dramatic chops in Awakenings, a drama based on the book by Oliver Sacks. Williams plays Malcolm Sayer, a doctor at a New York hospital in 1960 who is treating patients who contracted encephalitis lethargica nearly three decades beforehand. Although their illness is far from understood, Sayer correctly deduces that the drug L-DOPA may bring them out of their decades of slumber.
To everyone’s astonishment, the first test subject, Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), comes out of his catatonic state fully awake and eager to pick up the pieces of his life. It’s a miracle that gives Lowe the chance to find a romantic connection with Paula (Penelope Ann Miller), the daughter of another patient. But as more victims are awakened from their comas, Lowe and Sayer learn that their treatment isn’t the cure they believed it to be.
Watch Awakenings on Netflix.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
It was the dawn of the Brat Pack in Sixteen Candles, one of the earliest films by John Hughes. Molly Ringwald stars as Samantha “Sam” Baker, a teenager overlooked by her own family in the wake of her sister’s impending wedding. Even worse, Sam can’t seem to make her crush, Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), notice her at school. The only guy regularly pursuing a romance with Sam is Ted (Anthony Michael Hall), an incredibly geeky guy whom she is not attracted to.
What Sam doesn’t realize is that Jake has noticed her and he is interested. But fate and misunderstandings keep the two from talking about their feelings. It’s going to take a birthday miracle to bring these two together.
Watch Sixteen Candles on Netflix.
The Karate Kid (1984)
This Cobra Kai prequel movie created the franchise that endures to this day. The original Karate Kid had a greater sense of drama and pathos than its sequels, thanks to an Oscar-nominated performance by Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi. His character is mourning the loss of his family decades earlier when he meets Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), a local teen harassed by Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and other students from the Cobra Kai dojo.
Miyagi brokers a deal with Johnny’s sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove), to end the harassment in exchange for Miyagi training Daniel to face the Cobra Kai students in an upcoming karate tournament. Under Miyagi’s tutelage, Daniel learns a lot more than just martial arts. But he still faces overwhelming odds against seasoned karate veterans.
Watch The Karate Kid on Netflix.
Stand by Me (1986)
Stand by Me is one of the rare Stephen King movies that isn’t a horror story. Instead, it’s a coming-of-age film about a group of kids: Gordon “Gordie” Lachance (Wil Wheaton), Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman), and Vern Tessio (Jerry O’Connell). In 1959, the boys discover that the body of a child their age has been spotted by Vern’s brother. They decide that they can be heroes if they find the corpse and report it to the police.
Along the way, the boys are menaced by John “Ace” Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland) and his gang. However, the bonds of friendship that they’ve forged resonate into the present.
Watch Stand by Me on Netflix.
