Obviously I love to write about cinema. In fact there are few things I enjoy more. I can expound all day long on the intricate artistry of The Godfather, (yes, I prefer the original) Bad Lands, Blow Out and Night of the Hunter. I can go on ad nauseam about There Will Be Blood, The Third Man and Strangers on a Train. But, really, what self respecting movie buff can’t?
The following are ten really good movies, that most people–movie buff or not–haven’t seen. They are small films, mostly independent, made without extravagant budgets and A-list star power, that still manage to enthrall, provoke and entertain impressively. Two are masterpieces.
10. A Blast of Silence (1961) directed by Allen Baron – Existentialist film noir; an emotionally destitute hitman (Allen Baron) from Cleveland makes a business trip to the Big Apple at Christmas and gets a life altering hankering for human connection. Ultra realistic depiction of depravity and soullessness against a non glam NYC backdrop. Fantastic opening sequence and voice over from veteran character actor Lionel Stander. A precursor to Taxi Driver.
9. Bad Company (1971); directed by Robert Benton – Revisionist Western; in the vein of McCabe & Mrs. Miller and The Unforgiven, humorous deconstruction in a story of two shiftless young men (Jeff Bridges, Barry Brown) dodging the Union Army draft and each other’s treachery during the Civil War. Witty screenplay and stunning cinematography complement a great follow up to then newcomer Jeff Bridges Oscar nominated performance in The Last Picture Show.
8. Blue Ruin (2013); directed by Jeremy Saulnier – Thriller/Crime Drama; bloody revenge yarn about a drifter, living out of his broken down car, who exacts vengeance on behalf of his murdered parents while seeking self respect. Winner of the International Film Critics Award of the Cannes Film Festival 2013, made on a shoestring budget with a no name cast (except for Eve Plumb of The Brady Bunch). Director Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room) is one to watch.
7. Cold In July (2014); directed by Jim Mickle – Thriller; a mashup of genres and influential films culminating in a story of intrigue, sex trafficking, serial murder, the Dixie Mafia, regret and retribution. Starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnson. Convoluted, action packed, thought provoking and far-fetched–a flawed but sparkling gem.
6. No Way to Treat a Lady (1968); directed by Jack Smight – Black Comedy/Thriller; a tour-de-force performance by Academy Award winning actor Rod Steiger playing a serial killer who is bitten by the theater bug while suffering from a bad case of mommie issues. Skillful mining of familiar tropes and good acting all around, (George Siegel, Lee Remick) but it is Steiger that elevates this to a must see.
5. Runaway Train (1985); directed by Andrei Konchalovsky – Thriller/Action; an ambitious, masterfully directed film with fantastic special effects and stunt work and especially, outstanding editing on a modest budget of $9 million. Jon Voight and Eric Roberts (both nominated for an Academy Award, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively) star as escaped convicts on a train, sans a conductor, headed for a suicidal curve and a nearby chemical plant. Rebecca De Mornay co-stars as an apprentice engineer hurtling toward death with two murderous men and no access to the engine room. Riveting.
4. Transsiberian (2008); directed by Brad Anderson – Thriller; yet another “train movie”. This one’s about a straight laced, American couple on the Trans-Siberian Railway who befriend another couple–friendly, but there’s something a little off about them– who are transporting a collection of rare dolls. The funny thing is the straight laced couple keeps seeing high quality (identical, really) knockoffs of the dolls in souvenir shops. Starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Kate Mara and Ben Kinglsley. A Taunt, yet intricately plotted, movie that keeps you guessing.
3. Mystery Road (2013); directed by Ivan Sen – Contemporary Western/Crime Drama; Jay Swan (Aaron Pederson) an Aborigines detective in the Australian Outback investigates the murder of a teenage indigenous girl amidst corruption and not so subtle racism. Quiet. Atmospheric. Seamless. And then all hell breaks loose. Director Ivan Sen wrote the screenplay, the musical score and acted as editor and cinematographer. It is a gorgeously shot film. A landmark feat of filmmaking. Aaron Pederson–charismatic, handsome and gifted–should be an international star.
2. The Proposition (2005); directed by John Hillcoat – Revisionist Western; Australian film about a marauding band of bushwhackers and rapists, The Burns Brothers Gang, who terrorize the outback. Guy Pierce stars as Charlie Burns, commissioned by the military Marshal of the territory (Ray Winstone) to track down and kill his older brother and leader of the gang, Arthur, (Danny Houston) whereupon simpleminded younger brother Mickey–who is facing the gallows–will be released. Brutal, barren and unforgettably oppressive, John Hillcoat’s film is also steeped in truth and is eerily beautiful. With the screenplay and music written by the fabulous Nick Cave and famed French cinematographer Benoit Delhomme behind the camera, The Proposition is a little known masterpiece.
1. One False Move (1992); directed by Carl Franklin – Thriller/Southern Gothic; before Sling Blade there was One False Move. Billy Bob Thornton cut his teeth on the screenplay along with Tom Epperson and co-stared. Veteran television character actor and director Carl Franklin was tagged for the project with an estimated budget of two million dollars. Accustomed to directing sitcom episodes, commercials and shorts, the shoestring budget actually gave Franklin some unfamiliar wiggle room–and boy, did he make the most of it. Rarely do I describe a film as perfect. One False Move is one of those wonderfully odd exceptions.
The story is a relatively simple one: Three ruthless drug dealers/killers (Billy Bob Thornton, Cynda Williams and Michael Beach) are on a cross country crime spree, or so it would seem. But persuing detectives get wind that the female member, Fantasia, (Cynda Williams) has a son in a spot in the road town of Star Arkansas. They alert the hick town sheriff Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Bill Paxton), who is excited about the prospect of rubbing shoulders with big city policemen and tracking down the two male killers. But when Fantasia is caught on surveillance tape killing a Texas Ranger, a skeptical Dale is confronted with the evidence and things get complicated. Dale knows Fantasia and her family. He likes them. They’ve gotten a raw deal in life to which Dale is all too aware.
One False Move is an absolute piece of cinematic art and superb storytelling at every level. They hardly ever make them like this. Now. Then. Or ever.
Your movie lists and reviews always have me adding to my must-watch queue. Great picks here.
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Thank you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
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Great post 🙂 I love One False Move, The Proposition, Runaway Train and A Blast of Silence. Transsiberian, Cold in July and Bad Company are all very good. It has been a while since I have seen some of the others and I have not seen Mystery Road, but I shall now 🙂 Anyway, keep up the great work as always and keep those comments coming 🙂
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Thanks John. Mystery Road is a quiet movie. Let me know what you think.
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Great list! Gave me the shivers.
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Thanks Jay.
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Mystery Road is a new one to me, I’ll have to check it out.
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I think you guys will like it. It is art but it doesn’t scream “This is ART damn it!” To me, that’s what I get from your Eraser series. That’s one of the many things I love about it.
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Thank you that’s so good to hear. We know and love most of the others and so I’m sure we’ll appreciate it. Do you know The Burglar with Dan Duryea?
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Do not. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll look it up.
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The cheetah and I have Mystery Road and Cold In July in our que……and we are getting close to checking them out. I have watched “One False Move” but that was when it was playing in the theaters so its been a LONG time since then.
I have to add two soon to be added titles to your list
“Remember” – beautiful film about justice and peace
“Cut Bank” – The importance of making sure one gets their mail.
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Noted. I’ll check them out. Thanks. And say hello to the cheetah for me.
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I shall do that!! The cheetah loves his fans and friends.
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First let me say that just before reading this I replied to your comment on my blog. I have only seen three of the films on your list. The Propostion is a great and underrated film as is Bad Company. The third film is No Way to Treat a Lady and I have loved this film since I saw back when it first came out. To be honest, the draw was Lee Remick who back in those teenage days I had a crush on. That she happened to be a excellent actress was a plus. I even got to see her on Broadway in Wait Until Dark. Getting back to the film, yes it’s a wonderful dark comedy/thriller and Steiger is over the top and perfect for the part. It’s a film I have been meaning to write about.
One False Move is a film I have been wanting to see and never get around to. A Blast of Silence sounds like a must see. My list gets larger.
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Ha! I can see where your coming from with Lee Remick–she was pretty hot and that’s coming from a very heterosexual, happily married woman. Anyway, I implore you to see One False Move. And yes, I think you will enjoy A Blast of Silence. Some people extol it as a work of art and others deride it. I have a hankering for existential film noir so it’s right up my alley. Glad to hear from you. I hope you do write about No Way to Treat a Lady.
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Hey there, Recently, we talked about the films of Hitchcock and De Palma and I found a blog site today that was talking about both and in a highly positive light. Here are two of the links and I left comments on there because it was just so fascinating to read. Here is the Hitchcock link
https://cindybruchman.com/2018/06/10/daphne-du-maurier-and-alfred-hitchcock/
And here is the De Palma link
https://cindybruchman.com/2018/06/12/l13fc-brian-de-palma/
I mean it is just so fascinating cause me and you were talking about their films very recently 🙂 Anyway, keep the great work as always and keep those comments coming as usual 🙂
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Thanks John. Yes, both are intriguing posts. I commented on the De Palma post. Thanks for thinking of me. I enjoy the conversation. Love Hitchcock and De Palma. You and Cindy and my mom love The Birds. (And millions of other movie lovers.) It is a fantastic movie. It gets better every time I view it.
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I sometimes think I am the only film fan on earth that cannot stand ‘The Birds’. It’s not just that I don’t like it, I really do think it’s an awful film, at every level. Then again, I am not a huge fan of Hitchcock, (with a few exceptions) but Hedren and Taylor must be two of the worst actors of that generation. In fact, any generation. 🙂
Am I missing ‘The Birds gene’, perhaps? I really just don’t get the love for that clunky film.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Ummm…I like The Birds…just not as much as my beautiful late mother did, or my hilarious aunt Ida, or my daughters or my good friend John Charet…the list goes on. Oh yeah, how could I forget? My husband loves it too. I do really like Hitchcock though. Strangers on a Train…I’m in love with that one. And Psycho. And Shadow of a Doubt. But I admire your moxie. It’s brave to admit that you don’t care for Hitchcock that much. I bet you get some blow back over that.
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I get a world of grief for being non-Hitchcock. (I like having your ‘moxie’ though. Might be a first for an Englishman) That said, I love Strangers on A Train and Shadow of a Doubt, and don’t mind Rear Window, either.
https://beetleypete.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/retro-review-shadow-of-a-doubt-1943/
Best wishes, Pete.
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Ha!
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One of the bests ‘lists’ I have seen since I started blogging.
I have seen them all, except number 10. Bad Company is one of my favourite films, a civil war era story that echoes everything from Huckleberry Finn, to Billy The Kid.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks Pete. That means a lot to me. If you get the chance to see Blast of Silence I would be curious to hear your thoughts.
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A fine list, Pam, and I thank you for that. I haven’t seen many on the list, so I appreciate the head’s up. I think I’ll try ‘One False Move’ first.
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I don’t think you’ll be disappointed Cindy. You may not like it as much as I do, but it’s a highly rated film. I think 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. And Ebert absolutely loved it as did Leonard Maltin.
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Well, then! 😉
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I have seen 1 out of the 10. My list is getting longer 🙂
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Well they are pretty obscure movies. Just curious, which one have you seen?
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Number 10 and 9 I will be checking out. I love finding “new” old music and movies. Thanks for the list.
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You are welcome. Both are great, though the consensuses is mixed on Blast of Silence. It’s not for everybody.
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My son just turned 18 and he has always been a film buff…him and I love older movies so they will be on our list. Everything from Citizen Kane to A Clockwork Orange.
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Oh fantastic. I love them too. Film noir and 70’s cinema is my favorite.
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I like the cinematography of the 70s. Films like Vanishing Point and even B movies like Gone In Sixty Seconds…the 74 version.
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Vanishing Point is awesome. I’ve never seen the original Gone in Sixty Seconds. I’ll have to look it up.
Listen, I tried to send you a link, but I forgot how to do it. Ha! I couldn’t figure it out. Ha! Anyway, a couple of my earlier posts called Ten Killer Thriller Needle Drops 6-10 & 5-1. If you have time check them out. I think you will appreciate them.
–Pam
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I sure will! Don’t expect too much in Gone In Sixty Seconds…a B movie but a lot of car chasing…I saw it as a kid in Nashville and they had the actual car in the theatre… so it is probably more of an emotional attachment lol…
I will check that out tonight….thanks
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Blue Ruin, Transsiberian, The Proposition, and One False Move (Carl Franklin is a very underrated and under-utilized director…his episodes of the recent I Am the Night mini-series were amazing) – YES YES YES YES!
Based on how spot on you are about those, I must check out these other ones, too! Great list!
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Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say.
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