Blarg
05-06-2005, 04:50 AM
There are a few I go looking for every once in a while, but either they haven't been marketed or are only available in VHS(I like DVD), or they are no longer sold. Here are the ones I really wish I could see again and would buy if I had the chance.
1. Diary of a Madman -- Vincent Price movie, well reviewed, modeled after the Guy De Maupassant(spelling?) short story called "The Horta." An invisible evil spirit passes to a man and makes him do ghastly things. A great paranoid, creepy adventure.
2. Boudu Saved from Drowning -- Directed by Renoir, this film from the 30's has Michel Simon in it clowning it up, and is very funny. My favorite Renoir film. Later remade abysmally by the otherwise talented Paul Bartel as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starring Nick Nolte and Bette Midler.
3. The Silent Partner -- Elliot Gould and Christopher ...er...the guy from Sound of Music. Anyway, a milquetoast knocked about by everyone decides to take a bit out of life by robbing the bank where he works during his day shift there, but another robber interrupts him halfway through it, getting away with...only some of the money. Finding out that much more was stolen than he got away with, the robber comes looking for the wimp, and a great bloody battle of wits ensues. Fantastic movie!
4. Berlin Alexanderplatz -- Fassbinder t.v. series also released as a movie during the glory days of the German New Wave. Really moving, and a great story.
5. La Bete Humaine -- Great French film noir from way back when, directed by Renoir, I think.
6. Human Desire -- Fritz Lang film with Glenn Ford, subverting his good guy image, going bad for a bad girl. Wonderfully and frankly amoral portrait.
7. The Nightstalker -- classic 70's t.v. show with Darren McGavin, who was hugely popular playing a bumbling, irascible reporter always driving his editor mad spouting crazy ideas about whatever monster of the week was troubling him in this supernatural drama. There were two pilots that came out which were hugely popular. Anchor Bay put them out together, but butchered one by chopping off the ending, which was actually a very important part of the story and very moving. The series itself was very uneven, but Darren McGavin doing almost anything was hilarious enough by itself to make almost anything worth watching. So far, only the pilots have come out.
8. Mighty Mouse -- the Ralph Bakshi t.v. show done in the 80's, not the old one. Very funny and sometimes biting. The reappearance of the old Mighty Heroes superhero team in one episode, now balding and fat yet with one of them still in diapers, is a huge high point, and did that theme really well long before The Incredibles ever got around to it.
Damn, I wish I could see some of these again. Anyone else got some favorites?
1. Diary of a Madman -- Vincent Price movie, well reviewed, modeled after the Guy De Maupassant(spelling?) short story called "The Horta." An invisible evil spirit passes to a man and makes him do ghastly things. A great paranoid, creepy adventure.
2. Boudu Saved from Drowning -- Directed by Renoir, this film from the 30's has Michel Simon in it clowning it up, and is very funny. My favorite Renoir film. Later remade abysmally by the otherwise talented Paul Bartel as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starring Nick Nolte and Bette Midler.
3. The Silent Partner -- Elliot Gould and Christopher ...er...the guy from Sound of Music. Anyway, a milquetoast knocked about by everyone decides to take a bit out of life by robbing the bank where he works during his day shift there, but another robber interrupts him halfway through it, getting away with...only some of the money. Finding out that much more was stolen than he got away with, the robber comes looking for the wimp, and a great bloody battle of wits ensues. Fantastic movie!
4. Berlin Alexanderplatz -- Fassbinder t.v. series also released as a movie during the glory days of the German New Wave. Really moving, and a great story.
5. La Bete Humaine -- Great French film noir from way back when, directed by Renoir, I think.
6. Human Desire -- Fritz Lang film with Glenn Ford, subverting his good guy image, going bad for a bad girl. Wonderfully and frankly amoral portrait.
7. The Nightstalker -- classic 70's t.v. show with Darren McGavin, who was hugely popular playing a bumbling, irascible reporter always driving his editor mad spouting crazy ideas about whatever monster of the week was troubling him in this supernatural drama. There were two pilots that came out which were hugely popular. Anchor Bay put them out together, but butchered one by chopping off the ending, which was actually a very important part of the story and very moving. The series itself was very uneven, but Darren McGavin doing almost anything was hilarious enough by itself to make almost anything worth watching. So far, only the pilots have come out.
8. Mighty Mouse -- the Ralph Bakshi t.v. show done in the 80's, not the old one. Very funny and sometimes biting. The reappearance of the old Mighty Heroes superhero team in one episode, now balding and fat yet with one of them still in diapers, is a huge high point, and did that theme really well long before The Incredibles ever got around to it.
Damn, I wish I could see some of these again. Anyone else got some favorites?