Most Underrated Films of the 50's, 60's, and 70's?

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Some films I like that don't get mentioned too much (well a few of them are championed by certain members who love them, but are still generally underseen):

D.O.A (1950)
The Tin Star (1957)
Navajo Joe (1966)
Downhill Racer (1969)
Brewster McCloud (1970)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Performance (1970)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Images (1972)
California Split (1974)
Night Moves (1975)
The Bad News Bears (1976)
The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
Rolling Thunder (1977)

You might have heard of a lot Seventies films, but I am just going by what made our MoFo list. Unfortunately I haven't explored pre-Seventies films as much as I would have liked yet.



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I've seen Carnal Knowledge, and liked it... I downloaded quite a few Altman films you've mentioned. I will check out California Split soon. Brewster McCloud was funny, but the library closed and couldn't finish it. I saw Bad News Bears a long time ago, but there's a few on here I never saw, so I'll keep those in mind the next time I go to the library.

Thanks!



I thought you'd be interested in the Altman films because of your favourite movies thread, I watched most of his Seventies work for our list, and enjoyed them all. Also watch 3 Women if you haven't, it's in the same boat but I didn't list it as it's more popular around here.



Charulata (1964)
Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors (1964)
Stroszek (1977)
Gertrud (1964)
I Am Cuba (1964)
The Ascent (1977)
An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968)
The Music Room (1958)
Orpheus (1950)
Red Desert (1964)
Tess (1979)
Accattone (1961)
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Kwaidan (1964)
Mahanagar (1963)
Marketa Lazarovį (1967)
My Night at Maud's (1969)
Vivre Sa Vie (1962)
A Woman Is a Woman (1961)
Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Not underrated but underseen.

Stars in My Crown
People Will Talk
No Room for the Groom
Hobson's Choice
Friendly Persuasion
He Who Must Die
The Big Country
The Nun's Story
Room at the Top
Elmer Gantry
Sons and Lovers
One, Two, Three
One-Eyed Jacks
The Best of Enemies
Fail-Safe
The Night of the Iguana
The Pawnbroker
The 10th Victim
The Shop on Main Street
Alfie
Morgan!
The Two of Us
Z
Joe
Macbeth
The Confession
Lenny
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Lies My Father Told Me
French Connection II
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Allegro non Troppo
The Wanderers
Richard Pryor Live in Concert
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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
TokeZa's list is glorious. I have seen a lot of them and they are underseen in general, but among arthouse lovers they are not underrated. They are rated very high among them.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Equinox Flower (1958) - Yasujiro Ozu

Alice in the Cities (1974) - Wim Wenders
+
Gate of Hell (1953) - Teinosuke Kinogasa

Tokyo Twilight (1957) - Yasujiro Ozu

Husbands (1970) - John Cassavetes
-
Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray
+

Are a few that don't get mentioned much. Ray in general is under-appreciated IMO.



Most Underrated Films of the 50's, 60's, and 70's?

Matt, if you post what your favorite genera/style is, I'll see if I can drudge up a few forgotten flicks, from my shaky memory.



matt72582's Avatar
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I love dialogue, socially relevant, political... My list is my genre, haha..

I downloaded "Fail-Safe" today.. I tried every movie theatre, and the library purged it. Sidney Lumet, I hear it's a more serious Dr. Strangelove.. Please don't tell me the ending! I'll be anticipating something..

I heard "Lies My Father Told Me" was great, but can't remember from who.

I saw "Z" - the Greek political movie, and thought it was real good, I want to watch it again.

Thank you guys so much. I'm going to copy and paste and probably hit up the library again tomorrow. Like I said, we forget a lot of movies, and hopefully we can remind each other, and recommend stuff based on what we like.



I was hoping you'd say film noir, that and musicals and pre-code films...are about the only genera/styles that I'm real familiar with.

Fail Safe is heads over Dr. Strangelove, (which is a great film in it's own right.) I do think you will appreciate it.

Try these.

Baby Doll...1956
A Summer Place..1959
Misfits...1961

Anything by Elia Kazan is almost always excellent and socially relevant with a biting commentary on the status quo.



matt72582's Avatar
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I had Baby Doll and Misfits (Wallach just died too) on there... Great films, Kazan and Huston are Top 5 Directors of all-time to me. But I will check "A Summer Place"



A Summer Place might look like fun, 50s fluff, but it deals with a serious topic. As far as I know, this film was the first to cover that topic in such detail.

Please post back your thoughts on any of these film that you're going to watch.

Yuppers to Huston, one of my favorites.



Lots of Westerns....

Winchester '73 (1950)
The Gunfighter (1950)
On Dangerous Ground (1951)
Way of the Gaucho (1952)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Vera Cruz (1954)
The Naked Dawn (1955)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Seven Men from Now (1957)
Some Came Running (1958)
Terror in a Texas Town (1958)
The Shooting (1966)
Warrendale (1967)
Titicut Follies (1967)
Ice (1970)
Winter Soldier (1972)
Across the 110th Street (1973)
Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
Cockfighter (1973)
Welfare (1975)
The Whole Shootin' Match (1978)



Stroszek (1977)
Was going to include this too. It's quite well acclaimed, on Roger Ebert's great movies and considered one of Herzog's best, but no one on this forum seems to have seen it. I included it on my 70s list and Holden did too, but not many others. I think in general Herzog is quite underseen on this forum, considering quite a few people enjoy him, or at least him as a person, I would include myself in the group that hasn't seen enough of his work.

All the films you posted sound good, and are films that I want to see but don't get much discussion around here.

Not underrated but underseen.

Elmer Gantry
French Connection II
I probably wouldn't have watched French Connection II if it wasn't for your recommendation, and I thought it was great, a shame not enough people watched it for the 70s lists. Elmer Gantry was great and will make my 60s list

I really want to watch One Eyed Jacks too, I know its on your 100 and you were recently talking about it in one of the 60s threads, it looks like my kind of film.



matt72582's Avatar
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More than underrated, out of all those movies you guys listen, only "A Summer Place" was at the library. I tried typing them on the library's catalog, at least a few of them in case they were foreign pictures. My back has been killing me, so I took what I could.

Elmer Gantry is such a great film. Richard Brooks in general is pretty underrated (except Goodbar).

I forgot to include that in great acting performances as well, Burt Lancaster.



matt72582's Avatar
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And of underrated Westerns, no one brings up "The Professionals" - probably has the best exchange in film history between Burt Lancaster and Jack Palace (the bad-guy in Shane, now the good-guy)

" La RevoluciŪn is like a great love affair. In the beginning, she is a goddess. A holy cause. But... every love affair has a terrible enemy: time. We see her as she is. La RevoluciŪn is not a goddess but a whore. She was never pure, never saintly, never perfect. And we run away, find another lover, another cause. Quick, sordid affairs. Lust, but no love. Passion, but no compassion. Without love, without a cause, we are... *nothing*! We stay because we believe. We leave because we are disillusioned. We come back because we are lost. We die because we are committed"