Here's a fun old one...(December 04, 2005):
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When Milkriverblog asked for obscure-but-good movies the other day, I was busy and distracted, so I did not give it enough thought. If you ask nicely, he will send you MSWord file of the list (more than 150 titles) so you can print it out and take with you when you go movie-shopping.
I seconded other people's suggestions (Milkriverblog has links to them), specifically "Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control" (a movie I adore), "My Dinner With Andre" and "Zatoichi". My own suggestion was tongue-in-cheek - "Alien Avengers", a silly C-grade movie I liked because Anastasia Sekularis is in it and she's hot!
But I wish I was in the right mood then, because I would have suggested some others, too. I love Japanese movies, including all the monster stuff with Godzila, Gilala and Mothra. My copy of The Calamari Warrior is coming soon, too, and I'll try to find the Koala Executive.
Of course, I've seen a lot of Kurosawa, but he is not obscure. My absolute favourite, a movie I have seen many times is Seven Samurai, after all these years still better than its offshoots The Magnificent Seven, Battle Beyond the Stars, and the Bug's Life. Though, actually, those three are good. Battle Beyond the Stars is funny as hell, and it does count as obscure, so I could have suggested that one. Rashomon, Throne of Blood and Yojimbo are my other Kurosawa favourites. Yojimbo was remade as a Western, too, one of my favourite Westerns of all times: A Fistful of Dollars (not to be confused with the blog Fistful of Euros).
To close the Japan section, I'd have to recommend Tampopo, a movie for food lovers. And, if I had to choose only one Japanese obscure-but-good movie, I would suggest Kwaidan, the scariest movie I have ever seen in my life. I have no idea how I managed to persuade myself to see it the second time, but I know I will not do it the third time. Ever. If you want to be scared, really scared, watch it on a large digital screen, late at night, sitting in the dark alone. Make sure you are wearing diapers.
All right. I've seen every single movie that Bruce Lee has ever made. Most of them more than once. Enter The Dragon, dunno, a dozen times or more...
Actually, let me make a little switch now. Hey, this is blogging, I can start a post one way and end it another way. Sue me. The best measure of one's liking of a movie is seeing it more than once. Not by chance when it's on cable when you're bored, but intentionally ordering, renting or even going to the theater to see it again and again and again. So, on that note, which movies I have intentionally seen multiple times?
As I mentioned above, Enter The Dragon - many times. I have seen Seven Samurai several times and I'll gladly see it again. I have seen some of the other movies I mentioned above twice, including Kwaidan, A Fistful of Dollars, Battle Beyond The Stars, Alien Avengers, The Bug's Life and Magnificient Seven. And I'd see them all again. What else?
Aristocats
Fiddler on the Roof
Midnight Express
Hair
Seventh Seal
Ko to tamo peva (Who's Singing Over There)
Spaceballs
(Susan and) Jeremy
Shane
Dom za vesanje/Time of the Gypsies
Wild Things
Good, Bad and Ugly
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Dark Star
Dr.Strangelove
Easy Rider
Mars Attacks
Charlotte's Web
Love Story
History of the World, Part I
Clash of the Titans
Two Mules for Sister Sara
Soylent Green
Deliverance
Sleeper
Underground
WR: Mysteries of Orga(ni)sm
Animal Farm
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Too Afraid To Ask
Young Frankenstein
Serendipity
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Finally, I saw The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother only once, decades ago, but my brother and I are still trying to figure out which one of us is the smarter brother.
What a weird mix of genres, countries of origin, and quality! High art, kids movies, sentimental schlock, classic westerns, teen-angst, kung-fu action, dark comedy, ancient science fiction... Don't ask! Even I have no idea what is it about these particular movies that makes me watch them again and again....And not to mention that I liked many other movies that I have seen only once. At least not a single one of these has Tom Cruise in it!
So, what movies do you watch again and again? Can you say why?
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Airplane! The BEST send-off of the disaster movie genre... Great lines: I picked the wrong day to quit drinking.
I picked the wrong day to quit amphetemines.
The scene where the pilot comes into the airport and has to fight off all the solicitors, the in-flight movie selection, I could probably talk about every scene, but surely I won't...and don't call me Shirley!
I agree 100% with your Young Frankenstein pick, BTW. Great, funny, funny movie.
I've recently watched the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns again, which I've not seen for many years but used to watch over and over when Sunday's were about westerns on television. I marveled at the simplicity of Sergio Leone's work but the great cinematic devices he used like close ups, low camera angles, good music, and comedy to tell his stories. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallich, and Lee Van Cleef were the only ones who could have pulled thes roles off, too. I also watched Two Mules for Sister Sarah and and Silverado recently, both great westerns. I'm looking for High Plains Drifter, Once Upon a Time in the West, They Call Me Nobody, and Outlaw Josey Wales to add to my collection of westerns... I already have The Magnificent Seven.
My 5 year old likes to watch the old black and white Lone Rangers and I'm also partial to Casablanca. I always marval at the influence movies like Casablanca and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly had on movies that followed them as so many devices and lines are unceremoniously lifted directly from them.
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I'm a big Coen Brothers fan, so I could watch almost anything by them over and over. Especially, Fargo, Raising Arizona, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou and The Big Lebowski.
I'll also add to Airplane the Zucker Brothers first go, The Kentucky Fried Movie. If you liked Enter the Dragon you'll love the scetch Fist Full of Yen.
If you like martial arts movie comedies, two of Jackie Chan's best are Dragon Forever and City Hunter. The first one has some incredible action sequences with Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Sammo Hung (Plus it is darn hilarious!)
They Call me Nobody is a Terrance Hill spaghetti western. He goes on to make a couple others They Call Me Trinity and Trinity is Still My Name. These are comedies more than westerns. Fun from my childhood!
If you have not seen Godzilla: Final Wars, you will probably enjoy it. It is one of the more campy editions of the 2000+ batch. It is a darn entertaining movie. However, all of them are better than the American Gozilla...
I could go on, but that is probably enough. I will now return to my usually lurking ways...
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Z, the movie
And as long as the The Big Lebowski was mentioned, don't forget The Big Sleep, the grandaddy of the film noirs. The Big Sleep's not an obscure movie except that whoever watches it invariably goes, "Huh?". Much like The Big Lebowski.
I am of course speaking of the Bogart version.
I used to find that a good way to make new friends was to show them "The Tall Guy", a very funny but surprisingly underrated comedy with Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson.