# Movie You Love but Think Not Many Others Have Seen

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 2, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091 "2019-08-02T21:51:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/21 "2019-08-03T01:01:24Z")

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> [@blondebear](#):
>
> [Man’s Favorite Sport?](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058324/) – Rock Hudson as a fishing expert who knows nothing about fishing and Paula Prentiss as a reporter who wants to write a story on him competing in a big tournament.

😃 I dimly remember to catch that movie one time on TV on a Sunday afternoon, only thinking how hilarious the premise and the plot was.

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**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/22 "2019-08-03T01:04:19Z")

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Earth to Echo - E.T. crossed with Stand by Me  
McFarland, U.S.A. - Kevin Costner in a based on a true story underdog sports movie. Hits all the right emotions.

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**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/23 "2019-08-03T01:21:51Z")

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_Def by Temptation_, a 1990 horror film aobut a succubus.

_Dark Night of the Scarecrow_, a 1981 made-for-television horror film. Some years ago, I saw a screening at the Famous Monsters of Filmland festival in Indianapolis. The screenwriter was there, and we gave him a standing ovation.

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**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/24 "2019-08-03T01:56:20Z")

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The Grey Fox  
Strangers In Good Company  
Kenny

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/25 "2019-08-03T02:08:11Z")

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I don’t think there’s really clear category of movies you think not many others have seen. I’ve seen some of those mentioned so far and have heard of quite a few. Anyway, I went through my list of my 100 favorite films and tried to pick out the most obscure. Here’s what I found:

_Army of Shadows_ (a.k.a. _The Shadow Army_, _Army in the Shadows_) (1969, France/Italy, dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)  
_Chungking Express_ (1994, Hong Kong, dir. Kar Wai Wong)  
_The Tree of Wooden Clogs_ (1978, Italy, dir. Ermanno Olmi)

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**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/26 "2019-08-03T02:20:20Z")

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_Angel and the Bad Man_ - the John Wayne movie that only I seem to have watched. I generally don’t like cowboy flicks, but this is one of my all time favorites.

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/27 "2019-08-03T08:05:40Z")

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Chan Is Missing - Director Wayne Wang’s first real success. Shot in San Francisco Chinatown on a budget of $22,000.

Sita Sings the Blues - Animated movie by comic strip artist Nina Paley. She did almost all of it herself, despite having no experience as a filmmaker. A cultural mishmash combining her personal story of her boyfriend dumping her with the ancient Indian tale The Ramayana. Features songs by 20s and 30s jazz singer Annette Hanshaw.

Tully - Not the recent movie with Charlize Theron. This movie was released in 2000, and is a completely different story.

Waltz with Bashir - Animated Israeli movie about an Israeli soldier coming to terms with his role in the Lebanese war.

House of Games - An early David Mamet movie about con artists. Features Ricky Jay in his first movie role (unless you count TV movies).

Persepolis - Animated movie about a young Iranian girl whose parents send her to France to get away from the war with Iraq, and from the restrictive post-revolutionary politics. Based on a graphic memoir.

Proof - Not the 2005 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, but an Australian movie from 1991. Stars Hugo Weaving and Russell Crowe (before he made it big in Hollywood). The story is about a blind man who carries a camera with him and uses pictures to check up on whether people are telling him the truth. Great psychological study.

A Town Called Panic - Over-the-top Belgian stop-motion animation. Based on a TV series. All the characters are plastic figurines. The three main characters are a cowboy named Cowboy, an Indian named Indian, and a horse named Horse. Of the three, Horse is the adult. Manic pacing, ridiculous situations.

(Untitled) - Yes, that’s the title of the movie. A satire of the modern art scene in New York.

You Can Count on Me- Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo play sister and brother. Old patterns and behaviors come to the surface when Ruffalo’s character comes to visit.

The Sweet Hereafter - Canadian movie directed by Atom Egoyan about a town where most of the children have died in a school bus accident. Ian Holm plays a lawyer who tries to convince the townspeople to participate in a wrongful death suit. His presence stirs up a lot of things that people would prefer to stay hidden. The story has several parallels to The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Short Term 12 - Brie Larson plays a staff member in a short-term foster home for children who have no other place to go. Kaitlin Dever is particularly good as a new girl who arrives at the facility.

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**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/28 "2019-08-03T08:38:41Z")

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I was flipping around the dial about 20 years ago and stumbled upon _Thursday_, starring Thomas Jane, whom I had never heard of. I really liked it, I still like it, and I just looked it up on IMDB and saw that it grossed a total about $3000 in the US, so I am pretty confident that most people have never heard of it.

It’s a semi-dark comedy about a guy who is just trying to live his life, gets mixed up with some bad people, and turns out to have some unexpected resources. Also starring Aaron Eckhart, Paulina Porizkova, and Mickey Rourke. Head on down to Blockbuster and rent it tonight.

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/29 "2019-08-03T09:08:22Z")

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[Leaving Normal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaving_Normal_(film)). Pretty much my favorite film, but with a box office of just $1.5M and change. I heart Meg Tilly.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/30 "2019-08-03T11:07:25Z")

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> [@TonySinclair](#):
>
> I was flipping around the dial about 20 years ago and stumbled upon _Thursday_, starring Thomas Jane, whom I had never heard of.

Thomas Jane also stars in 1922, a movie you can stream on Netflix right now. It’s a Stephen King adaptation and a pretty good one. Worth it and not that famous.

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**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/31 "2019-08-03T11:38:50Z")

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Back to the Beach. Frankie and Annette 25 years later. It’s a hoot.

Thunderheart. Val Kilmer. Sam Shepherd. A shooting on a Sioux Indian reservation loosely based on the 1973 Pine Ridge Wounded Knee incident. Absolutely brutal look at a reservation.

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**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/32 "2019-08-03T12:05:35Z")

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> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> **Scarecrow** (1973) – Gene Hackman and Al Pacino as a couple of hard-luck guys on the road. Not a “high concept” movie that can be described in terms of combining other movies, so many don’t bother with it. But it’s not only beautifully acted, directed, and written–it’s deeply moving.
> 
> In an entirely different category:
> 
> **eXistenZ** (1999) - David Cronenberg at his most Cronenbergian, but also a great mind-f\*\*k (in a good way). Deeply weird–and embodying surprisingly-compelling commentary on the nature of reality. Note that Christopher (_The Prestige_) Priest wrote the tie-in novel, which should say something worth knowing about the film.

I came on here just to add “Scarecrow”! I was a big Pacino fan 20 years ago, and liked it. Saw it again a few years ago, still liked it.

> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#):
>
> Waltz with Bashir - Animated Israeli movie about an Israeli soldier coming to terms with his role in the Lebanese war.
> 
> House of Games - An early David Mamet movie about con artists. Features Ricky Jay in his first movie role (unless you count TV movies).
> 
> Persepolis - Animated movie about a young Iranian girl whose parents send her to France to get away from the war with Iraq, and from the restrictive post-revolutionary politics. Based on a graphic memoir.
> 
> .

I saw both, but really liked “Persepolis”

> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> Three of my top 10 favorite movies are relatively obscure. All are gentle stories about family and relationships:
> 
> Author! Author!

I saw this a long time ago. I wonder if I still like it 🙂

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/33 "2019-08-03T14:31:56Z")

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The Westerner (1940)  
Morning Glory (1933)  
Kitty Foyle (1940)  
The Dawn Patrol (1930)  
The More the Merrier (1943)  
A Double Life (1947)  
Vacation from Marriage (1945)  
The Sunshine Boys (1975)  
Cimarron (1931)  
Underworld (1927)  
The Rose Tattoo (1955)  
The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)

Two that have already been mentioned:

Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)  
Harry and Tonto (1974)

Some that many have heard of but too few have watched:

Charly (1968)  
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)  
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)  
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)  
Tender Mercies (1983)

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/34 "2019-08-03T14:42:49Z")

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[Children of the Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Revolution_(1996_film)). Australian comedy film. Joseph Stalin’s illegitimate son grows up in a left-wing Australian family. As he gets older, he starts to resemble his father, in hilarious but slightly scary ways.

[Ridicule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridicule), in which an 18th-Century French aristocrat learns why people hated 18th-Century French aristocrats.

[La Reine Margot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Reine_Margot_(1994_film)). Based on the Alexandre Dumas novel about the French royal court during the religious wars. Intrigue and treachery, plotting and poisoning. It’s fun.

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**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/35 "2019-08-03T14:55:16Z")

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The Station Agent  
Guns at Batasi  
Julian Po

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/36 "2019-08-03T14:58:23Z")

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Fear of a Black Hat - basically “This is Spinal Tap” of 90’s gangsta rap.

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**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/37 "2019-08-03T15:00:38Z")

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I love the slasher film mockumentary [Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437857/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1)

It’s very 2006, but its so much fun. It takes place in a world where all the classic slasher movies were real events, and follows an aspiring slasher as a student documentary crew tags along as he gets ready to start his first kill spree. It’s so great. I can’t even tell you.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/38 "2019-08-03T15:02:45Z")

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whoops, double post.

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**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/39 "2019-08-03T15:32:45Z")

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> [@bibliophage](#):
>
> Harry and Tonto (1974)

I wasn’t expecting this one to be such a favorite. I thought it was good but not great.

It was obvious while watching it that Art Carney was not a cat person. Cats don’t care about amusing dialog. They want to be petted and brushed but Carney had minimal contact with Tonto (the cat).

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-you-love-but-think-not-many-others-have-seen/838091/40 "2019-08-03T15:42:14Z")

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[Crime Wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_Wave_(1985_film)): No, not the Raimi/Coen Bros. film. This is a film about a guy in a nothing-ever-happens neighbourhood of Winnipeg who vividly dreams about writing pulp crime stories. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film quite like it; the look of the film is kind of like an educational filmstrip.

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