The Marx Brothers make lists with DUCK SOUP.
Clean Slate with Dana Carvey. Good memories of times hanging out with my brother when we were younger.
“Poor White Trash” starring Peter Graves. They don’t make them like this any more.
I’m in partial agreement, and partial disagreement, with SoE.
Director Peter Weir stayed very true to the source material for M&C, which was itself fairly meticulously researched by Patrick O’Brian. As such, like real-life historical sailing vessels, there were exceedingly long stretches of much of nothing happening as the ship sailed along day-after-day (it wasn’t the fastest way to get around ever, but it was for its time). The action sequences are well-done and fairly rousing, and are good pay-offs to the waiting and watching.
Being true to the source material and fairly accurate historically does not always translate well to “fast-paced summer blockbuster action flick.”
M&C is something of a niche film: beloved by O’Brian fans, respected by critics (in spite of certain structural faults as a movie due to its fidelity to its source material; 85% “Fresh” on RT), and generally well-liked (at least once!) by viewing audiences. Unfortunately, the high production costs of a “filmed-at-sea-on-a-real-life-sailing-ship” skunked it financially.
But M&C fails the OP’s test of “Movies That Never Make Lists of Movies;” a quick Google search about sailing movies shows that M&C typically makes those lists, and rates quite highly on them.
Two of my favorites seemed destined to sink into obscurity:
The Right Stuff
L.A. Story
(I guess if there’s a “movie title’s that became catchphrases”, or “featured in Roger Ebert’s overlooked film festival” list, The Right Stuff would be on it, but I haven’t seen either of those lists.)
Just saw Memphis Belle on cable the other night and would add it to this list. A really enjoyable movie with a lot of good names in the cast, but I never hear it mentioned anymore. It was pretty popular in its time though.
The Man who Knew Too Little, starring Bill Murray is absolutely hillarious, but you never hear about it.
Another You, starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor is another awesome comedy that has been completely lost in the sands of time. When it was relatively new, I rented the video and watched it about 4 times in a weekend.
A Simple Plan, starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton was a decent movie that features one of the funniest single, spoken lines ever, even though it is certainly not a comedy. I don’t think it won awards or anything, but it was a very entertaining movie with some fine performances. That line, by the way, in case you’ve seen it but don’t know what I’m talking about was:
Hey Hank, did you tell him about the plane?
Interesting to see someone else mention a Wilder/Pryor comedy when I came into mention Silver Streak, which I almost never hear mentioned as a favorite of anyone’s, despite being the highest grossing comedy of that year.
Brighton Beach Memoirs. Had a VHS copy of this when I was a kid & I watched it so many times the tape broke. Every time I make pasta for dinner, I think “All the best Yankees are Italian. My mother makes spaghetti with ketchup, what chance do I have??”
I think this is where my love for Blythe Danner began.
I saw this movie with my girlfriend many years ago(2003?) and have yet to meet someone else who has seen it. One of my all time favorite movies with an all star cast too(Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Anna Paquin)
It was basically a casualty of 9/11. It has an anti-war tinged plot, not really overt but more of a philosophical “war is one big waste of equipment” type point. 9/11 happened and they pulled it. They planned another release, Iraq happened and they pulled it again. It ended up being more of an art house type movie than the larger release that was originally intended.
It scares and terrifies me, but is also hysterical and funny: Arachnophobia. Great performances all around (check out John Goodman!), well-filmed, a tight script well-told, a fear probably everyone can relate to - it’s just such a spunky little movie that’s made of awesome.
And I’m terrified of spiders.
One of my favorite movies, though I haven’t seen it in a long time. I don’t think that line is funny, but I got chills when I opened the spoiler box. Maybe I’m misremembering it, though. Isn’t that what someone (the sheriff?) says to Hank in front of the fake FBI agent, basically giving up the game?
Contact is my all-time favorite, too.
I’ve mentioned Gus Van Sant’s Gerry in some other threads–I don’t think many people have seen it, and most of them probably found it boring and rather pointless. As someone who loves going walkabout in the desert, I love it for capturing an authentic mood of immense emptiness, and at the same awesome scenic beauty.
I agree with the nomination of Big Trouble in Little China, and in keeping with that theme, I’ll also nominate They Live. It might not completely meet the criteria, however, because it is often featured in lists of movies with the best fight scenes. Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Keith David was epic.
Billy Bob says this to Bill Paxon in front of the sheriff about 30 seconds after they had agreed not tell him about the plane. When I saw it in theaters I just about fell out of my chair laughing.
And here I thought I was the only one who loved this quirky, funny and intriguing little flick. I thought about bringing it up here, but I haven’t seen it in 10 years, and couldn’t remember if it held up.
Also, +1s for Contact and Indian in the Cupboard. As a Sagan, and science buff in general, I’m sure Contact is at the top of most filmgoer’s lists.
Oh it holds up, Ben Stiller is really pretty great in it.
“There aren’t any GOOD guys. You realize that, don’t you? I mean: there aren’t EVIL guys, and INNOCENT guys. It’s just - it’s just… It’s just a bunch of guys.”
“I’ll shoot you. Really, I will. I have a gun and everything.”