Forgotten flicks Part II

Here are more of my favorite “lost movies”. Thanks for yours. Some great titles. Keep ‘em comin’. It’s amazing how many little gems are rarely or never seen anymore. Even Netflix doesn’t carry some of these members of the movie graveyard.

TOPKAPI – A superb caper movie from the 60’s. Ingenious and funny. Peter Ustinov at his best (for those who remember Peter Ustinov).

SMALL CIRCLE OF FRIENDS – Okay, I’ve got a thing for 60’s college movies. I haven’t seen it in 25 years but I remember (a) liking it, and (b) falling in love with Karen Allen long before Indiana Jones did.

FIRST LOVE – another dorky college dorm flick. But this one features Susan Dey, Laurie Partridge herself, exploring her sexuality. Graphically!!! Must be seen uncut on cable when alone to be fully appreciated.

TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA – Hollywood’s two great Williams – Friedken and Peterson come together for a taut suspenseful ride through LA. Deserved more praise than it received – the movie, not the city.

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED – Peter Sellers in a tale about a tiny European country that declares war on the US hoping to lose and be rebuilt by the victors. Someone in Iraq must’ve seen this movie.

WHERE'S PAPA? -- A number of readers mentioned this one. Robert Klane is one of my favorite sick writers. My favorite moment -- a brilliant comment on racism -- A black man and Rob Liebman in a gorilla suit are trying to hail a cab. The cab picks up the gorilla. The BORAT of its day.

THE WANDERERS – Adaptation of terrific Richard Price novel. Life on the streets of New York. Street corner singing and gang warfare.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE, TWO, THREE – An insane premise that works. Bad guys hijack a subway. The trouble comes when they try to take it to Cuba.

DEATH RACE 2000 – A Roger Corman classic. A futuristic national road race where the drivers get extra points by killing people. Sylvester Stallone gives a good performance but is overshadowed by the Real Don Steele.

EATING RAOUL – Corman alum Paul Bartell’s cannibal comedy. Not a date movie for people with eating disorders.

W.C. FIELDS & ME -- Rod Steiger as W.C. Fields -- the intense scary near psychotic W.C. Fields.

THE ONE AND ONLY -- Henry Winkler as a wrestler in the early days of television. Steve Gordon, who wrote and directed ARTHUR, penned this first. No one wrote funnier dialogue than Steve. And he wasn't saddled with Liza Minelli in this one.

AFTER THE FOX -- Peter Sellers as a master thief who poses as a film director to dupe an entire Italian village into helping him pull off a major heist. Victor Mature as Charlton Heston. Mixed reviews for this one but it made me laugh.

and last but maybe best....

THE KILLING -- One of Kubrick's first films. A race track robbery is shown from different angles utilizing repeated action. Complex, compelling, contained. Kubrick was so brilliant before he started believing he was brilliant.

Comments

[Zach]

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that noted video game adapter Paul W. S. Anderson is in the process of bringing a new entry in the Death Race saga to the big screen.

[Anonymous]

Hate to nit-pick, but The Killing is Kubrick's 3rd feature...Fear and Desire and Killer's Kiss are his first two, respectively.

[Michael Zand]

I'm with you on all the films, except "Where's Poppa?" I remember rolling in the aisles when I first saw it back in the day. A few years ago, I rented it for my wife who hadn't seen it. Afraid to say it doesn't hold up. It's glacially slow. I would avoid seeing it and preserve the memory. A bit of trivia -- I was an actor before becoming a writer and am in "Live and Die in LA." The opening scene with the terrorist on the roof of the hotel -- that's me. Have I got some William Friedkin stories...

[scooter]

So many great and pretty much forgotten films... and I'm going to add a couple more -- The Hot Rock and What's Up Doc?The car chase in To Live and Die in LA is amazing -- much better than the wrong way schtick in Ronin

[Matt]

Pelham 123 was a great movie, and an even better book.

[Scribe LA]

Soul Man!!Scribewww.scribela.blogspot.com

[Andrew]

Re: A SMALL CIRCLE OF FRIENDS... Playing the small role of a student newspaper editor was a future "Butcher of Broadway"/NYTimes pundit Frank Rich.

[Paul Duca]

The FIRST LOVE pick explains Beaver Cleaver's plantive cry of "Susan Dey....I LOVE YOU!" one lonely Saturday night in 1977 on 10Q. That reminds me--the Real Don Steele was also in EATING RAOUL.

[Matt Bird]

People have mentioned Al Brooks movies and people have queried what Charles Grodin ever did that was good-- put those two together and you have my pick for the funniest movie ever made, and one that becomes more and more relevant every year, "Real Life".Also:"Mirage""Electra Glide in Blue""Scarecrow""Next Stop, Greenwich Village"and "Smile", which Ken wrote about before.

[Mr. Hollywood]

I did some interviews on W.C. Fields & Me...they were working at the old Chasen's on Beverly Blvd. and Doheny...anyhow, Steiger NEVER got out of the Fields character in the interview...very strange. But the best was doing an interview (I was with CBS Radio at the time, so no cameras...just me and my Sony cassette recorder!) with Valerie Perrine in her trailer, parked on Beverly Blvd. We chatted as she walked back and forth the whole length of her trailer, slowly getting undressed. She wound up completely naked, chatting with me like it was nothing. Always figured it was her Vegas showgirl background!

[wesley mead]

Yes! Death Race 2000! A true great.

[gary]

A couple of others we may have overlooked: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, Gone With The Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, The Wizard of Oz, The Graduate, On The Waterfront, Singin' In The Rain, It's A Wonderful Life, Sunset Blvd., The Bridge on the River Kwai, Some Like It Hot, All About Eve, The African Queen, Psycho, Chinatown, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Maltese Falcon, Raging Bull, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Dr. Strangelove, Bonnie and Clyde, Apocalypse Now, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Midnight Cowboy, The Best Years of Our Lives, Double Indemnity, Doctor Zhivago, North by Northwest, West Side Story, Rear Window, A Clockwork Orange, Taxi Driver, Jaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Philadelphia Story, From Here To Eternity, M*A*S*H, The Third Man, Rebel Without A Cause, Vertigo, Tootsie, Network, The Manchurian Candidate, The French Connection, American Graffiti, The Wild Bunch, Giant, Easy Rider, My Fair Lady and the everpopular Duck Soup.

[ahomer]

"The taking of Pelham 123" - great, just great casting, great pacing, great - and it's one of those movies I keep coming across on TV still, late nite, some channel, and I watch again. How the hell did Jerry Stiller get a role as an actor there?As for "Mouse that Roared" I've always wondered why there was no remake, it's long overdue as the premise is scarily possible to imagine.My only complain is "Topkapi", meh, sub-Hitchcock really, and I never bought the hype on Mercouri. I mean then "We're no Angels" or something where he is just having fun but with Bogart at least."The Killing", wonderful, Kubrick was just twenty-f**king seven years old! Complex, non-linear structure and still comfortable, B-movie noir feeling. Shame about the overnarrator device like something out of Dragnet. Finally, what's with the Henry Winkler fan club - it seems implausible that a list has TWO films in which Winkler plays a starring role. Seriously, loved him on "Arrested Development" but films?

[HMM2]

"The Wrath of God" (not "Aguirre, TWoG"): Rita Hayworth's last film (playing Frank Langella's mother) and great performances by Robert Mitchum and Victor Buono. Paddy Chayefsky's "The Hospital" starring George C. Scott and Diana Rigg and directed by Arthur Hiller."Who'll Stop The Rain" -- amazing performances by Nick Nolte and Michael Moriarity.

[Reel Fanatic]

I don't think I'd ever want to live in a world without "The Mouse that Roared"

[Steve Axelrod]

Another wonderful film which isn't even available on VHS anymore is "The Jokers" -- a Michael Winner caper film from the sixties with Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford. Two society brat brothers in swinging London discover a glitch in British law: you cannot be prosecuted for a theft if you return the item within 48 hours. For a lark, they decide to steal the crown jewels. The heist is brilliant, but sibling rivalry complicates things. I would call it a must-see, if it were possible to see it. Maybe -- late night TV? It's worth searching for.

[Bill Crider]

I thought Where's Poppa was hilarious and daring in its day. I wonder if it's still as funny as I thought then. And if it's available on DVD.

[Anonymous]

"Running on Empty" One of the best movies no one saw.

[wkmaier]

Funny that Friedkin came up. "Deal of the Century" with Chevy Chase, Sigourney Weaver and Gregory Hines (sans dancing) is a movie I remember getting tons of play on HBO about 20 some years ago, and not ever recently. I may have to Netflix it, see if it holds up, especially today.Another movie I saw recently "The Long Goodbye" with Elliot Gould - I rented because Altman directed.

[Tor Y. Harbin]

"You're a sick man, Rico." Saw PELHAM on DVD earlier this year. Freakin' fantastic. Good writing, good cast, good music. Just good.Another great thriller from the '70s: BLACK SUNDAY. In today's touchier-than-a-sunburn-victim post-9/11 climate, this might not be seen as the escapist fare it once was, but I think it's terrific. Robert Shaw is fine and Bruce Dern is just phenomenal (seriously, there's this one scene an hour and a half in...just rent it!).

[Herb Popsfarter]

Yeah! "Who'll Stop the Rain" was really good. And speaking of Chayevsky, I was quite entertained by "Altered States" when it came out. The direction by Ken Russell was goofy, but I loved the story.

[William]

Here are a few that aren't on your list: -Heroes (another Winkler classic) -My Bodyguard (fond memories of this one) -Inside Moves (John Savage and David Morse)-Modern Problems (Chevy actually funny)-Hot Stuff (Dom Deluise)one I just rented recently, -Times Square (a flawed classic from what almost seems like a different century)

[Harlow]

Does anyone else remember"It's In The Bag" (1945)?Fred Allen, Jack Benny William Bendix.....Fred Floogle(Allen) owner ofa flea circus inherits 5 chairsand a Frank Sinatra record from his rich uncle. He sells the chairsthen finds out that one of chairshas a fortune in cash stuffed in it.He goes on a wild hunt for the chairs and runs into some funnysituations along the way.Mel Brooks must have liked it too!

[Good Dog]

Nice to see To Live and Die in LA flagged up.Other favorites:Night Moves, Thief, The Keep, Gone to Earth, Static...

[MBFH]

I have a soft spot for Ron Howard's "Grand Theft Auto" Also featuring the Real Don Steele, and 10-Q!I met Boyd R. Britton at a college radio conference at UCLA, and he invited me and a friend over to the studios on Western to take a tour. It was right after they had filmed "GTA" there, and the production studio was still dressed for the shoot. Those were really great studios.