The Saturday 5-Movie Marathon

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Let's say you and your friends got together and wanted to watch movies all day because it was really crappy outside.

If you could show them 5 movies that you really like that are either not well known, or are really underrated, what would they be? No independent films. I'm looking for movies that are somewhat mainstream, Hollywood produced, but not hugely popular movies. Perhaps "overlooked" is the term I'm looking for. Listed in order of favorite:

1. The Machinist
2. Open Range
3. From Hell
4. Bug
5. One Hour Photo
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"Taking my gun away because I might shoot someone is like cutting my tongue out because I might yell `Fire!' in a crowded theater." --Peter Venetoklis



Really, it would depend on the friends, what they liked, what kind of day/evening we wanted and what they'd seen before.

However, to answer your question, off the top of my head I'd go with.

1. Eight Men Out
2. The Hitcher
3. Near Dark
4. Death Race 2000
5. The Straight Story

I'm not sure if a couple of those are 'exactly' what you meant, but that's what I'll go with for now.



Yes, of course it depends entirely on who is coming over, what I've already forced them to watch individually, etc. But assuming these are some generic "new" friends with relatively clear movie palates, no particular reason for the gathering and without forcing a theme, I might go with something like...

Unfaithfully Yours In a Lonely Place Limbo Modern Romance After Hours





But this is really silly as it would be geared for whoever was coming over and what they have already seen and liked or hated. Also, who else but other movie freaks would even be up for sitting through five movies in a row, which means your task of finding something unseen by everybody there gets exponentially more difficult.

When I had a couple friends over to watch movies a few weeks back I had them watch John Sayles' Lone Star and Jerry Schatzberg's Scarecrow. But we arrived at those by having them first look through my collection a bit at things they were interested in seeing, which yielded Lone Star, and then one of them asked me to show them six or seven of my favorite opening scenes. After I popped in Scarecrow they were hooked and had to see the rest.



So, you know....whatever.
__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



Let's say you and your friends got together and wanted to watch movies all day because it was really crappy outside.

If you could show them 5 movies that you really like that are either not well known, or are really underrated, what would they be? No independent films. I'm looking for movies that are somewhat mainstream, Hollywood produced, but not hugely popular movies. Perhaps "overlooked" is the term I'm looking for. Listed in order of favorite:

1. The Machinist
2. Open Range
3. From Hell
4. Bug
5. One Hour Photo
I don't understand why no independent films, there are some poor indy films but the majority are really good and if your looking for something overlooked, most indy films are.
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Oh dear, I dunno if I wanna go over to Holden's holding pen anytime soon. Not that I was invited... although I might be interested in Modern Romance and After Hours.



Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
Psycho
The Wild Bunch
Casablanca
The Birds

I know they're not techincally overlooked, but for my friends (whose mostly around 15 or 16) I guess they could be considered overlooked.



Okay, folks, here's my 5-movie Marathon:

A) West Side Story

B) Sound of Music

C) Billy Jack

D) Wizard of Oz

E) Georgy Girl
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"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I agree with Holden that it all depends on who's coming over, but I have a few requirements in mind when I do this type of thing, and I'm speaking from experience. For one thing, I don't want to put anything with subtitles on late in the day. I find that too many people fall asleep! Secondly, I think I should put something powerful in the penultimate position but I should finish up with something just full of silly laughs so that everybody doesn't leave on a downer. Thirdly, I need to put on short films because you normally think that five films is going to last about 8-10 hours, but I have a quintuple feature which only lasts six-and-half hours. I have all these films in showable forms so I don't have to worry about rounding them up When Saturday Comes.



I'd start with Allegro non troppo (Bruno Bozzetto, 1977) [85 min]- A spoof of Fantasia, full of beautiful music and randy, witty animation which is combined with a cross between Fellini and the Three Stooges. It should get your attention and set the stage for what follows. It's rather hilarious, so I'll be contrary and post the saddest part.



My second choice is the Pre-Code romantic comedy Jewel Robbery (William Dieterle, 1932) [70 min] where William Powell steals Kay Francis's... ahem... jewels. Or does she give them to him? It's also got the chief of police getting stoned out of his mind on some doobies which Powell provides.

Here's the trailer.

Next up is Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) [86 min] since some B-movie film noir is usually on the short side and needs to be seen. Besides the lead performances by John Dall (Rope) and Peggy Cummins, Lewis's direction is in-your-face, especially with subjective camera action scenes. Then, you've got JD Rusty Tamblyn who grows up to become Dall.

&feature=PlayList&p=A329A177C4CA1529&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=17

Next up is my major film, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) [86 min], one of the most-significant and powerful films ever made, perhaps even a "perfect" film. The less-hinted at the better, but...



I'm going to finish up with a silly, crazy and hilarious Marx Bros. movie, Horse Feathers (Norman Z. McLeod, 1932) - [68 min] where you learn that the password is "Swordfish", but not for long; besides, the phagocytes like to shoot spitwads at the President of the college!

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



I'd attempt to keep it recent, and pick little known films that I think if seen, more people would appreciate them than not. As for which order to show them, I'm not too sure about that.

Bottle Rocket (1996)
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
The Limey (1999)
American Splendor (2003)
Half Nelson (2006)
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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."



So many good movies, so little time.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
The Gunfighter (1950)
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."- Groucho Marx



Good lists.

How about five more:

1. The Lover
2. Prefontaine
3. Pharaoh's Army
4. Taking Sides
5. Box of Moonlight