Great but Forgotten
My favorite entertainment you've never seen.
Important Note: These are my older reviews. Reviews since mid-December of 2007 are at http://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com.
I see a lot of movies. Some big hits, some not so. And in among them are a few gems that have either been forgotten by time, or were forgotten from the start. Everything is a crapshoot, and sometimes a very deserving film never quite catches on. I wanted to take a little time to commemorate the best I've seen.
I had originally conceived this as a one-shot article listing a few movie favorites. But as I look through my list of films, I realize the task is a lot bigger. It quickly became an ongoing series of capsule reviews of movies that deserve better than they got. I also started thinking about TV shows and musicians that deserve to be remembered. There are plenty of fine movies, TV, and CDs that have been overlooked, and I wanted to commemorate them.
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All These Women — Slapstick comedy. By Ingemar Bergman. Really.
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American Flagg! (Comic) — In a dystopian future, only Reuben Flagg can hold things together!
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Best Boy — Heartwarming documentary about a retarded man learning to live life.
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Black Moon — Louis Malle's mysterious film.
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Bob (TV) — Bob Newhart as a mild mannered comic book artist, in a show killed by its network
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Brassed Off — British comedy about music and coal mining.
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Brewster McCloud — Robert Altman comedy about a man who tries to fly.
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Brute Force — 40s prison break movie with Hume Cronyn as the sadistic guard.
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The Body Snatcher — Boris Karloff as the title character, one of film's great performances.
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The Carpet Makers — Truly great SF novel about the mysteries of a galactic empire.
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Comfort and Joy — Quirky gang war comedy set in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Cry Uncle! — The raunchiest sex comedy ever.
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Cobb — Tommy Lee Jones as one of baseball's great psychotics.
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The Court Jester — "The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon."
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Days of Heaven — The most beautiful movie ever made.
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Deathwatch — Harvey Keitel in the ultimate in reality TV
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The Doberman Gang — Better Than It Has Any Right to Be film about robbing banks using dogs
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The Duck Factory (TV) — Very young Jim Carrey in TV series about a cartoon studio.
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East Side Story — Fun Documentary about Marxist movie musicals. Really.
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Ella Enchanted — Delightful postmodern fairy tale with Anne Hathaway
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Emitt Rhodes (music) — The American Paul McCartney
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The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T — Live Action Dr. Seuss from the 50s.
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Flower Drum Song — Not politically correct any more, but a fine musical.
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Flying Blind (TV) — Romantic sitcom that made Tea Leoni into a star.
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Force of Evil — Sophisticated 40s film noir about the numbers racket and organized crime.
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God, the Devil, and Bob (TV) — James Garner as God in this animated treasure.
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Hear My Song — Charming British comedy.
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Hearts of the West — The wild west was not like in the movies.
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The Heartbreak Kid (1972) — A man on his honeymoon has a change of plan.
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The Heckler (comics) — Part superhero, part Bugs Bunny, one of the oddest comics ever.
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Hoodwinked — Witty animated retelling of Red Riding Hood.
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It Came from Outer Space — Science fiction classic in 3-D.
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Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring — Superb French tragedy.
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The Last Waltz — Greatest rock concert film ever.
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Little Voice — A shy girl with an amazing voice.
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Lost in La Mancha — How a great movie doesn't get made.
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Magic — A young Anthony Hopkins as a ventriloquist who isn't sure of his sanity.
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Max — "What if" film about a Jewish art dealer who befriends a young Adolph Hitler.
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Medium Cool — Politics, Protest, and the press in the 60s.
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Million Dollar Legs — Wild, absurdist 30s movie comedy.
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Movie Movie — Delightful pastiche of 30s movies -- and two movies in one!
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Mother Night — Fine adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut novel
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My Bodyguard — How to deal with a bully -- and look who's in it!
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Neighbors — The neighbors from hell.
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NBC Experiment in Television — Quality TV plays and documentaries, commercial free.
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Once a Hero (TV) — A superhero for the Real World.
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The Onion Field — Realistic police drama, with James Woods at his best.
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Picking Up the Pieces — Woody Allen as Tex. Sharon Stone as his wife.
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Putney Swope — "Rockin' the boat's a drag. You gotta sink the boat!"
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Resurrection — Ellen Burstyn as a woman who can work miracles.
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Return to Oz — Dark sort-of sequel of the classic -- and still pretty good.
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Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles — Chinese film about fathers and sons.
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Saboteur — Hitchcock classic that was a trial run for North by Northwest.
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The Sandbaggers (TV) — British spy series that shows the less glamorous side of spying.
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Scarface — The original classic gangster film by Howard Hawks.
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Screen Door Jesus — Faith and humor in a Texas town.
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The Smallest Show on Earth — Charming British comedy about running a movie theater.
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Star Cops (TV) — Intelligent BBC hard science fiction/mystery series
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Stevie — An intriguing look into the life of a smart woman poet.
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Support Your Local Sheriff! — Terrific comedy western with James Garner.
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The Stunt Man — Peter O'Toole as a mad film director in a great film about moviemaking.
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The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe — Long title, very funny spy spoof.
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Targets — Boris Karloff as an aging horror actor facing real horror.
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The Tenant — The best horror film ever.
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Truly Madly Deeply — A love story from beyond the grave -- done right.
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200 Motels — Glorious mess from the mind of Frank Zappa.
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VR.5 (TV) — Great science fiction TV series about virtual and not-so-virtual reality.
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War with the Newts (book) — Great SF satire by an author better known for a much lesser work.
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The Well — A film ahead of its time.
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Wish You Were Here (TV) — TV comedy series about a man and his camcorder
21795 Great but Forgotten
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