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Post by Shep on Dec 24, 2018 5:38:08 GMT -5
Have any favourite films that aren’t all that well known? Tell us about them here.
A few of mine:
Payday. Great 70s film with Rip Torn as a hard-living country singer who uses/abuses those around him. Novelist Don Carpenter wrote the script; the amazing Shel Silverstein wrote the songs. Bleak, but a much better film about country music than Crazy Heart, Tender Mercies, etc. imo.
Rolling Thunder. Part 70s revenge movie, part fascinating character study about American soldiers coming home after 7 years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. The always great William Devane plays the lead; a wonderfully subtle and introverted performance. A young Tommy Lee Jones is also great as his emotionally scarred comrade.
The Saragossa Manuscript. Beautiful, bizarre 60s Polish film (part of it set during the Napoleonic Wars) features multiple stories within stories. A must-see for foreign film fans. Supposedly Jerry Garcia’s favourite movie!
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Post by Mod City on Jan 10, 2019 23:01:12 GMT -5
Have any favourite films that aren’t all that well known? Tell us about them here. A few of mine: Payday. Great 70s film with Rip Torn as a hard-living country singer who uses/abuses those around him. Novelist Don Carpenter wrote the script; the amazing Shel Silverstein wrote the songs. Bleak, but a much better film about country music than Crazy Heart, Tender Mercies, etc. imo. Rolling Thunder. Part 70s revenge movie, part fascinating character study about American soldiers coming home after 7 years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. The always great William Devane plays the lead; a wonderfully subtle and introverted performance. A young Tommy Lee Jones is also great as his emotionally scarred comrade. The Saragossa Manuscript. Beautiful, bizarre 60s Polish film (part of it set during the Napoleonic Wars) features multiple stories within stories. A must-see for foreign film fans. Supposedly Jerry Garcia’s favourite movie! I feel dumb for posting here, primarily because this forum is made up of a whole lot of people who know a whole lot about a whole lot of obscure movies  Those three are all new to me. I'm pretty sure none of mine are really obscure, but they may not pop up on everybody's radar. JCVD (2008) - A nice flick starring Jean-Claude Van Damme in a role that shows off some surprising acting chops. It's a fictionalized version of certain parts of his life, mixed in with a heist story. The whole thing is hard to predict and surprisingly emotional. Worth the time to watch it. Primer (2004) - An ultra-low budget science fiction movie about some scientists who discover time travel in their garage. The thing keeps getting more and more complicated, and the viewer and the characters start to experience a similar confusion about what's going on. The dry tech dialogue and sparse production aren't for everyone, but it is a compelling watch. Anyone who says they followed the whole plot after their first viewing is either a savant or a liar. I still don't understand it, and I've seen it a few times. Bad screenwriting? Maybe. Probably just the danger of time travel, though. Damnation Alley (1977) - A post-apocalypse movie that includes Jean-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Paul Winfield and Jackie Earl Haley. I saw this when I was a kid on TV at my grandmother's house and struggled for years after to remember what the movie was. A bit cheesy with some bad special effects, but the big vehicle was cool and it had Hannibal from the A-Team. I'm on board. Scavenger Hunt (1979) - Basically a rip-off of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but I still think it's awesome. God knows how much coke they did making this, but with a cast that includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Randall, Vincent Price, Roddy McDowall, Cloris Leachman and Scatman Crothers (just to start), it keeps you watching. It did for me, anyway. Ridiculous, sure, but fun. 84 Charlie MoPic (aka 84C MoPic) (1989) - This is a documentary-style fiction set in Vietnam during the war. Again, low budget. It was wild at the time - I wasn't sure if it was real or not when I first saw it, it was my first time seeing the documentary style in a dramatic movie. I saw it only once on satellite PPV back when it was new, but I'll never forget it. The last shot in the movie is one that has stuck with me these years. I have no idea if it holds up but I'd love to see it again. Not sure it's available out there anywhere.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus 
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Post by Torgo on Jan 12, 2019 22:36:48 GMT -5
I had meant to see JVCD when it came out but I never got around to it. I really need to give that flick a gander.
I'd probably have to rack my brain for a few days to think of some good obscure flicks. I don't know how obscure it is but I got very into 1967's Wait Until Dark when I first saw it a few years ago. Don't Breathe had just come out not long before and I had stumbled upon this movie on IMDB, which is pretty much the opposite premise. It features a very young Alan Arkin and a group of crooks looking for a doll stuffed with drugs that happens to be in Audrey Hepburn's apartment, and since Hepburn's character is blind they try to take advantage of that in various ways. They put on a charade to trick her into helping them find it. The mindgames are fun for the first two acts, then it becomes intense as hell for the final third. This is one of my favorite Hepburn films that I've seen, but it seems most people are more familiar with My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Arkin deserved some sort of award recognition for his role too, but alas as he once said "They don't hand you an Oscar for being mean to Audrey Hepburn."
Also for those who like 50's sci-fi, I just want to say The Monolith Monsters is an underappreciated gem. I enjoyed the hell out of that movie.
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Those three are all new to me. I'm pretty sure none of mine are really obscure, but they may not pop up on everybody's radar.
