The Best Movies You've Never Seen

[BruntFCA]

I have yet to see Alien or Aliens. As for recommending something obscure The Hanging Tree is a brilliant western with Gary Cooper that i have never heard anyone talk about.

 

[chardman]

Triskelion, there's a number of excellent films which are so obscure that I've never even heard of them. I recommend them highly.

 

[Thestral]

I have a veritable laundry list of classics.

To name a few:
It's a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Casablanca
anything by Alfred Hitchcock
Planet of the Apes (or any Charlton Heston movie)

 

[Harvey]

I've seen a lot of films. Which, given the breath of film history, is but a drop in the bucket. Using the AFI's latest top 100 film list (out of laziness, really, rather than to offer the list any particular praise), I haven't seen the following:

City Lights
All About Eve
King Kong
The Philadelphia Story
Shane
It Happened One Night
A Streetcar Named Desire
Intolerance
Nashville
American Graffiti
Cabaret
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Silence of the Lambs
Spartacus
Swing Time
Sophie's Choice
Yankee Doodle Dandy

 

[cardinal biggles]

I've never seen Schindler's List. I even own it on DVD. I bought it the day it came out back in 2004, but I've never watched it.

 

[Triskelion]

Some great movies in this thread. Keep 'em coming!


All I'm sayin' is feel free to post whatever you guys want. Your responses are interesting.


Plus, if anyone knows any obscure movies nobody's ever heard of but you personally loved them, some of us would love to check them out!



I'm starting with your recommendations, chardman.

 

[Saga]

Triskelion, there's a number of excellent films which are so obscure that I've never even heard of them. I recommend them highly.

 

[chrisspringob]

I've never seen Schindler's List. .

Me neither. It's at the top of the list of movies that I want to watch at some point, but haven't gotten around to. Also in that category: Apocalypse Now, Rashomon, Taxi Driver, and Vertigo.

Within SF/F, the movie that's probably at the top of my yet-to-see list is Stalker.

 

[Triskelion]

Rashomon was not my favorite Kurosawa movie. I quite preferred his Shichinin no Samurai (Seven Samurai), Yojimbo (remade as Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars) and Ikiru - a quiet but powerful movie about an old man with a year left to live who dedicates it to standing up to corruption.

Speaking of samurai - Highlander's Christopher Lambert was in a fantastic Samurai vs Ninja movie called The Hunted. Highly recommended!

And Yami no Karyudo, Hunter in the Dark. Best. Samurai. Drama. Ever. Ok, next to Kurosawa's Ran.

Speaking of which: favorite Jackie Chan movies (based on sheer fighting brilliance):

Zuì Quán Èr (Drunken Master II)
Bōli Zūn (Gorgeous)
And Rumble in the Bronx is also necessary viewing.

Best fight sequences ever. Period.

 

[scotpens]

I've never seen a lot of Westerns that are regarded as classics, simply because I've never been a big fan of Westerns.

Casablanca. African Queen. Sound of Music. Metropolis.

By all means, you should see Casablanca, The African Queen and Metropolis. Especially the latest restoration of Metropolis containing footage that hasn't been seen in over 80 years.

But I wouldn't bother with The Sound of Music unless you're a huge musical fan or a Rodgers & Hammerstein completist. It's pretty treacly.

. . . Back in '98, republican paramilitaries blew up our local cinema. The only saving grace was that Titanic was showing there at the time.

I have a veritable laundry list of classics.

To name a few:
It's a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Casablanca
anything by Alfred Hitchcock
Planet of the Apes (or any Charlton Heston movie)

You're kidding about Hitchcock, right? Only a handful of Tibetan monks and a few Kalahari Bushmen have never seen an Alfred Hitchcock picture.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Ok granted my title is not clear, but could people suggest more great obscure movies and fewer mediocre famous ones?

A "watch" list, not a "do not bother" list. Maybe it's me but most movies are on my "do not bother" list.

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Permanent Record
This Boy's Life
Ong-Bak
Ong-Bak 2
Ip Man
Ip Man 2
Detachment
Clone
Franklyn
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
The Quest
Proof
Ponyo
The Art of Getting By
Triangle
The Great Debaters
Country Strong

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Only a handful of Tibetan monks and a few Kalahari Bushmen have never seen an Alfred Hitchcock picture.

I haven't either.

 

[Thestral]

I've seen a lot of films. Which, given the breath of film history, is but a drop in the bucket. Using the AFI's latest top 100 film list (out of laziness, really, rather than to offer the list any particular praise), I haven't seen the following:

City Lights
All About Eve
King Kong
The Philadelphia Story
Shane
It Happened One Night
A Streetcar Named Desire
Intolerance
Nashville
American Graffiti
Cabaret
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Silence of the Lambs
Spartacus
Swing Time
Sophie's Choice
Yankee Doodle Dandy

I've never seen Schindler's List. I even own it on DVD. I bought it the day it came out back in 2004, but I've never watched it.

Let's see, only one of these I've seen is The Silence of the Lambs.

You're kidding about Hitchcock, right? Only a handful of Tibetan monks and a few Kalahari Bushmen have never seen an Alfred Hitchcock picture.

Nope, sorry, not kidding. Though I do highly recommend The Sound of Music.

 

[Gaith]

Plus, is it just me, or does the guy who (I'm guessing, since she has children and grandchildren) Rose marries after Jack dies, have the most thankless job in the known universe? Sure, being married to Kate Winslet would be nice, but imagine having to compete with Jack...

Nah, wouldn't be a problem at all. The main weakness with Titanic is that while their love is necessary to drive the plot, the truth is Rose and Jack barely know each other, and thus never move past the infatuation stage. Plus, they only shag once.

So, if you marry Rose, not only do you get her for more than a few days, you get to know her much better than Jack ever did; I call that a win. (As for the reunion coda, it could simply have been a dream.)

 

[Caligula]

I'm just gonna list what I haven't seen out of AFI's top 100:

Schindler's List
City Lights
Sunset Blvd.
The General
The Grapes of Wrath
High Noon
Double Indemnity
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Bonnie and Clyde
Midnight Cowboy
It Happened One Night
Intolerance
The Gold Rush
Nashville
Sullivan's Travels
The African Queen
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Saving Private Ryan
Modern Times
The Apartment
Swing Time
Sophie's Choice
The Last Picture Show
Do the Right Thing
Toy Story

I also haven't seen The Wild Bunch, but will be doing so very soon.

 

[Orac Zen]

I can't believe I've never seen Double Indemnity. It's an omission I must correct. Ditto The Lost Weekend.

More on point, movies I'd recommend that I have seen would include The Wages of Fear, Kolya and Lantana. There are undoubtedly others but that's a few off the top of my head.

 

[chrisspringob]

Looks like EW had a feature called "50 Best Movies You've Never Seen" last year, which for some reason just showed up on my Google News feed:

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20483133_20609091,00.html?google_editors_picks=true

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I've also never seen any Kevin Smith film.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I've also never seen any Kevin Smith film.

"Clerks" is genuinely good.