Tele's List of 100 Lesser-Known or Under-Appreciated Films Everyone Should See (THE LIST IS COMPLETE! p26)

[Fancyarcher]

Papillion is a terrific prison-break film. Quite intense as well.

[Dementeleus]

76. Hard Boiled (1992)

written by: Barry Wong, John Woo (story)

directed by: John Woo

starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung

 

Synopsis: 

A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.

 

The culmination of John Woo’s legendary Hong Kong career (aside from this and THE KILLER, two more of his movies that everyone should check out are BULLET IN THE HEAD and ONCE A THIEF). Interestingly enough, HARD BOILED wasn’t quite as successful as THE KILLER in Hong Kong, but Woo heard that it had received great buzz from American audiences, and so he decided to transition to Hollywood, teaming up first with Jean Claude Van Damme in HARD BOILED before the double-Travolta whammy of BROKEN ARROW AND FACE/OFF.

 

But anyway, back to HARD BOILED — if you haven’t seen it yet, why on earth not? This is Woo cranked up to 11. @4815162342 already posted the legendary hospital shootout, but the whole movie is just as wild and entertaining as that set-piece.

 

 

 

[RandomCat]

I saw Hardboiled because of the sequel video game.   pretty fun movie.

[Dementeleus]

75. Crossroads (1986)

 

written by: John Fusco

directed by: Walter Hill

starring: Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz

 

Synopsis: 

Ralph Macchio is Lightning Boy. A kid who can make a slide guitar sing. Blind Dog is an old pro who knows it. Together, they're headed to a place where deals are made. And legends are born.

 

Walter Hill is known primarily for his gritty action movies and westerns, but he has a real love for blues music (no surprise, if you’ve listened to the music in some of his films). Here, with a script by a young screenwriter who also was a talented musician, he teams up with legendary bluesman Ry Cooder for a modern retelling of the classic Faust tale. Ralph Macchio is a little white kid from New York, who happens to love the blues and is a classically-trained guitarist. He discovers an old musician in prison and the two team up in search of a un-released song supposedly composed by a famous musician, who (legend has it) sold his soul to the Devil in order to become talented.

 

As the old black man and young white boy travel through the South, they start to realize the legend might be true.

 

 

 

[Dementeleus]

74. Alexander Nevsky (1938)

written by: Sergei Eisenstein, Pyotr Pavlenko

directed by: Sergei Eisenstein, Dmitriy Vasilev

starring: Nikolay Cherkasov

 

Synopsis: 

The story of how a great Russian prince led a ragtag army to battle an invading force of Teutonic Knights.

 

This is essentially a pure, unadulterated propaganda movie. On the eve of WWII, the Soviet Union feared an assault by Nazi Germany, so Stalin commissioned this movie — based on historical events — about the famous Prince Alexander Nevsky, who rallied a small army to defend Russia against the far more dominant Teutonic Knights in 1242 AD. Amusingly, by the time the movie wrapped production, Stalin had just signed the Soviet-German non-aggression pact and the movie was rejected by the Soviet government as “too anti-German”. However, when Hitler broke the agreement and invaded in 1941, the movie was quickly re-released.

 

The plot is simple and the acting is very broad, but the visuals and music are extremely impressive, and incredibly influential even today. Watch the famous “Battle on the Ice” sequence and you can hear how Sergei Prokofiev’s famous score influenced everyone from John Williams to James Horner; how the framing of the visuals and the pace (and style) of the editing basically set the tone for movies like BRAVEHEART, RETURN OF THE KING, and many more. 

 

I can’t find any actual trailer for this, so here’s a clip of “Battle on the Ice”.

 

 

 

[Dementeleus]

73. Ruthless People (1986)

written by: Dale Launer, O. Henry (story)

directed by: David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker

starring: Bette Midler, Danny DeVito, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater

 

Synopsis: 

A couple, cheated by a vile businessman, kidnap his wife in retaliation, without knowing that their enemy is delighted they did.

 

The famous ZAZ directing team stepped away from their usual mode of pure slapstick farce and instead made this gleefully nasty story about a woman who’s kidnapped from a couple that her husband screwed over. But the kicker is that the kidnappers themselves are sweet, gentle people and the woman and her husband are complete assholes. The kidnappers quickly get in over their heads and need to find a way out of the situation without getting arrested or even killed.

 

Perfectly cast (can you imagine anyone better than Midler or DeVito here?), this was one of the big hits of 1986 but it’s mostly forgotten today. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

[Fancyarcher]

Saw Alexander Nevsky in one of my film classes in college a few years. As far as propaganda films, it ain't half bad. That battle on the ice scene is genuinely thrilling, and the work of a masterful director.

[The Stingray]

Some of these movies sound made-up, tbh.
 

[The Stingray]

4 hours ago, Daniel Dylan Davis said:

Papillion is a terrific prison-break film. Quite intense as well.

 

I prefer Escape from Alcatraz.

[ttr]

 

I prefer Escape from Alcatraz.

Cool Hand Luke.

[DeeCee]

1 hour ago, ttr said:

Cool Hand Luke.

The Fortress. 

[baumer]

Haven't seen Papillion, Hard Boiled or Nevsky.  Hard Boiled is one I know I need to see.  Papillion is another that just never appealed to me in my youth for some reason.  It was always sitting there at my local blockbuster but I always passed on it for some reason.

 

Crossroads is good and I saw that for two reasons....one because of Jami Gertz and two because Walter Hill was one of my favouirte behind the scenes guys.  He not only wrote Aliens, but he directed a few of my favourites growing up.  48 Hours, Brewster's Millions (another film that could make it to this list) and Warriors, plus one of my all time faves, Extreme Prejudice.  

 

Ruthless People is one of the funniest films you will see.  I don't think it would be dated today at all.  The story is timeless and the jokes are very funny and don't rely on a lot of pop culture stuff.  It's just a funny film.  The Doberman scene is pretty hilarious.....and when we were teens, me and my friend actually used one of Devito's crude lines in the film to a wrong number....to a wrong number to our house phone.  It was pretty funny stuff.  

 

Great list so far Tele.

[Eric S'ennui]

So I've been looking to see how many of these movies are on Netflix, and for Crossroads, I didn't get the Ralph Macchio movie, but that crappy Britney Spears movie. That really blows, dude.

[DeeCee]

I checked Netflix to see if I could watch A Bridge to Far again. It wasn't there so I somehow ended up watching Colombiana again. 

[Goffe]

Seen 2 so far, never heard of the rest. lol

Edited June 13, 2016 by Goffe

[RandomCat]

Seen Ruthless People too. Had that on VHS, I have very vivid memories of that cover.

 

 

No love for Bill Pullman.

 

[baumer]

Loved Pullman in RP

 

Check this list out @RandomJC

 

Can't post it from my phone....will do it from home

[narniadis]

Have seen both Snowy River  (and the sequel) and Summer School both are good flicks. 

 

*adds the rest to Netflix as I can find them*

[RandomCat]

So far, between this list and Baumers, I have 35 movies I want to watch/rewatch. Now to just find them to watch.

[RandomCat]

30 minutes ago, Baumer said:

Loved Pullman in RP

 

Check this list out @RandomJC

 

Can't post it from my phone....will do it from home

 

Going to be on the edge of my seat all day now.  

 

I welcome good movies to watch. Beats random Netflix movies. Well, not fair, seen some pretty good random movies on there that I'd never know about if it weren't just, sure why not.