OT: Movies you probably never heard of but ought to check out.

[Jingo]

A great thriller .... one of my favorite Robert Redford movies and Max Van Sydow was amazing in it .... dirty business, for sure

My family and I tend to rate movies by how many usable quotes there are like, "I think we'll go up to the Bronx and have a look for ourselves" from The Warriors [1979] .. or .. "You can't handle the truth" from A Few Good Men [1992]. Likewise, 3 Days of the Condor is awash in usable quotes. It's also the first movie that I can recall where the hero had a Chinese girlfriend [like me, I have had two long-term Chinese girlfriends]

John Houseman, Faye Dunaway & Cliff Robertson contributed mightily to this fine fillum [as they say in Bvooklyn]

" No Mr Higgins, I don't miss the action from the Great War .. but I DO miss the clarity"

"Your photos are all cold, lifeless and depressing .. they're like [pause] November"

"You have good eyes. Not kind, but they don't lie, and they don't look away much, and they don't miss anything. I could use eyes like that."

"Listen. I work for the CIA. I am not a spy. I just read books! We read everything that's published in the world. And we... we feed the plots - dirty tricks, codes - into a computer, and the computer checks against actual CIA plans and operations. I look for leaks, I look for new ideas... We read adventures and novels and journals. I... I... Who'd invent a job like that?"

"We have games. That's all. We play games. 'What if?' 'How many men?' 'What would it take?' 'Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a regime?"

"Oil fields. Oil. That's it, isn't it? This whole damn thing - killing everyone in my unit - was about oil! Wasn't it? Wasn't it?"

"It bothers me that I can't tell people what I do .. and I actually trust a few people. That's a problem."

"I don't interest myself in "why". I think more often in terms of "when", sometimes "where"; always "how much"."

"I don't think I want to know you very well. I don't think you're going to live much longer."

Terrific!

 

[Alibi Ike]

If any of you missed The Peanut Butter Falcon, it is a great touching movie. Shia LeBouff even says the filming of it has changed him profoundly. It is a really sweet movie.

Very good movie. Different. Highly recommend it.

 

[zymurg]

The Proposition 2006 is an Australian Western, great cast Ray Winstone, John Hurt,Emily Watson, and Guy Pearce among others. There are no heroes only survivors.

 

[BBallF]

I thought I was the only one who watched that. I very much enjoyed it.

It is on Showtime on Demand so I watched it again. I couldn't understand why it did so poorly at the box office. The movie made 12 Million but cost 20 Million all in. The critics liked it with one giving it 4 out of 4 stars. All acknowledged strong performances by the lead characters with solid music. It was also David Bowie's last time on film. So what was the problem? It said the marketing campaign was terrible and it just flew under the radar because of it and hardly anyone saw it so there was no word of mouth or buzz about it. Thoroughly enjoyable with no sex, profanity, nudity, or violence and at least one solid adult theme. Too bad.

 

[BBallF]

It is on Showtime on Demand so I watched it again. I couldn't understand why it did so poorly at the box office. The movie made 12 Million but cost 20 Million all in. The critics liked it with one giving it 4 out of 4 stars. All acknowledged strong performances by the lead characters with solid music. It was also David Bowie's last time on film. So what was the problem? It said the marketing campaign was terrible and it just flew under the radar because of it and hardly anyone saw it so there was no word of mouth or buzz about it. Thoroughly enjoyable with no sex, profanity, nudity, or violence and at least one solid adult theme. Too bad.

The title is Bandslam, set in Lodi, New Jersey.

 

[Steelerone]

I am a lover of movies! I have a collection of movies from 1915 to the present day! As of now at #1604 between Video and DVD's! My surprise movies are:
1. STEALING HOME, 1999, with Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster & Harold Ramis. It follows Harmon's Billy Wyatt, from HS baseball player to adulthood, and Jodie Foster is his friend and mentor with Ramis his best buddy. A coming-of-age movie!
2.. A WALK IN THE SUN, 1945, A WWII movie with G.I's in Italy. Great cast of Dana Andrews, LLoyd Bridges, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland. A platoon going to try to take a German held farmhouse.
3. SAHARA, 1943, another great cast Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish. WWII American tank crew with allied soldiers in North Africa.
4. SHENANDOAH, 1965, James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, About a family in VA during the Civil War.
5. TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE,2012, Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, Clint is an old-time Baseball Scout in the Braves organization that is losing his sight and his estranged daughter, Adams, goes on his scouting trip, for a stud young outfielder.
6. FORT APACHE 1948, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, 1949, and RIO GRANDE 1950,,The trilogy of John Wayne/John Ford, Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, John Agar, Ward Bond in Fort Apache, Yellow Ribbon, has Wayne, Joanne Dru,John Agar,Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr. and 3rd Rio Grande, has Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Johnson, Carey, Jr. Takes place in the late 1870's. A U.S.A. cavalry dealing with hostile indians.

Rshermvikes, if you enjoyed A Walk In The Sun you might enjoy another movie of the same time period called "The Purple Heart". Great cast. I did not know this but some of it was based on one of the captured crews from the famous "Doolittle Raid" which took place shortly after WW2 began. And If you like war movies "The Iron Cross", a movie about a German platoon in a battle with Russian forces is great.

 

[MdStang]

Late to the party but here goes:

1970s - The Molly Maguires Sean Connery and Richard Harris at their best in this tale of Irish terrorists in the 19th century coal mines of Pa. Bar fights, rugby matches, mine explosions and police shootouts.

1980s - Breaker Morant The story of 3 wrongly convicted Australian officers in the Boer War. Action and courtroom drama with Bryan Brown and Edward Woodward.

1990s - Sense and Sensibility The best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson. Keep an eye out for Hugh Laurie (TV's House). Get the hankies ready.

2000s - The Prestige Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as cutthroat illusionists. Directed by Christopher Nolan of The Dark Knight and Dunkirk. David Bowie has a cameo as Tesla (the inventor, not the band).

2010s - Hell Or High Water Two brothers go on a bank robbing spree to raise money to save the family farm from bank foreclosure. The great Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine in his best role to date. Excellent soundtrack.

 

[Bigboote]

1990s - Sense and Sensibility The best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson. Keep an eye out for Hugh Laurie (TV's House). Get the hankies ready.

For a two-hour movie, I absolutely agree. Hugh Laurie is great (halfway between House and Bertie Wooster) as is Alan Rickman and the leads (including Hugh Grant).

I still go with the Jennifer Ehle-Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice as the best adaptation if you include mini-series. We're halfway through our umpteenth viewing of it (I think we've seen the Emma Thompson S&S about umpteen minus one times), and it never gets old.

I think we have every version of a Jane Austen book made since about 1970, including a few clunkers. The BBC version of Sense and Sensibility from the 70's actually didn't include the younger sister. I think it was four hours long, and no room for Margaret?

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Late to the party but here goes:

1970s - The Molly Maguires Sean Connery and Richard Harris at their best in this tale of Irish terrorists in the 19th century coal mines of Pa. Bar fights, rugby matches, mine explosions and police shootouts.

1980s - Breaker Morant The story of 3 wrongly convicted Australian officers in the Boer War. Action and courtroom drama with Bryan Brown and Edward Woodward.

1990s - Sense and Sensibility The best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson. Keep an eye out for Hugh Laurie (TV's House). Get the hankies ready.

2000s - The Prestige Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as cutthroat illusionists. Directed by Christopher Nolan of The Dark Knight and Dunkirk. David Bowie has a cameo as Tesla (the inventor, not the band).

2010s - Hell Or High Water Two brothers go on a bank robbing spree to raise money to save the family farm from bank foreclosure. The great Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine in his best role to date. Excellent soundtrack.

Breaker Morant was one of the greatest movies ever made, and easily one of the greatest movies most people never saw.

Excellent catch!!!!

 

[Sakibomb25]

Great thread! Here are some movies that are a bit under the radar, imho:

Handsome Devil (2016): Ned and Conor are forced to share a bedroom at their boarding school. The loner and the star athlete at this rugby-mad school form an unlikely friendship until it's tested by the authorities.

End of the Century (Fin de Siglo) (2019): Two men meet in Barcelona and after spending a day together they realize that they have already met twenty years ago.

The Intervention (2016): A weekend getaway for four couples takes a sharp turn when one of the couples discovers the entire trip was orchestrated to host an intervention on their marriage.

About Time (2013): At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019): A young woman decides to make positive changes in her life by training for the New York City Marathon.

 

[nwhoopfan]

About Time (2013)

This one starts a little slow but really closes strong.

Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)

This was less comedic than I thought it was going to be, but was really well done. I don't think I'd seen Jillian Bell in a starring role before, she was excellent.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

The Thin Red Line
1998 WW2 PTO film with a very recognizable cast.
Believe it is a remake and considered better than the original.

 

[Waquoit]

We watched The Lady in the Van last night with Maggie Smith. Well done, ended up getting to me.

 

[zymurg]

A couple of horror films: "Let Me In" a Swedish tween vampire film. The American re-make "Let the Right One In" is also worth a look. "Ginger Snaps" a wild teen girl werewolf movie, solid very solid despite a tiny budget.

""The Dresser" Shakespearean and personal drama during the Blitz starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay.
If you haven't seem "The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner," you certainly should, Another black and white classic "The Leopard" starring Burt Lancaster as Sicilian aristocrat in the late 19th century is a masterpiece. The novel is a great read too.

 

[BBallF]

Watched "Almost Famous" last night. Semi autobiographical version of Cameron Crowe's experiences as a young writer for Rolling Stone. Worth a watch. Great performances by Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup. Another loser at the box office but really good.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

OK, I have to add this one: The 1990 Italian movie, "Everybody's Fine," (In Italian- "Stanno tutti bene") starring Marcello Mastroianni, and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. It was one of the most touching, sad, and unforgettable movies I've seen. And qualifies for this thread because it was marvelous, but I doubt more than a few this side of the Atlantic ever saw it.

Everybody's Fine (1990 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wikipedia writes:

"Matteo Scuro, a retired Sicilian bureaucrat and opera buff, has been stood up by his five adult children during the summer vacation, all of whom live in various cities on the Italian mainland with what he believes are responsible jobs. Despite their not visiting and the neighbours' criticisms, he remains optimistic, considering that his children could not come because they are too busy. His children are named after popular opera characters, Tosca for Puccini's Tosca, Canio for Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Norma for Bellini's Norma, Guglielmo for Rossini's Guglielmo Tell and Alvaro for Verdi's La forza del destino.

"He decides to surprise each of them with a visit, traveling by train, and finds none of them as he imagined, with each of his children seeming to reflect the opera character after whom they were named. Matteo's train journeys take him to Naples, Rome, Florence, Milan and Turin to search for each of his children; he even spends one night on the streets among the homeless. Before his arrival at each of their homes, each of his grown children scramble to put on a façade to cover up their personal failings: One daughter's ex-husband temporarily moves back in with her and their child. A son who lost his University professorship temporarily moves back into his old office. Another daughter hides the fact that she works as a lingerie model, etc. Finally, after visiting all his children, Scuro returns to Sicily, visits his wife's grave, and reports to her with irony that their children are all fine.

"It won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Giuseppe Tornatore) and was nominated for Golden Palm (Giuseppe Tornatore) at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.[2] It also won the David di Donatello Awards for David Best Music (Ennio Morricone) and the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists for Silver Ribbon Best Original Story (Giuseppe Tornatore).

"The film was remade in 2009 as Everybody's Fine with an American setting and starring Robert De Niro, and again in 2016 in China also as Everybody's Fine in 2016."

Wonderful, and a total tearjerker. It will touch the soul of every dad out there.

 

[UpstateNY]

here's an ectlectic group:

The Triplets of Belleville - a French animated film

Whip It - for Ellen Page fans - a coming of age film with a great cast

Philomena - true story of a search for a child starring Judy Dench

 

[dbmill]

here's an ectlectic group:

The Triplets of Belleville - a French animated film

Triplets of Belleville, no question that it is eclectic. My wife can't stop talking about this one, she adores it. As for me, it is the film that got me really watching foreign and off the beaten path animated movies.

 

[CL82]

How about Athlete A? It's a Neflix documentary on USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar. It's really powerful.

 

[BBallF]

The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Quintessential Hemingway with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward. It contains a puzzle. There is the frozen carcass of a leopard near the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. What was it doing there so far above sea level? It's left unanswered directly in the movie but if you watched it, you have an opinion as to Hemingway's answer.

 

[Bigboote]

A couple of weeks ag I Tivoed a movie called Tim. It was one of Mel Gibson's first starring roles and also had Piper Laurie. Gibson plays Tim, a 20-something slow learner whom Piper Laurie's character hires on weekends to do yard work. It's a low-budget Australian production but features some great performances. It's based on a Colleen McCulloch book.

 

[Sargassoc]

A couple of weeks ag I Tivoed a movie called Tim. It was one of Mel Gibson's first starring roles and also had Piper Laurie. Gibson plays Tim, a 20-something slow learner whom Piper Laurie's character hires on weekends to do yard work. It's a low-budget Australian production but features some great performances. It's based on a Colleen McCulloch book.

I'm not a Mel Gibson fan-- because he seems to be a thinly-veiled (?) anti-Semite among other things-- but Gallipoli was a really great film. When it came out, it was to great acclaim, but I'm not sure folks today are as familiar with it.

 

[HopJim]

If you want to watch a great cast in what has become a thought provoking subject, Wag the Dog is your movie. Stars Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Ann Heche, Woody Harrelson, Denis Leary, Willy Nelson, Kirsten Dunst, and many others, concept was that it is relatively easy to deceive the American public by making up false info and selling it through fake videos (in this case to protect the President). No matter what party you support, you will likely enjoy. Originally billed as a comedy, its a bit more thought provoking these days.

 

[Apollo]

Rushmore
Children of Men (this one especially)
What We Do In The Shadows

 

[zymurg]

Two neglected '60's entries, "Tunes of Glory" set in a British Regiment starring Alec Guiness and John Mills as dueling colonels. Then "The President's Analyst" a clever spy spoof with James Coburn in the title role.