Top 10 Cult Classics

This is for all non-EC or peripheral-EC topics. We all know how much we love talking about 'The Man' but sometimes we have other interests.
Watching_Detectives
Posts: 200
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 7:39 pm
Location: Somewhere lame.

Post by Watching_Detectives »

I love so many "cult classics" that I can't pick...here are a few...

Best In Show (I see it's been represented by BlueChair...nice)
Drowning Mona
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (seems quite popular around here)
A Christmas Story (Now, I'd watch that movie in the middle of June...hey! What a good idea...)
It nearly took a mircacle to get you to stay
It only took my little finger to blow you away.
bobster
Posts: 2160
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 12:29 am
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Post by bobster »

Those who remember me will understand that I sort of had to get in on this one.

Couple notes to my old pal Lapinsjolis -- forgot that you, too, worship at the shrine of Robert Wise.

Re: Wise Blood, book and movie. Saw the movie first. Absolutely great. Read the book later -- actually didn't get into as much as the film but I think it's safe the say that John Huston was true to it. He was very, very good at adaptations. (His last movie, "The Dead" is, I think, a classic of this area. And while I haven't read "Under the Volcano", it was a great movie and fans of the book seemed mostly impressed especially in that it was considered unfilmable by almost everyone.)

Re: Argento. Well, I'm this conflicted guy who sort of likes horror but is also fairly squeamish to the point of absolutely refusing to see any "splatter" movies -- no matter how good they may be. In any case, I made it through "Suspiria" okay -- though that may have to do with my crush on Jessica Harper to some extent. And that bit with the barbed wire did have my squirmy.

Re: Xanadu. Well, as musical I finally caught up with this one recently with an audience that I think was probably 99.9% gay (I was the .01!). A couple of interesting moments, but I gotta say, just a stinker as far as I could see except for one or two scenes and some vaguely horrifying period detail.

And, finally, here's my list. I'm excluding a lot of films. The term "cult" is truly in the eye of the beholder (some very successful movies have very cult sensibillities, e.g., "Pulp Fiction.") For my purposes, I'm defining it as movies that weren't wildly popular their first time around and may STILL be somewhat overlooked. So, "Dr. Strangelove" was very popular in its day, so I'm not including it, or "Lolita", even though I love them both very much and they're both "culty" by today's standards. With one exception, I'm also sticking to movies that are sort of envelope pushers. (

So, for example, the great, somewhat neglected musical "It's Always Fair Weather" which was basically discarded by MGM on its release doesn't make the list 'cause it's just not weird enough -- though some thought it kind of dark for a musical, so I could have included it. And I'm like the only person in the world who's seen "Scaramouche", which I guess makes me a cult of one, but it's also classic period MGM...These things can be complicated!)

These are just a few that come quickly to mind. They're not all even neccessarily great movies, just really interesting ones. Though some, like the first two, really are great and are still very overlooked even today. I'm also sticking mainly to English-language films because almost anything foreign can be seen as "cult" (like, say, everything by Godard or Pedro Almodovar) and then it just gets too big for me.

The Wicker Man
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Repo Man
Phantom of the Paradise
The Stunt Man
Vanishing Point
The Knack (and How to Get It)
Robin and Marian
Alphaville (foreign and by Godard, but too culty too leave off!)
Jackie Brown (Tarentino's one underrated film, so I'm including it!)
The Limey

I'm sure I'll think of 85,000 more right after I sign off....
http://www.forwardtoyesterday.com -- Where "hopelessly dated" is a compliment!
User avatar
lapinsjolis
Posts: 513
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 1:23 am
Location: In the cloud of unknowing
Contact:

Post by lapinsjolis »

Bobster good to see you back, I worry about absentee board members. I hope all is well with you.

Xanadu- falls into it's so bad it's good. You do have to have a taste for the lovably wretched to enjoy it. It's a childhood favorite.

You love Jessica Harper enough to include 'Phantom of the Paradise'?

Leave it to you to mention 'The Knack (and how it get it)'! Michael Crawford, obsessive painting, mod styles and surreal promiscuity. I love it.
User avatar
so lacklustre
Posts: 3183
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 2:36 pm
Location: half way to bliss

Post by so lacklustre »

Bobster - I agree about Jackie Brown, that would make my top ten films ever, not just cult.

Has anyone mentioned Django?
User avatar
mood swung
Posts: 6908
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:59 pm
Location: out looking for my tribe
Contact:

Post by mood swung »

I don't know if it's a 'cult' movie or not, but I really like it--To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything--Julie Newmar'. And The Full Monty.
Last edited by mood swung on Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Like me, the "g" is silent.
bobster
Posts: 2160
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 12:29 am
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Post by bobster »

To Lapinsjolie re: Phantom of the Paradise. Actually, I have this insane crush on Paul Williams. It must be the hair.

But seriously, it's just kind of a cool little flick -- the music isn't great but it's just an oddball quasi-guilty pleasure from before Brian de Palma became Mr. Cinema Decadence, a filmmaker I have some very mixed feelings about. I really love the use of split/screen, Williams' performance and the very, very arch satire and its use of comic-book and silent-cinema techniques.

Another oddball de Palma worth seeing (sure, let's call it a cult movie) from this time: "Obsession" -- an oddball remake/ripoff of "Vertigo" with an interesting little plot twist.

Re: "The Knack" -- actually it had less promiscuity that I'd expected. It's more philopophically pro-sex and a lot less randy than, say, lots of sex comedies of the period. Also, a strong female lead (Rita Tushingham) helps too.

Actually, I was utterly blown away by what a beautiful film it is. As wonderful as "A Hard Day's Night" is, "The Knack" is really a quantum leap in most ways and about twice as good. Richard Lester made many films after, but having seen a lot of them and his two Beatles films many times, nothing quite prepared me for the visual/rhytmic (jazz, instead of rock) punch of "The Knack." He was obviously watching the Godard/Truffaut films, but then he took things just a bit further, though in the service of a more traditional story. (Today, Steven Soderbergh in "The Limey" and maybe even more so, "Out of Sight" clearly owes something to these films.)

I could go on.... :roll:
http://www.forwardtoyesterday.com -- Where "hopelessly dated" is a compliment!
User avatar
lapinsjolis
Posts: 513
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 1:23 am
Location: In the cloud of unknowing
Contact:

Post by lapinsjolis »

'Phantom of the Paradise' is a fun parody but with all the choices I was surprised it made your top ten. The story is uneven but it is a testament to it's time. Plus is secured a wonderful guest spot for Williams on a Hardy Boys Halloween special. Your love for Paul does make it the obvious choice for you. I sympathize as you don't see hair like that everyday.

I read Ann Jellicoe's play well before seeing the movie. The movie managed to make it's mark aside from the play. I think the beautiful stoic women lined outside the bedroom and the stadium scene is very surreal sexually. It is pro sex but pro monogamy as well. at least that's what I got. I agree with the visuals, some very striking images. What do you think of the moving of the bed? Ah the symbolism!
Copenhagen Fan
Posts: 1192
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 3:00 am
Location: København, DK
Contact:

Post by Copenhagen Fan »

Kelly's Heros is my fave..........

By the way, speaking of cult films...what was the reaction in the U.S. over Mulon Rouge?????????? Very interested to hear about that.

People in Europe took it seriously!!!!!! I laughed throughout the entire film and people got pissed at me! I considered it a camp film, tounge in cheek, probably devised by a couple of really drunk, whacked out gay dudes, who wanted to shock and fool the world...duping them and taking their cash and laughing! AM I WRONG AGAIN==??? Anyway I though it was hillarious.....espcially when that huge black guy comes in and they shout..Chokolat....hæ hæ hæ... :lol:
User avatar
Poppet
Posts: 939
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 7:49 am
Location: Boston, MA USA

Post by Poppet »

re: moulin rouge - i walked away at the end saying "that is the most beautiful awful film i have ever seen."

i still can't decide if i like it or not. does this rescind my coolness?
selfmademug

Post by selfmademug »

I absolutely love MOULIN ROUGE (see, it's on my list!). Of course it's camp, but of the very best sort, where it's using that sensibility to make something brand new, convey real feeling, and in this case, to really re-introduce/re-invent some great songs.

Go ahead, try and tell me Kurt Cobain in heaven was not giddy with joy seeing Jim Broadbent dance around with a million extras to SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT. I know I was!!

And that tango rendition of ROXANNE is just incredibly moving and beautiful.

But the whole film is also funny as hell!
bobster
Posts: 2160
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 12:29 am
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Post by bobster »

Lapins -- one last remark re: "Phantom." That list wasn't really intended to be a top 10 (unless it was "top 10 cult films I've been thinking about lately"). Actually, I had a sligthly higher opinion of it until I recently saw it out here at a screening out here and realized there were some draggy spots. (Paul Williams spoke afterwards, hair still gloriously light beige)

Actually, it was part of a festival of 70's-80's musicals and that's where I finally caught up with "Xanadu." I should add that I'm glad to have seen it and I get the camp aspect -- but for I prefer my camp in "serious" movies, a la Ed Wood. There's something about failed comedy that just makes my teeth itch.

(Though I was sorry I missed "The Apple" -- this insane Science Fiction musical directed by Menahem Golan, who used to run Cannon pictures and followed up with an apparently dissappeared butchering of "The Threepenny Opera" called "Mack the Knife," I think)

Actually, "The Wiz" was the worst of the films I saw. ("Let's cast a 35 year old superstar with marginal acting ability to play Dorothy and get America's best practioner of social realism to direct. It's so insane it just might work." Only it didn't, not even a little.)

Re: "Moulin Rouge" -- I've gone on record as being fairly hostile to it (short version: not funny, not touching -- but it still might have been great if Baz Luhrmann had been taking his trancs.)

Actually, though, I do love the "Roxanne" number. For once in the movie, things slowed down just enough for us to get a bead on the action. I saw the editor speak and mentioned that BL was always pushing her to speed things up. She showed this scene as, I guess, her favorite from the film, which she was justly proud of. I really think he should have let her alone more.

I also love the "Like a Virgin" number. A great comedy idea quite well executed. (Loved the waiters right out of "Hello, Dolly.")
http://www.forwardtoyesterday.com -- Where "hopelessly dated" is a compliment!
Post Reply