I saw it when it came out in the theaters with my family when I was 10. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t considered a major release at the time.
IIRC, it went to second run theaters and was not around very long. It sounded like such a stupid premise (Jack the Ripper takes H G Wells’s time machine into the future and Wells follows him) that nobody wanted to see it.
As I stated above, it became a stable on cable when people saw finally saw it and realized how damn good it is.
Indian Summer, with an ensemble cast including Alan Arkin, Diane Lane, Kevin Pollack, Bill Paxton, Matt Craven, Elizabeth Perkins, Vincent Spaco, Kimberly Williams and Sam Raimi. Billed as a comedy but it’s not, exactly- maybe it was difficult to market.
Equally difficult to market, probably- Playing by Heart, an ensemble romantic dramedy starring Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Angelina Jolie, Jon Stewart, Anthony Edwards, Gillian Anderson, Madeleine Stowe, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Ellen Burstyn and Jay Mohr. Hell, it was reported that Connery was so taken with the script that he took a $13.94 million pay cut to be in it (took $60,000 for his part).
Both fit lissener’s definition of “straight to video” in that they may have had a limited theatrical release, but when you see them in the video store you’ve never heard of them.
I also remember seeing Time After Time in the theater and loving it, but that’s more than 20 years ago so I don’t have any recollection at all of how big a release it was at the time. (That was the movie that solidified my lifelong Malcolm McDowell crush – despite Clockwork Orange and Caligula, needless to say – and started my girlcrush on Mary Steenburgen.)
As for the others, thanks for some recommendations. I already had the Brad Pitt Jesse James film and I Could Never Be Your Woman in the Netflix queue, and will be adding a few more of these.
Robert Altman’s Health comes to mind–Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, James Garner, and Lauren Bacall. I don’t recall it having much of a release outside of major cities. If you’re an Altman fan, it’s worth checking out.
And also cements David Warner as the ultimate movie bad guy. When you’re in a movie with the guy who played Caligula and Alex, and you get to be the villian, that pretty much proves it.
That was a quality flick.
I saw a movie recently called The Dead Girl that fit this category. It had James Franco, Toni Collett, Brittany Murphy, Giovani Ribisi, and Josh Brolin. Yet I’d never head a word of this movie until I caught it on Showtime at 11:00 at night on a Friday.
Excellent example. I’d Netflixed it – don’t recall now where the recommendation came from.
I enjoyed it. It’s quite dark, but good.
Yeah, I liked it a lot, and have recommended it to several people.
ETA: Speaking of Mary Steenburgen, I think she’s in it also.
Saturday night, we watched In the Electric Mist, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Mary Steenburgen, John Goodman and Ned Beatty. Filmed in 2007, never shown in theaters, went directly to DVD this month. Damn good mystery, based on one of James Lee Burke’s novels (and directed by Bernard Tavernier). What happened?
Some Girls starred Patrick Dempsey and Jennifer Connelly. I think it got only limited release because of partial male nudity (not sure).
The Man in the Moon starred Reese Witherspoon (IIRC her first role) and Sam Waterston. It is an excellent film.
The library vendor catalogs are filled with this stuff. They’re basically these small, not-quite, indie movies that just happen to star a bunch of big names. They play in a few theaters in New York or LA to fulfill a contractual requirement and then hit DVD a few weeks later.
I’ve ordered a bunch of them for the library and the response has been pretty good. I’ve even had a few people coming up to me telling me how great this movie was they’d never heard of.
I’d list some titles, but my order database is at work and I’m not. If this thread is still kicking tomorrow, I’ll be back.
I thought just the opposite on both. 
Some of these answers are confusing films that didn’t do well with films that didn’t get a wide release.
How about a movie with the following cast: Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, Dylan McDermott, John Heard, Cary Elwes. I give you the straight to video Edison Force also known as Edison. It was released in Europe but not in America.
Eh, aside from Playing By Heart (which I remember being a big deal when it was released) and The Painted Veil (a big deal among the art house set), all of these films got tiny, tiny releases.
One that I just remembered is Watching the Detectives with Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu. The premise sounded interesting and I wanted to order it for the library, but I had never heard of it. Doing some research, I found it only played in 15-20 theaters for like a week in New York City.
At the time I remember Indian Summer and Time After Time being advertised. There was at least a push to get a wide audience for these movies. I have no idea how many theaters they actually got into.
Looks expectant. Oh, and hopeful.
OK, here’s a bunch (some with plot summaries, some without)…
The Alphabet Killer starring Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes and Timothy Hutton about a serial killer who kills people with double initials.
My Name Is Bruce starring Bruce Campbell. Not a “star” I know, but in horror circles this movie had huge buzz and ended up playing one festival.
The Air I Breathe starring Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
American Crude starring Michael Clarke Duncan and Ron Livingston.
August starring Josh Hartnett about two businessmen in the weeks before 9/11.
The Backwoods starring Gary Oldman is crap, but it fits the OP.
Cleaner starring Samuel L Jackson, Eva Mendes and Ed Harris about Sam Jackson as a crime scene cleaner. Big thumbs up from a few patrons.
Goya’s Ghosts starring Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem. A period piece about painter Francesco Goya.
He Was a Quiet Man starring Christian Slater and Elisha Cuthbert about an office worker who dreams of going postal, but then uses his gun to stop another office worker who does go postal. Very good.
Quid Pro Quo starring Nick Stahl about a journalist investigating people amputating legs and then having sex.
Rails and Ties starring Kevin Bacon.
Suburban Girl starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin.
The Amateurs starring Jeff Bridges, Lauren Graham, Ted Danson and Steven Weber about friends who decide to make a porno.
The Tracey Fragments starring Ellen Page in her first post-Juno role.
There’s more, but that’s good for now. And even though this is like a reference question, I should probably do some real work.
Thanks! I’ll check these out. One question, though:
Is the journalist investigating … then having sex, or are the people amputating legs then having sex?
ETA: or for that matter, is there a missing comma, and is the journalist investigating, amputating, and having sex?
