Underrated films

[chickenfeet]

Tell me about a film you think is under-rated or, at least, doesn't enjoy the popularity it deserves. Everybody knows about films like Lawrence of Arabia or Dr. Zhivago and the rest. What I want to hear about are some less well known gems.

My nomination would be The Duellists. It's based on a story by Joseph Conrad and was directed by Ridley Scott before he was famous. It has a fantastic cast; David Carradine, Harvey Keitel, Tom Conti, Albert Finney, Edward Fox, and it evokes the Napoleonic era better than any other film I can think of. It's lovely to look at and compelling from beginning to end. If you've never seen it, rush out and rent the DVD.

Comments

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I've been surprised in the last year, as I've enthused to people about the "Up" series, at how few people have seen them.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Tell me more

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

Huh. I had thought you'd have seen these. They're the documentaries about ordinary British people every seven years, starting in the mid-60s. I have gotten the sense that they are one of the best-kept secrets in documentary film.

Anyhow (http://melted-snowball.livejournal.com/337661.html),
here (http://melted-snowball.livejournal.com/339764.html) are (http://melted-snowball.livejournal.com/360222.html) my (http://melted-snowball.livejournal.com/370093.html) reviews (http://melted-snowball.livejournal.com/451981.html). (You actually commented on the review of 28 UP.)

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

OK I know what you mean now. I saw some of the early ones when they were first on TV in England. I am, after all, pretty much a contemporary.

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

Well, shoot - that would have been my #1 rec! It is one of my all-time favorite movies; almost every shot is a gem. Pretty well-known among a certain circle of friends (historical re-enactors and costumers). I loved it so much I have a bespoke 7th Hussar uniform.

So here's another: 1776, (http://www.amazon.com/1776-Restored-Directors-William-Daniels/dp/B000067D1R/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1399956-2993563?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1180802118&sr=8-1) based on the Broadway play. Focuses on the people, rather than the events. Wonderful acting, and some good singing as well ("Molasses to Rum to Gold"). We've made an annual ritual of watching it every July 4, as a sort of counterbalance to the usual jingoism.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

Er ... that would be "Molasses to Rum to Slaves"

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course it is, what did I ... oh.

No way to edit these, is there? Argh.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

René Allio's La Vieille Dame Indigne, and perhaps even better, his Les Camisards, certainly the only movie written in believable 17th-century French, about the rebel Huguenots of the Cévennes and the Ardèche.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Your recommendations are always really intriguing but the damn flicks are never available here!

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Actually, they're not available ANYWHERE, which is making me rather sad as I really, really wanted to see them again. (I should keep an eye on the Cinémathèque programmes...)

My father took me to see Les Camisards a very, very, very long time ago, and said it brought back family oral history (that side of the family comes from the Ardèche, and even today the religions are strictly divided by altitude - above 1000m, most everyone is Protestant; below, they're RC; the divide is between where the Dragoons reached and where was too difficult / dangerous to venture.)

[shezan.livejournal.com]

I also just realised, looking it up on IMDb, that La Vieille Dame Indigne is from a story by Brecht!

[helianthas.livejournal.com]

Spice World.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Smack!

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

The Duellists is indeed good.
How about this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somewhere_in_Time_(film))?

A few more faves...

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

I think The Long Riders (http://www.amazon.com/Long-Riders-David-Carradine/dp/B000056H2J/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1399956-2993563?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1180818192&sr=8-1) is underrated. (Not a patch on Tombstone, but that's a much better-known movie.) But it's certainly not in the same league as The Duellists.

A Room With a View is another big fave, but it got a bunch of Oscar noms so probably doesn't fit your criteria. It is a marvelous film. ("Poor Charlotte.")

We just recently rented Memento (http://www.amazon.com/Memento-Jr-Mark-Boone/dp/B00003CXZ4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1399956-2993563?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1180818847&sr=8-1), which is awesomely good. The rarest of birds: an original movie. Really got into my head.

Also Dead Again (http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Again-Jo-Anderson/dp/6305882525/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1399956-2993563?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1180819275&sr=8-1) is good, though there is some disagreement about how good. I admit the plot does not hold up well on close inspection, and the ending is not entirely satisfying - but there are some wonderful moments, and really great actors. The Robin Williams cameo is breathtaking.

Come to think of it, I'm looking for more of the lesser-known gems, like Duellists, myself.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Just a few random samples, all very worthwhile if you haven't seen them:

Picnic At Hanging Rock (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073540/) Early Peter Wier, haunting, beautiful.

Heavenly Creatures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110005/) Early Peter Jackson, first (?) and memorable Kate Winslet, true story

The Sure Thing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090103/) Early Rob Reiner, John Cusack. Surprisingly charming and delightful variation on road movie/teen romance genre flick.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I've seen the first two and totally agree

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! Oh! I've just remembered another one, that I think is truly underrated - Oscar and Lucinda (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119843/)! Ralph Feinnes and Cate Blanchett, Australia, beautifully shot, Ralph Feinnes is heartbreaking: I think it's the best thing he's done, and he's always wonderful.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Madeinusa (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476298/)?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem to have made it to DVD yet

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that was weird because I saw it on DVD in Peru, but that doesn't really mean anything, does it? As soon as it's out, you have to see it, though.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

but that doesn't really mean anything, does it?

I noticed in Thailand that the bootleg DVD people had films out pretty much as soon as they hit the cinemas.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

I had The Da Vinci Code and Marie Antoinette before it hit theaters in the US. The former has Russian subtitles (LOL) and the latter had the phrase "FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION" flashing across the screen every half hour.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oh, if you haven't seen it - Warren Beatty's Reds Marvellous movie about the idea of the Revolution filtered through innocent American eyes. (None of the American "toughies" in the film - Emma would, and occasionally does, hold for five minuets against Jerzy Kosinski's fantastic Zinoviev.)

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oh, if you haven't seen it - Warren Beatty's Reds Marvellous movie about the idea of the Revolution filtered through innocent American eyes. (None of the American "toughies" in the film - Emma Goldman, Eugene O'Neill - would, and occasionally does, hold for five minuets against Jerzy Kosinski's fantastic Zinoviev.)

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

Would Withnail and I (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094336/) count?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely but I've seen it. Come to think of it almost anythinmg with Richard E Grant in it would qualify. How to Get Ahead in Advertising is an all time favourite.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

Actually, there is a little chick flick with him that is also very sweet -- Sarah and Me? or something like that. He plays a widower who's too dense/buried in grief to see that he's fallen in love with the nanny. Totally predictable, but one of those nice films one can watch in mixed company. I know a lot of people hated Love, Actually, and it does have an incredibly schlocky ending, but the individual performances and the exploration of kinds of love -- and not always the obvious ones -- are fantastic.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

Also, I have a very soft spot for another Tom Conti film, American Dreamer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086886/)