Note from Nick: This article ran in an old issue of MOVIE INSIDER in an abbreviated (translation: crappy) format, and Dan was kind enough to send over the original text for us to run it in its full sexiness here. Here's the gist: These are films we feel don't get enough love. They're films from our lifetime of experience, which is why you won't see deserving films from the pre-1970 era. That's an article for another time. For now, enjoy this first installment in a four-part series that will run every day until Thursday.

For all the attention spurted across the chests of a handful of movies each year, there are dozens more that are shunted aside, trampled underfoot or otherwise treated to the shitty end of the stick by the grinding gears of the movie machine. Many of these movies deserve to languish in obscurity, but there are plenty that are worth more than that and that’s why we’ve rolled up our sleeves to retrieve some unloved and under-appreciated gems from the dustbin of history. Within this countdown you’ll find hated blockbusters and underseen cult classics, you’ll find A-list megastars, and unsung C-list heroes. You’ll find an alarming amount of Kevin Dillon and Renny Harlin, plus Donald Sutherland as a monk. You’ll find great movies that you were sure only you knew about, and you’ll find movies that you’ve never heard of. Most importantly, you’ll find that shining a light into the dark corners of movie history almost always unearths something special…

(Read 26-50)

51. Universal Soldier (1992)

Remember that DeNiro/Pacino coffee house moment in Heat? Two legends onscreen together for the first time? The same can be said for this pairing of Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Not without earning a short stay at “Roddy Piper’s Home for the Mentally Defeated”, but physically it can be said. Roland Emmerich’s film has good action, some fun ideas, and a great performance by Dolph.

Seriously.

The Defense: It’s one of those good bad films, something we need more of. You know you’re someplace fun when Van Damme keeps trying to eat popcorn in the middle of a barroom brawl and Lundgren’s “Supermarket Speech” is hilarious. The sequel deserves a harpoon to the chin, but this film’s a keeper.

NN

52. In The Line of Fire (1995)

Clint Eastwood has now crossed that career line where he’ll get praised for tackling meaty adult drama, but draw disapproving tuts for indulging in the kind of unpretentious pulp that made him a star. This Wolfgang Petersen thriller probably represents the last crossover between these two sides of Clint, and remains a riveting watch for that and many other reasons.

As an over-the-hill Secret Service guy, Clint brings all the gravitas you could ever want to a plot against the Prez – especially when the villain is John “Nutbag” Malkovich and his dinky self-assembly sniper rifle.

The Defense: Shamelessly entertaining, but with the added attraction of enjoying proper acting to boot, there’s no sane reason on Earth why this isn’t more respected.

DW

53. Liberty Heights (1999)

Barry Levinson has already made some wonderful films, but this little gem got avoided like a filet mignon bearing the likeness of Lou Diamond Phillips. Adrien Brody and Ben Foster are Jewish brothers dealing with growing up, finding love, and getting by and the film’s just a sly, charming couple of hours. Levinson’s always in his element with films like this and it’s a shame this one’s ignored.

The Defense: When Foster dresses up as Hitler for Halloween, it sinks in that Liberty Heights is something special, and seeing his parents’ reaction is priceless. Good work by all involved, and it’s nice to see Joe Mantegna get good roles now and then.

NN

54. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

What if the star of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 movie Nosferatu was a real vampire? That’s the reality-warping premise behind this clever and humorous look at the foibles of old time movie folk, while offering up a smidgeon of metaphor as the lead actor literally sucks cast and crew dry. The conceit works thanks to the powerhouse pairing of John Malkovich as the feverish Murnau, and Willem Dafoe, unrecognisable as the sinister Shreck (no, not the green ogre). Add in support from the always-fun Udo Kier and Cary Elwes, plus Eddie Izzard as a camp silent movie star, and you’ve got a modern lost classic.

The Defense: A movie that not only offers laughs and chills, but gives you something to think about as well. See? Everyone wins.

DW

55. One False Move (1992)

Quite often, the most underseen movies are the ones that earmark new actors, writers and directors for great things further down the line. This tense slice of Southern noir is a perfect example. Written by, and starring, a certain Billy Bob Thornton (then still slogging away in clag like Chopper Chicks In Zombietown) and directed by Carl “Devil In A Blue Dress” Franklin, this tale of criminals and lawmen clashing in smalltown USA deals up some fantastic dialogue, nailbiting stand-offs and a few choice insights into racism and crime but coming out hot on the heels of Reservoir Dogs, it fell foul of skittishness about movie violence and got treated like a bad dose of ball-warts by theaters. Another one bites the dust.

The Defense: The chance to see the early promise of some now-popular faces, and also a damn fine hard-boiled thriller to boot.

DW

56. The Money Pit (1986)

I remember when this first came out and all the marketing was geared towards Steven Spielberg’s presence as a producer on the film. Expectations went up. The box office went down. While hardly a classic of modern cinema (what film with Shelley Long could be?), this is a cute and at times laugh-out-loud funny movie that features Tom Hanks in top form. Plus, I’m sure it paved the way for porn flick The Money Shot.

The Defense: If the image of Tom Hanks trapped at the torso in the 2nd storey floor of his house tossing little paper airplanes isn’t your cup of tea, you might be drinking sausage.

NN

57. Drive (1997)

Hollywood got a renewed hard-on for martial arts after the combination of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker delivered a fat payout in Rush Hour, but rewind to the year previous if you want to see just how well American action and Asian skills can work together. The movie is Steve Wang’s Drive, the star is the woefully underused Mark Dacascos, and the fun pitch is that he has a stolen biotech engine in his chest and must flee from murderous Chinese mobsters with the help of an unwitting musician (Kadeem Hardison) and a kooky motel clerk (Brittany Murphy). Honestly one of the best martial arts movies to come out of the west in the last ten years, this B-list puncher offers A-list thrills. Guaranteed.

The Defense: The sort of pitch-perfect martial arts actioner that Joel Silver keeps trying – and failing – to recreate. Those who’ve seen it, love it. Those who haven’t, are stupid.

DW

58. Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995)

Forget the fact that this film came out amidst a storm of Pulp Fiction wannabes and pay attention to the cast that Gary Fleder assembled. Stellar, and for some of them it was much needed quality work after being trapped in career Purgatory. Great dialogue, great acting, and crime flick fun all around.

The Defense: Treat Williams is Godzilla and Steve Buscemi is Tokyo. Christopher Walken’s quadriplegic is just a head – and still scary as shit. The child of Treat Williams and Fairuza Balk is the unholy offspring of two bags o’ smashes. Gold.

NN

59. Rounders (1998)

Not enough films feature their main character choosing to play poker over keeping their girlfriends. Not by a stretch. Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Famke Janssen, and John Malkovich shine in John Dahl’s sly movie about high stakes poker and a pair of friends who ride chance a bit too far. A guy’s movie.

The Defense: Written by our buddies Brian Koppelman and David Levien, this film makes you want to grab a huge bottle of something strong and lock yourself in a smoky room with just your best pals and a deck of cards. Why? Because it’s cool. If you’re feeling really courageous, bring a RealDoll along too.

NN

60. Birdy (1984)

This film doesn’t feature Andrew Divoff, but it’s still great. Before they were big stars, Nicholas Cage and Cutthroat Island’s own Matthew Modine appeared in this powerful Alan Parker film about two friends whose close bond is shattered by war injuries and the attempts by Cage to bring his friend back. Extremely sad, but surprisingly uplifting

The Defense: The very last scene in this movie completely pushes it over the hump, and I won’t spoil it. The bottom line is that Birdy is a wonderful film that’ll definitely get the tear ducts working. Of course, some of us get all misty when we see a Battlestar Galactica episode.

NN

61. City of Hope (1991)

John Sayles has lived on the cusp of cinema since his early days of helping Roger Corman, but more often then not his movies are enriching and intelligent. This one is all that and more, a sprawling look at lives that cross paths in the big city and the troublesome ramifications of their decisions. A great cast of smaller name but familiar actors is kept afloat by Sayles’ sure hand and inventive storytelling. An unseen masterpiece

The Defense: Before chewing on his teammates’ dead asses in Alive, Vincent Spano starred in this film. For fun, watch this film and visualize Vincent Spano heading off to chow some frozen man-ass every time the camera cuts away. Spano or not, this is an edgy and truly special film.

NN

62. Stir of Echoes (1999)

If this film had come out any time but right after the sensation around The Sixth Sense it not only would have been beloved but also a hit. Kevin Bacon’s in top form as a man obsessed with a ghostly mystery that somehow involves his house. Based on a Richard Matheson story, David Koepp’s film is chilling and classy.

The Defense: If you only know Kevin Bacon as “that guy in the movie about the bike messengers”, may I suggest a lead pipe to the stomach? This is a classic supernatural story, one told without winking at the audience and without Haley Joel Gimmick.

NN

63. Society (1989)

This movie is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it’s the only Billy Warlock movie worth watching (aside from possibly Halloween II). Secondly, it’s the only movie in the history of the artform to feature a man being pulled inside out through his own anus (aside from possibly Air Bud 7: Rectal Ruin). Thirdly, Billy Warlock is the only man on Earth named after a Julian Sands movie (aside from possibly Bruce Boxleitnering-Helena). Spat from the slimy vision of director Brian “Bride of Reanimator” Yuzna, this gloriously grisly heavy-handed social satire casts the wealthy elite of Beverly Hills as a shape-shifting cabal of pauper-devouring hedonists, and only a hapless (and adopted) rich kid knows their secret. It trudges slightly for the offbeat opening, but once the special effects break out, it’s a movie that you will never, ever, ever forget. Ever.

The Defense: Not the goriest movie ever, but certainly one of the most sickening. Weird, twisted and utterly wrong…we love it, and so should you.

DW

64. Hollywood Shuffle (1987)

These days, of course, “black movies” (or “urban” as Hollywood so euphemistically calls them) are pretty common. The same wasn’t true back in the 80s, when if your surname wasn’t Murphy or Washington, you just didn’t get hired. This is the inequity that writer/director/star Robert Townsend set about tackling in a series of comic skits and scenarios as struggling black actor Bobby Taylor. From the slave lessons of Black Acting School, to the surreal sight of an audition room full of braying Eddie Murphy clones (Townsend directed Murphy in Raw), it’s a movie of its time, but no less funny for it. Ironically, Townsend’s career remains in a limbo of TV movies while his one-time collaborators, the Wayans brothers, soil our screens with monotonous regularity.

The Defense: Sharp as a knife, but never spilling over into unfocussed anger, it’s one of the best-yet-unseen pioneers of modern black cinema.

DW

65. The Mosquito Coast (1986)

Watching a disinterested Harrison Ford mumble and drone his way through ineffectual tat like Hollywood Homicide, it’s hard to imagine him appearing in a risky and artsy drama about the perils of colonialism. Yet that’s just what he did in this undervalued 80s eco-thriller from Peter “Master & Commander” Weir. As the driven and idealistic Allie Fox, Ford portrays a man so disenfranchised with modern American life that he scoops his family off to the jungles of Central America where his patronising dream of bringing ice to the native tribes soon sours in the face of grim reality. It’s a dark and brave portrayal of an arrogant and stubborn man (and a metaphor for the country he’s so determined to flee) and the sort of challenging role that the former Corellian smuggler seems to have left behind for good.

The Defense: Lavishly shot, compellingly acted and with a moral centre you can chew over for days afterwards. Harrison Ford, sadly, really doesn’t make ‘em like this any more.

DW

66. Ed Wood (1994)

Martin Landau may have snagged an Oscar for his layered portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s love poem to a kindred spirit, oddball B-movie legend Edward D. Wood Jr, but since that brief flurry of critical attention, a dusty shroud seems to have fallen over the movie, overshadowed by Burton’s more blockbustery successes (Sleepy Hollow) and his high profile failures (Planet of the Apes). Shame, as Ed Wood is one of his most heartfelt and personal offerings – as funny and weird as you’d expect, but carrying a bitter-sweet undercurrent that nudges it out of “quirky oddity” territory and into the “all time greatest movies about movies” category. It also features Johnny Depp’s finest pre-Sparrow comedy performance.

The Defense: A sweet and warm tale that reminds us that self belief – even when it’s almost psychotically deluded – is a preferable character trait to cynicism and greed.

DW

67. 13 Days (2000)

What the heck happened with this film? It was poised to be a real challenger, but it came and went in cinemas faster than you can say “William Katt”. Kev Costner’s accent notwithstanding, the performances by all three leads are terrific in this gripping tale about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not to be confused with the Magic Missile Crisis, an event that ruined a Dungeons & Dragons session for youths in Edinburgh in 1983.

The Defense: There’s no action in the entire film yet Roger Donaldson manages to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the film. What makes it even cooler is that everyone knows how the story is going to end and it’s still tense. That’s filmmaking, folks.

NN

68. Big Night (1996)

Food porn. That’s two words to describe Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott’s film. Food erotica, if porn’s too awesome a word for you. We never have gotten so hungry from watching a film before, aside maybe the time we saw Pink Flamingos. A story about a restaurant that is all about the food and the struggle they face from their more commercial rivals, Big Night is a small film with a rich appetite.

The Defense: When they get their big risotto dish going in the film’s latter moments, we defy anyone to not admit that their stomach started speaking little Sumerian chants begging for food. A great little flick, and one of Tony Shalhoub’s best performances.

NN

69. A Midnight Clear (1992)

Holy crap. ANOTHER KEVIN DILLON FILM! That’s some kind of record. We don’t think Kevin Dillon’s been mentioned this many times even in the Dillon household. Keith Gordon’s subtle adaptation of William Wharton’s book is one of the quintessential anti-war flicks you’re liable to run across. A great cast of young actors seals the deal, a wonderful and haunting little film.

The Defense: This is just plain good. Ethan Hawke’s in top form, Peter Berg shows no residual Shocker damage, and Arye Gross delivers his best performance since House II: The Second Story.

NN

70. 25th Hour (2002)

We really can’t pimp this movie enough. If the rumours are true, it’s Spike Lee’s last theatrical movie, but what a curtain call. For one thing, it shows that Spike is just as much a New York director as he is a “black director”. For another, it’s probably the most shattering drama of recent years – for twenty-something men anyway. Ed Norton stars as Monty, a small-time drug dealer coming to terms with his last day of freedom before starting a long prison sentence. Making peace with his father, hanging out with old friends and struggling to figure out what to do about his girlfriend, who may be the one who sold him out to the cops, he chews over his bitterness and rage before confronting an ending that delivers an emotional roundhouse to the guts. Full of great actors playing believably flawed characters, and taking place in the shadow of 9/11, this may well be one of the best films about America and Americans in the early 21st Century. And no bugger has seen it. Shameful.

The Defense: Not only ignored by viewers, but also (predictably) by critics who invariably shrink from Spike Lee movies fearful of angry black men and social rhetoric. They’re all fools. Spike’s best movie, and quite possibly the best movie of 2002.

DW

71. Jackie Brown (1997)

Aaah, yes. It’s the Tarantino movie that nobody likes. Apart from the people who say they like it best, just to look cool and contrary. The weird thing is, in many ways, Jackie Brown really is Tarantino’s best movie. Or at least his most interesting. Shorn of most of his trademarked pop culture riffing, displaced timeframes and pretty much violence-free, it’s no surprise that it failed to connect with an audience primed for Pulp Fiction 2: The Blaxploitation Years. Instead, you get a slow-burning movie about middle-aged people fumbling around the fringes of society. It’s a movie for grown-ups, stewed in funky 70s jerk seasoning, and still the most rich and mature movie to sprout from the QT Mental Archive.

The Defense: Forget it’s from Tarantino. Forget what you expect from him. And just enjoy a movie that’s as mesmerisingly languid as a cloud of bong smoke.

DW

72. Super Troopers (2001)

This is one of the sneakiest comedies ever. It was kind of amusing the first time. It was pretty damn funny the second time. Now, we’ve seen it about thirty times and it just gets better and better and better. Sex with bears, giant cotton candy, bulletproof underwear, and much more highlight the first film from the wonderful Broken Lizard comedians. See it.

The Defense: Kevin Heffernan’s Officer Farva is one of the best comedy jerkoffs you’ll ever see. That’s a good thing, because his hilarity is offset by an unflattering shot of his powdery manhood. Sometimes you have to suffer for what you love. At least Lynda Carter kept her kit on.

NN

73. Beautiful Girls (1996)

While there’s no law that forbids it, we believe no film with this title should have Rosie O’Donnell anywhere near the cover. And yet Natalie Portman’s nowhere to be seen! Travesty. The late, great Ted Demme (well, he was right on time for the Reaper we guess) delivered a wonderfully talky relationship film with a terrific cast of pretty faces (and Michael Rapaport) and created a nice little cult film that most of the guys we know hold very dearly.

The Defense: Natalie Portman wasn’t old enough to ride a roller coaster when she made this film, but her innate charm and Scott Rosenberg’s great dialogue made her into a rather alluring gal. The term jailbait isn’t strong enough…

NN

74. Casino (1995)

It takes a certain kind of genius to overshadow yourself, but that’s precisely what Scorsese did when he unleashed Casino in the shadow of his previous epic gangster drama, and promptly got written off as Goodfellas in the desert. But to do that is to vastly underestimate the skills of those involved. Yes, DeNiro is back as a coldly professional mobster. Yes, Joe Pesci plays a pint-sized dynamo of spite and violence. Yes, it’s written by Nic Pileggi. Yes, it’s a slowly unfurling tapestry of criminal lives over the years. But…if Goodfellas was a study of mob guys working up from the gutter, Casino is a study of successful mob guys fighting for survival in the surreal limbo world of Las Vegas, trapped by their own lurid lifestyle and the rapid law-enforced gentrification of the gangster’s paradise. It’s the hot, itchy flipside to Goodfellas urban steel. And it’s great.

The Defense: Adding James Woods and Sharon Stone to the mix stirs things up enough to avoid retreading old ground, but ultimately Scorsese + DeNiro + Gangsters = A Movie That Deserves Respect.

DW

75. Clean and Sober (1988)

Michael Keaton’s best chance at an Oscar came with this tiny movie about rehab patients, and considering award magnet Morgan Freeman was in the film it should have happened. Beetlejuice himself delivers a wonderfully nuanced performance as a man with a problem who’s the last to know it and it makes one wonder why on Earth Keaton didn’t move on to greater things. Oh, Jack Frost. Never mind.

The Defense: If the marketing for this film carried the blurb “Featuring Claudia Christian of The Hidden fame!” we think this film would have been huge. Regardless, this is a winner for both Keaton and anyone who sees it.

NN

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