Five that are Seriously Underrated. (Under, not Over)

[Harry Lime]

The overrated thread has gone over well, let's try the flip side. What are five films that you feel are seriously underrated ie. not given their due by The Academy, the FL, or the world at large? There are no right or wrong answers, it's your choice (s).

Five of mine:

1) The Hustler. One of the greatest films and performances ever, no Academy Award for Paul Newman (a crime.) A great, great movie. Paul Newman gets my vote for most underrated actor ever - he should have 5 or 6 Best Actor Oscars.

2) Odds Against Tomorrow. Great movie, great performances, great story. A terrific movie a lot of people have never even heard of.

3) The Killers. A well thought-of noir but one that scarcely ever shows up on "best" lists, often overshadowed by more ordinary films. Based on a Hemingway story, it's just great noir.

4) Halloween. Probably suprising to some of you, but I feel it's underrated. The horror (and comedy) genre is frequently overlooked. This movie started a whole new style of horrror film. Great character, very creepy, great film score. Who wasn't afraid and didn't lock the doors and windows the first time they saw this one?

5) A Perfect World. Possibly Clint Eastwood's best film and Kevin Costner's best performance (he's also very good in the recent "Upside of Anger.") You don't hear a lot about this one but it's a good one.

5a) (yes, I'm cheating.) Sweet and Lowdown. One of Woody Allen's very best and one of Sean Penn's best performances. A really interesting character and well told story. Nice Golden Age cars and clothes for a bonus.

Your picks?

Harry Lime

 

[Mr. Rover]

Iron Giant is possibly one of the greatest and best layered cartoons ever made, although it wasn't really ever advertised. It's sort of underground right now. It was directed by the guy who made The Incredibles.

ray

 

[jake_fink]

Not just five...

1)

The horror film has, I think, been a much negelcted and badly abused genre. At its best the horror film is able to get at the squishy parts of the human psyche and work as dreams work. Halloween has been mentioned, but I'd pick Texas Chainsaw Massacre as one of the most intese film experiences I've ever had. If you've only ever seen it on video, you haven't seen it. It was made to be shown in drive-in theatres, and so the soundtrach is LOUD and deeply unsettling. See it at a drive-in iof you can (fat chance) or in a theatre (just maybe), or on dvd with the sound turned up, way up. The Living Dead films of Romero are also great., Dawn being the most political, Night being, to me, the most potent. The cycle of early 30s horror from Universal also work well, reflecting back the anxieties of the Great Depression.

2)

Films by Jim Jarmusch are almost all criminally underrated. Deadman and Ghost Dog are two of the finest American films of the last two decades.

3)

Films by Preston Sturges. When the AFI top 100 comedies came out there was not one by Preston Sturges! Maybe that was because it was so hard to choose just one... but then they could have put them all on the list, at least all of his cycle of 7 greats in four years: The Great McGinty (1940) Christmas in July (1940) The Lady Eve (1941) Sullivan's Travels (1941) The Palm Beach Story (1942) The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) - okay, that looks like a cheat, so pick one.

4)

I know I'm totally guilty of double dipping, but here's another: Bound For Glory and Farewell My Lovely. Both 1970s period films, so I'm grouping them. Mitchum's kick at the cat as Philip Marlowe is, I think, the best. This version far exceeds the sort of pedestrian though entertaining Murder My Sweet. It's got an elegiaic tone that works fantastically well, and Mitchum's very presence, his voice, his saggy, craggy face, keep it from an excess of sentimentality, keep it from being too much a pastiche, or too much an "exercise" in period, as, I think, the Great Gatsby from the same time, is. In fact, though Motchum is highly regarded on these boards, his career is full of Underrated gems: Friends of Eddie Coyle and Thunder Road, just to give two examples. Bound for Glory is just terribly underrated by everyone, but on these boards especially. Maybe the pro labour politics keeps people away, I don't know. It is a beautiful evocation of the Depression and the cast carry themselves with all of the authenticity of the folks in newsreels of the time.

5)

Pick a Cassavettes movie. Any one of them.

If I can have a bonus one, I'd say Escape From New York is a great underrated B movie, part noir, part sci fi/horror, part polemic and all entertainment.

 

[Harry Lime]

Jake Fink, I knew you would come through with some gems. I agree with every pick you made.

Mitchum really was amazing and his Farewell, My Lovely is great. I think people forget how good he is because he made so many lousy films too (Mitchum was always chasing a buck.) Another guy who I'd put in that category, seriously underrated as an actor because he made a lot of crap but a couple of gems - the highly underrated Dean Martin (Some Came Running, The Young Lions, Sons of Katie Elder). "Dean Martin" was himself a character as created by Dino Crocetti, every bit as Archibald Leach created "Cary Grant." IMHO.

Harry Lime

 

[jake_fink]

Cheers Harry.

Have you read the bigoraphy of Dean Martin by Nick Tosches? He's a great writer and Dino sees him at his best.

BTW, you're looking kinda rough, maybe it's time to lay off the ol' jug.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

My wife is slowly introducing me to 70s disaster movies. Don't know, but i'd imagine they're underrated:

Airport
Airport 77
The Poseidon Adventure
The Towering Inferno

Can't think of a fifth one.

bk

Edit: #5 - never hear about it so i guess it's underrated Frank Sinatra in:

The man with the golden arm.

I'm not a fan of anything sinatra did - singing included. But this film is special.

 

[Brad Bowers]

One film that I love, and which people seem to have forgotten, is Local Hero. I don't get tired of that one.

Brad

 

[jake_fink]

One film that I love, and which people seem to have forgotten, is Local Hero. I don't get tired of that one.

What a great film. Totally underrated.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I've never seen it. Everyone keeps telling me it's terrible.

Knopfler soundtrack was okay, if i remember rightly.

bk

 

[jamespowers]

The Manchurian Candidate. Superb acting and a plot with many twists. I mean the original of course.

 

[herringbonekid]

these are some seriously flawed films that i still nevertheless love. (i might file them under 'guilty pleasures')

-henry and june. directed by philip kaufman. yes it looks like bertolucci circa 'the conformist', but the script's got more wood in it than ikea.

-angel heart. directed by alan parker. never has the 50s looked so appealingly grubby. every surface is grimey and detritus filled. the downside ? the schlocky horror histrionics.

-naked tango. directed by leonard schrader (paul's brother). actually this makes angelheart look tasteful. the production design is almost baroque. but mathilda may looks UNBELIEVABLE in her louise brookes make over.

-the moderns. directed by alaln rudolph. paris, the 20s. hemingway, gertrude stein. its all there. the design falters occassionally, but the performances are all great.

-equinox. directed by alan rudolph. ANYTHING by alan rudolph is underrated.

 

[jake_fink]

-the moderns. directed by alaln rudolph. paris, the 20s. hemingway, gertrude stein. its all there. the design falters occassionally, but the performances are all great.

A great sound track by Mark Isham.

 

[ITG]

Tucker
Far and Away
Pure Country
Swing Kids
The Missing
Of Mice and Men (Gary Sinise and John Malcovich)
Imitation of Life

 

[MudInYerEye]

The Manchurian Candidate. Superb acting and a plot with many twists. I mean the original of course.

I'm VERY often wrong, but I was under the impression that the original THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE is generally rated as one of the greatest thrillers of all-time.
My five, in no particular order:
MIAMI BLUES
An obscure little gem of a crime story. Funny, sad, touching. The great Fred Ward at his best. Alec Baldwin and Jeniffer Jason Leigh are perfectly cast. Based on excellent source material by Charles Willeford.
ROLLING THUNDER
Fron a very early screenplay by then-hot (1977) Paul Schrader, basically TAXI DRIVER in Texas. William Devane is ultra grim and strangely believable in the lead role. A little schlocky, but well worh watching. Includes an early Toomy Lee Jones appearance.
FLESH AND BLOOD
Paul Verhoven first American fim. Medieval blockbuster. Even better than the excellent EXCALIBUR. That it doesn't take itself too seriously adds to it's fun. Rutger Hauer was never better.
THE SWIMMER
Hypnotic film based on the famoput John Chhever story stars Burt Lancaster as a middle-aged commuter in the midst of nervous breakdown. Genuinely frightening.
THE ELUSIVE PIMPERNEL
Leslie Howard's updated version of the SCARLET PIMPERNEL is essentially an anti-Nazi propaganda film, but probably the best of it's kind. Action-packed with an unforgettable ending.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

You reminded me:

Pimpernel Smith.

That was great. One - maybe even both - of the Howards. No idea if it's underrated, but certainly not one i hear much about ...

bk

 

[MudInYerEye]

You reminded me:

Pimpernel Smith.

That was great. One - maybe even both - of the Howards. No idea if it's underrated, but certainly not one i hear much about ...

bk

Leslie Howard classed up even the dullest pictures he appeared in. Have you seen 49TH PARALLEL? What a great movie! Another underrated anti-Nazi propaganda flick. Stellar cast includes Howard, Laurence Olivier, and Raymond Massey. Directed by the GREAT Michael Powell.

 

[Sefton]

First, this is a great idea for a thread. Second, I've seen 'Odds Against Tomorrow". Great film with some terrific performances and loads of atmosphere. Nice pick. As for my choices (5 is tough and maybe I just used one by agreeing about "Odds.." but here goes anyhow).

"Chato's Land" (1972) Stars Charles Bronson (lots of underrated work from Bronson) as Chato a Native American who kills an bigoted white man in self defense and is pursued by a posse of very bad white men. If you've ever seen a Bronson film I don't need to tell you who comes out on top. Well directed and acted throughout. Bronson has maybe two lines of dialog ,but really he doesn't need any as his imposing physical pressence speaks loudly. Jack Palance is memorable as another in his long line of evil men with a capital E.

Conan The Barbarian (1982) Directed by John Milius. The movie that launched the 80s sword and sorcery movie craze and sent Arnold into the big time (well,Terminator really did that but this was first and got a big release.Lots of theaters). Forget the truely awful sequel this is the best movie of its kind. Beautiful sets and elaborate battle scenes expertly filmed and edited for maximum impact. James Earl Jones is more fun as Thulsa Doom than Darth Vaders answering machine any day. And of course theres Ahhnuld. He was born to be Conan (I'd rather he did that than politics but that's another thread!) Wonderful score by Basil Poledoris. You get Max Von Sydow too. "By Crom!"

Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1978) Directed by Phillip Kaufman. A really great remake of a great original. Donald Sutherland leads a wonderful cast including Leonard Nimoy (glad to be working sans pointy ears no doubt), Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright and Brooke Adams (what ever happened to her?). A nice cameo by the director of the original, Don Siegal. Keep your eyes peeled for an even briefer one from Robert Duvall. Scary and fast paced science fiction horror masterpiece.

1941 (1979) A huge bomb when it came out. Critics hated it. Audiences (at least the U.S. ones) didn't seem to apreciate it. When the teaser trailer for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" came out it listed every Spielberg film except this one...and this was the last one he had just made! Sure it's bloated! Sure it's jokes don't always work...but when they do they are very funny. Check out the brilliant opening where Spielberg parodies the opening scene from Jaws. Worth the admission alone to see Slim Pickens, Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee all acting together in the same scene! Fantastic special effects and the USO dance number is amazing. On the down side Belushis scenes are a bit thin amounting to little more than a cameo.

Equinox (1970) Not many people have heard of this strange little film. Originally shot as a student film, it was picked up by a producer and expanded into a feature. It's basically the grandaddy to the "Evil Dead" movies. More ambition than the budget would allow and the acting isn't what you'd call stellar but this little movie always scared me as a kid when it was on TV in the early 70s. Stop motion monsters and clever forced perspective shots elevate this into something that's a lot of fun. A very young Frank Bonner stars years before he became known as 'Herb Tarlek' on the 1978 sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati"

That's all that I can come up with off the top of my head. Over (or should I say Under) to you...

 

[airfrogusmc]

Dark City
Owning Mahowny
High Fidelity (guilty pleasure)
The Station Agent
The Usual Suspects
PI

These are all movies that I think are very good and maybe didn't get the attention that they deserved. Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Owning Mahowny) is just incredible...

 

[ITG]

Just thought of another one:
The Hudsucker Proxy

 

[Jack Scorpion]

I'll second The Iron Giant while jumping up and down. And add:

Barfly (Mickey Rourke!)
The Cube (B scifi)
Waterworld (That's right I said it)

Holiday Inn?
Casino Royale?