Films that should be cult films?

[skimpole]

Some movies are classics, some movies are cult films, and some movies are neither, but should be. What films would you suggest should be?

[kingrat]

Another great topic, skimpole. LADIES IN RETIREMENT is a great candidate for a cult film, since it's obscure enough, offbeat enough, and good enough. Not sure if Robert Rossen's LILITH is still a cult film. At one time it was, but perhaps by now more people have seen it. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE was a cult film until its re-release in the 1980s, when people recognized that it was a true classic. Rossen's THEY CAME TO CORDURA and Frankenheimer's ALL FALL DOWN may still be ignored enough to merit cult status. Someone at TCM seems to be making the push for Edward Dmytryk as a cult director. Quite a few of his films have been shown, and most of them are good enough to merit a higher status for Dmytryk.

 

I'd also argue for the potential cult status of EXPERIENCE PREFERRED...BUT NOT ESSENTIAL and QUEENS LOGIC. What about the neglected early films of Bryan Forbes such as, um, KING RAT and the one to be shown today, THE L-SHAPED ROOM?

[MovieProfessor]

Of recent times, I would have to go with the 1982 Sci-Fi epic, ?Blade Runner.? This movie has cult film written all over it. Even when it was first released, it became instantly shrouded in myths or controversies about how the film evolved. Like another great Sci-Fi film of the past, ?2001? from 1968, ?Blade Runner? was a film riddled with various mysteries and a backdrop of chaos. Whether or not it was all contrived to become a cult film is another theory that overshadows the movie. After all, several supposed different versions have been released or reedited. In the final analysis, none of the versions have made any big difference for any improvements. The film remains in a constant state of enigmatic conclusions as to say if the movie has any real meaning towards it evolution. It was one of these major projects of the 1980s that never really got off to a clear start on what the studio and its production team could agree upon. Today, a phenomenon has been created about ?Blade Runner? that although it can never really be considered a success will for generations to come be an interesting film to watch. Any movie that can achieve a cult status has more to do with a hypothesis of what might have been something great or a masterpiece. While other films that acquire cult status have more to do with their mediocrity that over time makes them popular and fun to watch. In the case of ?Blade Runner,? it?s one of these big movies that might have been great, but missed the mark at being totally accepted by fans and critics alike, only to see the film get a limited, devoted audience that relates strongly to what is designated as a cult movie.

[ziggyelman]

Just about all the Columbia films from the early 30's that show up on TCM! They have a very different feel than the RKO, WB, MGM films most of us have seen. More on location footage, different actors, just a different feel than the films we normally see from that era.

Of course it's late, and not thinking all that quickly, but off the top of my head, something like *By Whose Hand?*, starring Ben Lyon should not be a forgotten film! Great scenes inside a train station, not just for a minute, but for much of the film

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022733/

 

*Air Hostess* with Evalyn Knapp, and James Murray, ran just a few weeks back, much of the footage was in and around a real airport. It really gives me a feel for what it really was like in 1933.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023749/

 

I'm sure it was cheaper for Harry Cohn,(I wonder if Columbia had any exclusive deals to shoot in and around L.A. then?) but it's sure interesting in 2009!