I came in here to mention Zero Effect, but I done got beat to it. Good call, people of excellent taste.
I’m going with The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Do you like Hammer vampire movies starring Peter Cushing? Do you like Shaw Brothers kung fu movies? This movie is both of those. A DVD was released in the past couple of years that contains both the original (good) cut of the movie, and the butchered-up version that got released in the U.S. back in the '70s under the title The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula. Make sure you put in the side of the disc that has 7 Golden Vampires first!
Also check out Streets of Fire, a truly odd semi-musical directed by Walter Hill and featuring a very young Diane Lane and Willem Dafoe (usually wearing what can only be described as pleather bib overalls). Holy crap, it was a weird movie but I really enjoyed it.
Oooh! A Perfect World has been mentioned!! I can’t stand Kevin Costner (except for in Bull Durham) but this has to be one of the coolest, hardly seen films I’ve ever watched.
Ok, that said, many of my others have already be mentioned, so far once I’ll keep it brief…
Impromptu with Judy Davis and an unknown Hugh Grant.
Violets Are Blue… because I so dig that unrequited love thing. Plus ellipses!
One Crazy Summer which I found hilarious and I use to want to have John Cusack’s puppies.
Phantasm and what’s not to like? The 70s, guys with long hair and that creepy ass mortician driving a hearse. Can you tell it’s my favorite? Oh, and I name a car, bought on Halloween, Phannie in honor.
The Rose is another from the era that I should’ve been pubescent in. Also started my love affair with screwed up people in depressing movies.
Honorable mention goes to anything fantastical, like The NeverEnding Story. That’s why I’m such a Wonka sucker. Now theeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny too!!
…And a movie that, for some reason, I cannot forget ANY of the script. It’s permanantly lodged in there, making room by kicking out common sense and correct spelling.
I loved Mystery, Alaska and it wasn’t for the stupid humor that took place in the locker room ( which really nearly wrecked the flick for me) it was the relationship between the sheriff ( Russell Crowe) and his wife that I thought was very realistic and sweet.
Breaker Morant was a brilliant film. Hard to find, though. It is a shame. The ending of it has stuck with me all these years.
I don’t remember it much, but I do recall really liking a film called The 7 faces of Doctor Lao starring Tony Randall (playing multiple roles). It was about a Chinese guy (Dr. Lao of course) with a travelling circus of sorts. Very surreal, kind of funny, and some neat special effects (for the 60’s anyway).
A bit more memorable might be the film The Incredible Mister Limpet with Don Knotts. One of those live action mixed with anumation films a la Roger Rabbit. I remember it being a fun movie. After all, a guy gets turned into a fish, so it’s gotta be fun!
Pretty good flick made by George Pal, with a script by Charles Beaumont (who wrote a lot of episodes of the original Twlight Zone, and tragically died young) and special effects by a young Jim Danforth (the poor man’s Ray Harryhausen, which ought not to be taken as an insult). But the book by Charles G. Finney is far superior, and you ought to read it if you get the chance.
I’ll cast a third vote for Quick Change, one of my all-time favorite comedies.
If you’re into mockumentaries, …And God Spoke tops them all (maybe second to Best in Show).
Has nobody mentioned A Bronx Tale? Robert DeNiro’s directorial debut and I believe his final directorial work. Go figure. A look at a mid-60’s neighborhood mob as seen through the eyes of a child (and later teeneager). Smart, sweet and brutal. Chaz Palminteri wrote it, based on experiences from his childhood.
Please, people, keep this thread going! It provides great ammo for future trips to the video store!
This is yet another fan of The man who wasn’t there , but I would like to throw in Milos Forman’s Valmont , which is great great filmmaking just passing everybody by; and while at it, also another gem, namely The Indian Runner but great american actor and this time director Sean Penn.
Neither of these films ever got the recognition they deserved.
They both involve water, but that is just a coinky-dink.
Mean Creek
A study of adolescence not quite like any other I’ve seen.
Heartbreaking, beautiful, honest.
The Deep End
IMDB’s plotline: A woman spirals out of control while trying to keep her son from being found culpable in a murder investigation.
Tilda Swinton is quietly magnificent. Goran Visnjic is persuasive. The film is a sort of lake-blue noirish thriller.
It’s not easy to find but I must recommend “Gigot”, it’s a fabulous film. The story by Jackie Gleason who also composed the music and plays the title role, never uttering a sound during the movie. I liked the original far better than the recent remake with Bill Macy. Macy’s a good actor but no one can match Gleason in this role.
I saw the American remake, Sorcerer not too long after it came out, and finally saw Wages of Fear a few months ago. They’re both good. The original is something of a classic, has better performances and is more character-based. But I also thought that the action scenes (‘suspense scenes’, really) are better arranged and choreographed in the remake. See both movies, and then take a very long shower.
There’s another good French movie from 1960 called Le Trou. It’s a prison-break movie; five men together in a cell working on an elaborate and painstaking escape. I won’t give away more than that, but it’s worth seeing.
Some of my earlier gems were criticized for being not quite hidden enough. If anyone else has seen Le Trou, let me know.
