Dan’s Movie Digest #100 – 100 Greatest Underdog Movies Part 3

Dan Owen presents

DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST #100:
THE 100 GREATEST UNDERDOG MOVIESP a r t 3 o f 4

We’ve hit the halfway mark already! I hope you’re all reassessing your movies out there.I told you there’s lovable crap and lost classics out there. They just take some finding!Why not try rummaging through that VHS cassette collection your DVD’s have since replaced?You know you want to!

The countdown tension mounts: 49 – 25!

49. GANGSTER NO. 1 (2000)Dir: Paul McGuigan. Stars: Paul Bettany, David Thewlis & Malcolm MacDowell

This little-seen British movie chronicles the rise and fall of a prominent and ruthless Englishgangster; from henchman to crime boss Freddy Mays in the 60’s to the big cheese himself.

After Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, British cinema suffered a spate ofcopycat movies, so Gangster No. 1 got lost in the mix. It actually takes its cues from theBritish gangster movies of the 70’s and 80’s – but with a modern flourish.

Then newcomer Paul Bettany is an ice-cool antihero, perfecting the dead-eyed stare, whiledirector McGuigan makes the simplistic plot appear more substantial than it is. Overall,though, some moments of extreme (but not graphic) violence are most memorable. It’s justa shame Malcolm MacDowell (as the older version of Bettany) is almost a cliché, and spoilswhat an underrated slice of hard-boiled UK villainy…

Watch it for: Paul Bettany

48. THE CABLE GUY (1996)Dir: Ben Stiller. Stars: Jim Carrey & Matthew Broderick

When Steven Kovak decides to slip his cable guy fifty dollars for free TV channels, he findsthat the cable guy, Chip, takes an unhealthy interest in his life in an effort to become best friends…

The Cable Guy is a smart movie, which became a huge failure. This is singularly down toaudience expectation. After starring in Ace Ventura, The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, and BatmanForever, Carrey’s meteoric rise to superstardom was dealt a crushing blow with this movie– because people expected a riotous comedy. It was advertised that way, so when payingaudiences discovered they were watching a slow-burning black comedy, they made their feelings clear.

Now, of course, we can accept Carrey in serious acting mode (see: The Truman Show), so TheCable Guy bears up pretty well. It’s a modern spin on a theme that’s been seen before,but contains some contemporary satire about a generation of kids raised on television.The laughs aren’t hearty, but they’re there, and the finale is wonderful.

Watch it for: The moving finale and final gag

47. 2010 (1984)Dir: Pete Hyams. Stars: Roy Scheider & John Lithgow

2001: A Space Odyssey is movie-making genius. Any sequel couldn’t hope to replicate itsphenomenal success, technical achievement, and inspiration. 2010 is a far inferior workthan Kubrick’s opus, and it’s crippled by an outdated Cold War angle, but it does have its moments.

What’s wonderful about 2010 is that the ending completely sends the movie onto another levelthat makes the preceding film look comparatively banal and almost equals its progenitor’sphilosophical impact. Some people even prefer 2010 because it answers the questions Kubrick’smovie only hinted at. Personally, I preferred being asked the questions and imaginingmy own answers, but I’ll admit that 2010 isn’t the travesty many people think.About time for a rethink, people…

Watch it for: The wonderful finale

46. WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE (1994)Dir: Wes Craven. Stars: Robert Englund & Heather Lagencamp

The real Freddy Kreuger, upset that he was killed off in the last Nightmare On Elm Streetmovie, sets out to murder the actors and filmmakers behind the movies…

Two years before Wes Craven would turn postmodernism into box-office gold with Scream,he trialled that movie’s knowing referential style with his own most famous creation– Freddy Krueger. For some this was a way of updating Freddy for the ’90s, but it’sbest remembered as being quite a radical shake-up of a formula. Of course, movies of”real life” with movie actors playing themselves weren’t a new idea, but it was anidea New Nightmare brought to the masses. It laid the foundations, and for that itshould be remembered. Oh, and it’s also a lot of fun.

Watch it for: Mr Kruger

45. WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)Dir: John Hughes. Stars: Anthony Michael Hall & Kelly LeBrock

Two unpopular teenagers, Gary and Wyatt, “create” a woman using their computer – inthe delectable form of Lisa (Kelly LeBrock). Lisa immediately uses her supernaturalpowers to boost their confidence levels and passage to adulthood…

Barmy sci-fi fantasy for nerds who in the 80’s actually thought that maybe… just maybe…your clunky Commodore 64 could print-out a supermodel. Still, it’s full of memorablescenes – particularly when Lisa is created, evil brother Chet (Bill Paxton!) meets hisstinky comeuppance, and that shower scene. John Hughes was once a one-man license to printmoney in the ’80s, but these days his talent has palled to involvement in tiredHome Alone and Beethoven sequels. Shame. But catch Weird Science if you can, it’s a hoot.

Watch it for: The naïve enjoyment

44. CUTTHROAT ISLAND (1995)Dir: Renny Harlin: Stars: Geena Davies, Matthew Modine & Frank Langella

Morgan Adams (Davies) and her slave William Shaw (Modine), are on a quest torecover three segments of a treasure map. Unfortunately, the final piece isheld by her murderous uncle, Dawg (Frank Langella). Her crew are scepticalof a woman’s leadership abilities, so she must complete her quest beforethey mutiny and the British put an end to her pirating ways…

Before Pirates Of The Caribbean rescued the swashbuckling genre, this wasone of the biggest turkeys of the pirate movie. However, on closerinspection it’s not that bad, just never settling into a groove and notquite as fun as it wants to be. The story isn’t bad, the action scenes arefine, and the actors involved give it their best. Watching Cutthroat Islandagain reminds you of why it failed, but it also makes you feel that thevitriol thrown at the movie was quite unwarranted.

Watch it for: Simply being flawed fun.

43. CONEHEADS (1993)Dir: Steve Barron. Stars: Dan Aykroyd & Jane Curtin

A family of aliens attempt to live amongst humans in suburban America, while U.Sauthorities slowly track them down…

Coneheads is a one-joke comedy that squeezes every drop from its age-old premise, andmakes no apologies for itself. For Aykroyd, this essentially ended his comedy moviecareer in the ’90s, and Curtin became best known for playing the human in alien sitcomThird Rock From The Sun. A variety of Saturday Night Live alumni stalk the screen (suchas Chris Farley and David Spader) which, for some, puts the movie in the same bracketas Wayne’s World because of the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey connection. It’s not as funny asMyers’ SNL “spin-off”, but it’s likeable and diverting fluff.

Watch it for: The gags that work

42. THEY LIVE! (1988)Dir: John Carpenter. Stars: Roddy Piper

Nada, a construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. When wearing them,he is able to see the world as it really is, with humanity being bombarded by subliminalmessages such as “Stay Asleep”, “No Imagination” and “Submit to Authority”. Even worse isthat some humans are actually aliens in charge of keeping the masses subdued…

Competent sci-fi action from Carpenter and ex-wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. The premiseis just delightful and the whole production is just a brilliant piece of low-budget moviemaking with some wonderful moments.

Watch it for: The premise

41. DEEP RISING (1998)Dir: Stephen Sommers. Stars: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen & Kevin J. O’Connor

Criminals hijack the world’s most luxurious cruise ship, only to find that they passengershave all vanished! The villains soon find that a deadly creature from the ocean depths has surfaced…

Before Sommers could afford to throw cash at the screen with his Mummy franchise and VanHelsing, he became known with this B-movie update. It’s an age-old chestnut in premise,but carried off with notably style for its good (but not great) budget, some quite ickysequences, and some decent stunts. The movie sets itself up for a sequel, hinting thatthis could have become a monster version of The Evil Dead. Shame it didn’t…

Watch it for: The style

40. A LIFE LESS ORDINARY (1997)Dir: Danny Boyle. Stars: Ewan MacGregor & Cameron Diaz

Ewan McGregor stars as a cleaning man in Los Angeles, who takes his boss’s daughter(Diaz) hostage after being fired and replaced by a robot. Meanwhile, two angels incharge of human relationships on Earth, offer to help bring this unlikely couple together.

This is a misstep from Trainspotting director Boyle, with MacGregor also trying to escapethat iconic drugs movie and break into Hollywood, while Diaz was just searching for anotherhit in her post-The Mask fame. A Life Less Ordinary tanked at the box-office, but withhindsight it was a shame because there’s much to enjoy here. The film is a fusion of styles(musical, comedy, thriller, fantasy – even animation!) that never gel together in the rightway, but provide plenty of entertainment. MacGregor and Diaz are decent leads, with Diazin a potentially iconic bikini sequence that was never to be. This is a lot of silly fun.

Watch it for: The direction

39. FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR (1986)Dir: Randal Kleiser. Stars: Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens & Veronica Cartwright

A 12-year-old boy called David goes missing in 1978, then reappears in 1986 without havingaged! At the same time, a flying saucer is discovered entangles in electrical cables and N.A.S.Aauthorities suspect a connection…

Great ’80s-style adventure for kids, with some eerie moments and intelligence in the plot.The “missing time” angle is quite original and adds a sorrowful dimension to a movie thatentertains from start to finish. Fondly remembered by those who saw it originally, and oftenappearing on Christmas or New Year afternoons, this is solid fun for everyone who likes tosee alien robots doing Pee Wee Herman impressions! Also, watch out for an early appearance bySex & The City star Sarah Jessica Parker…

Watch it for: The concept

38. JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)Dir: Victor Salva. Stars: Gina Philips, Justin Long & Jonathan Breck

Brother and sister, Trish and Darry, are driving home along a desolate country road when theyencounter a reckless truck driver who nearly rams them off the road. Later, they begin tosuspect the driver is responsible for dumping dead bodies into an underground chapel…

Jeepers Creepers is a tale of two halves. The first half of Salva’s horror is exquisiteentertainment, taking its cue from Spielberg’s Duel and soaked in a tangibly weird atmosphere.Sadly, the second half takes its cue from a bad Stephen King novella, unmasking the villain asa winged-demon and quickly nose-diving into B-movie territory. It can be forgiven its sadlapse in judgment (just about) because of a decent closing scene, and the eminently entertaining first-half…

Watch it for: The first half…

37. THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984)Dir: Nick Castle. Stars: Lance Guest, Catherine Mary Stewart, Dan O’Herlihy, Robert Preston

A young boy with a love for video games is whisked away to be recruited as a gunner for an alien defence force…

Silly ’80s malarkey but cashing-in on the Star Wars and arcade craze, but also managing totap into children’s imaginations with its “it might happen to you?” slant. Lots of fun withzappy sound effects, weird aliens, and badly composited space battles in a Buck Rogers-esqueuniverse. Great fun!

Watch it for: The love of Star Wars cash-ins

36. DRAGNET (1987)Dir: Tom Mankiewicz. Stars: Tom Hanks & Dan Aykroyd

Friday and Streebek (Aykroyd and Hanks) are assigned to investigate the theft of a bat,a snake and the mane of a lion from a local zoo. The thefts are quickly traced toa religious cult called PAGAN…

This is a comedy version of the straight-laced TV show, with Hanks in his ’80s comedy guiseand Aykroyd unleashing his machine-gun deadpan delivery. Both actors carry the movie throughthe usual clichés and ensure the movie doesn’t die. Underrated fun.

Watch it for: Aykroyd on funny mode

35. SHORT CIRCUIT (1985)Dir: John Badham. Stars: Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg & Fisher Stevens.

An experimental military robot, codenamed Number 5, is struck by lightning and becomesself-aware. A fear of reprogramming makes Number 5 flee to the safety of a young womanin the suburbs, while being pursued by the gung-ho military.

Quite often Short Circuit is spoken of in a disparaging way, but there’s much to recommendit – despite the presence of Guttenberg and a racially offensive Stevens, who inspiredschoolchildren everywhere to wail “Number 5!” in cod Indian. Number 5 is an iconic design,there are a number of amusing sequences (particularly when 5 reprograms his siblings inthe style of the Three Stooges) and a quite emotional finale. In addition, it’s notableto see G.W Bailey, Guttenberg’s Police Academy co-star, practically reprising that role!

Watch it for: The Indian stereotyping

34. GATTACA (1997)Dir: Andrew Niccol. Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law & Xander Berkeley

Gattaca Corp. is an aerospace firm in the future in a time where society analyzes D.N.A anddetermines where you belong in life. Ethan Hawke’s character was born with a congenital heartcondition that means he’ll never be able to go into Space, so he assumes the identity of an athlete…

Writer-director Niccol loves high-concept drama. He’s the writer of The Truman Show and S1M0NE,too. Gattaca was the movie that got him noticed in the industry, but wasn’t noticed much bythe public. This is unfortunate, because Gattaca is well acted, neatly structured and throwsup some good debates for you to discuss afterwards. A miniature classic.

Watch it for: The premise

33. THE LADY IN WHITE (1988)Dir: Frank LaLoggia. Stars: Luka Haas

A young boy witnesses the ghost of a murdered girl, after being locked in a school closetduring Halloween 1962. Shortly afterward, he finds himself stalked by the killer and issoon drawn to an old house where a mysterious “Lady In White” lives…

This is classic ghostly filmmaking with an involving plot, some great acting, and gooddirection. If you’re a fan of ghost stories and ache every time Hollywood throw special effectsinto the mix (The Haunting, anyone?) then this is the antidote. A wonderful little potboilerwith some hair-raising and creepy moments.

Watch it for: The story

32. BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986)Dir: John Carpenter. Stars: Kurt Russell & Kim Cattrall

Trucker Jack Burton agrees to take his friend Wang Chi to pick up his fiancée from theairport, but is dragged into a supernatural battle between good and evil when Wang’s fiancéeis kidnapped by an immortal sorcerer named Lo Pan…

Cult action-adventure from Carpenter, re-teaming with Russell after Escape From New York andThe Thing. BTILC is an affectionate, silly, mix of supernatural martial-arts Hong Kong cinemaand American gung-ho action. It has an infectious sense of fun throughout and contains somehysterically weird sequences (such as the “death by inflation” sequences) that stick in thememory. Joyfully chaotic mayhem.

Watch it for: The inflating man scene!

31. SLEEPERS (1997)Dir: Barry Levinson. Stars: Kevin Bacon, Billy Crudup & Robert De Niro

Four boys growing up in Hell’s Kitchen play a prank that leads to an old man getting hurt.Sentenced to a year in the Wilkenson Center in upstate New York, the four friends arechanged forever by the beating, humiliation and sexual abuse from the guards. However,thirteen years later, a chance meeting leads to revenge…

An adult drama littered with first-rate actors, and with an interesting plot. The first halfof the movie is a plummet from childhood innocence into a sinister underbelly, while the secondhalf becomes an engrossing courtroom drama. It rarely puts a foot wrong and makes foran engrossing few hours of bleak tragedy and redemption. It’s also a fantastic “hub” for theSix Degrees Of Kevin Bacon game!

Watch it for: The story

30. THE ARRIVAL (1996)Dir: David Twohy. Stars: Charlie Sheen

Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrialorigins. Strangely, Zane is fired soon after his discover, but embarks on a personal missionto determine the origins of the transmission…

Essentially an expanded episode of The Twilight Zone, this went straight-to-video in the UKbut became a diamond amongst the bottom-shelf shit. Twohy used the industry respect thefilm achieved to move onto greater things (Pitch Black, The Chronicles Of Riddick), anddeservedly so. The Arrival is an intelligent sci-fi thriller with some competent effects andinvolving atmosphere. A small-scale classic.

Watch it for: The ambition

29. GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1992)Dir: Joe Dante. Stars: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates & John Glover

Billy and Kate have moved to New York where they work for media mogul Daniel Clamp.Meanwhile, Gizmo’s Chinese owner dies and the little Mogwai finds his way back to Billy,where he accidentally begins procreating those nasty Gremlins…

The original Gremlins was a wonderfully anarchic movie, but the sequel is often forgottenabout, which is a terrible shame. The first movie was supposed to be a horror film, butthe inherently funny Gremlins prompted director Dante to engineer its latter-third into agag-fest (the wheelchair granny, the cinema outing, etc).

However, for the sequel, Dante goes straight for the funny bone. Gremlins 2 retains itsanarchic streak, but expands the mayhem by giving the critters different traits (thanksto Christopher Lee’s D.N.A lab). Hence, we have a flying Gremlin, a girl Gremlin,a talking Gremlin and a spider Gremlin. It’s all a great deal of fun and has its tonguefirmly in its cheek. Dante revels in the chaos and packs the screen with dozens ofin-jokes and background sight gags. The moment when the Gremlins destroy the celluloidof the film they’re starring in is comedy gold. Wonderful.

Watch it for: The pure joy

28. AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)Dir: Mary Harron. Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux & Willem Dafoe

Patrick Bateman is a homicidal maniac working on the New York stock exchange. His reasonsfor killing include envy of fellow co-workers, material obsession, and pure hatred. Hislunacy escalates, but can he be stopped by a society apparently unable to see his true nature?

Based on the infamous Brett Easton Ellis book, American Psycho was a late-’90s phenomenon thattempted a post-Titanic Leonard DiCaprio to take the Bateman role. Eventually, unknown Britishactor Bale took the lead and became one of modern cinema’s best, but unrecognised, screen villains.

The book is far more violent, sadistic and gratuitous – unpalatable for a mainstream release –so the movie instead focuses on the book’s satirical use of ’80s sub-culture (greed, material wealthand shallow playboys). It’s intelligently handled by Harron, with a brilliant central performance fromBale (who quite rightly has begun to take Hollywood by storm).

Watch it for: Christian Bale

27. BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY (1991)Dir: Peter Hewitt. Stars: Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves & William Sadler

The distant future is a utopian paradise, thanks to the late-20th Century music of two idiotCalifornian teenagers called Bill and Ted. However, on the eve of a historically-significantBattle Of The Bands concert, a villain from the future sends two evil robot duplicates ofBill and Ted to alter the past…

Keanu Reeves first became known by playing a slack-jawed, mumbling simpleton with two expressions.How times change. Or do they? Anyway, Bill and Ted was a huge influence on early-90’s culture,paving the way for Wayne’s World and bringing Californian surfer lingo to the masses. Bodacious,indeed. This sequel exhibits far more imagination than its predecessor did, with the simple-mindedteens dying, visiting Hell (beating William Sadler’s fabulous Grim Reaper at Battleships),then ascending to Heaven. Excellent!

Watch it for: The battleships scene

26. YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES (1985)Dir: Barry Levinson. Stars: Nicholas Rowe & Alan Cox

The famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school anddiscover a plot to murder a series of British businessmen by an Egyptian cult…

Boy’s adventure, putting a youthful spin on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous creation. Plentyof old-school thrills and spills, plus the movie world’s first CGI character (yep, Gollum’sgrandfather was a Stained Glass Knight!). This does exactly what you’d expect from the titleand deserved to be enjoyed by a new audience brought up on Harry Potter books…

Watch it for: The flying bicycle!

25. THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997)Dir: Luc Besson. Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman & Ian Holm

The distant future is threatened by the arrival of Evil, and only “The Fifth Element” canstop it – in the form of Milla Jovovich. She recruits the help of taxi driver Corben Dallas(Bruce Willis) to stop Mr Zorg (Gary Oldman) from profiting from Evil’s destructive force…

Europe finally got its own vision of the future with The Fifth Element, presenting theworld as a techno-coloured sprawling metropolis. Director Besson’s cherished project isan eye-popping extravaganza that probably inspired the cityscapes of George Lucas’ StarWars prequels, but it also becomes a little flat in the final third once Chris Tucker’swhiny D.J joins the gang. A great deal of fun, but it just lacked that extra spark.

Watch it for: The Eurotrashed New York City

Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2004.

Email Dan Owen