Forgotten Movie Classics
A comprehensive list of offbeat and hidden film treasures!
List activity
3.2K views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
- 35 titles
- DirectorFrank PerrySydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterJanet LandgardJanice RuleA man spends a summer day swimming home via all the pools in his quiet suburban neighborhood.Devastating portrayal of suburban angst during the 1960s, based on John Cheever short story with a brilliant performance by Burt Lancaster.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsLuke WilsonOwen WilsonNed DowdThree friends plan to pull off a simple robbery and go on the run.Wes Anderson's directorial debut stars the Wilson brothers - Owen and Luke - as pathetic, wannabe criminals. Offbeat and hilarious!
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsTom WaitsJohn LurieRoberto BenigniTwo men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.Crazy Jim Jarmusch film, an existential comedy if you will, which features three strangers - Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits and John Lurie - who end up in a Louisiana jail. Eclectic!
- DirectorSavage Steve HollandStarsJohn CusackDavid Ogden StiersKim DarbyAfter his girlfriend Beth Truss ditches him for boorish ski jock Roy Stalin, sad-sack high-school student Lane Meyer decides that suicide is the only answer, but his inept attempts bring him nothing but agony and embarrassment.Classic '80s teen comedy as Lane (John Cusack) tries to ski the K-12 to impress exchange student Diane Franklin.
- DirectorMandy SteinStarsR.L. BurnsideJunior KimbroughCedell DavisYou See Me Laughin' is a personal journey into the lives and music of the last of the hill country bluesmen who've kept their music alive on the back porches and in the tiny juke joints of the Mississippi backwoods.Fascinating documentary explores juke joints of Mississippi with blues legends such as R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.
- DirectorLili Fini ZanuckStarsJason PatricJennifer Jason LeighSam ElliottTwo small-town Texas cops go undercover to catch a major drug dealer and are sucked into the drug culture, compromising their assignment.Two undercover narcs (Jason Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh) struggle with their own addictions. Solid acting and great soundtrack!
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsKen WahlKaren AllenJohn FriedrichThe Wanderers is a teenage, Italian gang in Bronx, NYC, 1963. They have their confrontations with other gangs. Drugs and weapons are uncool. Adult life awaits them.A gang living in the Bronx fights with the "Fordham Baldies" and the mysterious "Duckie Boys." Love that football game!
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleThe love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.Werner Herzog vs. Klaus Kinski! Documentary features total insanity in the Peruvian jungle!
- DirectorVincent GalloStarsVincent GalloChloë SevignyCheryl TiegsProfessional motorcycle racer Bud Clay heads from New Hampshire to California to race again. Along the way he meets various needy women who provide him with the cure to his own loneliness, but only a certain woman from his past will truly satisfy him.Chloe Sevigny gives Vincent Gallo a blowjob. Roger Ebert called it the worst film in the history of Cannes (but later recanted). I loved it!
- DirectorEric BrossStarsAdrien BrodyMichael GallagherSybil DarrowRay is a man on the move. He's got a tip on the races that's sure to turn a borrowed ten grand into a hundred. But when Ray's horse comes up short, he finds himself on the run from the mob and his girlfriend in the arms of his best friend.Solid, low-key flick deals with a dumb punk from New Jersey, Ray (Adrien Brody), who gets in trouble after he borrows $10,000.
- DirectorBobby FarrellyPeter FarrellyStarsWoody HarrelsonRandy QuaidBill MurrayA star bowler whose career was prematurely "cut off" hopes to ride a new prodigy to success and riches.A one-handed former champion bowler from Iowa becomes a "bowling manager" for an Amish bowling prodigy. Great crude humor!
- DirectorBen WagnerStarsAmy Cale PetersonScott SpeiserChristopher McCutchenA young woman attempts a "thru-hike" of the Appalachian Trail, the 2,170 mile footpath wandering the length of the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Georgia.Three adventurers hit the Appalachian Trail for love, laughs & life lessons. Low-key independent film is worth a look.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsRoddy PiperKeith DavidMeg FosterThey influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.Pro wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper plays a down-on-his-luck construction worker who reveals an alien conspiracy responsible for 1980's complacency. I knew it!
- DirectorHenry Alex RubinDana Adam ShapiroStarsJoe SoaresKeith CavillMark ZupanQuadriplegics, who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs, overcome unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.Excellent documentary follows the U.S. quad rugby team as they prepare for the 2004 Paralympic Games. Offbeat, awesome!
- DirectorTony MaylamStarsBrian MatthewsLeah AyresBrian BackerAbusive former summer camp caretaker Cropsy, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong five years earlier, lurks around upstate NY summer Camp Stonewater with garden shears and bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.A cut above (no pun intended) the typical summer camp slasher film of the 1980s and notable for early appearances by Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens.
- DirectorA. Edward SutherlandStarsW.C. FieldsPeggy Hopkins JoyceRudy ValleeAssorted wacky characters converge on a Chinese hotel to bid on a new invention: television.Grand Hotel spoof stars W.C. Fields, George Burns, Gracie Allen and Bela Lugosi. Cab Calloway sings "Reefer Man."
- DirectorHerk HarveyStarsCandace HilligossFrances FeistSidney BergerAfter a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.This low-budget but highly influential horror classic was made for $30,000 in Lawrence, Kansas, and at Salt Lake City's Saltair amusement park.
- DirectorJohn DahlStarsNicolas CageDennis HopperLara Flynn BoyleUpon arriving to a small town, a drifter is mistaken for a hitman, but when the real hitman arrives, complications ensue.Nicholas Cage stars as a drifter who gets embroiled in a murder-for-hire plot. Dennis Hopper plays "Lyle from Texas."
- DirectorMonte HellmanStarsJames TaylorWarren OatesLaurie BirdWhile drag-racing through the American Southwest in a Chevrolet 150, a driver and his mechanic cross paths with an enigmatic hitchhiker and the tall-tale-spinning driver of a GTO.Stoic buddies The Driver (JT) and The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson) take an existential trip on the road to nowhere.
- DirectorStacy PeraltaStarsSean PennJay AdamsTony AlvaDocumentary about the pioneering 1970s Zephyr skating team.A fascinating look at the influential Zephyr skateboarding team in the 1970s. Narrated by Sean Penn.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsDonald PleasenceGary BondChips RaffertyAfter a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.Bonded teacher “John Grant” (Gary Bond) embarks on a nightmarish, booze-soaked odyssey through a desolate wasteland of total depravity in the sweltering Australian outback. Great supporting cast includes Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. Highly recommended!
- DirectorHarvey HartStarsCliff RobertsonErnest BorgnineHenry SilvaTwo groups of armed men eye each other across a body of water. An deadly incident ensues and the first group returns to their town in fear of the consequences, which never come.They realize that far greater danger is offing.Deliverance meets Southern Comfort as hardcore gun enthusiast "Major Rex" (Cliff Robertson) and his hunting buddies get into a pointless confrontation with another hunting party that leads to violence and plans for a vengeful showdown.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsAl JolsonMadge EvansFrank MorganA New York tramp (Jolson) falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attemptA delightfully offbeat musical comedy starring Al Jolson as "Bumper" - the self-proclaimed "Mayor of Central Park." Forget about the ridiculous plot and enjoy Jolson at his best, the catchy Rodgers and Hart songs and rhyming dialogue, and the great supporting cast, including silent comedians Harry Langdon (as the garbage-picking “Egghead”) and Chester Conklin (as “Sunday”).
- DirectorColin EgglestonStarsJohn HargreavesBriony BehetsMike McEwenWhen a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn't in an accommodating mood.In this offbeat, low-budget “Ozploitation” film, an endlessly bickering Australian couple—“Peter” and “Marcia” (John Hargreaves and Briony Behets)—embarks on the weekend camping trip from hell.
- DirectorRichard C. SarafianStarsBarry NewmanCleavon LittleCharlotte RamplingDuring the 1970s, car-delivery driver Kowalski delivers hot rods in record time, but always runs into trouble.An existential road movie that essentially features an extended car chase accompanied by a great soundtrack with a nihilistic ending. The mysterious, stoic, pill-popping “Kowalski” (Barry Newman) makes a bet that he can drive a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. As you can probably expect, mayhem ensues!
