The Best Film You've Never Seen
35 Directors Champion the Forgotten or Critically Savaged Movies They Love is a book by the journalist and editor Robert K. Elder.
Published in 2013, the book features interviews with 35 directors about lesser-known movies that influenced them.
Published in 2013, the book features interviews with 35 directors about lesser-known movies that influenced them.
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35 titles
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsJason PatricRachel WardBruce DernAfter he escapes from a mental hospital, a former boxer works for a widow. When she asks him to get involved in a kidnapping, he has second thoughts.
- DirectorPatrick BokanowskiStarsMaurice BaquetJean-Marie BonMartine CoutureA surreal, nightmarish collection of imagery.
- DirectorPupi AvatiStarsCarlo CecchiStefano DionisiArnaldo NinchiA seminary student, Giacomo Vigetti, is convicted by the Papal State of seducing a young girl. He is forced to flee and takes refuge with an excommunicated priest. Unfortunately, the priest was excommunicated for experimenting with the black arts. And soon Giacomo wishes they'd never met.
- DirectorTrent HarrisStarsGroovin' GarySean PennCrispin GloverIn 1979, filmmaker Trent Harris visits the small town of Beaver, Utah to film a talent show. Impressed by a performer called Groovin' Gary, he recreates Gary's act in 1981 with Sean Penn and in 1985 with Crispin Glover.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsGeorge SegalSusan AnspachKris KristoffersonLawyer Stephen Blume, specialized in divorces, lives a paradoxical situation when, having his own marriage break up, is still in love with his ex-wife.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonNoël CowardExplores the confrontation between the woman who has everything, including emptiness, and a penniless poet who has nothing but the ability to fill a wealthy woman's needs.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsDennis ChristopherDennis QuaidDaniel SternA working-class Indiana teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl while searching for life goals with his friends.
- DirectorNancy WalkerStarsRay SimpsonDavid HodoFelipe RoseA pseudo autobiography of disco's The Village People.
- DirectorArthur RipleyStarsRobert CummingsMichèle MorganSteve CochranChuck Scott gets a job as chauffeur to tough guy Eddie Roman; but Chuck's involvement with Eddie's fearful wife becomes a nightmare.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsGene HackmanTheresa RussellRutger HauerIn 1925, a lone and obsessed Arctic prospector Jack McCann finally strikes gold. Twenty years later, he begins spiraling out of control when his only daughter becomes engaged to a man he strongly dislikes.
- DirectorOrson WellesGary GraverOja KodarStarsOrson WellesOja KodarFrançois ReichenbachA documentary about fraud and fakery.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsJeff BridgesIsabella RosselliniRosie PerezA man's personality is dramatically changed after surviving a major airline crash.
- DirectorPeter HallStarsCyril CusackIan HolmPaul RogersIn a dreary North London flat, the site of perpetual psychological warfare, a philosophy professor visits his family after a nine-year absence, and introduces the four men, father, uncle, and two brothers, to his wife.
- DirectorLeonard KastleDonald VolkmanStarsShirley StolerTony Lo BiancoMary Jane HigbyAn obese, embittered nurse doesn't mind if her toupee-wearing boyfriend romances and fleeces other women, as long as he takes her along on his con jobs.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsLee MarvinFredric MarchRobert RyanA salesman with a sudden passion for reform has an idea to sell to his barfly buddies: throw away your pipe dreams. The drunkards, living in a flophouse above a saloon, resent the idea.
- DirectorStephen QuayTimothy QuayWeiser QuayStarsMark RylanceAlice KrigeGottfried JohnA young man goes to a school for servants run by a brother and sister. In the dreamlike and surreal world that he enters, how will his presence impact the people there and possibly even the school itself?
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsDanny HustonPeter WellerLisa EnosUpdate on Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," set in contemporary Hollywood.
- DirectorJohn Patrick ShanleyStarsTom HanksMeg RyanLloyd BridgesWhen a hypochondriac learns that he is dying, he accepts an offer to throw himself in a volcano at a tropical island, and along the way there, learns to truly live.
- DirectorChris MarkerPierre LhommeStarsChris MarkerYves MontandSimone SignoretChris Marker and Pierre Lhomme's LE JOLI MAI (The Lovely Month of May) is a portrait of Paris and Parisians during May 1962, the first springtime of peace after the ceasefire with Algeria and the first time in 23 years that France was not involved in any war.
- DirectorStephen ChiodoStarsGrant CramerSuzanne SnyderJohn Allen NelsonAliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPaul ScofieldWendy HillerRobert ShawThe story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
- DirectorIrving LernerStarsVince EdwardsPhillip PineHerschel BernardiClaude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer - until he finds his next target is a woman.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsAlain DelonFrançois PérierNathalie DelonAfter professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsFrank SinatraDean MartinShirley MacLaineA veteran returns home to deal with family secrets and small-town scandals.
- DirectorGordon ParksStarsRon LeibmanDavid SelbySheila FrazierThe true story of two New York City cops. Greenberg & Hantz fought the system, became detectives and were known on the streets as "Batman & Robin".
- DirectorBob FosseStarsShirley MacLaineJohn McMartinRicardo MontalbanTaxi dancer Charity continues to have faith despite endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.
- DirectorFrank PerrySydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterJanet LandgardJanice RuleA man spends a summer day swimming as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRichard AttenboroughJudy GeesonJohn HurtWhat happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsAnthony PerkinsArnoldo FoàJess HahnAn unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMiriam HopkinsKay FrancisHerbert MarshallA gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsSheryl LeeRay WiseMädchen AmickLaura Palmer's harrowing final days are chronicled one year after the murder of Teresa Banks, a resident of Twin Peaks' neighboring town.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAlbert FinneyJacqueline BissetAnthony AndrewsA day in the life of a self-destructive British consul in Mexico on the eve of World War II.
- DirectorKarel ReiszStarsNick NolteTuesday WeldMichael MoriartyA Vietnam veteran gets conned into helping an old Marine friend smuggle drugs into the country but ends up having to go on the run with his friend's wife when the deal goes sour.
- DirectorDusan MakavejevStarsMilena DravicIvica VidovicJagoda KaloperAn homage to the work of psychologist Wilhelm Reich, matched with a story about a Yugoslavian girl's affair with a Russian skater. Sexual repression, social systems and the orgone theory are explored.