All-time Underrated Movies

Here's my list of the most underappreciated and underrated movies of all-time. To be on my list the movie would have to be both great and not on the IMDB.com list of the top 250 movies. I have 18 movies on the list because 18 was the number worn by Dave Cowens - perhaps the most underrated and underappreciated player in NBA history

The movies in no particular order:

* A Bronx Tale - for my money it was a better movie than Goodfellas (and Goodfellas is one of the all-time best movies). DeNiro and Chazz Palminteri were tremendous in this movie.

* Office Space - now this movie is on Comedy Central frequently but that doesn't mean that its not one of the most underrated comedies of all-time. Ummmm... I'm gonna have to go ahead and ask you to agree with me on this one... mmm..kay.

* Breakheart Pass - this wasn't just another western - this was a thiller set in the old west starring Charles Bronson and almost every "that guy" from all the westerns made in the 1970's.

* Grosse Point Blank - even the fans of John Cusack seem to overlook this gem (maybe because Dan Aykroyd is also in the movie). How do you tell people at your 10th year high school reunion that you're a hitman? One of the best soundtracks of the past 20-years also doesn't hurt.

* Manhunter - this movie was recently "remade" as Red Dragon but the original defines underrated and underappreciated. William Petersen was great in this movie and the guy who played Lecter (Brian Cox who was also uncle Argyle in Braveheart) really gives Anthony Hopkins a run for his money.

* Suicide Kings - Christopher Walken and Denis Leary give the best performances of their careers - enough said.

* The Dead Zone - another Christopher Walken movie (based on the Stephen King book). This was one of the few movies ever made that was actually better than the book it was based on.

* Tombstone - the Val Kilmer character (Doc Holliday) was one of the best characters in the past 30 years. I'll be your huckleberry for this movie.

* Fletch - great movie. I find it hard to believe that Fletch didn't make IMDB's Top 100 list and that Fletch II didn't make their Top 100 worst movies ever made list. We should buy thousands of subscriptions to IMDB, all vote for Fletch and put the cost on the Underhill's bill. What kind of name is Poon?

* Caddyshack - are you freakin' kidding me? Not on the list? That's a travshamockery.

* Animal House - can you believe that this wasn't on the list? What do the people at IMDB have against comedies? One of the seminal movies of my generation.

* Slap Shot - quite possible the greatest sports movie ever made. Not on the list! (IMHO Slap Shot kicks ass on Bull Durham which surprisingly isn't in the 250 either)

* Three Days of the Condor - one of Robert Redford's best. Directed by Sidney Pollack and with excellent performances by Cliff Robertson and Max von Sydow.

* Eight Men Out - perhaps the best baseball movie of all time.

* Jeremiah Johnson - another underappreciated work by Redford. "His name was Jeremiah Johnson, and they say he wanted to be a mountain man. The story goes that he was a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit, suited to the mountains. Nobody knows where abouts he come from and don't seem to matter much. He was a young man and ghosty stories about the tall hills didn't scare him none. He was looking for a Hawken gun, .50 caliber or better. He settled for a .30, but damn, it was a genuine Hawken, and you couldn't go no better. Bought him a good horse, and traps, and other truck that went with being a mountain man, and said good-bye to whatever life was down there below."

* Heathers - to quote JD, "I like it. It's got that it's-a-cruel-world-let's throw ourselves-in-the-abyss type ambience."

* Broadcast News - actually pretty prophetic as it turned out.

* Fast Times at Ridgemont High - how could this movie not be on the top 250?

Aloha Mr. Hand. Did I miss any movies? Feel free to mention them in the comments.