What's the most underappreciated movie you've seen?

In My Humble Opinion
41

Underappreciated…hmmm…

I’d say Caught from 1996. Steven Schubb gives one of the best supporting actor performances I’ve seen, even though he doesn’t appear until halfway into the movie.

Twelve Monkeys. Gilliam’s best? Not quite (I’d go with Brazil), but close.

Small Faces. Wonderful Scottish coming-of-age flick. Inappropriately compared with Trainspotting.

Maborosi. Actually, I hated this movie when I first saw it. Not much happens – the “plot” is paper thin. But the imagery stayed with me, in the back of my mind, until I had to see it again.

In the Company of Men. Granted, the misogynistic cruelty of the two male characters is way over the top. But at its heart the movie is really more about dog-eat-dog corporate culture than the war between the sexes.

… Sorry, but I have to say that, IMHO, Leon is grossly overrated. The most dangerous hitman in New York can’t read?

42

Great call on that one (I don’t know how I forgot). It’s cinematic rape, and I love it.
Similarly, I think Pi (Aronofsky’s first film) is similarly underappreciated.

Ace_Face, gotta disagree with you on Leon, since you seem to be bashing it because of the character’s illiteracy (completely fits with Leon’s background in the film). It’s a great flick, even though it was messed up by wacky editors for the North American release. Even moreso, as per the OP, these films aren’t supposed to be simply underappreciated. These are films that people liked but didn’t do well at the box office (and it didn’t do well).

43

DARK CITY- one of the most unique and visionary science fiction fantasy movies ever, and a film that asks very serious questions about what is the nature of being human. This is THE MATRIX with a brain.

44

I’d like to add Brewster McCloud weird but great film about obsession.

And The Exterminating Angel. This film was about people afraid, for no apparent reason, to leave a building and their eventual rescue. In the theatre in which I saw it, management had to come in and ask the audience to leave, and it had happened at many other sesssions as well.

45

Mystery, Alaska

Romeo is Bleeding

46

Regarding Natural Born Killers…

Wouldn’t that mean that Stone succeeded in NOT glorifying senseless violence?

47

Good one Grok!

48

Down by Law

49

I am the only person I know that is absolutely wild about the movie boogie nights. My sister and I almost without exception like the same movies, but even she hated this one. I have begged friends to watch it, and then gotten royally bitched out when they did see it. :frowning:

I also highly enjoyed 54. I think Mike Myers outdid himself in that role. The sets are fabulous, and the music, well, the music just plain, out-n-out rocks.

Oh, and vivalostwages, I loved Ed Wood. Glad you reminded me of it. I need to go re-buy that film. My old copy was stolen.

50

“Muppets in Space”
“Labyrinth”
“The Dark Crystal”

Okay, I do have a thing for Henson.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas”

Also, I don’t know what anyone(critics) said about “Sleepy Hollow” with Johnny Depp, but I was in histerics for most of it.

I pick cheesy movies and am proud of it!:smiley:

51

Okay, I should add The Wall, but more so for the album than the movie.

And yeah, Breakfast Club, Animal House, Stripes. Caddyshack.

And how 'bout Better off Dead?

52

“The Breakfast Club”, “Sixteen Candles”, and “Pretty in Pink” are Classics.

“Do I offend?”
-Ducky, “Pretty in Pink”

53

I’m glad to see a lot of the better ones have already been mentioned. I’ve got a little bit of time on my hands… let’s see if I gan get some royalty checks flowin’ to some great minds:

The Hidden. A headbanging alien with a taste for Ferraris is loose in L.A. Silly? No. This film is serious, serious fun, and well put together.

Superfly. Yes, it’s blaxploitation; yes, it’s all about a drug dealer; yes, it may well be one of the finest super-low-budge films ever made. Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack is one of the most inspired I’ve ever heard.

Shaft in Africa. A nicely filmed hero-piece that is wide in scope yet coherent at all times. Look for the Shaft-specific silencer, one of the few flaws in this otherwise well thought out film. Best line: “I’m not James Bond, simply Sam Spade.”

El Mariachi. What does a seven thousand dollar film look like? If Robert Rodriguez did it, it looks great. This little gem is a particular deal because the DVD comes with running commentary by director Robert Rodriquez, and it’s tacked onto the backside of his high-budget remake of the film, Desperado.

When We Were Kings. One of the finest documentaries I’ve ever seen, about the real story behind the Rumble in the Jungle, the Foreman-Ali boxing match in Zaire. So well documented that the biggest visual punchline of the film, involving George Plimpton and Norman Mailer, almost slid by the audience when I saw it in the theater. You won’t miss it at home.

Nick of Time. This is the film that finally made me forgive Johnny Depp for 21 Jump Street and learn to keep my eyes open for what script he was going to pick up next. People fellated Alfred Hitchcock for doing Rope as a realtime Lord Wimsey-type parlor murder mystery film, but as far as I know, nobody but me has seen this much more difficult suspense undertaking. I thought it rocked. It’s got Walken…

The Kid. Yes, Disney’s The Kid. This is in actuality a pretty damned good film. It’s not my usual fare, so let me put it this way: the production is excellent, Bruce Willis really is a good commedian, and the entire story appears to be lifted from Robert Heinlein’s short story, “All You Zombies.” I got dragged in kicking and screaming; I came out smiling. And I would never tell anyone but you guys.

Pi. You guys here at the SDMB turned me on to this one. It really is that good.

Happily, I’m glad to say that films like Ed Wood, Swingers, and Way of the Gun, all films I was lucky enough to see in the theater, are doing nicely with home audiences. I wish I could say the same for the likes of Shakes the Clown and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and all of the abovementioned films, except that Disney one. The Mouse is gonna shove that one down your throats regardless of what I say.

54

Put me down as a fan of Shakes … “the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies.”

On a completely different bent … Volunteers with a young Tom Hanks and an alive John Candy. It is pretty damn hilarious.
My favorite line: “I’m sure if Mr. Mee were here … or, if I were Mee.”

Maybe you have to see it to appreciate it, but I think you get the picture.

55

Nope, You could see precisely what he was trying to do. He failed.

Frankly, i think you’re attributing to Stone a much larger degree of subtlety than he actually posseses. I think he’s generally a talented filmmaker, but he’s definitely not a subtle one.

56

To SilkyThreat: I loved Boogie Nights too! See, you are not alone after all…and apparently, neither am I. :slight_smile:
Great story, cast, and music.

To dlgirl: Always glad to be of service. :wink:
(“This is it. This is the one I’ll be remembered for.”–
Ed Wood, in ED WOOD, on PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE)

57

I agree with those who listed “Searching for Bobby Fisher” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”. Both are among my favorites. I will also include:

The Right Stuff
True Romance
The Fifth Element
The Moderns
Miller’s Crossing
Blast from the Past
No Bugles,No Drums

58

A huge second for Mr. Vinton’s masterpiece. (Of course as a native Oregonian - Vinton’s studio is in Portland - I’m slightly prejudiced). At one point a number of years ago it was on the tube and we taped it to our joy. Watched by my kids a bunch of times, now more by the older generation in the house. James Whitmore voices Twain beautifully (makes up for all those Miracle Gro commercials) and the animation is dead on perfect, with lots of little additional bits going on in the edges or the background.

A couple of my own include

Thunder Road Robert Mitchum sings the title song!
“Let me tell the story
I can tell it all
about the mountain boy who ran
illegal alcohol…!”

It’s your average run-of-the-mill moonshiner flick, with great 50s car action and a tragic end. Plus Gene Barry as the bad guy, 50s singer Keely Smith as the love interest AND Mitchum’s son James Mitchum in his first movie appearance. Made in 1958, it was a drive-in staple in the mid-60s and something of a cult classic.

**The Raven **This is the 1963 Roger Corman version, deliciously tongue in cheek with the hat trick of monster movie stars - Boril Karloff, Vincent Price AND Peter Lorre, perhaps the only film to feature all three. Plus, as an added bonus, you get a very early Jack Nicholson playing the game but not very bright young hero (complete with Robin Hood cap) with the unlikely name of Rexford Bedlo. Don’t know how it did at the box office originally but over 30 years later I ordered the tape, and it sits proudly in my video library.
Hometownboy

59

A fine thread. I agree with the aforementioned Pi and Rosencrantz and will add:

Oscar & Lucinda - little literary movie starring Ralph Fiennes (yum) and Cate Blanchett (extra yum)

Heavenly Creatures - Kate Winslet’s big screen debut. Surreal and chilling.

84 Charing Cross Road - I’m sure all bibliophiles out there have read the book. I love love love this adaptation.

60

“Wizard of Speed and Time” – Came out about the time of Star Wars. Director, writer and star Mike Jittlow uses his stop-motion talents to tell the story of a young, struggling movie-maker attemping to make a living in that crazy town we like to call Hollywood. Seriously, it’s a funny movie with a cynical take on the movie business, and in typical Hollywood fashion Jittlow got screwed by the producer, the film barely made it onto videotape and sunk out of sight.

The poster was done by Kelly Freas, who still has some to sell.

pesch