101 Underrated films

Tarkovsky's near masterpiece of lost innocence. The story of a young Russian boy who, having lost his family, serves as a spy behind the German front. Everything in this film works, from the minimalist landscapes to the fantastic dream sequences. Not a single frame of film is wasted.

There is enough symbolism here to keep a whole team of cinematic existentialists busy for months. At its core, it's a film about a man who gets trapped in a hole. Too simplistic? Probably. It's the story of an entomologist who gets captured by a group of villagers and is forced to shovel sand along side the beautiful Kyoko Kishida (I could think of far worse fates). He spends most of his waking hours plotting his escape, but the longer he's there the more he feels obligated to his hole-mate. Is he falling in love? Is he learning the meaning of true freedom? Can he figure out a way to escape? Does he really want to? Is he an 'everyman' and the hole a representation of an oppressive society? Can I find a clever way to end this review?

This may be one of the most overlooked and under appreciated classics of all time. A box office flop when first released, this film was simply too far ahead of its own era.

Told in a manner that is part film noir and part Gothic horror, the story steadily becomes more nightmarish and less anchored in reality as it progresses. Sets, over the course of the film, become more stage than screen (some of the backdrops are obviously one-dimensional). They're often silhouetted with unnatural back lighting, adding to the overall ominous feel of the picture. Other scenes, most notably Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) at the bottom of the lake, are shot with an awareness of cinematography that is nothing short of brilliance.

Robert Mitchum is suburb as the villainous Harry Powell, rivaling his equally evil but dimensionally different character in Cape Fear. The Night of the Hunter ranks among my all-time top 100 films and should not be missed.

I don't remember who recommended this movie to me but, whoever you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)

A young Russian lad dreams of leaving his mother and younger siblings behind to join the Partisan army and "kill Germans". But later, when his military unit pulls out and orders him to stay and guard the camp, he finds himself alone behind enemy lines in the midst of a Nazi blitzkrieg.

I don't recall ever seeing a more powerful anti-war film. The transformation of Florya (Aleksei Kravchenko) from an innocent boy into a battle-hardened soldier is something that must be witnessed in order to be fully appreciated.

A stark, unflinching portrayal of rouge journalism and how one man's ambition can overtake and smother ethics and decency. A box office flop when it was released in 1951, this may well be Kirk Douglas at his absolute best.

Director/Writer/Producer Billy Wilder sends his main character, newspaper reporter Chuck Tatum (Douglas), down a hole, literally as well as figuratively, and presents a tale that is wonderful, brutal, dark and unapologetic. A must-see film.

One of the key elements of a true classic it its ability to weather the ravages of time. Jiri Menzel's dark comedy, Closely Watched Trains, passes this test with flying colors. Menzel quietly lampoons teen angst in a manner that's unique and tragic. Viewers have been laughing at this one for forty (+) years and I suspect they'll still be finding humor and relevance in it for a long time to come.

Pedro Almodóvar continues to confound and amaze me. He can take the most peculiar circumstances, the most perverse scenarios, and extract incredible, romantic love stories. I'm not certain how he does it, but after viewing several of his films I have formed a hypothesis: he views situations without prejudice. He ignores preconceived notions. Instead of focusing on the differences, Almodóvar concentrates on the commonality, thus encouraging us (his audience) to see the world with an unjaundice eye. In the end, what might have appalled us is now cause for reflection, maybe even celebration.

Confounding and amazing...

Exquisite crime drama that kept me in suspense from beginning to end. It's really three stories seamlessly interwoven and simultaneous, topped off by a Miles Davis score that's just fantastic.

This one is disturbing for all the right reasons. Watching Andy Griffith play a money-grubbing, amoral, unlikeable bastard is like watching Mister Rogers play Hannibal Lector. After all, this is the same Andy that kept the streets of Mayberry safe for all those years and the same Andy that taught Opie how to fish and throw a curve ball. Its even more unnerving that Griffith does it so well. He's completely believable!

I postponed seeing this because, for some reason, I thought it was just another 'chick-flick'. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Four stars (teetering on four and a half)

...and a great soundtrack!

For me, this is the quintessential sci-fi film, second only to 2001. It's got everything you'd ever want from a good science fiction classic. There is a menacing alien, ray guns, a space ship, the best robot ever to grace the silver screen (sorry C-3PO), and it's all set on a distant planet in a galaxy far, far away. Oh, and did I mention the beautiful damsel in distress (Anne Francis)? This is how William Shakespeare would do 'The Tempest', if he had grown up in the 50's reading Flash Gordon Comics and listening to 'Space Ranger' radio serials.

Depression era con-man Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neil) reluctantly accepts the responsibility of transporting orphaned Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neil) from her deceased mother's graveside to her Aunt's farm in Missouri. Along the way Moses discovers that his 9-year-old travel companion is a better con-artist than he is. The two are more alike than either would dare to admit and eventually they form an odd but profound friendship.

I'm not sure if it was the comforting familiarity of working with her father or if it was just a character perfectly suited for her talents, but Tatum O'Neil knocks my socks off every time I watch this movie. If ever a young actress deserved Oscar recognition, she's the one. The kid is just spectacular (and the film isn't bad either!).

I spent 8 years of my life in the U.S. Navy. Six of those years I was on active duty making FBM submarine patrols in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. If there is a grittier, more realistic submarine movie out there I've never seen it. Cinematically speaking, this is about as close as you'll ever get to knowing what the submarine service is really like (unless, of course, you enlist).

*Note: Skip this one if you're claustrophobic.

Gene Tierney's character gets my vote as the most cold-hearted, sociopathic, beautifully packaged villain to ever grace the silver screen. On a scale of pure evil she's right up there with Hannibal Lector and the shark from Jaws.

*NOTE: That scene in the rowboat gives me chills every time I see it.

Wonderful film that's at once inspiring and heart wrenching.

A crusty, war-weary infantry sergeant teams up with a Korean orphan boy and a rag-tag, disheveled group of American soldiers enroute to an abandoned Buddhist temple in order to establish a forward observation post for artillery. Once there they capture a North Korean major who is intent on dividing them along racial lines.

Shot on a shoe-string budget in 10 days at the height of the Korean war and the McCarthy era "red scare", The Steel Helmet proves beyond any doubt that director Samuel Fuller had enormous testicles. Very few, if any, Hollywood executives would have taken on the Korean conflict (and the American propaganda machine) with such candor and honesty. If all you know about America's fight with North Korea comes from watching episodes of M*A*S*H on TV then this one is a must-see. Easily one of the best American war films ever made.

Underrated and all but forgotten. I'm not a "huge" fan of Mike Nichols but this is a satirical masterpiece.

Groundbreaking horror that opened the door for films like Night of the Living Dead.

A film that is remarkable for many reasons, eight of which are Alec Guinness. He played each of his roles with such pizazz that I kept flashing back (or flashing forward, depending on your point of view) to the late, great Peter Sellers. Guinness is beyond brilliant.

Paul Muni is so good I'd have to invent a new vocabulary to adequately describe his performance. Fantabulous. Outstandnistic. Wonderical.

This film does what most other so-called "chick-flicks" couldn't do. It celebrates women without bashing men. Yes, the male roles are secondary, but they're all moral, upstanding, intelligent characters that are supportive of Ana. Real Women Have Curves may be intended primarily for female audiences, but it's one that guys can watch without feeling belittled or apologetic.

A beautiful Colombian teenager discovers that 'easy money' isn't always so easy when she gets lured into the harsh, dangerous world of drug trafficking.

In order for a so-called 'message film' to work there has to be at least one character that an audience can really care about, Maria Full of Grace has an abundance of them. A talented cast and no-nonsense scripting elevate this somewhat predictable storyline to something meaningful and moving. Four Stars.

A captivating glimpse inside the slimy world of commission sales. Once in a lifetime cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin and Alan Arkin. Great film if you don't mind the high P.Q. (profanity quotient).

I honestly thought I was going to hate this film. A friend of mine convinced me to rent it and frankly, after reading the synopsis, I was prepared to send it back unopened. I am so glad I didn't. This is a wonderful film. It reminds me of All About My Mother but it's a little more edgy and a lot more in-your-face. Yes, I really couldn't identify with the lifestyles, but that's part of the beauty of film. It allows us to get inside the head of diverse characters and in the end we discover that we're not so different after all.

David Lynch comes at you on two levels. His rendition of Wild at Heart plays to both the conscious and the subconscious. You'll watch Diane Ladd confront Nicolas Cage in a men's room, but later you'll flashback to the overhead shot of the toilet. You'll be engrossed by the conversation between Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe in a motel, but it's the extreme closeup of Dafoe's teeth that will haunt you later. It's the surreal imagery that makes Lynch's work so bizarre and so utterly fantastic.

This is one of those little gems that almost escaped my notice. Outstanding and highly recommended!

A grieving single mom leaves Madrid to search for her late son's transvestite father.

Fascinating blend of diverse dramatic elements into a cohesive and interesting story. An odd premise for a major motion picture but one that works perfectly.

Though I've never been a fan of The Sex Pistols I did, years ago, read a biography of Nancy Spungen that was written by her mother. Therefore I had a bit of empathetic preconception about what this film was about and where it was going to lead me. In a nutshell, it's the tragically true story of two social misfits who spiral downward on a drug induced odyssey of music, methadone and melodrama. Sort of a '70's version of Romeo & Juliet, if Juliet were a punk rock groupie and Romeo a tar heroine addict. This was indeed a match made in heaven destined for a life of hell.

Of course Gary Oldman did a spectacular job becoming Sex Pistols' front man Sid Vicious. Were it not for his physical characteristics that vaguely remind us it's Gary Oldman, he'd completely disappear into the character. He's just that good. What pleasantly surprised me was how Chloe Webb gave Nancy a deserving degree of likeability. I got the sense that, had she made some better choices in her life, Nancy would have been someone who was charismatic and utterly loveable. Webb's humanistic portrayal gives Oldman the reign to express Sid's romantic co-dependency on a whole new level. Great synergy in two outstanding performances (and the film's not bad either!).

This is one of those rare films where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. The budget is low, the acting is suspect, the editing is choppy, and the makeup is downright cheesy - and yet Carnival of Souls is wonderfully creepy. A horror classic.

If it is true that Hitchcock's Psycho would have been less effective if it had been filmed in color then the opposite could be said for Dario Argento's Suspiria. It is the abnormally bright hues, especially the reds, that help give the entire picture a surreal sort of feel and atmosphere.

Released in 1977, it has lost some of its initial shock value. In fact, modern "gore-mongers" who enjoy graphic offerings like Saw and Hostel will no doubt find the violence soft-core and perhaps even a little comical. Still, Suspiria is an important, if not timeless, genre classic.

Finally, a Gloria Grahame film in which she's NOT a promiscuous 'ho' (i.e. The Bad and the Beautiful, It's a Wonderful Life, Oklahoma!, etc., etc., etc...).

Okay, I'm resolving to stop reading the synopsis before I watch a 'cutting edge' film. I postponed viewing this incredible 'little' movie because I have an aversion to incest. Not to mention that the title put me off a trite as well. Let's be real, I knew this wasn't going to be a zoology piece on the discipline of arboreal primates. The point is, if you can get past your own neorotic hangups and lingering emotional baggage left over from your dysfunctional childhood, you'll see that Spanking the Monkey is rather good.

*NOTE: Just to save you some time, as soon as you see Jeremy Davies you're going to wonder where the heck you've seen him before... Saving Private Ryan.

I first saw this one in 1972 and enjoyed it very much. Now, some 36 years later, I can honestly say that it's stood the test of time. It's a film that's shot mostly, if not entirely, on location so it never has that "studio" feel about it. It's gritty, it's unpolished, and it's wonderfully understated. You don't have to like westerns in order to enjoy and appreciate this one.

Good stuff. It's been quite a few years since the last time I saw a Harry Belafonte film, I had forgotten just what a tremendous actor he really is (was). This is a noir classic that will hold your attention wire to wire.

Note: Did the ending remind anyone else of White Heat? ("Top of the world, Ma!")

Don't you just love the way Burt Lancaster always plays Burt Lancaster, no matter the circumstance, the setting or even the nationality of the character? What would be a detriment to most other actors seems to only strengthen his popularity.

Here, in this classic WWII drama, Lancaster is a "FRENCH" engineer in charge of the railroad traffic in and out of Paris. He is also covertly intent on sabotaging the occupational German army every chance he gets. While those around him, be they French or German, speak with fluid accents, Burt never waivers from his trademark American dialect. The best part is that we, his legions of adoring fans, don't seem to mind one bit. It's not the words that fuel his performance, it's the emotion behind them. In The Train there is no actor less French than Burt Lancaster, and yet I can't imagine anyone better suited for the part.

Finally, a noir film where the title actually makes sense! Classic psychopath meets girl love story. If you can find it on DVD be sure to check out the commentary from author and noir expert Eddie Muller. Muller's insight into the character and personality of Lawrence Tierney is priceless.

It wasn't so long ago that I couldn't even tell you who Robert Wise was. Now I find myself, like a sponge, wanting to soak up every film he ever directed. If I come across one I dislike I'll let you know.

Playing in real time, The Set-Up is the story of a washed up prizefighter looking for one last shot at glory. According to IMDb, the screenplay was actually based on a poem about a black boxer named Pansy Jones. The author, Joseph March, was reportedly unhappy about his character being changed to Stoker Thompson, a white man.

Unlike most films about boxing, the fight scenes here seem raw and unchoreographed. Robert Ryan (who, by the way, was a boxer at Dartmouth) is completely believable in his portrayal and director Robert Wise manages to make the dark tension of the piece tangible. You can almost feel the punches and smell the sweat.

A sentimental but powerful film with more memorable moments and classic one liners than you can shake a stick at. Undoubtedly ranks among the greatest westerns to ever come out of Hollywood.

Great films distinguish themselves in a number of different ways. Some of them are perfectly cast. Others have tremendous cinematography. Still others may have great scripting, direction or editing. I Want to Live stands out for one reason, Susan Hayward's performance.

Hayward shines in this true story about a woman convicted of murder and sentenced to die in California's gas chamber. There are numerous supporting characters in this dramatization but it's Susan Hayward's heart-wrenching portrayal that will haunt you even after the credits roll.

Solid, character driven social drama about two impoverished single moms living on the US/Canadian border who become entangled in the smuggling of illegal aliens into the United States. Top notch independent film-making. Good story, good direction, no frills and GREAT performances.

Off-beat gender bender that's at times funny, at times poignant, and always entertaining. Ma Vie En Rose manages to vilify our collective ignorance without insulting our sensibilities. A truly remarkable film.

*High marks for set decoration and cinematography as well as casting and direction.

High on my list of the best westerns ever made!!

I recently finished reading Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" and felt compelled to revisit Smoke Signals for about the 8th or 9th time. I love this film a little more every time I view it, which is easy to do considering that the first time I saw it I just wasn't that impressed. I had felt that, in their quest to have the first "All Indian" movie, they had sacrificed a little quality and technical expertise. Maybe I still feel that's true, but it's not something I notice much any more. Now I find myself engrossed in the rich characters, especially Arnold (Evan Adams). Arnold is a misfit, and yet he might be the 'most indian' in the entire ensemble. He's bright, he's introspective, and he's terribly, terribly honest. Even when he's embellishing stories he is still exposing truths.

Much like it's screenwriter, Smoke Signals is deceptively deep, intelligent and philosophical, even if it's not perfectly crafted. .

Underrated classic. Robert Duvall at his best.

Terrence Malick has crafted two characters that treat robbery and murder as incidental mishaps and necessities. Martin Sheen's character is sociopathic and cold-blooded but yet still likeable. Sissy Spacek, as his young accomplice, is fully aware of his atrocities, yet she retains her innocent charm. This bizarre intermingling of murder and manners, of the brutal and the benign, is why Badlands is unnerving and unforgettable.

Charming and VERY funny. The story of a boy who struggles to be his own man, even if it means sneaking off to join a girls ballet class.

This is one of those gems that few have seen and hardly anyone ever talks about. I liked this film the first time I saw it, loved it the second time, and now, after three viewings, I'm thinking about asking it to marry me.

This one could have easily been titled Mexican-American History X. It's a little less polished but every bit as captivating.

Terrific war film that plays like a big budget studio release without all the big name talent.

70's Gothic piece that's part crime drama and part supernatural horror. Thirty (+) years have done little to diminish this wonderfully creepy little film that's critically acclaimed but rarely discussed.

Underrated, under appreciated little jewel of a film with outstanding performances all around, especially DiCaprio.

Precursor to later episodic horror (i.e. TV's Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone). Five house guests recount their nightmares to each other with each one a little more sinister than the last. A spine-tingling horror classic that scared me as a child and still today creeps me out.

Hard to find on DVD. In my opinion, it's the BEST Titanic film ever made.

Top notch science fiction with mind blowing special effects, especially when you consider that this film was released in 1957!

This one is hard to find on DVD but well worth the effort to search it out. Gary Cooper is absolutely fantastic but it's the ensemble of Albert Dekker, Brian Donlevey, Broderick Crawford and Ray Milland that makes the whole thing work. Oh, and don't forget to check out a very young and very beautiful Susan Hayward in a supporting role.

Arguably Eastwood's most underrated western. Had it been made at the end of his career, as was Unforgiven, I dare say that THIS might be the film everyone talks about.

Picture a film noir Eraserhead populated with drug addicted homosexual entomologists. Bizarre yet thoroughly engrossing.

I'm beginning to wonder if Kirk Douglas ever gave a bad performance. If you only know him from Spartacus then you don't know what you're missing. His lesser known films, like Ace in the Hole, Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, Paths of Glory, and Lonely are the Brave are a testament to his talent and his enormous contributions to the art of movie making.