# Forgotten movies of the 80s



## Helen Back (Dec 12, 2009)

There are some films from the 80s that seem to have been forgotten about, are never shown on TV and no-one talks about them - some deservedly so.

Electric Dreams, Xanadu, Dreamscape, Firestarter and Altered States are just a few. 

Any others?


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 12, 2009)

Miracle Mile was a good one Reno recommended a while back.  Had never heard of it before but it was really good.


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## Dirty Martini (Dec 12, 2009)

Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire.

We need more snooker-based musical comedies!


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## Reno (Dec 12, 2009)

Xanadu will never be forgotten.  

There currently is a Broadway show based on it.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 12, 2009)

I wouldn't call Altered States forgotten.  that's quite well known


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

near dark
something wild
after hours
rita sue and bob too
how to get ahead in advertising
the toxic avenger
society


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## Dirty Martini (Dec 12, 2009)

How To Get Ahead in Advertising is a good call, but people still watch Something Wild, don't they?


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

do they? if i asked a random selection of my peers, i bet hardly any would remember it.


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## sojourner (Dec 12, 2009)

I used to love Rita Sue and Bob too

must have watched it a good 6 or 7 times

rang a lot of bells for me, and I found it really fucking funny

Andrea Dunbar, who wrote it, came from those places, and had a really stupid shocking end


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## Jon-of-arc (Dec 12, 2009)

Pump up the Volume

Red Dawn

1985 No Retreat, No Surrender 
1988 Bloodsport 
1989 Cyborg Gibson
2989 Kickboxer 
(& anything else with da mussels from brusslels in!!!)

Above the Law (1988) 
Hard to Kill (1989) 

Honourable mention goes to Under Siege(1992), another Steven Segal film, so confused as to which side of the 80s and 90s it should be, it seems harsh to disregard on such a petty basis...


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

sojourner said:


> I used to love Rita Sue and Bob too
> 
> must have watched it a good 6 or 7 times
> 
> ...




sue's pissed dad is one of cinema's greatest drunks.
all the characters are brilliant.
so many funny lines - 'jesus, it looks like a frozen sausage!'
'i can't help being a paki!' 'yes, you fucking can'
'i thought i were ace!'
i've just spotted an unopened DVD of it on the shelf. it belongs to my flatmate. would he forgive me if i watched it?
i remember playing it to some old flatmates (all southerners) and they just didn't get it.


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## Pickman's model (Dec 12, 2009)

cocoon
the man with one red shoe


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## Pickman's model (Dec 12, 2009)

fx: murder by illusion


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## paulhackett (Dec 12, 2009)

Rivers Edge - Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

i'm now reminded of letter to brezhnev. it's not a great film, but it has some brilliantly written parts, esp margi clarke's character teresa.
it was one of film four's first productions and there was a massive buzz about it, but nothing much came of it. alexandra pigg was tipped for great things but she pretty much disappeared after that.


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## marty21 (Dec 12, 2009)

sojourner said:


> Andrea Dunbar, who wrote it, came from those places, and had a really stupid shocking end



fuck, she died at 29 , never knew, it is an hilarious film, the lead character reminds me of a bloke I knew at uni, from Clitheroe


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> near dark
> 
> something wild
> 
> ...



These are all far form forgotten surely.


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## sojourner (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> sue's pissed dad is one of cinema's greatest drunks.
> all the characters are brilliant.
> so many funny lines - 'jesus, it looks like a frozen sausage!'
> 'i can't help being a paki!' 'yes, you fucking can'
> ...



mm, deffo a northern film

i'd watch it - he won't mind.  is he a southerner? if so, he won't like it anyway


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> These are all far form forgotten surely.



not by you maybe.

ok, how about parents?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098068/
hardly anyone saw it, but it's an incredible film.
has one of the best 'hide in the closet from the killer' scenes i've ever seen - it's so tense and terrifying


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## Dirty Martini (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> do they? if i asked a random selection of my peers, i bet hardly any would remember it.



Blimey. That's a shame, it's a top 80s comedy.


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## sojourner (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i'm now reminded of letter to brezhnev. it's not a great film, but it has some brilliantly written parts, esp margi clarke's character teresa.
> it was one of film four's first productions and there was a massive buzz about it, but nothing much came of it. alexandra pigg was tipped for great things but she pretty much disappeared after that.



omg!

I fucking LOVED that film!

margi clarke was brilliant in it, and it was all brutal and cruel, but poignant

fab film


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

sojourner said:


> mm, deffo a northern film
> 
> i'd watch it - he won't mind.  is he a southerner? if so, he won't like it anyway


nah, he's a proud yorkshireman - we're schoolmates! he's way more 'northern' than me.


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## Dirty Martini (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> ok, how about parents?
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098068/
> hardly anyone saw it, but it's an incredible film.
> has one of the best 'hide in the closet from the killer' scenes i've ever seen - it's so tense and terrifying



Good call. I saw that when it came out. Highly weird.


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## sojourner (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> nah, he's a proud yorkshireman - we're schoolmates! he's way more 'northern' than me.



ah

i'd still watch it, and go mad with praise, then he won't mind if you watched it

i have a justification for every situation


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> people still watch Something Wild, don't they?





Orang Utan said:


> do they? if i asked a random selection of my peers, i bet hardly any would remember it.



I suspect its quite well known amongst people of a certain vintage, because it was shown on the Moviedrome strand on BBC2, which I think helped lend greater longevity to many otherwise minor flicks.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> not by you maybe.
> 
> ok, how about parents?
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098068/
> ...



Humm, maybe. I guess I can only really judge it by what I have or haven't forgotten. I guess you don't hear that much about them. Electric Dreams (though I have never seen it) seemed like a pretty big deal but only came out on DVD a couple of months ago. 

How about Soul Man? I bet they don't show that on the TV that much these days.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> How about Soul Man? I bet they don't show that on the TV that much these days.



A lot of those second string, vaguely Brat Pack films which used to pad out the late night schedule back in the days of four channel terrestrial have fallen by the wayside of popular consciousness these days I reckon:


_Class_
_Weekend At Bernie's_
_Mannequin_
_OC And Stiggs_


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## Bernie Gunther (Dec 12, 2009)

No Surrender (the one set in a scouse nightclub, not the Van Damme movie)


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

How about the Coen Bros' 'lost' film, _Crimewave_, which Sam Raimi directed? That count as 'forgotten' for people here?


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Bernie Gunther said:


> No Surrender (the one set in a scouse nightclub, not the Van Damme movie)



Not heard of that, sounds interesting, will try and track that down, ta for the heads up  Sort of makes me think of _Orphans_ by way of _Phoenix Nights_.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

There's all sorts of films I can think of that got good support on C4 and BBC2 in the 80s/early 90s - director seasons, themed seasons, strands, rotation, that sort of thing - but which have since had a much lower profile.

Stuff like:


_Stormy Monday_
_1871_
_Apartment Zero_
_The Kitchen Toto_
_White Mischief_
Various Derek Jarman things
Ditto Peter Greenaway (particularly _Drowning by Numbers_ and _The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover_)


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

has anyone seen possession?
i caught it on telly late night as a drunk or stoned teen, so i don't remember much about it apart from one unforgettable scene.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> has anyone seen possession?
> i caught it on telly late night as a drunk or stoned teen, so i don't remember much about it apart from one unforgettable scene.
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/



You always try and raise the tone, don't you?

Now I'm going to feel a lumpen fool for mentioning Ken Russell's _The Lair Of The White Worm_


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

oh yes, the first time i encountered hugh grant's affable woodenness.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

I was more interested in Amanda Donohoe's 'affable woodenness' TBH


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

One of the most deservedly forgotten movies of the 80s that I can think of turns out to be from the 90s:

_Welcome II The Terrordome_


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## Bernie Gunther (Dec 12, 2009)

DaveCinzano said:


> Not heard of that, sounds interesting, will try and track that down, ta for the heads up  Sort of makes me think of _Orphans_ by way of _Phoenix Nights_.



It's pretty funny. I think it was written by Alan Bleasdale. It certainly has a lot of his regulars in it. Also has an amusing cameo from Elvis Costello.


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## Fictionist (Dec 12, 2009)

About Last Night (with the stunning Rob Lowe)
Weird Science


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> About Last Night (with the stunning Rob Lowe)



That the Mamet one with Demi Moore? Bit boring, Belushi was the only thing holding my interest. Think _Casual Sex?_ did yuppie-era romantic comedy/battle of sexes stage play film adaptation better.



Fictionist said:


> Weird Science



Totally not forgotten though!


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

But talking of Rob Lowe...


_The Hotel New Hampshire_ (odd)
_Oxford Blues_ (horrible)
_Bad Influence_ (just shy of the 80s)


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

i remember my local woolworths always had a copy of about last night on vhs. we didn't have a vcr and i was only in there to spend my paper round money on one 7" a week. but i always used to spy it on the shelf cos it had the words 'sex comedy' and an 18 certificate. i was around 12-14 and thought it must be terribly racey. my imagination worked overtime and i imagined demi getting up to all sorts of sexy shenanigans but pratfalling on a bananaskin afterwards. i wasn't entirely sure how the sex and the comedy came together. i'm sure the movie in my head was much better than the actual film, which i never got round to watching and no doubt never will.


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## N_igma (Dec 12, 2009)

Prince of Darkness.


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## Bernie Gunther (Dec 12, 2009)

DaveCinzano said:


> You always try and raise the tone, don't you?
> 
> Now I'm going to feel a lumpen fool for mentioning Ken Russell's _The Lair Of The White Worm_



Oh yes, that was such an enjoyable film


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

ken russell is a man of very limited talents


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## Fedayn (Dec 12, 2009)

No Surrender (as Bernie said)
Fruit Machine
Dancing through the dark
Comfort and Joy
My Beautiful Laundrette
Sammy and Rosie get laid
Not quite Jerusalem
Cal
Restless Natives


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

does anyone remember a snooker-based film starring bob geldof? i only saw the trailer and that was enough.


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## Zhelezniakov (Dec 12, 2009)

At close range, James Foley, with Cristopher Walken and Sean Penn.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Zhelezniakov said:


> At close range, James Foley, with Cristopher Walken and Sean Penn.



Still on my to-watch list - the internet very kindly lent me a copy, but it was corrupted


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## DJ Squelch (Dec 12, 2009)

I'd love to get hold of a copy of The Atlanta Child Murders (1985), it was a TV mini series rather than a film. Had a great cast (Morgan Freeman, James Earl-Jones, Martin Sheen) but it's nowhere to be found now a days.


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## Fedayn (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> does anyone remember a snooker-based film starring bob geldof? i only saw the trailer and that was enough.



Number One


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Fedayn said:


> Sammy and Rosie get laid



A guilty pleasure of mine, definitely preferred it to _My Beautiful Launderette_ though.


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

i was going to suggest this, but it's early 90s. i'll post it anyway:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_False_Move

and this oddity was made in 1989, but it was released in 1990:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100469/


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

Fedayn said:


> Number One



did you see it? if so, crap/not crap? did it also have mel smith in it?


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## Fedayn (Dec 12, 2009)

DaveCinzano said:


> A guilty pleasure of mine, definitely preferred it to _My Beautiful Launderette_ though.



It's not better but it's overlooked.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

_In The Line Of Duty: The FBI Murders_ was a superb TV movie, with David Soul and Ronny Cox. Based on a true story too. Which obviously makes it better.


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

don't bother with london kills me though


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## Fedayn (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> did you see it? if so, crap/not crap? did it also have mel smith in it?



Nah, it was a TV film though.


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## blairsh (Dec 12, 2009)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Pump up the Volume
> 
> Red Dawn
> 
> ...




Kickboxer & Bloodsport! Get a gripman! Van Damme classics!


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i was going to suggest this, but it's early 90s. i'll post it anyway:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_False_Move



Another 80s/90s borderline neonoir:

_The Hot Spot_ - Don Johnson as the stranger in town, Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly the two very different women he has his eyes on, directed by Dennis Hopper.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 12, 2009)

There was an adaptation of _The Rachel Papers_ with Dexter Fletcher that passed the time.


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## blairsh (Dec 12, 2009)

Poltergeist? I was reminded of this the other day and thought "Fucking 'ell! I forgot about that"


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## Orang Utan (Dec 12, 2009)

blairsh said:


> Poltergeist? I was reminded of this the other day and thought "Fucking 'ell! I forgot about that"



it was one of the highest grossing box offices smashes of the 80s!


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## blairsh (Dec 12, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> it was one of the highest grossing box offices smashes of the 80s!



but i forgot about it....


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## Iguana (Dec 12, 2009)

Starman.  It was on tv a couple of weeks ago and I was just like "oh yeah, this movie existed!"


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## blairsh (Dec 12, 2009)

Iguana said:


> Starman.  It was on tv a couple of weeks ago and I was just like "oh yeah, this movie existed!"



Thats a good one! (Forgotten film i mean)


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## blairsh (Dec 12, 2009)

Teen Agent & Teen Wolf


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## Reno (Dec 13, 2009)

Unlike some of the rather famous films mentioned (Poltergeist, Starman), _Five Corners_ really is an unjustly forgotten 80s film. Starring Jodie Foster, John Turturro and Tim Robbins, it's an interesting mixture of 60s period piece, drama and thriller.


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## Orang Utan (Dec 13, 2009)

is it set in new york?


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> do they? if i asked a random selection of my peers, i bet hardly any would remember it.



Near Dark is a classic.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2009)

Return To Oz
Body Heat
The Gods Must Be Crazy
Teen Wolf
Stroker Ace
Mr Mom
Krull
Peggy Sue Got Married


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## Orang Utan (Dec 13, 2009)

the beastmaster and clash of the titans were my favourite films as a kid in the 80s but they're never on the telly anymore


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

Fictionist said:


> Weird Science


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## chazegee (Dec 13, 2009)

Howard the duck.

Short version.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

how the fuck is weird science a forgotten film, that's like one of the most famous 80s films after Ferris Bueller


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> how the fuck is weird science a forgotten film, that's like one of the most famous 80s films after Ferris Bueller



It's not a forgotten film. We all know that.


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## Flashman (Dec 13, 2009)

Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills - 1989.

Saw it at the flicks when it came and loved it, never seen it since sadly.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098261/


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## Clint Iguana (Dec 13, 2009)

I cant remember any forgotten films (i have forgotten about them )


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## Belushi (Dec 13, 2009)

Better Off Dead, v. funny John Cusack teen movie which no one I know has ever heard off.


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## butchersapron (Dec 13, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> society



Great film. That's how you do class war!


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## Orang Utan (Dec 13, 2009)

there can't be many hollywood films with a marxist critique of society


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> there can't be many hollywood films with a marxist critique of society



Antz


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 13, 2009)




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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

Anyway, Return To Oz.


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## butchersapron (Dec 13, 2009)

Vampires Kiss - i always mention this one - one day someone will actually watch it.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

The Black cauldron.  Decent british fantasy cartoon 

I liked it at any rate


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## Flashman (Dec 13, 2009)

Apropos Cusack, I remember him doing something pretty cool with a can of pop in The Sure Thing (1985) but don't remember if the film was any good or not.


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> not by you maybe.
> 
> ok, how about parents?
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098068/
> ...





This was the first film I thought of when I saw the thread title.  

The scene that sticks in my mind is of a low-angled fixed camera shot of the family sitting around a small circular dinner table, as the kitchen in the background seemed to be ever-so-slowly rotating around them.  Creepy, funny, and disorientating!... 



Dirty Martini said:


> Good call. I saw that when it came out.



Me too. 



Dirty Martini said:


> Highly weird.



Rather.


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> The Black cauldron.  Decent british fantasy cartoon



That was a Disney film, IIRC.


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


>



Good call.


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## Reno (Dec 13, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> is it set in new york?



Yes, _Five Corners _is set in the Bronx in the early 60s. Contains a very upsetting scene involving a penguin. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093029/


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

_Crazy Love_

Based on three Bukowski stories.  

I saw it at the cinema when it was released, thought at the time that it was very good (-miles better than _Barfly_ from the same year, anyway), but I've never really seen it mentioned since.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> That was a Disney film, IIRC.



IMDB had it down as UK.  Perhaps it was UK made and Disney merely distributed it?


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> IMDB had it down as UK.  Perhaps it was UK made and Disney merely distributed it?



IMDB has it down as _USA_. 

As an aside, I remember there was an arcade game released off the back of the film.  With it's relatively high production values, it was promoted as the great leap forward for arcade games.  As a kid though, all I remember is that they made it cost 50p a go, compared to the standard 10p for most other games at the time...


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## ViolentPanda (Dec 13, 2009)

sojourner said:


> mm, deffo a northern film
> 
> i'd watch it - he won't mind.  is he a southerner? if so, he won't like it anyway



I never took you for a snob, soj.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 13, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> IMDB has it down as _USA_.
> 
> As an aside, I remember there was an arcade game released off the back of the film.  With it's relatively high production values, it was promoted as the great leap forward for arcade games.  As a kid though, all I remember is that they made it cost 50p a go, compared to the standard 10p for most other games at the time...



Alright, maybe i looked at the wrong bit (eta - yeah just checked it was the release date I saw ).  It was definitely a Welsh book or whatever though.

On another note, The Last Starfighter was one lots of people went on about at the time but hardly ever gets shown on telly now


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Alright, maybe i looked at the wrong bit.  It was definitely a Welsh book or whatever though.



Yeah, I think it was based on Welsh mythology.  

A bit darker than average for a Disney film, as I recall.  Possibly a bit closer to that animated version of _Lord Of The Rings_ from the late seventies?...  I can't really remember very much about it now though, tbh!


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## ViolentPanda (Dec 13, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> Yeah, I think it was based on Welsh mythology.



From the story of Branwen in _The Mabinogion_.


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## butchersapron (Dec 13, 2009)

See also Branwen


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## Upchuck (Dec 13, 2009)

Outrageous Fortune which was hilarious


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## butchersapron (Dec 13, 2009)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Miami Blues - was that 90s?


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 13, 2009)

butchersapron said:


> Vampires Kiss - i always mention this one - one day someone will actually watch it.



I love that film, I rewatched it only about a month ago.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 13, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> On another note, The Last Starfighter was one lots of people went on about at the time but hardly ever gets shown on telly now



I file that one next to the flight of the navigator.


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## blairsh (Dec 13, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I file that one next to the flight of the navigator.



Compliance


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## Sunspots (Dec 13, 2009)

butchersapron said:


> Miami Blues - was that 90s?



Yeah, but only just.  It always feels like an eighties film to me though.

An enjoyable film.  I do like Charles Willeford's books.


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## Dirty Martini (Dec 13, 2009)

Sunspots said:


> Yeah, but only just.  It always feels like an eighties film to me though.
> 
> An enjoyable film.  I do like Charles Willeford's books.



That's the only one of his I've read and I loved it. Didn't know they'd made a film of it 

Cat Chaser, an Elmore Leonard adaptation from '89. So forgotten I've forgotten to watch it. Anyone seen it?


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 13, 2009)

blairsh said:


> Compliance



Compliant.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2009)

Dirty Martini said:


> Cat Chaser, an Elmore Leonard adaptation from '89. So forgotten I've forgotten to watch it. Anyone seen it?



Yes, I recall watching it late one night on terrestrial. From memory: so-so  (at best), nothing special, with clunky chemistry between Weller and McGillis.


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## Flashman (Dec 13, 2009)

Biloxi Blues


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## butchersapron (Dec 13, 2009)

Good one


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## Mungy (Dec 13, 2009)

The Quiet Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/


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## imposs1904 (Dec 13, 2009)

Fedayn said:


> No Surrender (as Bernie said)
> Fruit Machine
> Dancing through the dark
> Comfort and Joy
> ...



I watched Sammy and Rosie again the other week for the first time since the 80s. It was fucking awful.

Cal and Comfort and Joy were both excellent films.

Anybody mention Business as Usual yet? Glenda Jackson and the divine Cathy Tyson.


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## Mungy (Dec 13, 2009)

Eating Raoul
Basket Case

remember watching these when we got a video hire shop by us


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

Oh yeah, can we mention Explorers, but only on the basis that we pretend that the second half doesn't exist.


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## Idris2002 (Dec 14, 2009)

Eat the Peach.

Irish film set in a rural midlands community where the local Japanese multinational has closed down. The hero uses this as an opportunity to fulfil his lifelong dream - building a wall of death for his motorcycle!

Water.

Billy Connolly stars in this one as a guerilla leader on a Caribbean island where mineral water of the Perrier variety has just been discovered, making it a target for exploitation by multinational mineral water companies. Not as good as it sounds.

The Secret of My Success.

Forgettable Michael J. Fox vehicle, about a mail room boy who fakes his way to the top of a giant corporation. Contains sexual innuendo that was not age appropriate for the audience I saw it with.


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## butchersapron (Dec 14, 2009)

Idris2002 said:


> Eat the Peach.
> 
> Irish film set in a rural midlands community where the local Japanese multinational has closed down. The hero uses this as an opportunity to fulfil his lifelong dream - building a wall of death for his motorcycle!



You've just reminded me of Light Years Away .


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## Helen Back (Dec 14, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Oh yeah, can we mention Explorers, but only on the basis that we pretend that the second half doesn't exist.



Good one and my thoughts on it exactly!

Just watched Altered States - good movie.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

Helen Back said:


> Good one and my thoughts on it exactly!



I think it's the only thing I've ever agreed with Atomic Suplex about.

I remembered loving it, but mostly remembered the bit about them actually designing the ship.  So I rewatched it a couple of years ago, and was appalled by the alien bit and reckoned once it got to that I just fast forwarded most of it or something.


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## david dissadent (Dec 14, 2009)

The Falcon and the Snowman.

Heavy Metal. 

Ralph Bashkis Fire and Ice would probibly be really shit if I seen it now but I thought it was ace when I was 12.


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## belboid (Dec 14, 2009)

gawd, most of the films mentioned here are well famous, or at least cult classics.  i mean, weird science, peggy sue??!!

Times Square, much under-rated, not seen it on tv for decades.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

My mum's the only person I've ever heard actually mention Peggy Sue.


----------



## butchersapron (Dec 14, 2009)

belboid said:


> gawd, most of the films mentioned here are well famous, or at least cult classics.  i mean, weird science, peggy sue??!!
> 
> Times Square, much under-rated, not seen it on tv for decades.



Snob! What about the shawshank redemption eh?


----------



## belboid (Dec 14, 2009)

the triple Oscar nominated Francis Ford Coppolla movie!!  it's a (minor) classic.  I had forgotten it was one of Jim Carreys first roles tho.


----------



## belboid (Dec 14, 2009)

butchersapron said:


> Snob! What about the shawshank redemption eh?



not 80's!


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

Mungy said:


> The Quiet Earth
> 
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/



Yeah love it. I have the DVD but the sound drifts so that by the end of the film it's a few seconds out. Shoddy/


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

belboid said:


> the triple Oscar nominated Francis Ford Coppolla movie!!  it's a (minor) classic.  I had forgotten it was one of Jim Carreys first roles tho.



Yeah, i think it was cos i was about 12 and it wasn't something I or my contemporaries would have gone to see.  I only saw it a couple of years ago on a DVD I got in China


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Oh yeah, can we mention Explorers, but only on the basis that we pretend that the second half doesn't exist.



Oh, yes that really is a crying shame. Such a great kids adventure film that just turns to bollocks. There should be a directors cut where they fly off and just explode instead. Anything would have been better.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Oh, yes that really is a crying shame. Such a great kids adventure film that just turns to bollocks. There should be a directors cut where they fly off and just explode instead. Anything would have been better.



It was great as it's the sort of thing you think about when you're a kid, how could you make your own spaceship, and the way it's conceived is ace.

i wonder if each half was written by a totally different writer or set of writers.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> i wonder if each half was written by a totally different writer or set of writers.



Or they just gave up writing. 

I agree, that it was the ultimate kids fantasy. Mates with a secret hide out, computers, spaceships. 

Why why why did they fuck it up. As a kid I genuinely blocked out the end. I only remembered what happened much later and thought it couldn't be all that bad. I watched it on TV maybe 10 years ago and was mortified.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

Yeah, the Yank who lent me the DVD told me to switch it off once they get to the spaceship, but I didn't believe him cos I'd remembered it being a great film


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2009)

Red Heat with James Belushi and Arnold Schwatsisname


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

The King of Comedy


----------



## Badgers (Dec 14, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I agree, that it was the ultimate kids fantasy. Mates with a secret hide out, computers, spaceships.



Is this the one you mean? I do not think I have ever seen it, am I missing out?


----------



## AverageJoe (Dec 14, 2009)

Belushi said:


> Better Off Dead, v. funny John Cusack teen movie which no one I know has ever heard off.



Love that film.

Less Than Zero
Stripes
Trading Places
Vamp
Night of the Creeps
Enemy Mine
Repo Man

And a couple of 90s ones for good measure

the Young Americans
Face
Boston Kickout


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

Badgers said:


> Is this the one you mean? I do not think I have ever seen it, am I missing out?



It's worth giving it a go purely on the strength of the first half.  But be prepared to be angry when you get to the second half - we're talking makes Phantom Menace look like 2001


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2009)

AverageJoe said:


> Love that film.
> 
> Less Than Zero
> Stripes
> ...



The two baddies out of Trading Places have a brief cameo in Coming to America as tramps who Eddie Murphy gives a big bag of cash.

Also: Samuel L Jackson has an uncredited appearance in Coming to America. 80's incestuosity


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

DotCommunist said:


> The two baddies out of Trading Places have a brief cameo in Coming to America as tramps who Eddie Murphy gives a big bag of cash.
> 
> Also: Samuel L Jackson has an uncredited appearance in Coming to America. 80's incestuosity



He plays the shotgun wielding hoodlum who tries to stick up the restaurant, Mcdougals


----------



## DotCommunist (Dec 14, 2009)

8den said:


> He plays the shotgun wielding hoodlum who tries to stick up the restaurant, Mcdougals



also to be spotted in the brief sketch that precedes Eddie Murphy: Raw


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

Not exactly forgotten, but I always thought Golden Child was really underrated


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

thats a link to the trailer.


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 14, 2009)

From Water: Billy Connolly addresses the UN through the medium of white reggae:


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

Badgers said:


> Is this the one you mean? I do not think I have ever seen it, am I missing out?



Yes. I don't know if you would need strong and fond childhood memories of it to enjoy it or not though. 

Whatever you do, just make sure you switch off and write your own fan fiction ending as soon as they board the big space ship. I guarantee it will not be worse. It just makes a mockery of all that went before it.


----------



## butchersapron (Dec 14, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Not exactly forgotten, but I always thought Golden Child was really underrated



if we're going that route - Big trouble in Little China...


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Not exactly forgotten, but I always thought Golden Child was really underrated



I remember it being extremely overrated at the time. 
Apart from the bit where he goes "I say, I, I I, I I I I I . . . seek the child"


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

butchersapron said:


> if we're going that route - Big trouble in Little China...



C'mon the thread is forgotten movies of the 80s



> Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it."


----------



## g force (Dec 14, 2009)

They Live

Awesome John Carpenter film made better by having Roddy Piper as the lead and a ridiculously long fight scene that looked like something out of the WWF at the time. Also notable for Shepard Fairey stealing, or perhaps re-appropriating, most of the phrases Pioer's character sees with the glasses on for his artwork.


----------



## krtek a houby (Dec 14, 2009)

_Razorback_ - giant pig terrorises outback. mayhem ensues.
_At Close Range_ - awesome thriller with Sean Penn, Chris Penn, Christopher Walken. hugely underrated.
_Dream Demon_ - Jemma Redgrave terrorised by haunted house, Jimmy Nail & Timothy Spall. Amusingly OTT British horror flick.
_Hidden City_ - ok, nobody's heard of this but it stars Charles Dance who's whisked into a London that nobody ever sees. I seem to remember it being a bit of a conspiracy thriller... speaking of which
_Defence of the Realm_ - top notch conspiracy thriller/cover up. Gabriel Byrne and Denholm Elliot star.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I remember it being extremely overrated at the time.
> Apart from the bit where he goes "I say, I, I I, I I I I I . . . seek the child"



I dug it but I recall loads of people saying it was shit 

"I'm gonna row your ass!"


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

Oh, and Charlotte Lewis: very hot.


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 14, 2009)

AverageJoe said:


> Trading Places



A cracker, but this is like putting Terminator 2 as a forgotten film of the 90s


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 14, 2009)

jer said:


> _Hidden City_ - ok, nobody's heard of this but it stars Charles Dance who's whisked into a London that nobody ever sees. I seem to remember it being a bit of a conspiracy thriller... speaking of which
> _Defence of the Realm_ - top notch conspiracy thriller/cover up. Gabriel Byrne and Denholm Elliot star.



I saw Hidden City on C4 one night - not bad at all, I thought. Wasn't a lot of it set in old MoD tunnels underneath the city.

DotR - now that was good. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.


----------



## killer b (Dec 14, 2009)

i was going to suggest the black hole, which i remember being massive when i was a nipper, but haven't heard owt about since. but it was made in 1979 .


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

killer b said:


> i was going to suggest the black hole, which i remember being massive when i was a nipper, but haven't heard owt about since. but it was made in 1979 .



I saw that at the cinema and was fairly obsessed for a while, helped along by sheddies black hole shrinky dinks. 

It's on TV all the time. I'm bored shitless of it.


----------



## gnoriac (Dec 14, 2009)

Liquid Sky, condemned by just about everyone, but I thought it was great fun.


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

*Static*

Offbeat mix of comedy and drama about a young man who, after the death of his parents, becomes obsessed with inventing a machine that can look into the afterlife. This is a film which never goes into the direction you expect it to go. Unfortunately this is so forgotten, it never got a release on DVD.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090069/

*Running on Empty *

Excellent drama about a couple of former political radicals who are spending the rest of their life on the run after committing a terrorist act to protest the Vietnam war and how this affects their kids

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096018/


*The Night of San Lorenzo*

Great but little known Italian war movie which combines a small girls fantasy life with the harsh realities of WWII. It deals with many of the same themes as Pan's Labyrinth, but I think it's a better film. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084422/

*House of Games*

Maybe not forgotten, but David Mamet's stylish debut feature about a psychiatrist who falls in with a group of conmen should be more famous than it is. One of my top favourite films of the 80s.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093223/


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)




----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

...and I really liked this when it came out, haven't seen it for 20 years but remember thinking Michelle Pfeiffer was absolutley beautiful in it...but a bit skinny!


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

_Into the Night_ is a good call. I also haven't seen this since it came out but remember it to be quite good. It would make a great double feature with the already mentioned _Something Wild_.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

Reno said:


> *Static*
> 
> Offbeat mix of comedy and drama about a young man who, after the death of his parents, becomes obsessed with inventing a machine that can look into the afterlife. This is a film which never goes into the direction you expect it to go. Unfortunately this is so forgotten, it never got a release on DVD.



I loved this film. The first time I watched it I kind of wanted it to be something else but I now like it the way it is. 
I initially it was only brought to my attention because the opening music is "This is the day" by The The, who I was obsessed with around the time.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 14, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


>



That's a highly acclaimed and well known film though isn't it? It's still on telly quite a lot.


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 14, 2009)

What was that River Phoenix movie where he's the son of Weathermen types who've spent the previous twenty years on the run?


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2009)

Idris2002 said:


> What was that River Phoenix movie where he's the son of Weathermen types who've spent the previous twenty years on the run?



_Running On Empty_ with Judd Hirsch from _Taxi_ as his dad. Can't remember who the girl he fell for was though - Winona Rider or Uma Thurman or someone like that?


----------



## Belushi (Dec 14, 2009)

DaveCinzano said:


> _Running On Empty_ with Judd Hirsch from _Taxi_ as his dad. Can't remember who the girl he fell for was though - Winona Rider or Uma Thurman or someone like that?



It was the girl who was in parenthood, good actor but never made it, I'm guessing because of unhollywood looks.

James Taylors 'Fire and Rain' on the soundtrack


----------



## Sunspots (Dec 14, 2009)

DaveCinzano said:


> _Running On Empty_ with Judd Hirsch from _Taxi_ as his dad. Can't remember who the girl he fell for was though - Winona Rider or Uma Thurman or someone like that?



Martha Plimpton.  

(-I think she and River Phoenix were an item IRL at one point too?)


----------



## Belushi (Dec 14, 2009)

Her name is Martha Plimpton and I've just discovered she is Keith Carradines daughter!


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

_Running on Empty_ had a great cast. Apart from Phoenix, Hirsch and Plimpton it also starred the excellent Christine Lahti as the mother.

...which reminds me of another great forgotten 80s film: _Housekeeping_, also starring Lahti. It was Scottish director Bill Fosyth's (Gregory's Girl, Local Hero) first American film and is a very atmospheric coming of age drama about an eccentric woman who adopts her nieces after their mother dies.


----------



## AverageJoe (Dec 14, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> A cracker, but this is like putting Terminator 2 as a forgotten film of the 90s



Well fair do's, although I guess that some people might have forgotten it 

if you want obscure ones then - Freejack (with Mick Jagger!)

Also - what is the film with Gene Simmons from Kiss as a baddy, who ends up having his hands tied behind his back and a hand grenade put in his mouth?

eta - bah - freejack was 1992!


----------



## The Octagon (Dec 14, 2009)

Earth Girls Are Easy - Geena Davis shagging a furry blue Jeff Goldblum and Jim Carrey before he was famous.
License to Drive - The Coreys (Feldman / Haim) and a very young Heather Graham, proper 'night gone wrong' caper-film.


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

AverageJoe said:


> Well fair do's, although I guess that some people might have forgotten it
> 
> if you want obscure ones then - Freejack (with Mick Jagger!)
> 
> Also - what is the film with Gene Simmons from Kiss as a baddy, who ends up having his hands tied behind his back and a hand grenade put in his mouth?



_Freejack_ deserves to be forgotten.

Was the Gene Simmon's film the sci-fi flick _Runaway_ ?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088024/

It starred Tom Selleck and a pre-Cheers Kirsty Alley.


----------



## The Octagon (Dec 14, 2009)

Pickman's model said:


> fx: murder by illusion



Fucking loved those films 

Where's Bryan Brown gone eh?


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

Christian Slater skateboarding thriller.


----------



## AverageJoe (Dec 14, 2009)

The Octagon said:


> Fucking loved those films
> 
> Where's Bryan Brown gone eh?



Its seems to have gone a bit shit for him since Cocktail... 


Beautiful Kate (2009) 
Australia (2008) .... King Carney 
Dean Spanley (2008) .... Wrather 
... aka My Talks with Dean Spanley (UK) 
Cactus (2008) .... Rosco 
Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback (2007) (TV) .... Rex Wild QC 
... aka Murder in the Outback (UK) 
The Poseidon Adventure (2005) (TV) .... Jeffrey Eric Anderson 
... aka The New Poseidon Adventure (Australia) 
*Spring Break Shark Attack* (2005) (TV) .... Joel Gately 
... aka Dangerous Waters: Shark Attack (Australia) 
*Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman* (2004) (TV) .... Hal Thorne 
Along Came Polly (2004) .... Leland Van Lew 
Footsteps (2003) (TV) .... Eddie Bruno 
Dirty Deeds (2002) .... Barry Ryan 
*Mullet* (2001) 

Heh


Oooh!!! I just remembered another ace fillum!


ROADHOUSE


----------



## Belushi (Dec 14, 2009)

Flashman said:


> Apropos Cusack, I remember him doing something pretty cool with a can of pop in The Sure Thing (1985) but don't remember if the film was any good or not.



Its still one of the all time great teen movies.


----------



## Belushi (Dec 14, 2009)

Loved this back in the day, despite the Big Country soundtrack!


----------



## The Octagon (Dec 14, 2009)

Adventures in Babysitting (a guilty pleasure )


----------



## Mallard (Dec 14, 2009)

'Street Trash, it melts' classic


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Dec 14, 2009)

I don't remember much about it to be honest, except that I liked it, and it has a vaguely Eraserhead-ish vibe. I've never met anyone else who's seen this film. Imdb says this-

"A quirky, out-of-of place worker at a crucifix factory in the Bible Belt invents a device he claims can show pictures of Heaven. Discouraged and confused by the inability of those around him to see anything but a screenful of static, he charismatically hijacks a bus of friendly elderly people in order to get media attention for his invention."


----------



## Mallard (Dec 14, 2009)

Food of the Gods 3


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

ebay sex moomin said:


> I don't remember much about it to be honest, except that I liked it, and it has a vaguely Eraserhead-ish vibe. I've never met anyone else who's seen this film. Imdb says this-
> 
> "A quirky, out-of-of place worker at a crucifix factory in the Bible Belt invents a device he claims can show pictures of Heaven. Discouraged and confused by the inability of those around him to see anything but a screenful of static, he charismatically hijacks a bus of friendly elderly people in order to get media attention for his invention."



I just mentioned _Static_ on the previous page. It didn't strike me as very much like _Eraserhead_ though.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> That's a highly acclaimed and well known film though isn't it? It's still on telly quite a lot.



I'd forgotten it.

It wasn't even 'highly acclaimed' when it came out - I remember getting it from the video shop and thinking what the fuck is this!

Dunno how often it's on the telly.


----------



## Mallard (Dec 14, 2009)

Killer Clowns from Outer Space


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Dec 14, 2009)

> I just mentioned Static on the previous page. It didn't strike me as very much like Eraserhead though.



oh missed that, apologies. It kind of got lost between last night and this evening...

I guess it's not particularly like Eraserhead, but that was the vibe I got from it- like the parts where he's staring into the static- they affected me in a similar way to parts of Eraserhead- that sense of _strangeness_/dislocation. The only other fillum I can think of that has a similar effect on me is Pi- and it's not like that either. Maybe in an emotional sense?

I've been waiting over 20 years to watch this again, but haven't seen it anywhere...


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

ebay sex moomin said:


> I've been waiting over 20 years to watch this again, but haven't seen it anywhere...



Yup, it's difficult to get hold of because it never came out on DVD. I saw it when it first came out and then recorded it off the telly later on. I don't have a VHS machine anymore, so chucked out the tape a while ago.


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> I'd forgotten it.
> 
> It wasn't even 'highly acclaimed' when it came out - I remember getting it from the video shop and thinking what the fuck is this!
> 
> Dunno how often it's on the telly.



_The Name of the Rose_ was an adaptation of the 'highly acclaimed' bestseller by Umberto Eco. It certainly was a very high profile and much hyped film at the time, but it wasn't that well received. As an adaptation of what is a rather complex book it was rather simplistic.


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

Reno said:


> _The Name of the Rose_ was an adaptation of the 'highly acclaimed' bestseller by Umberto Eco. It certainly was a very high profile and much hyped film at the time, but it wasn't that well received. As an adaptation of what is a rather complex book it was rather simplistic.



Yeah but it's got _that_ sex scene. Important video tape for a teenage boy in Ireland. 

On that note as well.


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

I think The Hunger is still well remembered as a truly bad film.


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

Reno said:


> I think The Hunger is still well remembered as a truly bad film.



Tony Scott, tells this story about after he did the hunger he was brought over to LA and being woo'd by all the US studios, I mean he'd just made a freaking vampire movie with David Bowie! This went on for weeks, until someone looked at the actual film. Tony Scott came in the next morning, and his parking space was gone.


----------



## Orang Utan (Dec 14, 2009)

i think i saw that as an impressionable young lad. isn't it all billowing curtains and vaselined lenses? like a meatloaf/bonnie tyler vid?


----------



## AverageJoe (Dec 14, 2009)

xtro


----------



## T & P (Dec 14, 2009)

Princess Bride.


----------



## AverageJoe (Dec 14, 2009)

The Wraith

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092240/

Ahhhh - all these memories of going to the newsagents and getting a couple of vids out when I was 16. Sweet Sweet memories


----------



## AverageJoe (Dec 14, 2009)

T & P said:


> Princess Bride.



Never heard of it.


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

T & P said:


> Princess Bride.



Dude! *Seriously!!!* Forgotten movies of the 8s


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

Orang Utan said:


> i think i saw that as an impressionable young lad. isn't it all billowing curtains and vaselined lenses? like a meatloaf/bonnie tyler vid?



...and not forgetting to slow motion doves. It had those too.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)




----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

A film that has a bit of a cult following among horror fans, but was never a huge success and isn't as well remembered as many inferior horror films of the 80s is _Lady in White_. It mixes an autobiographical coming of age story, 60s nostaliga and To Kill a Mocking Bird style social critique with a ghost story.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

with a little lukas haas - good film

Doesn't he get locked in a cupboard, or a room, and see a ghost of a woman?


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

Yes, he gets locked in a broom closet at school during Halloween when he first meets the ghost of a little girl who has been murdered by a serial killer.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

I saw it on Channel 4 some time ago. It was alright.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

How about The Seventh Sign with Demi Moore and Aiden Quinn. That's forgotten - probably for good reason!


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)




----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2009)

Here's a not-very-well-known buddy cop comedy/thriller that's rather good:

_Running Scared_ with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal (and an early appearance for Joe Pantoliano)


----------



## Reno (Dec 14, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> How about The Seventh Sign with Demi Moore and Aiden Quinn. That's forgotten - probably for good reason!



I actually think that one is pretty good as post-Omen religious horror films go. It has a few interesting twists, as it turns out that it's a wrathful Old Testament God who brings on the end of the world rather than Satan. Demi Moore is pretty good too, though Aidan Quinn isn't in the film.


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

Speaking of Gregory Hines






How coke addled were the producers of this one.

A Buddy Cop action comedy with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines!! Brilliant!


----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

Ken Russell! Hugh Grant!! Amanda Donoghue!! Vampires...


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2009)

8den said:


> _Last edited by 8den; 14-12-2009 at 23:42. Reason: Damnit Dave! _


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

Reno said:


> I actually think that one is pretty good as post-Omen religious horror films go. It has a few interesting twists, as it turns out that it's a wrathful Old Testament God who brings on the end of the world rather than Satan. Demi Moore is pretty good too, though Aidan Quinn isn't in the film.



No, it was Michael Biehn.

I might still have this somewhere on VHS.

Jurgen Prochnow was quite good in it if I recall. Again, I haven't seen it for 20years.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

8den said:


> Ken Russell! Hugh Grant!! Amanda Donoghue!! Vampires...



Everyone remembers this cos it was awful!


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)

I'd forgotten this by Coppola...


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2009)

8den said:


> Ken Russell! Hugh Grant!! Amanda Donoghue!! Vampires...




Ahem...



> Now I'm going to feel a lumpen fool for mentioning Ken Russell's _The Lair Of The White Worm_



Sorry 8den.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 14, 2009)




----------



## 8den (Dec 14, 2009)

DaveCinzano said:


> Ahem...
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry 8den.



[very quiet and calm voice]
_
Thats Two Dave. Thats two. _

[/very quiet and calm voice]


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2009)

8den said:


> Ken Russell! Hugh Grant!! Amanda Donoghue!! Vampires...



Not vampires, a high priestess to ancient snake god and her entranced victims/disciples!


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2009)

8den said:


> [very quiet and calm voice]
> _
> Thats Two Dave. Thats two. _
> 
> [/very quiet and calm voice]



Go for the hat-trick. I know you can do it


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

Here's a couple I liked a lot...mainly for James Woods


----------



## DJ Squelch (Dec 15, 2009)

Heaven (1987)A series of interviews are conducted concerning people's beliefs towards the possibility of an afterlife. The interviews are filmed against a set of strange backdrops, and are intercut with clips from classic films and a variety of stock footage






The Blob (1988)


----------



## 8den (Dec 15, 2009)

DJ Squelch said:


> The Blob (1988)



Best thing about that movie is the hero, the kid, and the dog all get it....


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 15, 2009)

Belushi said:


> Loved this back in the day, despite the Big Country soundtrack!



Oh, I had forgotten about that one. I seem to remember loving it, but it's all a bit vague now. 

How about *Dogs in Space* with Huchince (or whatever his name is) the dead one from INXS. I remember it being really crap but loads of my peers watched it on a loop tape or something.


----------



## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

I don't think this was even memorable when it came out, but it was the only official Django sequal and starring the original Django - Spaghetti Western Rambo!


----------



## Idris2002 (Dec 15, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> I don't think this was even memorable when it came out, but it was the only official Django sequal and starring the original Django - Spaghetti Western Rambo!



I love this guys 'meh, whatever' expression as he fires his machine gun from the hip!


----------



## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 15, 2009)

Reno said:


> *House of Games*
> 
> Maybe not forgotten, but David Mamet's stylish debut feature about a psychiatrist who falls in with a group of conmen should be more famous than it is. One of my top favourite films of the 80s.
> 
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093223/



I liked this too  I slightly preferred The Spanish Prisoner though


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 15, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> I liked this too  I slightly preferred The Spanish Prisoner though



Sometimes I worry about you.


----------



## Dirty Martini (Dec 15, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


>



Great director's name there  Michael Winner's Alan Smithee film?


----------



## rutabowa (Dec 15, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Oh, I had forgotten about that one. I seem to remember loving it, but it's all a bit vague now.
> 
> How about *Dogs in Space* with Huchince (or whatever his name is) the dead one from INXS. I remember it being really crap but loads of my peers watched it on a loop tape or something.



I loved Dogs In Space when i was 10-ish., it had a great Iggy Pop song on the opening credits which I think was my introduction to his music too


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## Dr. Furface (Dec 15, 2009)

Melvin and Howard - Jonathan Demme's first film of any note, about a hick who claimed to have received a will naming him an as heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes, who he claimed to have given a lift to one night in the desert. Great performances from Paul le Mat, Mary Steenburgen, Michael J Pollard and Jason Robards as Hughes. One of my favourite films ever.

Year of the Dragon. Michael Cimino directs Mickey Rourke in one of his best roles as a racist Viet-vet cop trying to clean up China Town. Complex and violent - with smoking in every scene IIRC.


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## kyser_soze (Dec 15, 2009)

Kudos to BA and jer, babylondon for Buckaroo Banzai and Razorback

I would add:

The Re-Animator
Critters
Flight of the Navigator - I _so_ wanted to be that kid when I saw that film. 
The Last Starfighter - one of the first CGI-heavy movies (all done on a Cray II, with a ship with an ace smart bomb weapon thing)


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## Dr. Furface (Dec 15, 2009)

kyser_soze said:


> Kudos to BA and jer, babylondon for Buckaroo Banzai and Razorback


Yeah Razorback was brill.


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## Reno (Dec 15, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> I liked this too  I slightly preferred The Spanish Prisoner though



Did you see it before House of Games ? To me The Spanish Prisoner just struck me as a retreat


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## Orang Utan (Dec 15, 2009)

homicide is pretty good though house of games is certainly mamet's best


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

Beat this for a film that never lives up to the poster - aka Bronx Warriors


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## kyser_soze (Dec 15, 2009)

There is no way on earth that _any_ film could live up to a poster of such awesomeness.


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)




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## krtek a houby (Dec 15, 2009)

Idris2002 said:


> I saw Hidden City on C4 one night - not bad at all, I thought. Wasn't a lot of it set in old MoD tunnels underneath the city.
> 
> DotR - now that was good. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.



Just checked - Hidden City was an early Poliakoff(sic). And there was a lot of old MoD tunnels, IIRC


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> Beat this for a film that never lives up to the poster - aka Bronx Warriors



Sorry - Escape from the Bronx was the sequal to Bronx Warriors


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

More post Spaghetti Western fare from Enzo G Castellari






He also made the original Inglorious Bastards


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## krtek a houby (Dec 15, 2009)




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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

I spent much of the early 80s watching films with these two in.....


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 15, 2009)

jer said:


>



I wouldn't say forgotten.

Good though.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 15, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> Beat this for a film that never lives up to the poster - aka Bronx Warriors



That looks fantastic!


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 15, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> He also made the original Inglorious Bastards



Well by title only so I hear, and at least he wasn't a great big pussy who had to spell bastard wrong. 

I love the colour and feel of IB, even the bad dubbing seems like a nice touch.


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## Idris2002 (Dec 15, 2009)

Condorman.

Frank Spencer is the eponymous superhero. Anyone remember that one?


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 15, 2009)

Idris2002 said:


> Condorman.
> 
> Frank Spencer is the eponymous superhero. Anyone remember that one?



Yes


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 15, 2009)

Idris2002 said:


> Condorman.
> 
> Frank Spencer is the eponymous superhero. Anyone remember that one?



I went to the cinema to see it. I also have it on video. It was at one time the most expensive / rare / sort after - DVD. The wide screen version was something like £150 - £200 and the 4.3 was £100. It was only released by disney in a really really sort run (as it is shit). I think it's been re-relased now. I think that Gerry anderson film about going to the mirror earth was about £100 too. Bonkers.


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## Idris2002 (Dec 15, 2009)

Reefer and the Model.

IMDB sums this one up:



> After watching Reefer and the Model, I was somewhat bemused. O.K., there was a lot of beautiful Irish countryside and a few potentially interesting characters, but the movie seemed directionless, pointless. What was it trying to say?. It beats me. We appear to have a gang of ex-IRA men scavenging a living on a boat in the Republic of Ireland, one of whom becomes infatuated with a pregnant former prostitute just returned from London. Another member of this gang is a closet homosexual who indulges himself with whatever passing stranger tickles his fancy - or so it would seem, since the respective characters in this film are poorly drawn and allow little room for a sympathetic understanding of their respective situations. Damage to the boat,(their livlihood?), means that this laid-back outfit must plan an armed robbery of a post-office to effect repairs.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093834/


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## Flashman (Dec 15, 2009)

I saw at as a nine years old at the flicks. Sort of liked it I suppose, I was nine.

The Rescuers was miles better though but doesn't qualify.

Love to see that again.


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## Idris2002 (Dec 15, 2009)

Flashman said:


> .



Very underrated that one.


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## dylans (Dec 15, 2009)

kyser_soze said:


> The Re-Animator
> )



Great movie.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 15, 2009)

Flashman said:


> I saw at as a nine years old at the flicks. Sort of liked it I suppose, I was nine.
> 
> The Rescuers was miles better though but doesn't qualify.
> 
> Love to see that again.



Oh yeah I think I saw it on that double bill too. I think all the films I saw as a young kid were like that. 

I saw the aristocats and The London Connection together. I remember really rating the London connection despite it being the b-side. I would have been pretty young though. 






I still remember the music but have not seen the film since. I doubt it has much to do with the French connection.


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## Reno (Dec 15, 2009)

dylans said:


> Great movie.



Considered a modern horror classic and certainly not forgotten.


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## The Octagon (Dec 15, 2009)

Perhaps not completely forgotten, but a surprisingly good Vietnam film and probably Michael J. Fox's best performance - Casualties Of War


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## 8den (Dec 15, 2009)

The Octagon said:


> Perhaps not completely forgotten, but a surprisingly good Vietnam film and probably Michael J. Fox's best performance - Casualties Of War



Brian De Fucking Palma. Don't even get me started.


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## Reno (Dec 15, 2009)

The Octagon said:


> Perhaps not completely forgotten, but a surprisingly good Vietnam film and probably Michael J. Fox's best performance - Casualties Of War



Very underrated film by one of my favourite directors.


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## badlands (Dec 15, 2009)

Lemon Popsicle

The same 3 cars in the background in the whole film.


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## Dr. Furface (Dec 15, 2009)

Just remembered another of my 80's faves - Cutter's Way.


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## Flashman (Dec 15, 2009)

Oooh that reminds me Breaking Away.

Shite it's '79


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## badlands (Dec 16, 2009)

Dr. Furface said:


> Just remembered another of my 80's faves - Cutter's Way.



Ah thanks for that.

I love that film.

Southern Comfort brings back memories too.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 17, 2009)

Shit, I have just remembered battle beyond the stars. It just scrapes in at 1980. Man, I was obsessed by that film and made several flicker books about it (out of the heavier books in the bookcase, hoping my parents would never read those books ever again). 






How could I have forgotten that!!??


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## DJ Squelch (Dec 17, 2009)

That does look feckin ace. Gonna have to search for for a copy.


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## Belushi (Dec 17, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Shit, I have just remembered battle beyond the stars. It just scrapes in at 1980. Man, I was obsessed by that film and made several flicker books about it (out of the heavier books in the bookcase, hoping my parents would never read those books ever again).



Was that a sci-fi Magnificent Seven?


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 17, 2009)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> Shit, I have just remembered battle beyond the stars. It just scrapes in at 1980. Man, I was obsessed by that film and made several flicker books about it (out of the heavier books in the bookcase, hoping my parents would never read those books ever again).
> 
> 
> 
> ...




This was a remake of the Magnificent Seven but set in space.

Even had Robert Vaughn recreating his original role.

I saw it at the cinema, then went home and made a lego version of George Peppards spaceship. His space Cowboy remains one of my favourite sci-fi anti-heroes.


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## DJ Squelch (Dec 17, 2009)

Q, The Winged Serpent (1982)


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 17, 2009)

DJ Squelch said:


> Q, The Winged Serpent (1982)



Nice! Michael Moriarty


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 17, 2009)

Am downloading The Last Starfighter and Battle Beyond The Stars now


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 17, 2009)

Reno said:


> Very underrated film by one of my favourite directors.



Surprised to hear you say that.  He's always struck me as someone who makes some good films, but has nothing particularly distinct about him to stand out as a 'good director' per se.


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## Reno (Dec 17, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Surprised to hear you say that.  He's always struck me as someone who makes some good films, but has nothing particularly distinct about him to stand out as a 'good director' per se.



I can't think of many directors who have a more distinctive style than De Palma, though you have to look at his smaller films rather than his Hollywood blockbusters, which are more mainstream (and generally much less interesting). He has an delirious, operatic style and is about as experimental and dedicated to the idea of 'pure cinema' as a Hollywood director has ever been. He makes films that are dissections of classical Hollywood film making and has often been misunderstood as a cinematic magpie, when really the films of others have often been his subject matter. His variantions on and mash-ups of Hitchcock classics are like a jazz musician riffing on a popular song. Among the 70s movie brat generation (Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, all directors who were heavily influenced by classic Hollywood films) he has always been the neglected one but he's also my favourite.

He is the king of set pieces. Check out the museum sequence in _Dressed to Kill_, the prom ball in _Carrie_, the car accident/assassination and firework scenes in _Blow Out_, the diamond heist in _Femme Fatale_, the split screen murder in _Sisters_, the hit and run in _The Fury_ or the airport climax in _Obsession_. They all bear the signature of a very individual style.


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## Reno (Dec 17, 2009)

DJ Squelch said:


> Q, The Winged Serpent (1982)



Larry Cohen's films are always worth checking out. He made exploitation films that were like the love child of Roger Corman and John Cassavetes, mixing monsters with quirky characters and a loose indie film approach.


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## AverageJoe (Dec 17, 2009)

Stripes


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## Idris2002 (Dec 17, 2009)

Was Three Amigos an 80s film, does anyone remember?


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## Reno (Dec 17, 2009)

Idris2002 said:


>



Check out the Lubitsch original from the 40s and you'll see why this remake should be forgotten.


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## _angel_ (Dec 18, 2009)

eyebrow


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 18, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Am downloading The Last Starfighter and Battle Beyond The Stars now



I'm ordering them off amazon. Why didn't I think of torrents.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 18, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> I saw it at the cinema, then went home and made a lego version of George Peppards spaceship. His space Cowboy remains one of my favourite sci-fi anti-heroes.



Ooh, I forgot he was in it. I remember Vaughn, nestor and the busty warrior quite clearly.


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## 8den (Dec 18, 2009)

Reno said:


> I can't think of many directors who have a more distinctive style than De Palma, though you have to look at his smaller films rather than his Hollywood blockbusters, which are more mainstream (and generally much less interesting). He has an delirious, operatic style and is about as experimental and dedicated to the idea of 'pure cinema' as a Hollywood director has ever been. He makes films that are dissections of classical Hollywood film making and has often been misunderstood as a cinematic magpie, when really the films of others have often been his subject matter. His variantions on and mash-ups of Hitchcock classics are like a jazz musician riffing on a popular song. Among the 70s movie brat generation (Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, all directors who were heavily influenced by classic Hollywood films) he has always been the neglected one but he's also my favourite.
> 
> He is the king of set pieces. Check out the museum sequence in _Dressed to Kill_, the prom ball in _Carrie_, the car accident/assassination and firework scenes in _Blow Out_, the diamond heist in _Femme Fatale_, the split screen murder in _Sisters_, the hit and run in _The Fury_ or the airport climax in _Obsession_. They all bear the signature of a very individual style.



Oh sod off, he's cliched hack who rips off other films left right and center. The Pram down the stairs in Untouchables? The whole of "Phantom of the Paradise" (A film that manages to rip off the Phantom of the Opera, A Picture of Dorian Grey, Tommy and the Rocky Horror Picture Show). 

He's a complete hack, I noticed you didn't mention Snake Eyes, or Redacted, or any number of his incredibly shit films. 

This is the short version of my Brian De Palma rant....


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## belboid (Dec 18, 2009)

go on, more, more!  

De Palma's a fucking joke, only decent thing he ever did was the Dancing in the Dark video


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## Reno (Dec 18, 2009)

8den said:


> Oh sod off, he's cliched hack who rips off other films left right and center. The Pram down the stairs in Untouchables? The whole of "Phantom of the Paradise" (A film that manages to rip off the Phantom of the Opera, A Picture of Dorian Grey, Tommy and the Rocky Horror Picture Show).
> 
> He's a complete hack, I noticed you didn't mention Snake Eyes, or Redacted, or any number of his incredibly shit films.
> 
> This is the short version of my Brian De Palma rant....



Erm, whatever...


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## The Octagon (Dec 18, 2009)

8den said:


> *Oh sod off, he's cliched hack who rips off other films left right and center. The Pram down the stairs in Untouchables? *The whole of "Phantom of the Paradise" (A film that manages to rip off the Phantom of the Opera, A Picture of Dorian Grey, Tommy and the Rocky Horror Picture Show).
> 
> He's a complete hack, I noticed you didn't mention Snake Eyes, or Redacted, or any number of his incredibly shit films.
> 
> This is the short version of my Brian De Palma rant....



It's an homage, rather than a rip-off, and every single director ever has done it to some degree.

He has made some stinkers, but as Reno said, the man does some specific things better than most, and gets by on _Carrie_ alone for me.


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## belboid (Dec 18, 2009)

naah, he's just a shit Hitchcock knock off


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## 8den (Dec 18, 2009)

The Octagon said:


> It's an homage, rather than a rip-off, and every single director ever has done it to some degree.



No a homage is a knowing nod to another/film director, a shot or a editing style. The Pram scene in untouchables in a fucking photocopy of Potemkin. De Palma doesn't do homage he does wholesale rip offs.

One of the things about him is that he's always been leaping onto a bandwagon. If a genre, or film is popular, you can be sure as shit De Palma will come out with a film about it.  Platoon is a success, so on jumps De Palma with Casualties of War. 

Dedacted. The Abomination that was the Black Dalia. Mission to Mars (another rip off film) Snake Eyes, Mission im fucking possible. Blow out. Wise Guys. All utter fucking shite. 





> He has made some stinkers, but as Reno said, the man does some specific things better than most, and gets by on _Carrie_ alone for me.



Even rewatch Carrie, it's not that good.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 18, 2009)

8den said:


> Even rewatch Carrie, it's not that good.



Yeah, I've never really understood why it is so highly acclaimed.


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## Reno (Dec 18, 2009)

belboid said:


> naah, he's just a shit Hitchcock knock off



Considering that De Palma's style is actually nothing like Hitchcocks, but then this assertion is one of the most tired cliches in film discussion. I suppose there are those who still don't have a clue that there is a wide spectrum of art (books, music, painting, photgraphy and yes, film) that primarely concerns itself with other art, which is perfectly valid.


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## The Octagon (Dec 18, 2009)

8den said:


> No a homage is a knowing nod to another/film director, a shot or a editing style. The Pram scene in untouchables in a fucking photocopy of Potemkin. De Palma doesn't do homage he does wholesale rip offs.
> 
> One of the things about him is that he's always been leaping onto a bandwagon. If a genre, or film is popular, you can be sure as shit De Palma will come out with a film about it.  Platoon is a success, so on jumps De Palma with Casualties of War.
> 
> ...



I don't think you understand, a rip-off is when you produce something with the dishonest intention of passing it off as your own work / idea. The pram scene is clearly a nod to Eisenstein in a major studio picture (the majority of the audience will not have got the reference, but in every interview regarding it, De Palma makes it's origins clear).

You seem to have an irrational dislike of the man, when he's made some entertaining films, including Carlito's Way and Scarface.

And with regard to the 'bandwagon' comments, Full Metal Jacket came out a year after Platoon, whereas Casualties of War came out 4 years later. Is Kubrick a bandwagon jumper too now? 

And Carrie is a very good film 

(Oh god, I sound like a De Palma fan now, I'm really not)


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## belboid (Dec 18, 2009)

well, apart from umpteen scenes blatantly ripped off, and both having a shite attitude towards women, and both working in the sub-genre of psychological thriller, and the use of POV strategies, and.... etc etc


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 18, 2009)

Reno said:


> Considering that De Palma's style is actually nothing like Hitchcocks, but then this assertion is one of the most tired cliches in film discussion.



I agree with this, and that's as someone who used to see De Palma as just a Hitch copyist.

I don't like many of De Palma's films, but I do certainly like his work now I don't fixate on the borrows he makes and instead on why and how he borrows.

That said, I imagine this now leads me open to various counter-statements, shoutings-down and internet cock waving, but, whatever. There's not really any point in arguing over such things is there? "It's great!" "It's shit!" "No, you're wrong, it's great, and if you think otherwise you're an idiot!" "No, _you're_ wrong, it's shit, and if you think otherwise you're a moron!" etc etc etc. You like, I hate, I like, you hate - who cares?

Anyway, back on topic - I remember _Mike's Murder_ being rather good; Debra Winger has a brief fling with a drug dealing tennis pro, who is later murdered. I think it was the first time I'd seen LA portrayed on film as something of a sad place, a magnet for people with dreams beyond their talent (and certainly grasp), cheap (but overpriced) condos in run-down neighbourhoods instead of the Rodeo Drive/Hollywood Boulevard cliché.


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## 8den (Dec 18, 2009)

The Octagon said:


> I don't think you understand, a rip-off is when you produce something with the dishonest intention of passing it off as your own work / idea. The pram scene is clearly a nod to Eisenstein in a major studio picture (the majority of the audience will not have got the reference, but in every interview regarding it, De Palma makes it's origins clear).



No a nod is a visual hat tip. Like when Spielberg perfected the dolly zoom effect in Jaws that Hitchcock used in Vertigo.



> You seem to have an irrational dislike of the man, when he's made some entertaining films, including Carlito's Way and Scarface.



I dislike both those films.



> And with regard to the 'bandwagon' comments, Full Metal Jacket came out a year after Platoon, whereas Casualties of War came out 4 years later. Is Kubrick a bandwagon jumper too now?



Kubrick was planning on making Full Metal Jacket since 1982.

But thanks for bringing it up. Stone makes Platoon, Kukbrick comes out with Full Metal Jacket, and bish bosh De Palma comes out with his own inferior Vietnam film.



> And Carrie is a very good film



Have you watched it recently, very little actually happens until the ending. 



> (Oh god, I sound like a De Palma fan now, I'm really not)




Look at this for a criminal record

Redacted, Another band wagon jumped on. The Black Dahlia, way to fuck up a great James Elroy novel there De Palma. Femme Fatale, a movie so bad it's forgotten. Mission to Mars. Where do I even fucking start? A movie so bad it makes that other forgetable Mars film look good. Mission Impossible, one of the only films who's sequels are better than the first film. Snake Eyes, Bonfire of the Vanities. Blow Out. Jesus. 

The Untouchables and Carrie are blips in a career of terrible movies. 

Seriously anyone defending De Palma watch The Phantom of the Paradise


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## oboid (Dec 18, 2009)

Xtro, scared me no end as a kid. A woman giving birth to full grown adult. Also, Young Guns.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 18, 2009)

Yeah I read about Blow Out earlier.  It's a lock, stock ripoff of one of my favourite films The Conversation by the sound of it.

I downloaded it just so I can see quite how much of a ripoff


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 19, 2009)

What has this thread turned into? 

Anyways, I watched battle beyond the stars last night. Boy does that film move fast. I used to think it was really really long and drawn out. The set up for the quest was two minutes.


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## Reno (Dec 19, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> Yeah I read about Blow Out earlier.  It's a lock, stock ripoff of one of my favourite films The Conversation by the sound of it.
> 
> I downloaded it just so I can see quite how much of a ripoff



Blow Up has a few things in common with both The Conversation and (hey, check out the title!) Antonioni's Blow Up, but first and foremost it's a dreamlike conspiracy thriller based on the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick scandal. If you watch a crappy download of this then you are not going to get much out of it, it's one of De Palma's most visually elaborate films. 

De Palma is probably least understood in the UK, where people have an understanding of film as being mainly script and performance based. De Palma is revered by the hardcore cinephiles filmmakers like Tarantino (who himself has "ripped off" De Plama several times), critics like Pauline Keal and the French in general. De Palma is a director who mainly communicates via images, editing and sound. If anything he is much closer to Italian directors like Argento and Leone in that way, but many people will accuse him of "ripping off" films he quite openly alludes to (a real rip-off always denies its sources). 

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19810101/REVIEWS/40318076/1023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blow_Out


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 19, 2009)




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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 19, 2009)




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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 19, 2009)

Joe Strummer soundtrack...!


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 19, 2009)

This is a fucking great film! A mess, but a fantastic mess.


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 19, 2009)

A fucked up classic with all the Jeremy kyle style misery you could ever hope for in a film written and directed by Dennis Hopper


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## Flashman (Dec 19, 2009)

McNichol was ace.


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 19, 2009)

I've never actually seen this...not even sure it got a UK release.


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## Reno (Dec 20, 2009)

Nanker Phelge said:


> A fucked up classic with all the Jeremy kyle style misery you could ever hope for in a film written and directed by Dennis Hopper



I only ever saw this when it came out, but the film really haunted me. It was difficult to get hold of untill it got released on DVD only a couple of years ago. Fantastic performance by Linda Manz (who was also great in Days of Heaven). Lacking the studied cuteness of most child actors, she had a great presence. What a shame she mostly retired from acting.


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## Nanker Phelge (Dec 20, 2009)

Reno said:


> I only ever saw this when it came out, but the film really haunted me. It was difficult to get hold of untill it got released on DVD only a couple of years ago. Fantastic performance by Linda Manz (who was also great in Days of Heaven). Lacking the studied cuteness of most child actors, she had a great presence. What a shame she mostly retired from acting.



She's fucking electric in it. Like a tiny bomb waiting to explode throughout the whole film.

Bizarre when Raymond Burr appears in it.

Also, I think it's great statement from Hopper to his doubters.


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## DJ Squelch (Dec 20, 2009)

Watched this one a few weeks ago - Brainstorm (1983) pretty good sci-fi starring Christopher Walken & Natalie Wood.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 5, 2016)

8den said:


> Seriously anyone defending De Palma watch The Phantom of the Paradise



A very enjoyable film I would contend! Paul Williams makes for a very creepy villain, too.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 5, 2016)

DJ Squelch said:


> Watched this one a few weeks ago - Brainstorm (1983) pretty good sci-fi starring Christopher Walken & Natalie Wood.


The plot summary makes it sound like might have been an inspiration for _Strange Days_


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2019)

Orang Utan said:


> near dark
> something wild
> after hours
> rita sue and bob too
> ...





Dirty Martini said:


> How To Get Ahead in Advertising is a good call, but people still watch Something Wild, don't they?





Orang Utan said:


> do they? if i asked a random selection of my peers, i bet hardly any would remember it.



I think it might have fared better than you may expect in the memories of our peer group simply because it was selected by Alex Cox for presentation on _Moviedrome_.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2019)

Bernie Gunther said:


> No Surrender (the one set in a scouse nightclub, not the Van Damme movie)





DaveCinzano said:


> Not heard of that, sounds interesting, will try and track that down, ta for the heads up  Sort of makes me think of _Orphans_ by way of _Phoenix Nights_.



Having now seen it, turns out that wasn't a bad approximation of it


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 14, 2019)

Nearly finished James King's ‘Fast Times And Excellent Adventures: The Surprising History Of The 80s Teen Movie’, which is interesting, if not written as well as it thinks it is (plus it needs to be subbed better). It's rather good on Brat Pack stuff, which in turn reminded me of David Blum's 1985 _New York_ article which both came up with the name, and made anyone connected with it seem like a dickhead 

It's online, and it remains rather funny:

The Birth of Hollywood's Brat Pack -- New York Magazine  - Nymag


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