# Underrated Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233 "2012-09-09T21:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/1 "2012-09-09T21:23:38Z")
Okay so we have another thread to discuss the overrated movies, let’s discuss movies that many viewers are unfamiliar with that we believe never got the kudos and recognition that they deserved. Some of my picks: “Without A Clue” Ben Kingsley & Michael Caine are hilarious. “Dead & Buried” The ORIGINAL MOVIE to use that infamous twist that so many others have shamelessly ripped off since not many are familiar with this film. “The Unknown” A silent film from 1927 directed by Tod Browning. Lon Chaney Sr. gives an amazing performance, and there are at least THREE TWISTS throughout the film. I admit that the ending is a bit of a letdown, but the buildup to the climax is incredibly suspenseful. I showed my fiance (now my wife) this movie years ago and she had to cover her eyes during that climactic moment but she was amazed by it (until the trenchant ending) and she was never one to watch silent films. “Strangers On A Train” I know that this is a favorite of Hitchcock fans but the average moviegoer is unfamiliar with it. The climactic scenes jump cutting from the tennis match to Bruno on the train are incredibly intense. Plus the theme of what other people know about us and how words get taken literally when they are mistaken out of context is especially relevant now in this age of the internet. Okay so let’s here from the rest of you. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/2 "2012-09-09T22:15:16Z")
There’s certainly a subjective element that determines where a file “rates” and that’s usually in our own minds. That said: **Three Kings** (1999, George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube). That Cider House Rules and The Green Mile were both nominated for Best Picture in front of it is ridiculous. It’s not so underrated here on SDMB, but **Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind** (2004) is about the smartest and best put together move I’ve ever seen but doesn’t get the credit it deserves. See also: **Disctrict 9, Election**. Slight hijack: **Warrior** , the MMA flick with Nick Nolte, is less underrated than it is arcane, but still worth a mention. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/3 "2012-09-09T22:36:41Z")
My perennial answer to this question is _Hudson Hawk._ The humor runs much deeper than people realize. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/4 "2012-09-09T22:46:58Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > There’s certainly a subjective element that determines where a file “rates” and that’s usually in our own minds. > > [snip] > > It’s not so underrated here on SDMB, but **Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind** (2004) is about the smartest and best put together move I’ve ever seen but doesn’t get the credit it deserves. > > See also: **Disctrict 9, Election**. Like you said, I always have trouble figuring out what’s considered “underrated.” Like from the above, **Eternal Sunshine** won an Oscar for its screenplay, and **Election** was nominated for its screenplay, although neither of them exactly lit the box office on fire. And **District 9** was actually nominated for Best Picture and made over $100 million in the U.S. alone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to rag on people’s choices or anything. I just find it interesting that people have such noticeably different criteria for calling something underrated. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/5 "2012-09-09T23:45:59Z")
Ten movies I think are under-rated: [_The Americanization of Emily_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057840/) [_Inside Moves_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080928/) [_Kung Fu Hustle_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373074/) [_Mystery Men_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132347/) [_A New Leaf_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067482/) [_Not Another Teen Movie_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277371/) [_Push_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465580/) [_Semi-Tough_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078227/) [_7 Faces of Dr. Lao_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/) [_The Stepfather_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094035/) ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/6 "2012-09-10T00:48:04Z")
Mystery Men Frailty Gattaca Rollerball (the James Caan version) Noises Off Ed Wood ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/7 "2012-09-10T04:25:40Z")
Reefer Madness (The Musical) Daredevil Sucker Punch Resident Evil Spider-Man 3 Star Wars Episode 1 For starters. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/8 "2012-09-10T04:37:29Z")
Two Scorsese films that were not received well by audiences at the time of release: _After Hours_ _The King of Comedy_ Both, however, were generally well-reviewed by critics. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/9 "2012-09-10T04:48:05Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > My perennial answer to this question is _Hudson Hawk._ The humor runs much deeper than people realize. I love _Hudson Hawk!_ I’ve posted before about _[Defending Your Life](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546310)_ and \*[The Thirteenth Floor\*](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561904). I’ll also add _[Moon](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=521622)_. And some other recent favorites: _Another Earth_ - it was marketed as science fiction but really the scifi premise is just background for a wonderful character-driven story. _The Devil’s Double_ - probably the most panic-inducing intense movie I’ve seen in years. I was sure it was gonna win a billionty Oscars but it faded from view. _Safety Not Guaranteed_ - though I didn’t much care for the ending. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/10 "2012-09-10T05:08:53Z")
I don’t care what anyone says, [The Warriors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warriors_(film)) is an epic piece of filmaking that broke ground in exposing modern urban struggle and class warfare everpresent in our society. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/11 "2012-09-10T05:18:58Z")
Come out and plaaaaaaaaaaaaay… ---
**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:** [September 10, 2012, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/12 "2012-09-10T08:44:20Z")
There’s no way that _Strangers on a Train_ could be considered underrated. It’s rated #136 on the IMDb top 250 list, for instance: > **[Top 250 Movies](https://www.imdb.com/chart/top)** > > Check out the top 250 movies as rated by IMDb users This is a close to a standard rating of the popularity of a movie among film fans as you’re going to get. _Strangers on a Train_ also is rated high by film critics. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/13 "2012-09-10T08:49:25Z")
\*\*Contact \*\*is underrated in my opinion… it’s my favorite movie of all time 😃 Also, **Mars Attacks!** is a brilliant parody that people just didn’t _get_, man. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/14 "2012-09-10T10:03:28Z")
Also a fan of Contact, here _grins_ My choice - the two **Dr Phibes** movies featuring Vincent Price - _The Abominable Dr Phibes_, and its sequel _Dr Phibes Rises Again_. Gloriously over the top, and beautifully filmed. It’s a horror, but damn, it’s art! (I think I am biased toward the outlandish cheesiness of the diabolical schemes, and the beautiful kitsch of it all) ---
**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:** [September 10, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/15 "2012-09-10T12:19:29Z")
There are lots of flicks I love that aren’t generally known **Creator** – just watched this again recently. Script by Jeremy Levin, based on his novel. Peter O’Toole plays a Novel Laureate biologist who has been cultivating the cells of his wife, who died of a brain tumor (although the film doesn’t tell you this. It’s in the novel). He’s trying to clone her. The film isn’t at all what you’d imagine from that thumbnail description – it’s witty, literate, and depicts academia so that it actually looks and feels like academia. Unlike most cloning movies, O’Toole’s character realizes that it will take his cloned wife years to mature, but doesn’t care. With Vincent Spano, Virginia Madsen, Mariel Hemigway, and David Ogden Stiers as a non-Bostonian Charles Emerson Winvchester type. **Mirage** – black and white film basded on a script by Peter Sone, written after his lightweight murder-comedy **Charade**. Think of this as its darker brother. With Walter Matthau and George Kennedy, who were also in Charade, but this time the hero is Gregory Peck, rather than Cary Grant, so you know it’s _serious_. The film features some wonderful twists and a climax that freaked me out as a kid. **Panic in Year Zero** – low-budget apocalyptic science fiction. Family man Ray Milland is driving out in the country when the Russkys nuke LA (the glass painting of the mushroom cloud is as fancy as the effects get in this film). He and his family try to survive as they flee the destruction looking for safe ground. How the hell do you cross a line of traffic made up of panicked people fleeing for their lives? **It! The Terror from Beyonf Space** – Jerome Bixby deserves to be better known than he is, because you’ve probably seen something by him or ripped off from him. This film is the first monster-on-a-spaceship film I know of, and, while it owes a debt to A.E. VanVogt’s _Black Destroyer_ and _Discord in Scarlet_, it is its own story, with a plot not taken from those MOAS stories. It was, however, undoubtedly picked over by the filks who made _Alien_. Overall, I prefer this film, despite the fact that it hasn’t aged all that well (the women do all the serving on the space ship. But at least there ARE women. They also smoke on board, and they have guns and grenades. Who the hell brings guns and grenades on a spaceship?) Bixby is also responsivble for the even more underrated _The Lost Missile_ and the deserves-to-be-forgotten _Curse of the Faceless Man_. He later rewrote the script for **Fantastic Voyage** from a proto-steampunk film to what was eventually filmed, and wrote three episodes of the original _Star Trek_. **Adventures of Mark Twain** – before there was Aardman animation (with its Wallace and Gromet shorts and films), there was Will Vinton Studios, which invented (and copyrighted) the term _Claymation_. They gave us The California Raisins and the Noid for Pizza Hut. They also made a lot of short films, which were superb. This was their only full-length animated feature, and it combines the less familiar work of Markl Twain with animation, which is a powerful combination. They animate all or part of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, “The Diaries of Adam and Eve”, “The Mysterious Stranger”, and a wonderfully weiord version of “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven”. With James Whitmore as the voice of Mark Twain. Vinton also did the claymation efects for Disney’s _Captain EO_ and the effects for the equally-underrated **Return to Oz** [Return to Oz - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Oz) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/16 "2012-09-10T12:35:22Z")
There have been many movies based on **Elmore Leonard** novels and short stories. Almost every one of them has been underrated, IMO. [Check out his filmography.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001465/) Jackie Brown (based on Rum Punch) is one of my favorite films. Then there was Killshot, Get Shorty, Be Cool, 3:10 to Yuma. All better movies than the critics would have you believe, at least if you’ve already read the books. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/17 "2012-09-10T13:04:53Z")
_Condorman_ _Cars 2_ _Rescuers Down Under_ ---
**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:** [September 10, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/18 "2012-09-10T13:18:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _Condorman_ > _Cars 2_ > _Rescuers Down Under_ _Condorman_ is one of those films by the equally underrated authot Rocery Sheckley, who has been shamefully ripped off. It’s based on his spoof spy thriller _The Game of X_. Movies based on his works tend to be altered out of recognition (like **Freejack** , based on his \*Immortaily Incorporated/Immortality Delivered \*, or the episode of _Masters of Science Fiction_, which mucked up his “Watchbird”, or **The Seventh Victim** ), and other films and books take his ideas without attribution (such as _The Running Man_, which uses the idea from Sheckley’s “The Prize of Peril” – which already filmed even before Stephen King wrote his book, or _Total Recall_, which exhausted the Philip K. Dick material in the first 20 minutes, and stole the rest from Sheckley’s _The Status Civilization_.) _Condorman_ also gave us a young post-AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum Michael Crawford, later to be The Phantom of the Opera. But not everyone gorgot Condorman – he shows up as a premium toy from a “Happy meal” type thing in the Toy Story short _Small Fry_: [http://pixartimes.com/2011/12/07/toy-story-small-fry-character-bios/](http://pixartimes.com/2011/12/07/toy-story-small-fry-character-bios/) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/19 "2012-09-10T13:37:39Z")
I would love to remake _Condorman_. I think a klutzy comic book artist who gets to become the super-spy superhero he created is too good of an idea not to exploit a second time. I even have [an actor in mind](http://www.frankwoodley.com.au/frank/) to play him. (Would have to set the “defecting from a Communist nation” plot somewhere in Asia, and then have the adventure there and in Australia and New Zealand) ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233/20 "2012-09-10T13:58:16Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I would love to remake _Condorman_. I think a klutzy comic book artist who gets to become the super-spy superhero he created is too good of an idea not to exploit a second time. I even have [an actor in mind](http://www.frankwoodley.com.au/frank/) to play him. (Would have to set the “defecting from a Communist nation” plot somewhere in Asia, and then have the adventure there and in Australia and New Zealand) I concur on _Condorman_. I’ve seen it on “worst movie” lists, and I cannot for the life of me tell why. Given that it’s aimed at children, it’s a witty, well-paced, generally well-acted international piece of action fun. I consider 1999’s \*The Thomas Crown Affair \*to be grossly underrated, especially compared to the original. Renee Russo is sharp and sexy, Dunaway plays her cameo beautifully, and Brosnan is at his inscrutable best; Russo and Dunaway’s characters have him figured out to a degree, but he makes it clear that they’ll never really get to the bottom of his psyche. The plot motivation is also a good deal more believable, even if the heists themselves are over the top. The original has Steve McQueen stealing (and laundering) money, which I find a little odd–this simply wouldn’t be a motivation for a rich man, regardless of the thrill of the caper (though it would have been more interesting if he’d given the money to charity). I CAN believe that a billionairre would go to huge lengths to steal a great painting–it’s one of the few things he can’t buy. Finally, the denouement, set to Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman,” is one of the best-edited pieces I’ve ever seen. Great stuff top to bottom, and it made a pretty nice splash at the time. Since then, though, it hasn’t really gained traction among film fans, which is a bit of a shame. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-movies/634233.md?page=2)