Great films you (probably) haven't seen...

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:39 am

Reading through the selections in the Tower of Film thread makes me want to spend a month alone with my DVD player. Inspired by this thread, I thought it might be fun for each of us to name one film that doesn't usually appear on "Best Films of All Time" lists, but which you consider essential viewing. I'll get it started with one of my all-time favorite films in the "desperate men" subgenre:

The Wages of Fear - Henri-Georges Clouzot

Here's the Amazon synposis - gripping stuff, from start to finish:

Henri-Georges Clouzot's gripping 1953 thriller throws four men into a primal struggle against the jungle armed with modern machinery and their own nerves and endurance. The squalid, isolated South American town of Las Piedras is a veritable refuge turned prison for criminals from all over the world. When an oil fire ignites 300 miles away, dozens of desperate volunteers apply for the dangerous job of driving highly volatile nitroglycerin across rugged jungle roads--for a $2,000 payday. The bulk of the film charts the slow, grueling trek over bumpy, pothole-dotted dirt roads and worse. A dangerous cutback forces the trucks to back over a rotting wooden platform built over a cliff, a boulder in the road must be blasted away, and a river of oil (gushing from a broken pipeline) must be forded--all with one ton of explosive nitro resting in the back of each truck. The ordeal forges a tough-guy trust between German Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli) but tears apart Frenchmen Mario (Yves Montand) and Jo (Charles Vanel). Former gangland hotshot Jo finds his once-fearless exterior cracked, while Mario discovers in himself a new grit and tenacity. Clouzot's stark, simple imagery and painstaking attention to detail create a riveting tension that never lets up, intensified by the ruthless drive of Mario, who proves he will do anything--anything--to get his truck through.

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:13 am

From gripping and intense to charming and wonderful:

Local Hero - Bill Forsyth, 1983.

Stars Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert, with an astounding soundtrack by Mark Knopfler. It's about a Texas oil company acquisitions manager (Riegert) who goes to Scotland to buy a whole (small) town and its coastline for the construction of an oil refinery. Lancaster plays the CEO of the oil company who secretly longs for a life simpler than what he has. Wonderful characters, beautiful photography and scenery, some very funny lines and situations. It makes me want to chuck it all and find some little corner of the world that is just mine, where people accept without explanation.

This isn't a "great movie", but it's a great experience, a beautiful and soulful little thing.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:21 am

Thanks goody. That's what I'm talking about!

VonOfterdingen · Post by **VonOfterdingen** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:01 am

Jacques Becker's 'Le Trou' (1960)

Saw it when i was 16-17 when it was on tv at 1 am. I was completely absorbed and blown away.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054407/?fr ... ft=21;fm=1

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:54 pm

Good choice Goody...on a similar note...(same director - Bill Forsyth -, same part of the world)

Comfort and Joy with Bill Paterson, Clare Grogan and Rikki Fulton.

Radio host Alan Bird witnesses how an icecream van is attacked and destroyed by angry competitors. This leads him into the struggle between two Italian families over the icecream market of Glasgow.

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:03 pm

I'm pretty sure nobody on this board has seen this one (please shout if you have):
The Saragossa Manuscript directed by Wojciech Has.
Genre-wise this is a costume/period drama but more surreal, psychedelic and weird than any period drama you have ever seen.
The film is a series of stories within stories, one leading to the next, all of them somehow interrelated. It's got black humour, romance, mystery, occult, philosophical discussion - three hours of true film art but also great fun.
If my word is not enough, let me tell you that the film was admired by the likes of Jerry Garcia (!! , apparently funded the restoration of the film), Luis Bunuel, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

And good news - I've just found out the film is available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 12-8172135

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:09 pm

invisible Pole wrote:The Saragossa Manuscript directed by Wojciech Has.

Never heard of that one, IP, but it sounds very interesting. Besides Polanski, the two Polish film directors I am most familiar with are Andrzej Wajda (his "Man of Marble" was one of the films we studied in my undergrad film class) and Kieslowski.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:05 pm

The Wages of Fear - Henri-Georges Clouzot

I bought the Criterion edition of this last year and the damn thing skipped all over the place - I should look for it again. It was remade years later with Roy Scheider, directed by William Friedken and retitled The Sorcerer - pretty good with a cool score by Tangerine Dream.

My choice here is The Friends of Eddie Coyle directed by Richard Yates. Robert Mitchum is a low level career criminal. The dialogue (novel by George V Higgins) is completely believable - the location shots capture Boston (and Quincy and Dedham and Sharon and Cambridge) so perfectly in the early 70's - Mitchum at his best.

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:45 pm

I got Wages of Fear a while back, a very unique and great movie although not as effective as it could have been in terms of tension.

Alright, speaking of Friedkin. I'd like to put in a good word for To Live And Die In L.A (1985). I don't know how well known it is in the states but hardly anyone I know over here in Sweden has seen it.

It's basically a rather standard good guy, bad guy cop thriller, only there are hardly any good guys in this one. It feels very realistic and still the action scenes are much better than most of the junk that's being churned out today. Features a great cast too. The only slightly negative thing about it is the rather dated soundtrack.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:57 pm

Chrille wrote:I got Wages of Fear a while back, a very unique and great movie although not as effective as it could have been in terms of tension.

Not the old one surely? Suspense doesn't get much better, IMO. I love that film. Yves Montand alone makes this worth the price of admission.

I love FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, Boy. I need to see it again, haven't for years, not since I lived in Boston... hello, Netflix queue....

I'll add two 'little' movies I've spouted on and on about here before:

1. The Anniversary Party
2. Beautiful Girls

Both have amazing ensemble casts, both tell the story of a group of friends over a short period of time that shows you hoe their lives and loves fit together, and don't. Both are also fun movies. Fun! Imagine...

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 7:02 pm

selfmademug wrote: Not the old one surely? Suspense doesn't get much better, IMO. I love that film. Yves Montand alone makes this worth the price of admission.

Yes I'm afraid so, I havn't seen the new version. It was certainly tense at times, but most of the time I felt rather neutral towards the scary situations

. What I like most about the movie are the characters. The beginning and final parts were great, but it was a bit rough in-between.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 5:26 am

The Idiots and The Celebration are two good Danish flicks.....also PUSHER.....I just saw PUSHER 2 and that was ok too.

VonOfterdingen · Post by **VonOfterdingen** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:13 am

You are right Cope. I do like Pusher 2 a lot better than the first one

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:07 am

Haha, Pusher was alot of fun. What's the sequel about?

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 8:24 am

Chungking Express (1994), directed by Wong Kar Wai, is probably familiar to some of you here, though I'm guessing many others haven't seen it.

Set in Hong Kong while it was still a British colony, the film follows two cops and their struggles with love. Lighthearted, but visually ambitious and very clever. Highly recommended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109424/?fr ... ;fc=1;ft=1

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 8:28 am

Chrille wrote:Haha, Pusher was alot of fun. What's the sequel about?

Chrille...it's pretty much about breaking the cycle of social problems, and trying to get out of the dirty underworld and the legacy of crimality and lower social status. Making a stand for your children. Big social commentary with the very sexy Mads Mikelsen !!!!!!! My ex wife's cousin is also in the film. I've spent many a family gathering eying her like a porkchop.

VonOfterdingen · Post by **VonOfterdingen** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:53 am

Cope, what's the role of your ex-wife's cousin in the film?

Another great unknown movie is 'Woman in Black'. (More known as a play). It's a tv-movie but no other have scared me (and my friends) as much as this

Horrible - I don't even want to see it again. People on imdb seems to agree.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098672/?fr ... ft=14;fm=1

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:22 am

VON..she was the girlfriend of Tonny's chick.

VonOfterdingen · Post by **VonOfterdingen** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:31 am

Not bad then. I can understand the pork-chop wacthing. First i was afraid that you meant Tonny's ex-girlfriend. Or maybe Leif Sylvesters "wife"

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:45 am

The Dinner Game - hilarious French farce comedy at its best.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:00 am

VonOfterdingen wrote:Not bad then. I can understand the pork-chop wacthing. First i was afraid that you meant Tonny's ex-girlfriend. Or maybe Leif Sylvesters "wife"

DUDE..what do you think I am??? ...By the way Leif Sylvester's wife was hot in that film!!!!!!!!! ha ha.....I think Leif's wife (the one who was to be killed by Tonny) works at a bordel on Peter Fabersgade 42 in Nørrebro! I shit you not!

VonOfterdingen · Post by **VonOfterdingen** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:28 am

hehe, great they used a real pro for that role. Copenhagen - the city where you live close to moviestars

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:49 am

A Boy and His Dog, starring Don Johnson.

Blue Collar, starring Richard Pryor.

M, featuring Peter Lorre.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:42 pm

My great burden with these things is that I feel like Bobster is looking over my shoulder and going "Wet Hot American Summer? You're out, bitch!"

1. Wet Hot American Summer
Perhaps a trivial film but one that has far more wit and clever, barbed gags and throwaway nonsense than 90% of the shit that passes for comedy in American cinema. My biggest complaint with the Scary Movie school of yuks is that it is completely fucking up future generations when it comes to teaching timing. Everyone in *this* film is an absolute pro and I wish that a comedy this smart about something so dumb (80's summercamp sex comedies) were better known.

More to come......I be on the jobby job right now.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:53 pm

Here's another that is probably less of a guilty pleasure -

The Killer Inside Me. Extremely cool 70's noir based on the Jim Thompson novel of the same name which is also a personal favorite. Stacy Keach never quite got the film career his talent deserved but he did manage to snag a few choice leads before everything kind of fell apart for him although at least he has a solid thing going now as a character actor.....I particularly liked him on Titus. It's a shame because he's up there with Brando and Hackman in terms of acting chops. At any rate, this is a dark-hearted story about a psychotic sheriff in a small town and although it can't help but bastardize Thompson's story a little (the film gives Keach's character a bum childhood, in the book he was just the personification of what you might call the banality of evil) but is more or less true to its grim spirit and features a great cast of actors including Keenan Wynn and John Carradine. I like pointing to this one as an example of everything that was great about American cinema in the 1970's.

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Great films you (probably) haven't seen...

Great films you (probably) haven't seen...

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