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![Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence and Harvey Korman in a promotional portrait for "The Carol Burnett Show" and Johnny Cash performing on "The Johnny Cash Show." carol burnett tim conway vicki lawrence and harvey korman pose for a promotional portrait for the carol burnett show and johnny cash playing his acoustic guitar on the set of the johnny cash show](https://cdn.aarp.net/content/dam/aarpe/en/home/entertainment/television/info-2023/youtube-hidden-gems-movies-shows/_jcr_content/root/container_main/container_body_main/container_body1/container_body_cf/container_image/articlecontentfragment/cfimage.coreimg.50.932.jpeg/content/dam/aarp/entertainment/television/2023/08/1140-youtube-hidden-gems.jpg)
You may think of YouTube as the home of short-form videos — how-to demos, movie trailers, behind-the-scenes reels and adorable cat clips. But the service also hosts a surprising amount of long-form content, from full-length movies such as Robert De Niro’s Once Upon a Time In America to classic TV staples like The Carol Burnett Show.
There are also original shows, including a documentary about Johnny Cash, that were created exclusively for YouTube. Most of this content streams with commercials, though YouTube parent Google does offer a premium service, available for $14 per month, that bumps up the streaming quality and, better yet, strips out all those annoying ads.
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Here’s a roundup of some of our (free!) favorites to check out on YouTube.
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Back before Keke Palmer became one of the hardest-working people in Hollywood, hosting Password and starring in hit films like Nope, she played an 11-year-old girl from a rundown L.A. school who became a stereotype-shattering spelling bee champion. Laurence Fishburne, 62, and Angela Bassett, 64, also star in this feel-good story that, like any good come-from-behind sports yarn, will cast you in its spell.
Watch it: Akeelah and the Bee
Breaking Away (1979)
Peter Yates’ Oscar-winning coming-of-age story was prescient in a lot of ways — and not just for giving early roles to future stars like Dennis Quaid, 69, Daniel Stern, 65, and Jackie Earle Haley, 62. The film also anticipated the popularity of bicycle racing in the U.S. (long before Lance Armstrong pedaled on the scene) as well as the class tensions that flare up in small Midwestern communities where working-class jobs (like the limestone quarry in the film) were disappearing and college seemed out of reach to many.
Watch it: Breaking Away
The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78)
Apologies to Lorne Michaels and Saturday Night Live, but is there any sketch comedy show that is more beloved than this one? Carol Burnett, 90, established herself as one of TV’s biggest stars over the course of 11 side-splitting seasons — creating legendary characters like working-class homemaker Eunice Higgins or the curtain-rod-wearing Starlet O’Hara in a parody of Gone with the Wind. It’s enough to make you want to tug on your earlobe in satisfaction.
Watch it: The Carol Burnett Show
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Sergio Leone’s epic crime drama was a notorious flop when it was first released in the West — partly because the American distributor hacked the nearly four-hour film down to just over two hours and rearranged the order of scenes without the director’s involvement. But the original European cut now streaming has been rightly acclaimed for its gritty look at the Prohibition era and indelible performances by Robert De Niro and James Woods.
Watch it: Once Upon a Time in America
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