I pestered my folks to see this at the drive-in because I thought it was an Alley Oop movie.
Knightriders
Good choice.
another good choice
“Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze” can be considered a B movie, altho it can be debated.
I love it.
*Death Race 2000" has been listed by several here.
Also the big theaters- Feature film, cartoon, news, Serial, B movie, and maybe even beabo, or a prize drawing. It was an all day thing. And you went went you went- if you came in the middle, you just waited around for the start again.
Best film ever made, if budget is considered.
Too many B films are cheap horror films.
Super fantastic movie; can’t believe I didn’t remember it. Stephen King was a hoot.
Is Tremors “B”?
Not by the financial definition. I’d also argue that it’s better than a “B” movie by any other definition you choose.
I don’t know if it quite qualifies as a B-Movie, but one of my favorite “watch whenever the opportunity arises” movies is Quigley Down Under.
Tom Selleck as an Old West cowboy/sharpshooter, Laura San Giaccomo as his love-interest and Alan Rickman doing his usual bang-up job as the bad guy.
I agree with Cal. It was definitely inspired by 1950s B monster movies, but it had a real budget, actual star power in the cast, and was really well done.
I’m a little surprised that nobody’s mentioned Werewolves Within. Maybe because it’s too self-aware of its own campiness.
I Bastardi (1968) starring Klaus Kinski and Rita Hayworth. Typical Italian B movie in terms of budget and style but it all takes place (and is filmed) in the US. Crazy plot twists, etc. and a super unexpected ending. It is not great art but it is worth multiple viewings (at least to me).
The notion that Tremors is a B movie? Consider it stepped on.
How about ‘Easy Rider’? Now it did shoot a couple of people to stardom. Jack Nickloson for sure.
I remember it well, I pestered my dad to take me to see it at a drive in. I really, really wanted a motorcycle. I figured if he saw how cool motorcycles where, I would get one for sure.
ooops. Did not work out as expected.
Pretty Maids all in a Row, would be another. Folks took us to that. Had Rock Hudson in it. Should be family friendly and good for kids. Um, not what they expected.
Mine are late 80s and early 90s cheesy comedies. Weekend at Bernie’s (both parts) and Who’s Harry Crumb? top my list.
I think its called Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.
It is considered a Indy film, not a B movie. But it is low budget, so…
I havent seen many B movies. If you want to get technical, the only B movie I’ve seen was Pink Flamingos.
I didnt enjoy it, just wanted the experience.
Arguably my favorite 1950s movie from a double bill is It! The Terror from Beyond Space, a low-budget science fiction movie that is way above the usual standards. It’s about a space ship returning from Mars, the second to land there, and bringing back the lone survivor of the first expedition, who’s being accused of murder. The real murderer, though, is a Martian creature who manages to sneak aboard the ship and begins picking off the members one by one.
The movie Alien owes an awful lot to this film – both feature the Monster on Board the Spaceship who kills off the crew one by one and creeps around the ship through the air ducts, and is ultimately killed by the crew opening the air lock. It was written by science fiction legend Jerome Bixby (famous for the story that became the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”, as well as writing three episodes of the original Star Trek)
On the other hand, is it a “B” movie? It was an indy film, although distributed by United Artists. The other film on the double bill was The Curse of the Faceless Man, another indy film. Ironically, it was also written by Bixby.
It’s arguably his worst film, and is essentially a kind of “Mummy” film in which the mummy creature is one of those people from Pompeii who was reconstituted by having plaster of paris poured into the hollow left in the volcanic rock after their bodies rotted away. In the film that’s not how his body was formed, but those plaster bodies (with not enough detail for faces) were obviously the inspiration for this film’s central creature.
It’s definitely the lesser film, so maybe CotFM ought to be the “B” picture. But all this is probably obsessing too much over definitions. By most people’s lights, It! is probably a 1950s “B” picture, and it’s one of the best.
Both those films were financed by Edward Small who had deep ties to UA going back to the early Thirties. His other projects at the time were Witness for the Prosecution and Solomon and Sheba so he was no Roger Corman. I think the double bill of It! and CotFM was UA’s attempt to create some cheap product that could be sold to TV right after release. I believe the monster costume was even reused by a later UA production. I think this just goes to show that the big studios also knew that low budget films could be quite profitable.
My best times in my dating years (and I am not going to apologize or downplay) were Saturday nights at the dance clubs. We had a couple of spectacular ones, in the 70’s-80’s. So just a couple of my favorite B-movies (I have a lot) are ‘Roller Boogie’ (the one with Linda Blair) and ‘Roll, Bounce’ which came along much later. The latter is competing roller skating troupes in a big auditorium skate-dancing to disco music for the grand prize. But there’s also a really cute nice little back story for the main character. Both are pretty corny, but I love watching athletic pretty people skating to my favorite music of the time.