My most favorite movie ever is Wim Wenders’ Faraway, So Close! (In Weiter Ferne, So Nah!) The only people I know who’ve seen it are those I’ve mentioned it to. It almost wasn’t too obscure, since the U2 video for the song from the movie (Stay) has a bunch of similar scenes in it.
Another movie I really liked that will unfortunately fade into obscurity is – well, it’s hard to say what the title is (that’s how obscure it is, it wasn’t released with a consistent title). So to describe it, it was directed by Shunji Iwai and starred Miho Nakayama as two people who look exactly alike. At various times, it had the title Love Letter, Letters of Love, and When I Close My Eyes. I believe the Japanese title is closest to “Love Letter”, since that is what is written in English on the original film (not a subtitle).
I’m not sure, but I thought The Quiet Earth was made in New Zealand, not Australia. Could be wrong about that.
Another obscure one from those parts is Trust, though I have seen it in some video stores.
I also really liked Grand Canyon, but few seem to have heard of it.
I have to jump in here with a correction. The author’s name is Stanislaw Lem.
And I just thought of another obscure movie. I don’t know that it’s a favorite, but I’ll never forget it. Sorcerer. It’s about four men who have to disappear from society for various reasons (Roy Scheider is a getaway driver for the mob who crashes while leaving a bank robbery and limps away with the loot) and are all hiding in a town in Central America. They’re all about as down-on-your-luck as it’s possible to get, and they hear of a job transporting some unstable dynamite (like, if you have to sneeze, go to another hemisphere unstable) 200 miles through the jungle to an oil well fire. It turns into some kind of epic, gritty road picture. And nothing happens halfway in this movie. Every rainstorm is a monsoon. They cross a rotting, swinging rope bridge in big-ass army trucks. It’s a remake of an old French film called The Wages of Fear, but I haven’t tracked that one down yet.
No, I was thinking of Jason and the Argonauts, but the early 60s version, not the recent remake that was on NBC a couple of months ago. I just totally smeared Ray Harryhausen’s name because for the life of me I couldn’t remember it. Although Clash of the Titans was not too bad.
Well I saw one a few months ago called Who Wants to Get Laid? it was some British film. Funny as HELL. they had some guy getting it on with a lawn mower. I asked if anyone had see this a few weeks ago and no one had. as for the other ones I’ve seen Local Hero, have the soundtrack on both tape and CD, I’ve also seen Solaris, twice, and Stalker. Both intersting movies, but I prefered Stalker. Also saw one by the same director but now I have no idea what it was even about. I too also liked, and own LA Story.
I’ve already mentioned some of my “obscure” favorites on this board:
“Creator”. Peter O’Toole stars with an impressive cast in a witty science fiction movie with NO special effects, about a Nobel Laureate who wants to clone his dead wife. A cloning movie that’s not stupid!!! Screenplay by Jeremy Leven, based on his book.
“The Last of Sheila” – the best mystery ever! Written by Stephen Sondheim (!) and Anthony Perkins (!!!) The illegitimate half-brother of “Sleuth” (also recommended), this one also features a sadistic wealthy games player who plays mind games with his invitees. An impressive cast (including Dyan Cannon, James Mason, Raquel Welch, James Coburn, and Richard Benjamin), it features a LOT of twists, but almost none of them gratuitous. It gives you all the clues, but I guarantee you’ll never guess the ending.
“Panic in the Year Zero”, “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”, “It the Terror from Beyond Space” – excellent, neglected sf films.
I agree with “Atomic Cafe” – scary stuff. The best scene is newsreel footage of “Richard Nixon ringing the bell for Mental Health.” (!)
The Quatermass movies – released in the US under the titles “The Creeping Unknown”, “Enemy from Space”, and “Five Million Years to Earth”, especially the last one, which is one of the cleverest sf movies made. Avoid the last Quatermass movie – “The Quatermass Conclusion” – like the plague.
I love all Harryhausen flicks, but “Jason and the Argonauts” is NOT obscure. Nor is “Clash of the Titans”, which IS a Harryhausen flick – it was his last. And it did star Harry Hamlin. Obscure Harryhausen flicks are “50 Million Miles to Earth” and “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”, which are worth loking up.
Hmm…who’s in it?
'Nother classic obscure flick: Sindbad of the Seven Seas starring Lou Ferrigno as Sindbad. Holy CRAP is it bad! I mean, Hellen Keller would walk out of this one! Because of the Hulk’s speech impediment, his lines were (badly) dubbed. To make him feel better, I guess, so were everybody else’s! Stop-motion “special effects,” and some of the worst writing I’ve ever heard.
If you like MST3K-ing movies, RENT IT RENT IT RENT IT!!!
Interesting, though: the characters: Prince Ali, Princess Jasmine (sound familiar?), the Sultan looks exactly like the one in Disney’s Aladdin, and the bad guy’s name is Jafar–Dead Ringer for the Disney version.
OK, you want obscure? Two of the funniest screwball comedies ever made, both with the great Lyda Roberti.
“Three-Cornered Moon” (1933) is about a Brooklyn family who loses their money in the Depression and tries to work; Lyda is the Swedish cook (Claudette Colbert stars as the spoiled daughter).
“Million-Dollar Legs” (1932) can only be described as . . . Well, odd. Jack Oakie is scouting for the 1932 Olympics in Klopstokia, a kingdom ruled by W.C. Fields, where all the men are named George and all the women are named Angela. Lyda plays the resident spy, Mata Machree (“The Woman No Man Can Resist”).
Neither film’s out on video, dammit. But I have them on tape from TV, if you wanna come up ‘n’ see me sometime . . .
blessedwolf - the only famous actor in it is John Belushi who was also in the 1980 film ‘blues brothers’(which was also directed by John Landis) with Dan Akroyd.
Also has a great soundtrack
Oh, man, Koyaanisqatsi, a tab of album cover, and Tales From Topographical Oceans ('cause no self-respecting burnout would listen to Philip Glass), in a leather couch.
There was a time when I thought that was the best experiece I would ever have.
