Hidden Gems: Great Movies That Don't Usually Make Critics' Lists

Perhaps the most unusual buddy movie of all time. Well written, truly funny and shows the value of facing one's self. This is a kind of "Dick Van Dyke Show" for the almost new (1982) millennium: more adult, more in-depth and perfectly written.

Set in an obvious parody of Sid Caesar's "Show of Shows" as was the Van Dyke show, junior writer Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker) is looking for love with K.C. Downing (Jessica Harper) and looking for himself.

When Stone convinces the show's star (Joseph Bologna as "King Kaiser") to land heavy-drinking matinee idol Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole) as a guest star, he's assigned baby-sitting duty to ensure the actor is on-time and sober.

There are; however, complications. Things do not go as planned and, for that, your funny bone will be deliriously grateful.

While Linn-Baker is best known for his portrayal of "Cousin Larry" Appleton in Perfect Strangers, he never devolves into that character and makes the Alan Swann-Benjy Stone friendship real.

Alan Swann: "Stone, you can watch me or you can join me. One of them is more fun."

You can read this or watch the movie. One of them is more fun.

This movie would make my list for the dialogue alone. Ladies, if you want to know what men sound like when you're not around, sit back and watch this gem of a movie.

We can't overlook the amazing cast of then-young actors and actresses: Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, Tim Daly, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern.

The movie glides effortlessly in and among the lives of these friends. A realistic comedy set in 1959 Baltimore, this movie is a joy to watch.

Don't mistake this for a teen movie because of the age of the main character. Great acting, a humorous script and a murder mystery make this a movie one can enjoy multiple times. The movie is well-paced and the interaction of the characters is believable and even logical. As an added bonus, there is a nice plot twist.

"Freedom!" - William Wallace

Loosely based on the life of William Wallace, the movie is set against the early parts of the Scots' war for independence against England. The movie is graphic in places and some weaker-stomached viewers might shy away, but it is well worth it.

The unrelenting and triumphant theme of this movie is freedom. It will resonate with anyone who loves liberty and recoils at the yoke of government oppression.

While everyone lists Citizen Kane, this may actually be Welles's best film.

Welles plays long-time, highly-respected American police captain Hank Quinlan. His Mexican counterpart, Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), recently married an American woman (Janet Leigh) and wants to clean up the border area's prostitution and drug rings. Vargas doesn't know it but those underworld activities are making Quinlan a wealthy man and Quinlan likes things just as they are.

Orson Welles, Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh are supported superbly by Marlene Deitrich, Dennis Weaver and Joanna Moore among others.

Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) Charles are the perfect movie couple. Their characters based on Dashiell Hammett's murder-solving couple and their chemistry lights up the screen.

The playful dialogue and interplay between the two buoy a fine, old fashioned who-done-it. This is a classic film with effortless but outstanding acting, clever dialogue and a well-written mystery.

William Powell makes acting look simple while delivering some seriously snappy dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Hammett. Myrna Loy more than holds her own and her character is just as smart as Nick. I would not be surprised if every man in 1934 America was looking for a wife like Nora Charles.

While this is consistently a favorite among viewers, far too often it's overlooked by critics.

Someone may be manipulating a group of crooks who are brought together in mysterious circumstances. FBI Agent Kujan (Palminteri) isn't buying it and thinks the unusually untalkative 'Verbal' Kint (Spacey) is hiding something. Is he or is he just terrified of the criminal mastermind who may or may not exist: Keyser Soze?

Whoever cast this movie deserves an award and thanks from grateful film-goers. Look at this cast: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio de Toro, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollack, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Dan Hedeya, Suzi Amis and Giancarlo Esposito.

"Who is Keyser Soze?"

"Hey, mister, were you really Mack Sledge?"
"Yes ma'am, I guess I was."

Mack Sledge (Robert Duvall won an Oscar for this performance) is as down and out as a former country music star can be; an alcoholic without hope, working as a hired hand on a small farm. The love of a good and caring woman (Tess Harper as "Rosa Lee") and Sledge's acceptance of the love of God give him the opportunity to turn his life around.

A portrayal of redemption on a personal and spiritual level, this movie will touch your mind and your heart. It does so with excellent acting and direction, not with sugary, unbelievable schmaltz and poorly-written dialogue and plot devices. Robert Duvall's character is as believable as your next-door neighbor. He nails this role as if he were born to play Mack Sledge. This is a movie you must see if you appreciate great acting and writing and the perfect direction.

When I think of drama, this is the movie that comes to mind. Excellent acting allows the plot to simmer and then come to a boil at exactly the right time.

Kevin Costner's Crash Davis is a quiet American hero. He's not simply a baseball player, he honors the spirit of the game.

Demoted to AA in order to babysit and tutor Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) an immature young pitcher with a big arm, Davis accepts the indignity. To make life interesting, the artsy, earthy Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) is a big baseball fan who chooses one player every year to . . . um . . . "tutor". She narrows her choices to Crash or Nuke.

Like Crash Davis, this movie honors the game with a realistic look at minor league baseball. The quirks, the personalities, the life on the bus are all given their due and Davis always does what needs to be done.

[Of interest: Sarandon's character's name "Annie" may be an inside joke. Historically, the female groupies who follow the players of America's pastime are known as "Baseball Annies."]

I'm still wondering what happened to the Billy Bob Thornton who created this masterpiece. This is a remarkable film on many levels and to continue to ignore it should be criminal.

Jimmy Stewart is the country lawyer defending a young Army officer (Ben Gazzara) on a murder charge. Gazzara claims the victim had raped and beaten his wife (the sizzling hot Lee Remick). Remick was certainly beaten, but by whom? With no physical evidence of rape and the possibility that the victim was Remick's consensual lover, Stewart knows he has a weak case.

A fine courtroom drama. Arthur O'Connell shines in his role as Parnell Emmett McCarthy and George C. Scott is excellent in the role of the state's prosecuting attorney.

Sublimely British, this dark comedy hangs on the deep desire to protect reputations: that of the recently departed, the sibling who has done well, a new boyfriend and the black-sheep relative who may be into illegal activities.

What indignities will the family endure and how far will they go to preserve their dignity? In a very undignified and laugh-out-loud funny way, nothing may be too much. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

Baseball! Gangsters! History! Did I mention baseball?

A great baseball movie that stays close to history and gives both sides of the Black Sox Scandal. This is not; however, a documentary. Instead it's a great baseball flick with actors who come across believably as ball players. The plot has some nice turns provided by history itself.

The movie is well cast. The settings are mostly accurate, the era is well-depicted and there is that certain "feel" that makes it easy to surrender to enjoying this great movie.

That this movie never got the acclaim it deserves is a travesty. The story of a fictional Irish soul band is full of interesting characters, beginning with their manager, Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins). The scenes where Rabbitte conducts fantasy interviews with himself are hilarious.

Putting together a soul band worthy of the Motor City in Dublin, Ireland, is as difficult as one might imagine but far more humorous. Aided by born-again horn player Joey Fagan (Johnny Murphy) whose musical history is impressive - if it's true - and a teen vocalist with the gritty voice of a 40-year old show-stopper and the social skills of a tempestuous, adolescent hermit, Rabbitte might be able to pull it off.

The movie begins with band try-outs and rehearsals. The believable-but-funny trials and tribulations of finding equipment and musicians fall to the ever-hustling Rabbitte.

"God said the Irish brothers wouldn't be shootin' the butts off each other if they had soul." - Joey 'The Lips' Fagan

To me this is the epitome of the "madcap" movie. Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant make this movie shine. Susan Vance (Hepburn) is an irresponsible heiress who takes a liking to paleontologist Dr. David Huxley (Grant) despite his engagement to his assistant Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker).

While Huxley is in pursuit of a large grant for his research, Susan is in pursuit of Huxley. Susan always seems to accidentally make Huxley look foolish, but she may be the key to obtaining that grant. Hilarity ensues.

And "Baby" is not a person.

There are people who won't give this gem the credit it deserves because it stars Mel Gibson. It's their loss. An action-thriller that seems to fly past, if you're looking for this type of movie, Conspiracy Theory will fit the bill.

The ending is not the cliche' one might expect, which makes the movie all the better.

Lots of action, great one-liners, and it's definitely a guys' movie. A great guys' movie.

This is the best account of the shoot-out at the OK Corral. While film buffs give high marks to "My Darling Clementine", and with due respect to Henry Fonda and Walter Brennan, this is the superior film because it encompasses more of the causes and the effects of the shootout.

Kurt Russell nails his role as Wyatt Earp and the script is mostly historically accurate. This is my favorite western.

When advertising executive Harry Bliss (Barry Otto) has a heart attack and his soul temporarily leaves his body, he is convinced that he has died permanently. When he is revived he becomes convinced he is in Hell. And yes, it is a comedy.

Bliss begins spying on his family and investigating his own advertising firm and the more he sees the more convinced he becomes that he is damned. His teenaged children are, at best, strange. His wife and business partner are having an affair and they have plans for poor Harry, who only wants to change his life for the better.

At times absurdist, but always funny, Bliss is also a romance between Bliss and sometime-prostitute Honey Barbara (Lynette Curran).

What do you give a man who has everything? You give him a real-life adventure that just might kill him.

This Bill Murray classic doesn't get the respect it deserves. Beneath the comedy is the serious message: Life isn't about the end result, it's about the journey and the choices we make on our way.

Phil (Murray) is a self-centered, arrogant weatherman and womanizer with contempt for everyone, including himself. The current focus of his attention is his new producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) who is unimpressed. A freak snowstorm traps the crew in Punxsutawney, PA, where they are filming the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. Upon awakening the next day, Phil finds that he's re-living the previous day.

MacDowell deftly plays Rita with just the right touch throughout the movie. Harold Ramis (who co-wrote the movie with Danny Rubin) directs Groundhog Day with fine timing and his well-known great comedic touch. This is more than a funny movie, it is a great movie.

In a future where genetics mean everything, what does an ambitious but genetically-challenged man have to offer? What will he risk to achieve his goal?

OK, this movie deservedly makes a lot of critics' lists. I added it because it is such a fine film and its rankings should be even higher.

When a big-time Hollywood producer wants to seek out realism for his films, he takes to a tramp's disguise and the boxcars. Fortunately for comedy fans, it doesn't go quite the way he planned.

Joel McRea and Veronica Lake have a deft touch in this classic comedy.

Based loosely on Revolutionary War General Francis 'The Swamp Fox' Marion, the movie is sometimes called a reprise of Braveheart set in 18th century America. I don't have a problem with that.

This is one of a tiny number of films that remind people that the entire Revolutionary War didn't take place in New England, New York and New Jersey. Full of action, if not completely historically accurate, this is a vastly underrated movie.