Your mileage may vary.
- Vision Quest (1985)
- Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
- Midnight Run (1988)
- Bottle Rocket (1996)
- Chuck and Buck (2000)
- Quick Change (1990)
- The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
- White Men Can’t Jump (1992)
- Charley Varrick (1973)
- Mona Lisa (1986)
- Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
- Panic in Needle Park (1971)
- Truck Turner (1974)
- Cutter’s Way (1981)
- Limbo (1999)
- The Long Goodbye (1973)
- The Wanderers (1979)
- Henry Fool (1997)
- Cisco Pike (1972)
- Paris, Texas (1984)
- Hardcore (1979)
- Lifeguard (1976)
- Junior Bonner (1972)
- Head (1968)
- The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
- House of Games (1987)
- Miller’s Crossing (1990)
- Zero Effect (1998)
- Sorcerer (1977)
- Tin Men (1987)
- Wrong Turn (2003)
- Death Race 2000 (1975)
- Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
- The Laughing Policeman (1973)
- The Swimmer (1968)
- Over the Edge (1979)
- Tape (2003)
- Zero Day (2003)
- Seconds (1966)
****
Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.
And still my favorite underappreciated movie, though it’s certainly gained a following over the years, The Stuntman.
Last year, I bought “The Americanization of Emily” and liked it. James Garner and Julie Andrews in England just before D-Day. Not nearly as cynical as “Network” but you could see the screenwriter (sadly, can’t remember who he was) was getting there.
My wife’s been dying to see “The Razor’s Edge”—Bill Murray’s project he co-wrote (adapted from Somerset Maugham’s novel) about the time of “Ghostbusters.” I got it for her birthday, but we won’t see it until April, so if I remember I’ll let you know what we think.
Herre are some of my fav’s:
REAR WINDOW
Only a brilliant director like Hitchcock can create such tension in a single location for the duration of a feature film.
BLOOD SIMPLE
The Coen Bros. first major release, I believe.
GOODFELLAS
One of the Top 5 mafia flicks of all time, I think.
BOOGIE NIGHTS
Great flick on the 70s porn business. The scene where Dirk, Todd, and Reed visit Rahad’s house to sell some fake drugs is one of the best I’ve ever seen put to celluloid….hilarious, tense, sad, violent.
I went to see “The Family Stone” during the holidays.
I can’t begin to list the number of ways that it sucked ass.
Glad to see someone else stand up for Mona Lisa and The Zero Effect. Sorcerer is great, but Wages of Fear, which it was based on, was better.
I’ve seen both WoF and Sorcerer several times, and am more fond of Sorcerer. But then, I find Friedkin, when he’s on, to be one of our greatest directors—particularly during the 70s.
Knightriders.
Ed Harris as King Arthur on a motorcycle. George Romero directs. A cameo by Steven king.
Absolutely fucking briliant.
Lifeguard Sam Elliott
in a word?
Yum
Can’t take the ending of Long Goodbye. Just Altman trying to be a bad boy. Too cool for his shoes. I was with him up to that point though, and the movie almost convinces you that Gould can act.
Could we add “Bagdad Cafe” and “Election” to the list?
“Dark City” with Rufus Sewall, Jennifer Connolly’s eyebrows and Kiefer Sutherland.
“The scene where Dirk, Todd, and Reed visit Rahad’s house to sell some fake drugs is one of the best I’ve ever seen put to celluloid….hilarious, tense, sad, violent.”
That is all loosely based on events involving John Holmes and Eddie Nash, for another take on the same situation, and to see just how violent it all got, go find a copy of Wonderland with Val Kilmer.
Zero Effect really kicked some ass. Bill Pullman is extremely underrated sometimes.
Another good picture is Kevin Kline in a double role opposite Sigourney Weaver in ‘Dave’.
tw: Among others
Paddy Chayevsky wrote Emily, and I like it better than Network too.
How about a little Preston Sturges to lighten things up?
1-The Miracle Of Morgan’s Creek
James Agee said Sturges “raped the censors” with this one
2-The Lady Eve
What Barbara Stanwyck does to Henry Fonda…
Gergory’s Girl 1981
Home Fries (98) Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson
Go (98) Katie Holmes
Dark City (98)
Gothika (03)
Signs (02)
The Long Goodbye, Altman, feh. The Late Show, with Art Carney, much better.
And ya still left out Zapped! WTF?
Midnight Express for all you dope smokers.
Coma – Old school Richard Widmark was great.
Before Michael Douglas became his dad.
Blood Simple was/is good, it’s interesting to watch it, then follow on with Fargo.
The boardroom scene in Mulholland Dr. (also with Dan Hedaya) is one of my favorites.
Dead Calm (1989) is good too.
The Third Man…. one word Orson Welles
The Big Sleep…… Bogart was cool before there was cool.
Lauren Bacall was smokin hot!(and could sing)
Wrong Turn? Sorry dude, but that movie blew. A total rip-off of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and not a very good one.
Here’s one that I just watched:
‘Disorganized Crime’
Another one I didn’t see for the longest time but which I think is a brilliant film is ‘Gattaca.’ Totally underappreciated.
I’ve never seen any of them, though I have heard that some of those are good, like Panic in Needle Park.
The films that I most like are like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” and “The Third Man” and “Touch of Evil”, and others in the noir tradition too numerous to name like “Gaslight” and “The Big Sleep” and “Mildred Pierce”.
Alfred Hitchcock is great too.
For more modern films, there’s “Clockwork Orange” and “Z”, and I like Woody Allen (especially “The Front” and “Radio Days” and “Sleeper” and many others). I also enjoy Spike Lee’s films, especially “Do The Right Thing” and “Summer of Sam” and “Bamboozled”. I haven’t seen “Crooklyn” yet but that’s on my list, along with “The Blue Dahlia” and “Sullivan’s Travels”, which is supposed to be one of the great comedies of all time.
I think the version of The Tolkien Trilogy, as much as I have been able to imbibe of it, with Elijah Woods is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overrated. I liked the cartoon version much better—it’s really terrifying.
Of course, there’s also films from other parts of the world—mainly my familiarity is with European, though several Latin films I’ve liked (“Like Water for Chocolate” and “And Yo Mama Tambien”). The latter has some anti-American undercurrents, but much milder than the opera Madame Butterfly.
Go along with Jay on Gattaca (97)
Dancer Tx (98)
Deep Rising (98) The end of this movie might just remind you of certain current TV show set on an Island
The Uninvited (44) Ray Milland great little ghost story.
Hard Rain … Yes another movie from 1998. Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid.
Extra Bonus
They Were Expendable (45) John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed
Speaking of Milland, Alien, The Lost Weekend (45) was a great flick.
In that same genre, The Pilot (81) with Cliff Robertson was also quite enjoyable.
Of course, if you enjoy those, you’ll eventually be watching My Name is Bill W. (89)
I was delighted to see The Laughing Policeman and Le Pacte des Loupes on the list – fantastic films, both of them!
Please permit me to place in nomination as well:
99 and 44/100% Dead (1974) John Frankenheimer at the helm, Richard Harris as icy menace personified, and the under-appreciated Chuck Connors in one of his best turns as a grotesque villain. (I still think David Caruso stole his sunglasses schtick in CSI Miami from this one.)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) Thought-provoking and finely-crafted, with no easy answers. Far too many people dismissed this one as just a horror flick – it’s much, much more than that.
Russian Roulette (1975) An underappreciated little gem of Cold War intrigue from Canada, with George Segal at the height of his game.
<i>The Quiller Memorandum </i> (1966) Another early Segal thriller, with a masterful script by Harold Pinter. Apart from <i>The Spy Who Came In From the Cold</i>, no other film in the genre has made such masterful use of Berlin as a backdrop.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Peter Weir’s early masterpiece. Nightmarish and effective – who ever would have thought that sunny Australian locales could be so terrifying?
I love Quiller Memorandum and have been trying for ages to get Russian Roulette and 99 and 44/100% Dead on DVD. But alas…
Like Picnic, and also Last Wave.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is good you say? I kept thinking about picking it up, but ultimately I went for an old Jack Lemon flick.
Emily Rose , to me at least, worked on several levels, as Rashomon-like legal drama, as a compelling re-creation of the real life Annaliese Michel story that’s still a hot topic of conversation in Germany thirty years later, as an example of the magic 21st century Hollywood sfx can bring to bear. What really wowed me, though, was the completely untypical (for Hollywood) treatment of the competing worldviews of science and faith – it was adult, open-minded, and fair, with no attempt to cheerlead for either side. In many ways, I feel that Scott Derricksen achieved in this one what Blatty and Friedkin were shooting for back in the Seventies.
High praise indeed, especially because the original Exorcist ranks in my top 5 films of all time.
I’ll have to pick it up along with Broken Flowrers and maybe Wedding Crashers.
I generally go for director’s cuts when I haven’t seen the theatrical release. I’ll be interested to hear what the differences are.
For those of you who’ve been naming some of the old stuff, I’m listening. Third Man was excellent. Same with Big Sleep (written by Faulkner). I’m watching a lot of noir myself just now (well, that and the Rockford Files)—so far I’ve watched Call Northside 777 (Jimmy Stewart true crime; it was okay), the Dark Corner (Lucille Ball, also just okay). Tonight I’m going to watch Kiss of Death (Victor Mature and Richard Widmark, who I’ve always liked).
The remake of Kiss of Death (with David Caruso and Nic Cage) is also very underrated and should have made me list. Dead Calm, as well.
For the foodies in the world…
Big Night
Dinner Rush
Mostly Martha
Babette’s Feast
And for kicks…
Captain Ron
The Secret of Nimh
The Dark Crystal
Philadelphia Story
His Girl Friday
Glad to see you include “Charley Varrick” – it was based on a book written by my uncle, John Reese, titled “The Looters.” Love Matthau and the movie. My suggestion for another sort of forgotten movie would be “Sleuth,” (1972) with Michael Caine & Laurence Olivier.
Oh! And to plug Michael Caine once more, 1983’s “Educating Rita” (just ignore the cheesy early-80s soundtrack).
Thanks Iamfelix – mention of Sleuth , penned by Anthony Shaffer, reminded me of another I wished to include on my list, Peter Shaffer’s 1969 The Royal Hunt of the Sun. Christopher Plummer is a little over-the-top in that one, but it’s definitely worth seeing.
Oh yes… Vision Quest is better then the book. GREAT movie.
Razors Edge is amazing. Better then 7 years in Tibet which isa close aproximation. Bill Murray had made the deal that he would do Ghostbusters if they let him do this project. It didn’t do well, but remains one of my top movies.
High Fidelity even for changing to Chicago was EXTREMELY close to the book, and both works stand on their own. Nick Hornsby’s best, though the original adaptation of Fever Pitch was well done, I HATE Tom Hanks and what he did to the American attempt. In fact, Hanks has truly jumped the shark.
Finally, I’ll add Chariots of Fire a movie that really captures the late 70s early 80s period of film where you had amazing cinematography, good story, great soundtracks, and just good movies. This period of film which I include Flashdance, Trading Places, and dont hit me, Quicksilver. They REALLY capture the ambiance of a scene and you truly feel transported into their world. Sodeburgh has been the closest to capture this more recently in Out of Sight
The Laughing Policeman is definitely one of the finest movies ever made, know what I mean? One of Bruce Dern’s finest performances, and Louis Gossett Jr. was awesome, as was Walter Matthau. The scene with the dominoes game would be worth the whole price of admission. And Kathy Lee to boot!
Just got Death Race 2000 from Netflix this past week. Great camp, early Stallone, David Carradine, gratuitous nudity, and bonus French jokes. The transfer is much better than I expected also. Goes well with a nice sippin’ tequila.
TW: street, as in look both ways when you cross the.
Glad to see the Honeymoon Killers up there. Shirley Stoller rocks!
Seven Beauties–Wertmuller’s best; Stoller as she-wolf of the SS
The Seduction of Mimi–Wertmuller again, with superb comic performance by Giannini. A comedy about communism.
The Long Good Friday–Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren and a surprise guest appearance by the IRA
The Cook, The Thief, etc.–Inexpressibly fine in a cannibalistic sort of way
Hellraiser II–Like a Hieronymous Bosch painting come to life.
Days of Heaven–Terence Mallick and the birth of the 20th century
Thin Red Line–Mallick again, The best war movie ever
The Immortal Story–Directed by Welles, based on a Dinesen story. Every shot looks like a Van Gogh painting.
52 Pick-up–Wonderful, chilling, performance by John Glover as the very, very, bad guy
The Hidden–One of the wittiest sci-fi movies ever
If you have a couple of days to kill “Once Upon A Time In The West” is one of my favorites. In fact, I have so few favorites because this one is so long.
“Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House”
“Turk 182″- Dunno why.
“Q and A”
“Taps” – I think everyone in my class was an extra in that movie but me. Mom wouldn’t let me go. Movie stars took drugs. It was filmed up the road at VFMA. And I would just like to add an RIP for the Wayne Tavern.
“To Have and To Have Not” another Faulkner screenplay, this one from a Hemingway story, with Bogie and Bacall. Total ripoff of “Casablanca” even down to the fat guy doing the bad Sidney Greenstreet, but worth it just for Bacall’s shimmy at the end.
“Flash Gordon” – 1980 My Favorite movie of all time, possibly the greatest movie ever made. No I’m not kidding and no I’m not the only one who thinks this. Seriously, even better than “Roadhouse”. In a good way.
“Major League” – Nothing pisses me off more than the scene in “Sleepless in Seattle” where the guys and girls dish over what the greatest guy movie is said to be “The Dirty Dozen”. If all you ever see of “sleepless in Seattle is this scene you can tell this movie was written by a girl. Sure, “Dirty’s” a good movie, but “Major League” is the greatest guy movie of all time, better even than “DC Cab”. You will never get choked up watching “Major League”.
“Kung Pow, Enter the Fist” – wear a diaper.
I’ll second the “Third Man” even though Orson was just an actor. One of the greatest endings ever, contrast the ending of “Third” with “Miller’s Crossing”.
Must stop now.
TW: less. See?
Kudos on the House of Games listing. I thought that I was the only one who’d seen it.
I’d like to nominate Better Off Dead.
Heavenly Creatures!
Directed by Peter Jackson.
I second the kudos for House of Games. Mamet is a political asshat, but his “scam” movies can’t be beaten. Heist was pretty good with a cast of bigshots, but The Spanish Prisoner is as good as House of Games. You really need to pay attention when watching it the first time. And Rebecca Pidgeon is so easy on the eyes.
Head is definitely underloved. Two words: Zappa cameo. (He stands by a donkey.)
My all-time “Why didn’t anyone tell me this was so awesome?!” movie is Putney Swope. Definite must-see for fans of ‘70s Mel Brooks, Python, Caddyshack et al (and Head). It’s comprehensive in its comic greatness, but the highlight is Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear) as “The Arab” (not an Arab), a monster performance that Flavor Flav ripped off wholesale for his Public Enemy hype-man act.
My taste in movies is mostly way too snobby to whip out in public, but everyone I’ve clued in loves Putney Swope.
Get Carter, the original with Michael Caine. His character in that movie is mean and nasty clear through, to absolutely everybody he meets. Great flick.
Some great advice on this thread to add to my Netflix queue.
ThomasD, thanks for the heads-up on “Wonderland”. I didn’t even know it existed, but I remember the crime occuring here in L.A.
Speaking of L.A., I’d add another flick to my fav’s: Altman’s “The Player”.
And, for the sake of stupid humor, let me add Woody Allen’s “Take the Money and Run” and “Bananas”.
Powell and Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan—which the Criterion Collection is about to release on dvd for the first time.
Boner of Zion —
Swing!
Mad at myself for not including Dead Calm and Q&A (also, Internal Affairs w/ Gere—along with Nolte in Q&A, Gere’s villain is one of the best of all time).
Big fan of Colonel Blimp. Some of these, however, are too well known to make the list. Love The Player and the original Get Carter. Ditto Heavenly Creatures and Long Good Friday.
And yes, Major League is a classic guitly pleasure (“are you tryin’ to tell me Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball?”). Very underrated.
a good movie that vanished so completely that it can’t even be called overlooked is “People I Know” with Pacino.
subject is roughly – insider flacks and powerbrokers in New York City.
“Ravenous” was underrated, with its almost Ninento-esque soundtrack, and the way it’s … a comedy, more or less.
In a tragic cannibalistic sort of way, that is.
Also love Dead Calm. Nicole before she was NICOLE!
Big amen, ahem. I’m looking forward to The New World.
Elliot Gould as Phil Marlowe? Oy.
Sometimes I worry about you, Jeff.
SB: self
WOW… Thanks for all of the great suggestions, am printing this thread out for the NF queue.
Best Bad Cop movie ever: To Live and Die in L.A. 1985 William Friedkin film with Willem Dafoe and William Peterson… totally unrecognizable from his current gig on CSI. Also includes John Turturro and Dean Stockwell
Best Chick Flic a guy can sit through: As Good as it Gets 1997 with Jack Nicholson a black guy, a queer and a waitress. More memorable and applicable one-liners per frame than any movie since Strangelove.
Best Caper movie: The Killing 1956 Kubrick does b&w noir with Col. Jack D. Ripper and the finest assemblage of character actors in film history. Gotta love the scrambled timeline.
Best Western: Deadwood on HBO a good cast with great writing. Best realism: Bullock going Bakersfield Chimp on an Indian’s melon with a rock.
Best Comedy: Dr. Strangelove… 1964 Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, Sterling Heyden, Keenan Wynn, James Earl Jones.
Best Who Dunnit: The Conversation 1974 Gene Hackman at his paranoid best in an early Coppola film also including Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Teri Garr, Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall and John Cazale
Right on, Horst. To Live and Die in LA–I’m disgusted I forgot that. So, don’t forget Manhunter, another Petersen cult film. Best Hannibal Lecter ever.
Eyebrows?
Jennifer Connolly’s eyebrows??
My Favorite Year, with Peter O’Toole.
How to Steal A Million, O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn.
Things Change(1988), another Mamet jem.
Angels with Dirty Faces(1938), classic Cagney and Bogey
To Kill a Mockingbird(1962), Gregory Peck at his best in a career role…Watch for a young Robert Duvall near the end.
I would like to bring up The Mission – the score is one of the all time best – for one and also Two Women with Sophia Loren as the mother. I also liked Father Goose with Cary Grant.
LEGEND (1985)
WILLOW (1988)
THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982)