I’ve seen a good many of the titles mentioned - worth adding, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek releases today on DVD; I’ve also come into a great affection for The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.
if you follow the link to the IMDB page, you can get VHS copies (not available on DVD, sadly 
) from Amazon.com (U.S. and Canada), more than likely they’re used, as the movie has been out of print for ages, but there are still copies available, i have one i purchased from an IMDB Amazon linked store, the tape came from Canada, and was an obvious overstock, still new in shrink-wrap
And I can rent this how again…? 
It’s a fine line here - I’m looking for fairly obscure good movies, but not so obscure that I can’t rent them and watch them myself. So many good ideas here - I’ve seen some of them, and agree that they are indeed great movies (the exception being The Producers - what a crock of kaka.)
I agree that The Producers movie seems very dated, and a lot less zany and funny today than it must have been in the late '60s. But they are coming out with a remake later this year, actually an adaptation of the hit Broadway musical that was based on the original movie. I have a feeling the updates and changes will make the newer movie seem a lot better by comparison.
I was going to say that! I thought it was great fun.
And another vote for the Man who wasn’t there. I loved the scene in the prison meeting room where Tony Shaloub is talking about Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. As usual, Shaloub was awesome in that film.
Anytime a thread like this appears, I will continue to heap praise on the Zero Effect until it is re-released to the general public and becomes one of the biggest box office grossing movies of all time 
Seriously, this one effort by Jacob Kasdan is better than anything is dad Larry has ever put together (no offense to Lawrence). This is one of the few movies that I actually like Bill Pullman in.
I don’t know if **Sexy Beast ** qualifies in this thread, but it’s certainly a good one. Any film that makes Ben Kingsley seem terrifying has got to be worth a look.
The Station Agent isn’t exactly well known, but it’s well-acted, a bit slow-paced, kind of funny, kind of sad, and pretty darn good overall. Besides, how many movies that aren’t fantasies or comedies have a little person (Peter Dinklage) in the lead role?
Crossroads (no, not the Britney Spears roadtrip film) starring Ralph Macchio is essentially a variation on the same theme you hear in the song* The Devil went down to Georgia*. But instead of fiddles, it’s guitars! And Satan’s, or should I say Ol’ Scratch’s guitar player is none other than Steve Vai.
A very recent film that might still be in some theaters is Layer Cake. Similar in style to Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, and Snatch, it’s slick, violent, and funny at times. Colm Meaney is a freakin hard-ass!
I’d also like to cast my vote for Billy Elliot. It’s an amazing film.
Wow, someone else has seen Zero Effect! I liked it, particularly as a rare semi-serious role for Ben Stiller. I think a lot of fans of buddy movies and mysteries would enjoy it.
How about Six-String Samurai, a low-budget post-apocalyptic action movie about a guitar-playing swordsman who is wandering through the wastelands of America on his way to the kingdom of “Lost Vegas.” On the way, he fights gangs of evil bowlers, cavemen, a 1950s sitcom-style family of cannibals, the entire Russian Army, and Death himself, in the form of a heavy metal guitarist. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is VERY low-budget (and it features the most annoying performance by a child actor EVER), but is has some very cool action sequences and an amazing soundtrack by the Red Elvises, a Siberian surf/rockabilly band. Oh yeah, and our bespectacled titular hero is supposed to be Buddy Holly.
I was updating my Netflix queue with some of the suggestions on this thread and saw that Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior has been released on DVD. An excellent martial arts film, no (or very little) CGI, lots of action and a lot of fun.
“Nice tuxedo. Nice tuxedo to die in.”
Local Hero (1983) starring Peter Riegert … Mac
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
Waking Ned Devine (1998)
Real Genius (1985)
starring Val Kilmer … Chris Knight
My Favorite Year (1982)
Starring Peter O’Toole … Alan Swann
Couple of points about some posts above me:
I would hardly call Billy Elliot and East i s East hiddn gems of films, they were both big hits here in the UK.
Another vote for The Man who Would be King and the original The Ladykillers.
Anyway, my suggestions-
Fong Sai-Yuk - an early Jet Li film, don’t bother with the dubbed one.
Renaissance Man with Danny De Vito, nobody seems to have heard of it but it’s one of my favoutire films.
I have a lot of these:
Interstate 60 - No one has ever seen this due to some un-PC plot twists (that are very light hearted and tongue in cheeck), despite a good cast and a very clever script.
The Salton Sea - great Val Kilmer action flick, probably not too well known due to grotesque amounts of drug use.
The Quiet American - Michael Caine at his best as an old school british gentleman guy in the middle of a spygame/love affair in Vietnam
Human Traffic - Ever wonder what they do for fun in Wales? This should answer it.
The Last Temptation of Christ - Everyone’s heard of it, but how many people actually saw it? Scorsese gets bonus points for having Bowie play Pilate.
May - A mix of horror/weirdness that is just unforgettable
Damn, my memory sucks I opened this thread planing to start with:
Equilibrium - the reason why Christian Bale can do no wrong(even if he chose to star in a Rob Shneider movie :eek: ). This is how action should be done, this is how Matrix rip offs should be done, this is how distopean fiction should be done, this is just great.
Comedies:
*The Hot Rock * has a amazing cast (George Segal, Robert Redford, Zero Mostel). The best American caper movie I’ve ever seen.
2 by Bill Forsythe*, a very quirky Scottish director, Gregory’s Girl about a uncocordinated teenaged geek who decides to become a soccer player because he falls hard for the the best player in the school, a cute blonde girl & That Sinking Feeling about a group of Glasgow teens living in the Gorbals (think Harlem or Watts Scottish style) who decide to commit a robbery to better their lives. He also directed Local Hero.
Joshua Then & Now a semi-autobiographical picture about Canadian writer Mordechai Richler starring James Woods in a hilarious role with a great performance by Alan Arkin as his small-time criminal father. The stipper mother who decides to entertain her son’s bar-mitzvah guests with a performance is worth the price of a rental by itself.
For Drama:
The Hit is about a group of hoods sent to Spain to retrieve an ex-hitman who thinks he has retired. They’ve come to bring him back to England to kill him. It’s an oddly lyrical and peaceful movie considering it’s subject matter and resolution.
I’d also recommend Kiss of the Spiderwoman starring Raul Julia and William Hurt. Physically, most of it takes place in a jail cell In Brazil but mentally and spiritually the scope is far grander. Both actors give incredible performances.
One more movie worth seeing is McCabe and Mrs Miller. It’s set in a lumber camp in the Pacific Northwest and is only tangentially about the title characters. It’s much more about the transition from frontier to civilization in the American West. That sounds tedious but it’s a Robert Altman film and it’s not tedious. It also has one of the most interesting shootouts ever filmed.
*whatever happened to him anyhow?
Not sure if it belongs here but Strictly Ballroom is a gem, hidden or otherwise.
It’s Baz Luhrmann’s first film before going onto critical acclaim with William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge.
Strictly Ballroom is, IMHO, not just his best film but one of my all time favorites. It proves that a higher budget does not equate better film making.
In fact, I might have to pull out the DVD right now and watch it again.
My Favorite Year excellent little film. " I’m not an actor! I’m a movie Star!"
I love Peter O’Toole. Who has, btw, a double phallic name
I found the movie version of The Producers so bad that I am very reluctant to waste any more time on any new versions. Even my husband hated it, and this is a guy who can sit through just about anything, includingTeenage Space Vampires.
I’m adding to the NetFlix queue too. What a great thread.
My choice is Big Bad Love, which might be the only one of Larry Brown’s stories to be filmed, yet.
It’s about a southern writer with ex-wife and booze problems, and it has some imaginative fantasy sequences. I think it would appeal especially to struggling writers.
It was good to see Michael Parks again, even if I didn’t know it was him until I saw the credits.
[ul]
[li]I Wanna Hold Your Hand–Early Zemeckis/Spielberg teen comedy about a group of NJ teens going to NY to see the Beatles. Funniest “teen movie” of all time, IMHO.[/li][li]Alligator–Bob Forster, Henry Silva and a 20-ft alligator in the sewers–and written by John Sayles![/li][li]Heaven Help Us–Despite the painful memories for those of us who went to Catholic HS, a great film with a very satisfying ending:the brutal teacher being fired by the sympathetic principal[/li][/ul]