Sorry, but that film came off to me as a slapdash mix of better ideas and films. And the dog… Whenever you play the sympathy card like that, I can’t help but feel that my buttons are being pushed.
I nominate Vozvrashcheniye (The Return), about two boys whose missing father returns one day and takes them on a mysterious trip. I suppose some might think it slow, but it’s so deliberate in its pacing, and the ending twist is so unexpected; it keeps leading you on into expecting one standard twist or another, and then does something entirely different.
Also, almost no one seems to have seen Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan, which is a shame 'cause it’s a great story; one of those noirish type of scenerios were things just keep getting worse and worse. It’d make a good pairup with the Coen’s first feature, Blood Simple.
Citizen Xhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112681/
originally an HBO movie, I think…one of the best serial killer movies i’ve ever seen. Not to mention a really intriguing look into the Soviet union pre and post Cold War.
As a kid, I saw The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao and Robinson Crusoe on Mars at our neighborhood movie theater when they first came out.
I saw Sorcerer in the theater, and own it on DVD.
Whenever a thread like this pops up, I always mention Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop. Certainly not for everyone’s taste, but I loved it (it’s another I saw in the movie theater when it first came out). For years it was unavailable on video, and only showed up occasionally on A&E or Bravo. But now it’s out on DVD and is available through Netflix.
I’m not sure it qualifies as a movie no one has heard of, but Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick is well worth seeking out. Walter Matthau is fantastic as a small time bank robber in over his head. It’s one of Tarantino’s favorites, too. Marsellus Wallace’s Pulp Fiction line about “going to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blow torch” was lifted straight from this movie.
Saw it, loved it, own it. Wonderfully understated performances by the main actors, and the “sinking feeling” as the situation keeps deteriorating is fully conveyed to the audience. I was practically shouting, “Don’t Do it!” to the characters.
How about Mirage – created by much the same team that did the better-known Charade, but played very seriously this time, with Gregory Peck as a man with amnesia who starts to think he’s paranoid, until he hires P.I. Walter Matthau to help him figure out who he is, and finds out that someone really is out to get him.
Count me as another vote for The Hidden, too. A great, funny, ultraviolent science-fiction yarn with a brain AND a heart.
I’ve always been a fan of Breaker Morant, a military drama set during the Boer War. Great acting (Edward Woodward and Bryan Brown have never been better), exciting action sequences, powerful courtroom drama, lyrical poetry and breathtaking landscapes.
Sneakers. The damned thing only came out in '92, has a great cast and no one I have ever spoke to about has ever seen it.
Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Akroyd, River Phoenix, even James Earl Jones has a small role. I enjoyed the story, and some of the scenes were hilarious. The blind guy driving the van? Brilliant!
My vote is for The Passionate Plumber (1932), a talkie starring Buster Keaton. Hilarious and one of the most perfectly constructed films I’ve ever seen. No music is also a bonus.
From the same year as Charley Varrick ( definitely one of my favorite Matthau movies ) another good but hard to find crime film is the gritty The Friends of Eddie Coyle with Robert Mitchum as the aforementioned Coyle, a low-level hood who runs guns and Peter Boyle as one of his “friends”.
Loved The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, with Mitchum and Peter Boyle, what’s not to like?
Don’t know if The Beast is unheard of or not but it does at least appear to be underrated. George Dzundza, Jason Patric, Steven Bauer and even a tolerable Stephen Baldwin in a flick that grabs you from the start and won’t let go.
My vote is for Trust. I literally hated Adrienne Shelley’s character in the first 15 minutes of the film, almost to the point of turning it off. I’m so glad I didn’t, as this is one of my top 5 favorite movies.
I’ll have to check out some of the others listed here; haven’t seen a bunch of them…
I’d like to nominate the little-known animated feature The Plague Dogs. Anyone who enjoyed Watership Down will be likely to enjoy this well-made, moving film. It’s not for little kids, though. Like Watership Down, it contains disturbing and violent images.
Lemme add: Freaked Starring a couple of idunnos, Dennis Quaid, Brooke Shields, and an appearance by Keanu Reeves. No one I’ve talked to has heard of this movie, but its quirky hilarity has prompted my brother and I to have rented it dozens of times back in the day.
House of Games Starring Lindsay Crouse and Joe Montenga - a high suspense who’s conning who psycho-thriller.
Primer An indy film dealing with (see spoiler) in a fresh and intelligent way. The credit roll was a single screenful (crew of six, cast of several including most of the cast). This is a must see!
The film is about time travel - and this is only a minor spoiler - see it anyways!
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead I’ve been waiting for this DVD release for years, hopefully poking around HMV, never seeing it - until finally a couple weeks ago. Bought it on the spot. R&G, as you’ll recall, are Hamlet’s friends. They make a couple of appearances in Willie’s play then quickly leave. The movie is set simultaneously to the play, but the camera follows R&G. An intelligent, whimsical, silly comedy, My brother and I have been playing “Questions” for years, inspired by the flick.