Know any great but little-known movies?

[red dog 1]

[wcmagumba]

1. "Local Hero"...

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. I love that one

[FalloutShelter]

52. First title to pop into my head.

Love this movie.🍿

[Woodwizard]

2. The gods must be crazy.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

4. THAT one, I did see.

A charming movie.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

3. Those look GREAT!

And I didn't see EITHER of them! Thanks!

[crud]

5. Prospect is my sleeper rec

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7946422/mediaviewer/rm977567488/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Great sci fi, with Pedro Pascal

[some_of_us_are_sane]

10. Thanks. Never saw it

but found it on Tubi. Will be watching, Pedro Pascal is a terrific actor.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. Cradle Will Rock

1999, by Tim Robbins

[LogDog75]

8. Hearts and Souls

The night Thomas Reilly was born, his parents were in an accident with a bus. The passengers on the bus were killed and as ghosts they were tied to Thomas from the day he was born. As a baby and a child, he could see and hear the ghosts and the ghosts loved him. But the also got him in trouble and Social Services was called to talk to his parents. The ghosts decide to "vanish," much to the displeasure of young Thomas, but they're still with him. About 25 years later, the bus driver returns to take them away. He tells them they were supposed to have worked out their personal problems. Now, the ghosts decide to reappear to Thomas to get him to help them resolve the problems in their lives. Thomas is shocked by their reappearance but reluctantly agrees to help them causing him to get into a number of embarrassing and comic situations all the while trying to resolve his own relationship problem with his girlfriend.

This is a cute and funny move starring Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, and Elisabeth Shue. The boy playing young Thomas Reilly is really adorable especially when he's in his school's boy's room singing Walk Like a Man with the ghosts.

[Tetrachloride]

76. ++1. Moreover, a fine ensemble interaction.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. The Secret of Roan Inish.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSA3RfqkYBCzWRB-a8jWX_mcijASldAANLPwzXhj78INjnLfhyo

[Bayard]

36. YES!

[nuxvomica]

65. A brilliant and haunting John Sayles movie

I recommend it too.

[bluedigger]

11. Black Robe

?si=JCZaE9bP-EN4HYvF

[JoseBalow]

16. This was an excellent film

Good call!

[markodochartaigh]

37. Excellent film!

n/t

[ZZenith]

43. Indeed!

Still haunts me in the best way.

[Wiz Imp]

12. Melody (1971)

A British film about 12 year old kids who want to get married. Written by Alan Parker and Starring Jack Wild and Mark Lester who previously starred together in Oliver! and features music by the Bee Gees and a great closing scene using Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children". Just a charming little film told from the viewpoint of the children.

[BootinUp]

13. This one?

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/true_romance

[Coolgoober]

14. Peanut Butter Falcon

[Skittles]

15. love that movie

[JoseBalow]

17. Andrei Rublev (1966)

A truly great but little-known film by Andrei Tarkovsky

Trailer:

(1:42)

Full film:

(3:02:38)

[68er]

18. Nothing But a Man

Why weren't Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln nominated for Oscars for this early Civil Rights-era gem? (Well, okay, the question kind of answers itself, alas.)

Some great recs all through this thread, too.

[red dog 1]

68. Welcome to DU!

[68er]

84. Thank you, Red Dog!

More of a return, really, but glad to once again mix in to some of the convos here, in this time of the Great Unravelling!

[BootinUp]

19. Or this one?

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/midnight_run

[skypilot]

20. "Happy Accidents"

It stars Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio. Marisa stars as Ruby Weaver, a woman with a history of relationships with troubled men who she feels compelled to "fix". She meets a guy named Sam who seems sweet and quite normal until he tells her...
I'm not going to give away what it is that he tells her or how things play out afterwards. I will however stress that if you should come across this movie streaming somewhere and decide to watch it (or if you simply look it up) DO NOT read the synopsis. Every synopsis I've seen of this movie reveals what it is that Sam tells Ruby about himself. I was lucky enough to have read only one review of the movie before I saw it and that reviewer did not spoil things. It's a lot more fun that way. I highly recommend this movie.

[chowmama]

21. I don't know if it's great, but My Favorite Year

I've always thought it was a little jewel of a comedy. Well written and pretty accurate, according to those who actually worked on My Show of Shows. Peter O'Toole is funny and tragic as an aging Errol Flynn type. All the writer characters had equivalents in real life.

[yellowdogintexas]

26. that is definitely a little jewel of a comedy. I loved it nt

[question everything]

22. Go tell the Spartans

The early days of the Vietnam war

[JT45242]

54. agreed, I had it lower in the thread --

Three dimensional characters rather than the caricatures that Platoon made of the soldiers.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

23. One of my FAVORITES.... from 1949

Jeanne Crain & Ethel Barrymore in Elia Kazan's "Pinky" (1949)

The whole film is right on YouTube

[Jeebo]

33. I'll second that one.

Excellent recommendation. Pinky is a great movie. Came out my birth year.

— Ron

[mucifer]

24. "The Conversation" with Gene Hackman directed by Francis Ford Coppola

?si=ERQrmZuV8SHRqfHj

Cindy Williams, Terrie Garr and Harrison Ford are also in it.

[yellowdogintexas]

28. that is a great and very tense movie nt

a similar approach set in East Berlin https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/

[question everything]

25. LA SORCIRE (1956) -- THE BLONDE WITCH Marina Vlady's Dark Spell French Film Noir

[yellowdogintexas]

27. The Magie of Belle Isle

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839654/

We just sort of tripped over it a couple of days ago; then we saw "Morgan Freeman" and it was a done deal.

This is a very sweet movie and Freeman is his usual wonderful self.

Feast of the Seven Fishes https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7846056/
A slice of life story that follows a large Italian family on Christmas Eve as they prepare for the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, reminisce about the past, and seek love in the future. This is a Christmas movie but you don't care if it isn't Christmas when you watch it.

[niyad]

41. Beautiful movie.

[chia]

29. A Man Called Ove (original Swedish version, NOT the American A Man Called Otto)

NB there are several unsuccessful suicide attempts central to the plot main character.

&themeRefresh=1

[HeartsCanHope]

47. I love the Swedish version so much!

Tom Hanks is a favorite actor, but the Swedish version is like the book by Fredrik Backman of the same name, (really good!)

and I just loved Rolf Lassgård, the actor who played Ove. Truly a gem! Highly recommend both Backman's book AND the Swedish film.

[chia]

59. Yes, Lassgrd was perfect, and unforgettable.

I haven't read the book but I will someday when my "to read" stack is smaller.

[3catwoman3]

30. I'm not sure this one is exactly little known - Starman...

…with Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen. One of my favorite movies.

[Enter stage left]

31. Bottle Shock...

A movie about how a California winery beat all of the French wineries in 1976 in France during a blind tasting test. Chateau Montelena beat all of the other wines to be named the best Chardonnay in the test.

It's based on a true story, but is very entertaining with Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Chris Pine as stars. But you will also fall in love with the supporting cast.

Chateau Montelena is in Calistoga, part of Napa Valley.

The French were shocked at just how good the American wines were.

If you have ever enjoyed a good wine you will enjoy this movie.

[niyad]

40. One of my favourites.

[blm]

82. Mel Brooks named Bottle Shock as one of his favorite movies, too.

A very close friend of mine wrote it. 🤓

[Aristus]

95. I saw that a few years ago.

I loved the fact that it wasn’t some kind of wine-centered flexing contest, with the vintner equivalent of a training montage set to “You’re The BEST!”.

The Napa Valley people were just like “We’ve always made wine this way. You’re just now noticing?”

[NeoTrajan]

103. A similar tale, from Oregon's Pinot Noir region

[boonecreek]

32. Hammett.

Fictional story of author Dashiell Hammett. Co-starred Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner
and in a nice touch Elisha Cook Jr. from the Maltese Falcon.

[Jeebo]

34. The Wall

The Wall is one of the best science fiction movies ever made, IMHO. Also one of the best foreign language movies I've ever seen. And I don't know anybody who's ever seen it, or even heard of it. I think you can watch it for free on YouTube.

— Ron

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745686/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_10_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_The%2520Wall

[fierywoman]

35. Until the End of the World.

[Bayard]

38. Two with Johnny Depp

"Benny & Joon," and, "What's eating Gilbert Grape." Gilbert has the best performance I have ever seen out of Leonardo DeCaprio.

[Wiz Imp]

49. Another one from Johnny Depp: "Cry Baby". When John Waters went mainstream.

[Bayard]

70. Never heard of that one

I'll look it up!

[blm]

81. My daughter's favorite movie as a kid. Rachel Sweet sings the female lead.

[Wiz Imp]

87. James Intveld does the singing for Johnny Depp.

It was Waters second "mainstream" film after the original Hairspray. It's pure Waters camp, so if one doesn't like camp (or musicals), you won't like this movie. It's one of Johnny Depp's first movies and he's terrific in it. A great eccentric cast (Rikki Lake, Traci Lords, Iggy Pop, Willem DaFoe, Patty Hearst, and a bunch of 50's actors and actresses). And a great soundtrack. One of my most unexpectedly favorite movies - went in with low expectations and ended up loving it.

&list=RDGpAK6945OQE&start_radio=1

&list=RDpmYX3UC950s&start_radio=1

[Mad_Dem_X]

93. Cry-Baby is an awesome movie!

I liked the songs so much, I bought the soundtrack album.

"Electricity killed my parents!"

[MuseRider]

101. Agreed on all of those.

Benny and Joon was wonderful (hope I spelled those right, typing with a cat across my arms), I agree on all of those.Benny and Joon was really a nice show.

[niyad]

39. "A Woman Rebels" and "Grace Quigley", both with Katharine Hepburn.

[jgo]

42. The Lobster 2015

different type of movie, but entertaining

[Aristus]

96. Bizarre, soul-crushing little film.

I’m glad I watched it, but I won’t watch it again.

[ZZenith]

44. Big Night deserved way more accolades than it got.

It’s about food, and a lot more.

“SINK YOUR TEETH INTO THE ASS OF LIFE!!!”

?si=PudiUQ8QuHcnBNHe

[Aristus]

97. The final five minutes or so rank high in the best silent acting ever.

n/t

[ZZenith]

100. Agreed.

Love can be as simple as cooking an egg for someone.

[CTyankee]

45. A Room with a View.

This is a beautiful movie with a musical score that includes "O Mio Babbio Caro" which is a lovely aria.

[GReedDiamond]

46. "The World's Fastest Indian" starring Anthony Hopkins...

...the true story about an old guy from New Zealand who sets a world land speed record at Bonneville with his vintage Indian motorcycle.

Full movie, for free on YouTube:

[OldBaldy1701E]

48. 'La Pacte des Loups'

Great film. Strange, but great.

[VGNonly]

50. Lonely are the Brave

Story by Edward Abbey, screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, starring Kirk Douglas.

[Ferrets are Cool]

51. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

[JT45242]

53. Two classic foreign films: Das Boot and Au Revoir Les Enfants

I'll add an obscure Vietnam war movie : Go Tell the Spartans

A couple of forgotten comedies : A mighty Wind or Top Secret (the airplane groups spoof of spy movies)

[genxlib]

55. I loved Jo Jo Rabbit

I think it is one of the funniest yet poignant movies I have ever seen

On paper it sounds like a really bad idea. A naive boy in WW2 Germany idealizes Hitler and daydreams Adolf as an invisible friend. Meanwhile, his mother is in the resistance and harbors a young jewish girl.

Both funny and heartbreaking it walks an incredible tight rope on such a sensitive subject.

Really great film. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2584384/

[Onthefly]

56. "Meantime" film by Mike Leigh.

From Criterion.com https://www.criterion.com/films/28805-meantime

A slow-burning depiction of economic degradation in Thatcher’s England, Mike Leigh’s Meantime is the culmination of the writer-director’s pioneering work in television. Unemployment is rampant in London’s working-class East End, where a middle-aged couple and their two sons languish in a claustrophobic public-housing flat. As the brothers (Phil Daniels and Tim Roth) grow increasingly disaffected, Leigh punctuates the grinding boredom of their daily existence with tense encounters, including with a priggish aunt (Marion Bailey) who has managed to become middle-class and a blithering skinhead on the verge of psychosis (a scene-stealing Gary Oldman, in his first major role). Informed by Leigh’s now trademark improvisational process and propelled by the lurching rhythms of its Beckett-like dialogue, Meantime is an unrelenting, often blisteringly funny look at life on the dole.
FILM INFO

United Kingdom
1984
107 minutes

[Ritabert]

57. "The Commitments" bringing soul music to Dublin

[red dog 1]

73. Great movie!

I've watched it at least 20 times.

All the characters in the band did their own playing, except for Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

Andrea Corr, of the Irish Folk/Rock band "The Corrs" played Jimmy Rabbitte's sister.
Her brother, Jim Corr appears briefly as a member of the skating rink band, "Avant-Garde-A-Clue"

[Ritabert]

74. Good to know.

[CrispyQ]

58. "Romeo is Bleeding" w/Gary Oldman & Lena Olin.

Oldman is one of my favorite actors, but Lena Olin makes the movie!! "He loves those toes."

[skypilot]

66. I LOVE this movie.

Lena Olin gives me chills in this. That laugh!!!

[Midnight Writer]

60. 7 Up. Documentary crew visits people every seven years and document their lives.

They started following their subjects when they were seven years old. They are now 70.

This series of films fascinates me. You can plainly see the seven-year-old's personality peeking through the eyes of the sixty-three year-old.

[Emile]

61. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[red dog 1]

69. Little Known?

(It was a great film)

[markodochartaigh]

62. Aronofsky's Pi

The Glass Bottom Boat, Quest for Fire, Cyberworld 3D

[TexasBushwhacker]

72. I loved Pi. Darren Aronofsky was finally able to get the rights back

He did an 8K restoration and played it in theaters for its 25th anniversary.

[nuxvomica]

63. Dave Made a Maze (2017)

After a weekend away, Annie comes home to discover her boyfriend, Dave, has spent the time constructing a maze of corrugated cardboard in the middle of their apartment. It looks about the size of a camping tent but somehow Dave is stuck inside it. He pleads for help and warns that "it's bigger than it looks from the outside." So begins a funny, absurd and sometimes dark adventure as Annie leads a fellowship of Dave's slacker friends into his incomprehensible creation: a ramshackle labyrinth of corrugated cardboard, full of booby traps, transformative portals, grand caverns, flying origami birds and, of course, a minotaur. The maze itself is alive, and growing and Dave realizes the only way to escape it is to complete it.

The film is quirky and silly most of the time, but there are scenes where the filmmakers' high degree of set craftsmanship and unwavering commitment to a crazy story are astonishing. It will remind you of every makeshift fort you built as a kid and manages to evoke those fleeting moments of childhood when you actually believed you had to jump from the couch to the coffee table because for a split second the floor really, really, really was made of lava. It's a fun ride, mining laughs from unexpected places and perfectly-timed, deadpan social commentary. Half-way through, Dave delivers an impromptu speech, a Millenials' lament that concisely indicts the barrenness of 21st-century existence. Fundamentally, "Dave Made A Maze" is a thought-provoking rumination on the creative spirit and how it can overwhelm us, and that perhaps we should just let it sometimes.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11439886


Trailer:

Full movie:

[milestogo]

64. The other night I came across a movie called 25th Hour

which was made in 2002 by Spike Lee. Stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ed Norton, and Rosario Dawson.

Its a rough watch and runs a little long but its a great film.

[JoseBalow]

67. Closely Watched Trains (1966)

This great but little-known gem won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film...

(4:13)

[VGNonly]

71. Matewan 1987

[Borogove]

75. The Arrival. An alien invasion flick starring Charlie Sheen. I found it very entertaining.

[Tetrachloride]

77. Mucize (Turkish) The Miracle. (2015)

[Tetrachloride]

78. Never Cry Wolf

note: some of the science of the wolves is unfortunately fiction.

[Tetrachloride]

79. Trollhunter

Norwegian. Surprisingly, the dubbed version is excellent.

[UpInArms]

80. Breaking Away

[Trueblue Texan]

83. Sordid Lives. nt

[LearnedHand]

91. I love that film

[LuvLoogie]

85. Some Girls (1988)...

with a young Patrick Dempsey & Jennifer Connelly. Set in Quebec during Christmas time. About a young man in love with one of three sisters. He comes to visit her at her familys home things get odd.

Also,

Map of the Human Heart (1992)
A really moving story of a friendship forming between two children at a Canadian boarding school in the 1930s. And follows their relationship into their adulthood. The two child actors are just fantastic.

[Aristus]

98. Some Girls.

I thought Jennifer Connelly was beautiful in “Labyrinth”. I was gobsmacked when I saw her in “Some Girls” in that black sable fur coat and hat!

Full disclosure: She’s only a year younger than me. My attraction is appropriate.

[LuvLoogie]

99. That hair. That face. Her aloofness.

Poor Patrick Dempsey. LOL

Yeah. She was just like on a young Liz Taylor level gorgeous. What a great flick. She was perfect for that role. It made his love sickness and ultimate transformation absolutely believable.

[EverHopeful]

86. So many great one here and some I'm adding to my must see list

Also want to add Once Were Warriors.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0110729/

Also Bon Cop Bad Cop and
Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 are favorites of mine.

[Bluestocking]

88. A Boy And His Dog Movie came out in 1975

Based on the Harlan Ellison novel. Great storyline.

[Morbius]

89. Rare Exports (2010): Finland

It's in Finnish. A little bit scary at times, but ultimately heartwarming. One of my favorite Christmas movies.

[-misanthroptimist]

90. Several that I like

A couple have already been mentioned:

- Trollhunter
- Dave Made a Maze
- True Romance (bloody but very good)
- Chompy and the Girls
- First Time Caller (power through the first 20 minutes of shock jock dribble -it's worth it)

[LogDog75]

92. Start the Revolution Without Me

starring Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland. A comedy set during the French Revolution.

[Aristus]

94. Kevin Reynolds' "The Beast Of War" from 1988.

It’s about the crew of a Soviet tank in Afghanistan in 1981. It’s widely considered by tankers and tank enthusiasts to be the best tank movie of all time.

Outside of those circles, though, it’s barely known. For some reason, the studio buried the film on release, opening it in a tiny number of theaters for a short time before sending it to video.

[Lulu KC]

102. Avenue Montaigne

If you love Paris. Sweet and funny.

[The Blue Flower]

104. The Death of Stalin

Robin and Marian
Paint

[Aristus]

107. My parents took me to see "Robin And Marian. I was seven.

I had just seen the Disney Robin Hood a year or so earlier. I was shocked to see an older, embittered Robin Hood. And Marian poisons him and herself while he’s dying after being wounded in his fight with the Sheriff.

That was pretty heavy stuff for a kid.

[KT2000]

105. The Quiet Girl

An Irish film about a young girl who is sent to live with a cousin for a summer in the 1960s. Absolutely gorgeous film.

Also, Small Things Like These which is set in Ireland and is about the Magdalene Laundries and a man who grew up with a single mother (Cillian Murphy).

[Dear_Prudence]

106. Man from Earth

A sci-fi movie about a 14,000 year old man who has never aged and the reaction of his closest colleagues when his secret is uncovered. It is all dialogue, but the ideas in the movie are mind-bending. It does not support the mainstream Christianity story, so it could be disturbing for some folks.

Silence Running is another old sci-fi movie with Bruce Dern. The pacing is slow, but it is about an astronaut crew caring for ecological space pods that are supposed to someday re-seed a totally ecologically devastating Earth. When earth politicians cdecide to defend the project, moral dilemmas arise. Dejan vu all over again...