Your favorite movies no one else seems to know about.

Cafe Society
#1

I’ve got three.

Sorcerer: I have vague recollections of seeing the previews for this movie when I was seven, but after that, it dropped right off my grid, until a couple of weeks ago when I found it at the video store. I rented it, and damn it was good!! The thing is that I’ve never seen any ink about it, and no one seems to know what I’m talking about when I ask them if they’ve seen it. Good reviews on IMDB, too.

Memory of a Killer: I’d never heard of it before seeing it offered on a rental discount. It looked good, so I plugged it in. Great flick about a hitman losing his battle with Alzheimer’s, but once again, none of my friends has heard of this one.

The Quiet Earth: I have two friends from NZ, and they both know and love this movie. No one else I’ve met IRL knows either this movie or Bruno Lawrence.

So how about it? What are your favorite rare gems which no one else (including probably me) knows about?

#2

Desert Kickboxer. I bought this movie for two dollars at Village Pantry a few years ago. My friends and I watched it and surprisingly it was possibly the most hilarious movie I’ve ever seen. Directed by Israeli Isaac Florentine, best known as the man behind U.S. SEALs, Desert Kickboxer tells the story of Joe Highhawk, Indian warrior, cop, and kickboxer, who battles corrupt cops, drug smugglers and a motorcycle gang led by an evil preacher. This is a must-watch movie. No, I’m not being sarcastic. It really is a hilarious movie, intentional or not, and it will entertain you.

#3

Roger Dodger and Dogville.

#4

I suspect this thread is going to contain a lot of IMDB links.

Scavenger Hunt came out in 1979 when I was nine years old. I thought it was one of the funniest movies I had seen at the time (not that I had seen many movies at that age. Still, it became a classic amongst my family, and we must have seen it at the theater at least twice, maybe three times. We then saw it on cable a few times after its release. My sister and I quoted several lines from the movie. I’m disappointed that it’s not on DVD. After trying to find a new VHS copy in stores (even searching bargain bins and the like) I finally settled for a used copy that I bought off of Amazon. It’s in decent condition, so I’ll settle for that.

#5

Stuart Saves His Family

I can’t get anybody to watch this movie. It’s the Al Franken character Stuart, from the Saturday Night Live skits. Franken’s not popular with some these days, and people weren’t impressed with the skits (“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough,…and goshdarn it people like me”). It’s a funny movie, mostly because of the supporting cast.

#6

Clerks.

Hilarious and vaguely disturbing.

#7

…Nobody knows about Clerks? :confused:

My favorite movie at the moment is Kontroll, a Hungarian dark comedy that’s been around for a few years, but seems to be largely unknown.

#8

The Legend of 1900. Really, really great movie.

Twin Falls, Idaho. Really, really great movie.

#9

Clerks? I thought this was for unpopular good movies.

#10

Irma La Douce
A great movie that seems to have slipped through the cracks.

#11

It’s a little uncanny that you mention this splendid Billy Wilder classic, because I had it out from Greencine at the same time as Kontroll, which was my contribution.

#12

The Woman Chaser

A neat little black and white Patrick Warburton movie in which he plays a borderline-sociopathic con-man who is suddenly gripped with the need to create some enduring piece of art. Great script and great performance by Warburton. I’m still waiting for this one to come out on DVD.

#13

Oh and how can I forget

The Third Man

I know it’s not unheard of on this board, in fact I think there’s several threads about it. But as for the general public…

#14

The Frisco Kid

It may not be great, but it is enjoyably good and, around our house, quite quotable. It’s a cowboy and rabbi western buddy comedy, starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford. It was made after Star Wars was completed but before it was released.

#15

See my web page for full discussions of these:

Black Moon — Louis Malle’s mysterious film.
Cry Uncle! — The raunchiest sex comedy ever.
Cobb — Tommy Lee Jones as one of baseball’s great psychotics.
Deathwatch — Harvey Keitel in the ultimate in reality TV
Hearts of the West — The wild west was not like in the movies.
Once a Hero — A superhero for the Real World. (TV show, but still)
Picking Up the Pieces — Woody Allen as Tex. Sharon Stone as his wife.
Putney Swope — “Rockin’ the boat’s a drag. You gotta sink the boat!”
Resurrection — Ellen Burstyn as a woman who can work miracles.
Screen Door Jesus — Faith and humor in a Texas town.
The Tenant — The best horror film ever.
The Well — A film ahead of its time.

I’ll be adding more from time to time.

#16

I’m quite fond of The Blue Iguana. I’m not sure anyone else is.

#17

Well, I had heard of every single movie until I got to Realitychuck’s list.
Had heard of three of his: The Tenant (had read the novella–creepy) and Putney Swope and Cobb. Had actually seen Hearts of the West.
My favorite obscure movie is Local Hero

#18

Perhaps more appropriately, I nominate Mr. Arkadin. My second favourite Orson Welles film, now available in a fantastic Criterion set.

It’s actually based on a great episode of the less-than-stellar Lives of Harry Lime radio series, but the protagonist has had his name (but not his character) changed, and Welles plays the titular role instead. Surreal and metaphysical – but also just plain beautiful. Not technically spectacular, but very clever and made with love.

This movie is second only to Touch of Evil, in my opinion – but I’ve yet to meet anybody that had seen it before I forced them to watch it. :smiley:

#19

Fantastic movie! My favourite overlooked Polanski is What?

It’s vaguely similar to The Tenant in that the protagonist finds themself in a new situation and reality begins breaking down – but the tone is comic surrealism rather than claustrophobic horror. She takes all the weird stuff that’s going on around her completely in stride – a blithe spirit. Because of this, it feels a lot like “Through the Looking-Glass.” I love this movie!

#20

To hijack my own thread, I just checked the IMDB link, and it turns out The Quiet Earth finally got released on DVD four days ago. I’m all over it!