My Own Private Classics
by iwals | created - 17 Nov 2011 | updated - 9 months ago | Publicor "Great Movies You May Have Missed." These are movies that I really like but they don't seem to be widely known or well received by critics. Here they are, in no particular order.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Trees Lounge (1996)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
Tommy is an unemployed mechanic who spends most of his time in a bar (Trees Lounge) in a small blue collar town. He seems to always be thinking, "If only X then I could stop drinking".
Director: Steve Buscemi | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Carol Kane, Mark Boone Junior, Bronson Dudley
Votes: 17,602 | Gross: $0.70M
2. L.A. Story (1991)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a wacky weatherman tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter, who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early 1990s Los Angeles.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker
Votes: 34,440 | Gross: $28.86M
3. A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
R | 119 min | Drama
A headstrong young woman returns to New Orleans after the death of her estranged mother.
Director: Shainee Gabel | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, John Travolta, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Kara Unger
Votes: 27,210 | Gross: $0.16M
4. The Grifters (1990)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe
Votes: 30,566 | Gross: $13.45M
5. Ruthless People (1986)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Crime
A couple cheated by a vile businessman kidnaps his wife in retaliation, not knowing that their enemy is delighted that they did.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Bette Midler, Danny DeVito, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater
Votes: 30,539 | Gross: $71.62M
6. Quick Change (1990)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Crime
Three thieves successfully rob a New York City bank, but making the escape from the city proves to be almost impossible.
Directors: Howard Franklin, Bill Murray | Stars: Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, Dale Grand
Votes: 22,213 | Gross: $15.26M
7. Ghost World (2001)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
Two eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro
Votes: 126,880 | Gross: $6.22M
8. Grand Canyon (1991)
R | 134 min | Crime, Drama
The fates of several people are randomly intertwining. Their sympathy of each other faces multiple differences in their lifestyles.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell
Votes: 16,716 | Gross: $33.24M
9. The Razor's Edge (1984)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama, Romance, War
He had everything and wanted nothing. He learned that he had nothing and wanted everything. He saved the world and then it shattered. The path to enlightenment is as sharp and narrow as a razor's edge.
Director: John Byrum | Stars: Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Denholm Elliott, Catherine Hicks
Votes: 5,955 | Gross: $6.55M
10. Only the Lonely (1991)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Romance
A Chicago cop must balance loyalty to his controlling mother and a relationship with a shy funeral home worker.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: John Candy, Maureen O'Hara, Ally Sheedy, Kevin Dunn
Votes: 12,352 | Gross: $21.83M
11. Living Out Loud (1998)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Judith Nelson quit her medical studies to marry. Years later, her husband, a physician, divorces her to be with another doctor. Deeply frustrated, she now lives alone in her luxury ... See full summary »
Director: Richard LaGravenese | Stars: Holly Hunter, Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, Martin Donovan
Votes: 5,060 | Gross: $12.90M
12. The Station Agent (2003)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Benjamin
Votes: 73,463 | Gross: $5.74M
13. Outside Ozona (1998)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A drama revolving around a group of strangers brought together by a common occurrence as well as listening to the same radio station.
Director: J.S. Cardone | Stars: Robert Forster, Kevin Pollak, Sherilyn Fenn, David Paymer
Votes: 987 | Gross: $0.01M
14. Red Rock West (1993)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Upon arriving to a small town, a drifter is mistaken for a hitman, but when the real hitman arrives, complications ensue.
Director: John Dahl | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, Craig Reay
Votes: 25,230 | Gross: $2.50M
15. Broken Flowers (2005)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
As the extremely withdrawn Don Johnston is dumped by his latest woman, he receives an anonymous letter from a former lover informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. A freelance sleuth neighbor moves Don to embark on a cross-country search for his old flames in search of answers.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Bill Murray, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Julie Delpy
Votes: 106,847 | Gross: $13.74M
16. Adventureland (2009)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.
Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr
Votes: 169,220 | Gross: $16.03M
17. Henry Poole Is Here (2008)
PG | 99 min | Comedy, Drama
Henry Poole moves in to a house in his old neighborhood, to spend what he believes are his remaining days alone. The discovery of a miracle by a nosy neighbor ruptures his solitude and restores his faith in life.
Director: Mark Pellington | Stars: Luke Wilson, Radha Mitchell, George Lopez, Adriana Barraza
Votes: 13,034 | Gross: $1.84M
18. Into the Wild (2007)
R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 658,486 | Gross: $18.35M
19. Playing God (1997)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A disgraced surgeon leaves his former life and reinvents himself as a gunshot doctor in the criminal underworld.
Director: Andy Wilson | Stars: David Duchovny, Timothy Hutton, Angelina Jolie, Michael Massee
Votes: 7,968 | Gross: $4.05M
20. Heroes (1977)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Drama
A Vietnam veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder breaks out of a VA hospital and goes on a road trip with a sympathetic traveler to start a worm farm in California with his fellow veterans.
Director: Jeremy Kagan | Stars: Henry Winkler, Sally Field, Harrison Ford, Val Avery
Votes: 2,113 | Gross: $33.50M
21. Benny & Joon (1993)
PG | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik | Stars: Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn, Julianne Moore
Votes: 62,111 | Gross: $23.20M
22. I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Passed | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Why is Inspector Ed Cornell trying to railroad Frankie Christopher for the murder of model Vicky Lynn?
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone | Stars: Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar
Votes: 5,383
23. A Thousand Clowns (1965)
Approved | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A middle-aged iconoclast, doggedly avoiding the tedium of employment and conventional life, faces the prospect of losing custody of his young ward.
Director: Fred Coe | Stars: Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, Gene Saks
Votes: 3,705 | Gross: $5.23M
24. Phenomenon (1996)
PG | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.
Director: Jon Turteltaub | Stars: John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall
Votes: 83,843 | Gross: $104.64M
25. Get Shorty (1995)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A mobster travels to Hollywood to collect a debt, and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, John Travolta
Votes: 89,176 | Gross: $72.08M
26. The Cable Guy (1996)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
A designer makes a grievious mistake when he rejects the friendship of a borderline cable guy.
Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black
Votes: 178,176 | Gross: $60.24M
27. Night Shift (1982)
R | 106 min | Comedy
A mild-mannered morgue attendant is assigned to the night shift, and his new coworker, along with his prostitute neighbor, convince him of running a prostitution ring out of the morgue.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long, Gina Hecht
Votes: 17,964 | Gross: $23.60M
28. Carolina (I) (2003)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young woman escapes her wildly eccentric family in search for a life of normalcy.
Director: Marleen Gorris | Stars: Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine, Alessandro Nivola, Randy Quaid
Votes: 4,335
29. Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama
In 1976, a lower-middle-class teenager struggles to cope living with her neurotic family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
Director: Tamara Jenkins | Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Bryna Weiss, Marisa Tomei
Votes: 14,625 | Gross: $5.48M
30. Garden State (2004)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A quietly troubled young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.
Director: Zach Braff | Stars: Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm
Votes: 223,237 | Gross: $26.78M
31. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.
Director: George Armitage | Stars: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack
Votes: 99,670 | Gross: $28.01M
32. The Great Rupert (1950)
Passed | 87 min | Comedy, Family
A little squirrel with lots of charm accidentally helps two poor, down-but-NOT-out families overcome their obstacles.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Jimmy Durante, Terry Moore, Tom Drake, Frank Orth
Votes: 1,575
33. The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
PG | 107 min | Adventure, Drama
After WW1, an ex-pilot takes up barn-storming and chance-meets a former German ace fighter pilot with whom he co-stars in Hollywood war movies depicting aerial dog-fights.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Robert Redford, Bo Svenson, Bo Brundin, Susan Sarandon
Votes: 6,605 | Gross: $20.64M
34. The Open Road (2009)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
A man embarks on a road trip with his girlfriend and estranged baseball legend dad.
Director: Michael Meredith | Stars: Justin Timberlake, Ted Danson, Harry Dean Stanton, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 3,748 | Gross: $0.02M
35. Molly and Me (1945)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Musical
A vivacious actress needing work becomes a housekeeper for a crusty retired politician, and gives his life the shaking-up that it needs.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Gracie Fields, Monty Woolley, Roddy McDowall, Reginald Gardiner
Votes: 585
36. Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
G | 93 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Professor Wilson discovers a lost Akita puppy on his way home. Despite objections from his wife, Hachi endears himself to the family and grows to be Parker's loyal companion. As their bond grows deeper, a beautiful relationship unfolds.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Sarah Roemer
Votes: 311,614
37. Mr. Church (2016)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
"Mr. Church" tells the story of a unique friendship that develops when a little girl and her dying mother retain the services of a talented cook - Henry Joseph Church. What begins as a six month arrangement instead spans into fifteen years and creates a family bond that lasts forever.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Britt Robertson, Natascha McElhone, Xavier Samuel
Votes: 31,300 | Gross: $0.69M
Tell Your Friends