The Serpent and the Rainbow - starring Bill Paxton, about Voodoo
Gorky Park - Murder mystery in the communist USSR
Better Off Dead - John Cuzack in teenage love
Jason and the Argonauts - Harry Hammerhouse(?) stop frame animation classic.
Another vote for both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and Threads here.
For my original nomination, it has to be True Stories, the film narrated by David Byrne of Talking Heads.
By the way, BornDodgy, what’s with “Brittish”?
Hi Scotticher! Audrey, huh? Not Jean? I knew I should have checked. Those two are easy to confuse – both beautiful ladies who did wonderful movies.
Thought of another well-loved movie that gets weird looks – “Razorback” – the man (and woman) killing wild pig in Australia. The photography and camera work were excellent, and the music too. It was one of the first movies I bought when we got a VCR, way back when.
**
Yes! John Goodman singing even. Great movie. (That was John Goodman, wasn’t it? And not George Wendt? I seem to be confusing people today.)
xizor, I think you might mean Ray Harryhausen, one of the pioneers of the special effects industry.
Auntie Pam, I love both Audrey and Jean. When I grow up, I’d like to be Audrey. (And please don’t tell me that I am already grown up and it didn’t happen. Sometimes denial is the best place to be!)
A movie I like, that I don’t think a lot have seen is The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood. Pretty cool movie, came out in the mid-70s though it wasn’t a box office hit. The characters, storyline, and scenery make it kinda fun to watch.
It was indeed – “Louis Fyne, the man with a consistent panda bear shape”.
Gummo.
If you’re heard of Gummo, I will marry you.
–Tim
Bad Boy Bubby – an Australian film that I wouldn’t call a favourite, but one that left me feeling unforgettably repelled.
That’s sweet, Homer. I’ve heard of Gummo, but really, you’re not my type.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve heard of about 90% of the movies mentioned here and have seen about 70% of them. So much for being obscure …
But my own two favorite “obscure” ones :
The Loved One with an all-start cast doing Evelyn Waugh’s book about the American funeral industry. “Something to offend everyone.”
The Ruling Class with Peter O’Toole as an English Lord who believes he is Jesus Christ.
Six-String Samurai
The only people who I know that knows about this are my friends whom I’ve showed.
The Ruling Class? Hillarious? Indeed! Obscure? Don’t think so. Peter O’Toole was actually nominated for an Academy Award for his role. Lots of publicity.
I’ve not only heard of Gummo, I’ve seen it - and wish I hadn’t. It was a truly repulsive movie. Sorry, Homer, I can’t marry you either.
I was going to post The Court Jester until I saw how many people have seen it. I thought it was more obscure than that.
Jackie Gleason (I’m not kidding) & Steve McQueen.
“Until that time Eustus…until that time.”
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum is my favorite comedy, but my wife hates it. (go figure)
All of the Mouse That Roared movies:
Peter Sellers in the first one: The tiny Duchy of Grand Fenwick declares war on the U. S. so they can lose and get foreign aid, but of course they win, etc. The rest weren’t as good, but still funny.
I lifted the descriptions for these, sorry:
The Man In The White Suit (1952)
Classic Ealing comedy finds hapless inventor Alec Guinness creating an indestructible fabric that resists all stains and tears. He attempts to market his find, only to run afoul of both clothing industry moguls and garment workers’ union officials
Best obscure war movie: The Bridge At Remagen (1969)
Highly-charged WWII picture about the last bridge standing over the Rhine and the efforts of American and German troops to control it. George Segal, E.G. Marshall, Bradford Dillman and Ben Gazzara are the Americans; Robert Vaughn leads the Nazis.
(Who writes this stuff?)
Best obscure drama Hawks (1989)
Two terminally ill patients, an English lawyer and an American football player, decide to sneak out of their hospital rooms and live to the max. It’s off to Amsterdam they go, in search of the good life and good brothels. A poignant, life-affirming film starring Timothy Dalton and Anthony Edwards." (A lot better than this description.)
I also loved Yojimbo and Seven Samurai but they probably aren’t obscure enought to count here.
Well, since I’ve posted about my love for Local Hero many times before, and have had other people reply about how much they enjoyed it as well, and since it is occasionally on TV, we’ll discount that one as too well-known and skip on to my next favorite Bill Forsyth film, Housekeeping. Stars Christine Lahti as a woman whose sister kills herself, leaving her two adolescent daughters for Lahti to raise. Someone more ill-suited to this you couldn’t imagine. There are no car chases or explosions, no nudity or sex scenes, and very few male characters of any kind in the whole movie, ensuring its commercial failure.
I also really enjoyed Sherman’s March, a documentary by Ross McElwee that got a fair amount of attention when it came out but which seems to have been almost completely forgotten since then. It feels about 40 minutes too long, but then I can never figure out what I’d have cut either.
One False Move. Written by Billy Bob Thornton, directed by Carl Franklin, starring Thornton, Bill Paxton, and Cynda Williams. I’d probably have missed out on this myself if I hadn’t heard about a college classmate appearing in it (as Bill Paxton’s character’s wife).
jcarbon, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
You love Soldier in the Rain too! I thought I was the only one in the world. Great, yet subtley disquieting movie.
Except for that ultra-dated Watoosee and footracing business in the middle, there are some fine performances in that flick. And how about that improbable casting? Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason. It was written by Blake Edwards (!), IIRC.
It’s got beautiful title graphics, too; but that era was the highwater mark for title graphics.
Oh, I forgot to add:
“With all due alacrity…”
Killer: Directed by John Woo…Chow Yun-Fat’s best movie.
Also, Wu-Tang Clan– the fist movie in the series (I think there are about 15 sequels to it)
Living in Oblivion
Floundering
Both with James LeGros…man have I got a thing for him…