# Movies/shows you can't find anywhere **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [June 18, 2022, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420 "2022-06-18T05:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/101 "2022-06-22T19:55:46Z")
> [@Hermione1](#): > > The 1994 movie Backbeat, about the Beatles’ time in Hamburg before they made it big. I had that on VHS. I loved that movie ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/102 "2022-06-22T20:04:25Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > There’s a movie from 1983 called Get Crazy. It was released on VHS only, no DVD or BLU RAY. Kind of juvenile and getting dated by the moment, but I liked it. It was a parody version of goings-on at the Fillmore East under Bill Graham. There’s a half-decent version someone uploaded to youtube. I remember that movie. It featured Malcolm McDowell as Reggie Wanker (basically, Mick Jagger with some serious burn-out). _The Last Waltz_ it ain’t, but pretty fun. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/103 "2022-06-22T20:07:59Z")
Dancing at the Savoy. Directed by Debbie Allen. I have seen it on youtube in a piecemeal way but never found it on a streaming service. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/104 "2022-06-22T20:08:19Z")
Not to mention, it took so long to get made, IRL the Soviet Union has practically collapsed by the time it aired. I remember SNL did a sketch called “Amerada,” where Canada had supposed invaded and subjugated the US. A premise only slightly more ridiculous than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/105 "2022-06-22T21:49:33Z")
A movie I really enjoyed that for some reason isn’t streamable anywhere is, [Strange Days.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114558/) A fun sci-fi movie starring Ralph Fiennes and Angela Basset directed by Kathryn Bigelow. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/106 "2022-06-24T00:41:34Z")
“The Cavanaughs” and “Mr. Sunshine,” two (short lived) sitcoms from 1986 that my parents remember fondly—the latter (starring Jeffrey Tambor as a blind university professor) only exists online in two episodes ripped from VHS recordings. No physical media releases known, or expected. For my own part: a three-part pseudodocumentary from 1997, called “What If?” Each episode was basically an alternate history scenario. Which were, IIRC, “What if Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t assassinated…and later became President?” “What if the the 1994 Northridge Earthquake was a lot worse?” and “What if SETI picked up a confirmed alien radio signal?” I mostly have fonder memories of the last episode. The first one, while it had some nice points, also had, among other things [spoiler]…three out of four US Presidents in a 10 year stretch assassinated in office. After that fine showing, I’m thinking what’s left of the Secret Service is going to get reassigned solely to looking for counterfeit pennies in Antarctica.[/spoiler] This one is slightly complicated by 1) being in that unfortunate sweet spot in the history of media between the eras of “nostalgic, and probably well-recorded” and “much more ephemeral, but with much easier to make and share video archives,” and 2) having a very, very generic, and thus hard to search for, title. Oh! I almost forgot…I’ve been searching, for the last decade or so, for the full, hour-long version of the episode of TLC’s Great Books series focusing on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The half-hour version is readily available, but the full-length one, with extended bits on the life of Ken Kesey and some original dramatizations of the book, I can’t find for love or money. Since both versions use clips from the film (which is currently owned by Jeff Bezos, now, I believe), it’s not really hard to understand why it wouldn’t have gotten an official release, or might have gotten automatically blipped off a video site, on top of being a niche interest to begin with. Frustrating, none the less. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/107 "2022-06-24T00:45:58Z")
i loved that movie i think they copped out on the end tho … wed had discussions at the junior college I went to about how much of it was going to come to pass ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/108 "2022-06-24T08:05:49Z")
Wanted to let you know I bought the Get Crazy DVD, and it came today. Thanks again for passing on the info. The extras are fantastic, though Alan Arkish’s commentary is kind of meandering. I wish someone like Daniel Stern would have been there with him to keep him on-topic with what’s happening on-screen. On the one-hand, great stories. On the other hand, so much went by without much mention. Been wanting a DVD with special features for literally decades. Thanks! I’d given up looking. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/109 "2022-06-24T18:07:39Z")
I haven’t looked for it lately, but the circa 1959 TV series **Men Into Space** wasn’t available in any format or on any platform. Even information, like episode guides, were unavailable until the internet was around. It looks as if you can get it on the YouTube channel now. The 1960s British TV series **Out of this World** and **Out of the Unknown** are still, I think, unavailable, except for some random episodes. They apparently adapted some classic SF stories. **Connections, Connections 2** and **Connections 3** are available on DVD (don’t know if they’re still on YouTube), but hard to find and expensive. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/110 "2022-06-24T18:43:51Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > _Equalizer_–the original with Edward Woodward. There is a DVD of the entire series, which I purchased, abysmal isn’t even a good word for it. It’s not just that some episodes are missing, _entire discs_ in the set are warped and literally won’t play at all. Reading through reviews, basically everyone who has purchased this box set has complaints like this, the discs were apparently pressed on the cheap by some fly by night operation, and you’re unlikely to get a full working set. Was it this set you bought? > **[The Equalizer: Complete Collection DVD](https://www.acornonline.com/XC9002.html)** > > Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer. Former covert operations officer Robert McCall (Edward Woodward, Breaker Morant) atones for his shadowy past by offering his services as protector, for ordinary people with nowhere else to turn.... ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/111 "2022-06-24T18:46:29Z")
Based on the product image, that is the exact same version I purchased (from a different vendor, I got mine from Amazon), in 2017 or so. Edit: I checked back on the Amazon review for the set, when I purchased it in 2017, a lot of the reviews mentioned the same problems I had (missing episodes, physically maimed / unreadable discs etc), it looks like the more recent reviews seem to be mostly people saying all the episodes are there without any playback issues. Maybe the “bad batch” got replaced and it is reliable to purchase now. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/112 "2022-06-24T20:14:37Z")
**Karen Sisco** A show created by Elmore Leonard, starring Carla Gugino, which briefly appeared and disappeared about 20 years ago. I enjoyed the two episodes I managed to catch before ABC started burning them off at odd and unadvertised hours. I figured I would catch it on DVD at some point, and then with the rise of streaming, it would surely show up on a streaming site. I haven’t done an intensive search in a few years, but it doesn’t seem to be available on any major platform. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/113 "2022-06-24T23:43:12Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > For my own part: a three-part pseudodocumentary from 1997, called “What If?” > > Each episode was basically an alternate history scenario. Which were, IIRC, “What if Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t assassinated…and later became President?” “What if the the 1994 Northridge Earthquake was a lot worse?” and “What if SETI picked up a confirmed alien radio signal?” FWIW, they are listed in IMdb. [What If? (TV Series 1996– ) - Episode list - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2246487/episodes?ref_=tt_eps_sm) I tried to use this to find hints of the videos, but didn’t get very far. Maybe this will help, though. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/114 "2022-06-26T14:31:09Z")
I’m pretty sure 1959 series ‘Men Into Space’ was shown on a cable sci-fi channel within the last few years, sorry, can’t remember which one. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/115 "2022-06-27T03:50:42Z")
My library system has the DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/116 "2022-06-27T04:28:33Z")
I had been waiting for the 1951 film version of _Murder in the Cathedral_. I just did a web search and found it was issued on DVD in 2015 and is streaming on ok dot ru. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/117 "2022-06-27T05:50:40Z")
I did a further web search and found the book of the film with the full text and many stills. It also contains intros by Eliot and the director, which have many interesting details. [The film of Murder in the cathedral : Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/filmofmurderinca0000elio/mode/2up) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/118 "2022-06-27T13:57:36Z")
> [@Ziberian](#): > > American Hot Wax. From the 70s, it was the story of Alan Freed, Rock-n-Roll pioneer DJ. Good story & good music, but never released on DVD & not on any streaming service I know of. Watched it last night off of YouTube. A poor quality VCR capture with some of the beginning cut off. A really fine film for oldies fans. I suspect that the cost of music rights makes streaming release impractical. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/119 "2022-06-28T15:56:56Z")
You’re probably right – it wasn’t a big hit so probably not worth the cost. I’ll watch the YouTube version and maybe it won’t be as good as I remember & I’ll stop wishing for it on DVD/streaming (since it’s unlikely to happen). Thanks for the find! ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420/120 "2022-06-28T16:10:13Z")
I’m a big aficionado of 80s and 90s straight-to-video martial arts flicks (and horror, and cop action, and SF). Every time there’s a format upgrade, more of those vanish. Granted, they weren’t great, in all honesty most of them were bad, but there were some real gems in the mix and the martial arts talent on display was usually pretty impressive (unless the director was totally incompetent). I remember going to a benefit in L.A. once where folks like Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Mimi Lesseos, Karen Shepard and the like were signing headshots and posing for photos with fans. All their work, silly and inconsequential as it was, is likely lost forever, and little of it ever made it to laserdisc, even less to DVD, even less to BluRay. I imagine it’s such a niche market that there won’t be much of a demand for a streaming service that’ll carry **China O’Brien** and **Bloodfist 1-8** , but I’d be happy to be proven wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-you-cant-find-anywhere/966420.md?page=7)