Weird and Forgotten Movies

[Senator Jack]

Just want to say that this has been a great thread. Thanks for all the suggestions - I've added a few to my Netflix queue already, and I'm upset that others just aren't available.

I really love pics that don't go out of their way to be weird. Lynch knows he's being weird. Preminger didn't. (Someone brought up Skidoo in this thread - a wonderfully weird pic that wasn't trying to be weird. I like the idea of Hollywood has-beens taking acid and trying to be 'hip'.)

Keep 'em comin'

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[topcat]

Anybody recall from aprox,'81-'82 , movie about underground swamp like creatures "THE BOOGENS?"

Already mentioned from '68, THE SWIMMER.
"When you talk about the Swimmer, will you talk about.......yourself?"
Actual tagline from film. Said in a manner as if to say,"DON'T YOU
DARE talk about the swimmer as if you're ABOVE it happening to you,
can't you see the LOSER in YOU when you watch THE SWIMMER?!?!?!?!!??"

Any in depth talk about"the swimmer" you wish to share thoughts on ,though,
fire away. I have watched it enough times to have mastered its meaning,and
context.

You gotta wonder what kind of response we'd get with a thread about
Weird and Forgotten People?

 

[John in Covina]

MONDO KANE, MONDO KANE , MONDO KANE!

"Mondo Kane" a shock journalistic report on bizarre practices and rituals plus other stuff from the 1960's.:fing28:

DO yourself a favor and put this on your list of videos to rent. Timeless yet dated.

A dog's world!

 

["Doc" Devereux]

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension.

Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Clancy Brown, John Schiavelli, Ronald Lacey...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/

No matter where you go, there you are.

 

[The Wolf]

I just watched "The Swimmer" tonight

My mom use to talk about "The Swimmer" so when I saw it listed here I decided to bring it home.
Unfortunately, I somewhat expected the ending but I thought Lancaster did a great job. He was well cast as the golden boy who's life has taken a turn.
Some of the horse scenes were beautiful. Interesting to the stud out to pasture.
It actually reminded me of Falling Down.
The late sixties was a good time for directors and writers doing something different and interesting.

John, I think it is Mondo Cane. Like Canary Islands. I believe I've seen clips of it but now I might have to rent that too.

Thanks for the suggestions,
The Wolf

 

[BellyTank]

Any in depth talk about"the swimmer" you wish to share thoughts on ,though,
fire away. I have watched it enough times to have mastered its meaning,and
context.

Go on then- please offer up your deepest insights into the 'deeper' meaning of "The Swimmer"....

I've seen it about 20 times too... it's a very uncomfortable movie with a lot of 'inappropriate' moments-

B
T

 

[Marc Chevalier]

A late '80s film called MONDO NEW YORK.

 

[Slate Shannon]

Some weird ones that I enjoy, all of which I originally saw as discounted "Midnight Movies":

O Lucky Man! (1973) with Malcolm McDowell
Liquid Sky (1982) with Anne Carlisle
200 Motels (1971) with Frank Zappa

And a couple that may not be weird, but are unusual or quirky:

The Coca Cola Kid (1985) with Eric Roberts
92 In The Shade (1975) with Peter Fonda

 

[Senator Jack]

Love O Lucky Man, which I think is better than If (also by Lindsay Anderson and starring MM) though the hospital scene freaked me out when I first saw it.

Liquid Sky was pretty much about my young-man stomping grounds in NY - Danceteria, The Peppermint Lounge, (where Madonna got her start) An amusing film with crappy dialogue. I still have the VHS copy of it. Were those the days? Nah.

"Coca Cola Kid" I lump in with pictures like "The Quiet Earth" and "One Night Stand" and some of the Sam Goldwyn Jr. art pictures they were producing in the early 80s. Small and quirkly - I like films like that. (BTW, What was that picture with Jamie Leigh Curtiss' breasts - she's a dj in the Northwest, and an older Bud Cort is in it.)

Mondo Cane I could only watch once. Love the soundtrack. (Buy it!) I also saw Shocking Asia, the sequel which was even more nauseous because they showed a sex change operation being performed. Male to female, and they showed everything! There's still a very vivid picture in mind of it, despite my having seen it twenty years ago.

In the forgotten category - Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, which I just watched last night, again for the first time in a quarter century. You never see this one on anyone's must see lists, and I can't figure out why. Edward G. Robinson is hilarious in it - you can see Sinatra cracking up in scenes with him - and Sinatra gives a great performance as the lovable loser. If you haven't seen it in a long time, it's definitely worth revisiting.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The Saragosa Manuscript I don't think has been yet mentioned. Very strange. Very complex, and convoluted. It takes a couple of watches to get into it.

A very weird film:

About "The Saragossa manuscript, a magical text discovered during the Napoleonic wars. Capt. Alphonse van Worden lives out one of the book's intricate, devilish storylines as he embarks on a journey accross Spain, now populated with ghosts, alluring demons, debauched royalty and mystical priests. Spanning centuries and nations, the manuscript encompasses a wide array of stories both humerous and horrifying, gleeful and grotesque, before the final chilling revelations bring this one-of-a-kind book to a close."

bk

 

[Lincsong]

He's got high hopes. High apple pie in the sky hopes

In the forgotten category - Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head, which I just watched last night, again for the first time in a quarter century. You never see this one on anyone's must see lists, and I can't figure out why. Edward G. Robinson is hilarious in it - you can see Sinatra cracking up in scenes with him - and Sinatra gives a great performance as the lovable loser. If you haven't seen it in a long time, it's definitely worth revisiting.

This was a very good film. Three buddies who move down to Miami and end up going their separate ways. One drives a taxi cab, one (Sinatra) runs a hotel, The Garden of Eden, the other (Keenan Wynn) becomes a fabulously successful promoter. Sinatra is on the verge of losing the hotel and is a single father. Wynn comes to town for a show promotion and Sinatra hits him up for money to save the hotel. Wynn gives him the coldest of cold shoulders. A very intense scene. Turns out they really weren't that close of friends after all. But "he's got high hopes, high apple pie in the sky hopes".:cheers1:

 

[WEEGEE]

Vamping

Vamping (1984) Directed by Frederick King Keller

Plot Outline: A down on his luck saxophonist agrees to help rob the home of a rich widow, then he unexpectedly falls for the woman.


With Patrick Duffy...its bad but in some way??? interesting...film noir feel.

 

[BellyTank]

Delicatessen-

"If Citizen Kane is the number one movie to see to learn anything about cinematography, this might as well be at number 2."

"Delicatessen succeeds at creating a totally separate, consistent and believable universe with a very distinct atmosphere. The brown and green colors add to the weirdness of this universe."

"Is it horror? Yes and no. Is it a comedy? Yes and no. Is it brilliant? Oh yes!"

"Everybody involved in the making of this picture gave it its best. The camera work is brilliant, the sets are simply amazing (with the final bathroom scene at the pinnacle), the editing and pace is breathtaking."

B
T

 

[WEEGEE]

And another

Flesh and Bone (1993) Directed by Steven Kloves ...with Dennis Quaid, James Caan ,Meg Ryan and Gwyneth Paltrow.

I thought when i had seen it in the theatre that it was an excellent movie and if it was not in english it might have been best foreign film of the
year...just had a european feel and un-hollywood ending.

 

[herringbonekid]

"Delicatessen succeeds at creating a totally separate, consistent and believable universe with a very distinct atmosphere. The brown and green colors add to the weirdness of this universe."

delicatessen is in my top 5 all time favourites. the cinematography, as BellyTank quotes, is awe inspiring and very close to a kind of colour-noir. the visual invention throughout is just a joy. i will stop now as i could talk all day about this film. here's a still...

 

[Senator Jack]

I haven't seen Delicatessen since it came out. I remember loving it. I've never seen The City of Lost Children, the director's follow up to Delicatessen.

Speaking of Delicatessen, what about 'The Butcher's Boy'? I'll have to watch that one again soon.

Just watching the trailers on a DVD (Angel On My Shoulder with Paul Muni) I was reminded of another odd picture I used to like as a kid and have since compeltely forgotten: 'The Story of Mankind' where Man argues against the Devil(Vincent Price) in court to save mankind. (From the bomb? Do I recollect correctly?) The history of man is then gone through with cameos by Peter Lorre, The Marx Brothers, Dennis Hopper? etc. Now I have to see if this is available.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Senator Jack]

Just thought of some others. What about those 70s ABC Movies of the Week? Anyone recall:

"Haunts of the the Very Rich" - rich people all die in a plane crash and discover their hell

"Shirts and Skins" - middle aged men, amateur basketball players, have a contest hiding basketballs around the city. Why? I don't recall, but now I have to find out.

And then there was a demon picture I recall as being titled something like:

'Terror at 40,000 Feet' - a demon spirit is let loose aboard a passenger jet.

A Larry Hagman picture which I think is:

Getting Away From It All - Wasn't this about a couple who move to a New England fishing town and the entire population is murderous. Seems they had all gone insane from the mercury content of their fish.

Murder Can Hurt You - an alleged send up of the television police detective genre.

Of course the ABC MOTW also gave us the unforgotten Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black and the Zuni Fetish doll.


Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[silhouette53]

The Thing ( from another world )

Well, apart from being a B&W classic '50s Sci -Fi flic from producer Howard Hawkes, this film is awash with A2 jackets and crusher caps - essential viewing for all usaaf nuts !! - its available on DVD so you don't have to wait for a TV re-run !! - ENJOY !:beer:

 

[BellyTank]

The German Thing...

B
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[BellyTank]

"Dance Craze"

Not weird... and probably not forgotten by the Senator... well worth a look for anyone remotely interested in music and especially interested in Ska.

Ahhh... my youth...

Any other music-film offerings..?

B
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