Thank you, Scrivener, for beating me to the punch.
I offer you a mental snapshot of a memorable bit:
Myerson [Beatty], hysterical, amidst indiscriminate gunfire, breaking glass: “What’s happening?”
Cutter [Waterston], matter-of-fact: “They’re shooting up your house!!”
One of my favorite movies.
Does “The Wicker Man” (U.K., 1973) qualify as “overlooked”? It has a huge cult following and enjoyed both a routine and a limited-quantity, special-edition 2-disc release on DVD, but I’ve never seen it listed on TV or cable here in the USA… How many people outside of the U.K. have ever heard of it?
I’ve mentioned it a few times on these boards, but Return to Paradise is an amazing movie that no one really seems to know about. Great performances all around and a story that really makes you ask, “What would I do in that situation?”
Life as a House is really, really good too.
I have to second Young Sherlock Holmes, Galaxy Quest, and The Gods Must be Crazy.
Miami Blues(1990), but then I’m a huge Charles Willeford fan. The film is stars Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Fred Ward. It’s about a recently released sociopath’s crime spree through Miami and the depressed cop who runs into him.
Another Willeford novel put to film is Cockfighter staring Warren Oates. It’s quite a ride, and educational too! If you want to learn about cockfighting, that is…
Ditto on Miami Blues. Although I don’t know what is more gross, the severed fingers or the idea of “vinegar pie”. :eek:
I loved Igby Goes Down,so I’ll second that one. It did get a few golden globe nominations so I’m not sure if it still qualifies as overlooked.
Also, I just saw Ordinary Decent Criminal with Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey. I was laughing pretty much all the way through it.
FriendRob - I’d agree with you, The Quiet American was very good. Michael Caine was actually nominated for an academy award this year.
Lone Star gets my vote. A very enjoyable, intelligent story with solid and interesting characters. Staring Chris Cooper and Elizabeth Peña.
Two sort of period-piece costume dramas I liked that I rarely see mentioned are Restoration with Robert Downey Jr. and Orlando. I forget who’s in that. I did talk about Restoration here not long ago and someone agreed with me (I forget who!) but it was a thread about the middle ages, so I was wrong anyway.
The Scrivener, I’m a Yank and I saw The Wicker Man on cable over here in the States back in the late 80’s. Peculiar movie I must say. I think it was the second performance I had seen of Edward Woodward. The first was in Breaker Morant.
You don’t see too many movies where the good guy gets burned alive as a pagan sacrifice, now do you?
Wicker Man? With Christopher Lee? Christopher Lee ROCKS!
Mumford (1999) was a good little movie starring Loren Dean(Billy Bathgate) and Jason Lee (Brodie/Banky/Azrael in the Kevin Smith movies). Small parts by Martin Short and Ted Danson. Funny movie that I had never heard of until I stumbled acrossed it on imdb.com one night recently.
Loved Young Sherlock Holmes. And later I really enjoyed introducing my older son to this film. Might be time for younger son.
Also appreciated Bill Forsythe’s other films, but Local Hero is the hands-down fave.
Lone Star, House of Games, Time After Time, Restoration, Happy Texas, Igby Goes Down and The Dish Ghost World and Running on Empty are all gems.
But The Gods Must Be Crazy, while delightful, was certainly not overlooked here in Denver. It had a legendary extended stay at a local indie theater. Over a year–maybe two?
As with some of the above-named films,The Quiet American does seem to be overlooked here in the States by theater-goers, if not the critics. I suppose it is too subtle, too quietly powerful.
Bend It Like Beckham, which has been here about two weeks, is not in the same league as some of these movies, but I quite liked it and it is head and shoulders above some of the junk lapped up at the multiplex.
The Last Action Hero!
Oscar!
Death Race 2000!!
bean_shadow, William Goldman (of The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Marathon Man fame) wrote the original novel for Magic. Not a bad book, really. Of course, I’ve enjoyed his writing for years now.
Paperhouse
Gregory’s Girl
The Last American Virgin(which comes out on DVD in August!)
Fearless Vampire Killers deserves a nod for the horror-comedy genre, though it hasn’t aged all that well. Some will give it an extra minus for being the product of a certain future child-molesting expatriate.
The Killing somehow seems to fail frequent mention, perhaps because it was too late and too graphic to qualify as a “classic” film noir. Tarantino seems to have noticed it, though. While he references dozens of other films in his works, he uses the mechanics of this mean little Kubrick film in everything he’s done.
I suppose Way of the Gun’s rather exceptional revival outside of the theaters excuses the fact that Christopher McQuarrie’s “other film” did very poorly at the box office.
And one last one, which I inexplicably find myself overlooking when I’m putting together my personal “greatest of all time” list: Akira Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala. Amazing in scope and sentimentality, this flick should be held up alongside David Lean’s works as a classic huge-scale film which fully embraces its geographical setting.
Miller’s Crossing is in my top three films of all time. It’s a-comin’ out on DVD on May 20th. Excellent gangster film.
My Favorite Year has a special place in my heart. Bill Macy is incredible in this…very, very funny. Peter O’Toole is in quite fine form…makes me wonder if he was faking his drunk scenes.
Altered State is a stunning science fiction film. Never recieved all that much attention but is a great movie. Get it now at Wal-Mart for $5 on DVD widescreen.
Go is awesome. Think of it as a Generation X “Pulp Fiction”. Great camera work.
Payback is my favorite Mel Gibson movie. Very dark but very satisfying. Mel is a badass in this one who takes on Kris Kristofferson in his scariest role.
Snatch is absolutely brilliant. Easily one of my faves. If you haven’t seen this yet, run, don’t walk…run to get it. Turn on the subtitles (it’s English) for total enjoyment. Brad Pitt’s best role ever and who can forget “Brick Top”?
Who is Cletis Tout? was on the “no one’s really touched this yet” rack at the rental store this summer… Christian Slater, Richard Dreyfuss, and Tim Allen are all in it, and it’s absolutely hilarious. Especially if you’re a movie buff. Tim Allen’s hitman character, Critical Jim, makes the entire film.
Oh, and RuPaul’s in it, too.