This List From 1991 of the '100 Best Movies You've Never Heard Of' Is Sending Us

The "100 Best Movies You've Never Heard Of" From 1991

This is the list from Entertainment Weekly with some brief descriptions of each movie for you to check out.

Enjoy!

1. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - Director: John Carpenter. A masterclass in minimalist tension, this film pits a skeleton crew of cops and a few convicts against a relentless street gang laying siege to a closing L.A. police station. It's a gritty, modern-day western that transforms urban decay into the wild frontier, all propelled by Carpenter's own iconic synthesizer score.
2. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) - Director: John Sturges. A one-armed stranger, played with quiet intensity by Spencer Tracy, steps off a train into a small, desolate desert town that harbors a dark secret. The simmering paranoia and hostility of the locals build to a boiling point in this taut, suspenseful thriller that masterfully uses its Cinemascope frame to emphasize both physical and moral isolation.
3. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) - Director: Sam Peckinpah. A rare and surprisingly gentle departure for the famously violent director, this film follows a prospector left for dead in the desert who discovers a waterhole. He turns his lucky find into a thriving business, creating a brief, beautiful, and ultimately doomed paradise in Peckinpah’s funny, elegiac farewell to the Old West.
4. Barbarosa (1982) - Director: Fred Schepisi. A gawky farm boy on the run falls in with a legendary, red-bearded outlaw in this offbeat and beautifully photographed western. Part buddy comedy, part tragic ballad, the film focuses on the creation of myth and the strange, symbiotic relationship between two outcasts, played perfectly by Willie Nelson and Gary Busey.
5. La Bête Humaine (1938) - Director: Jean Renoir. A grim and powerful tragedy about a train engineer cursed with a hereditary madness that drives him to homicidal rage. When he falls for a stationmaster's beautiful, manipulative wife, he is drawn into a fatalistic web of passion and murder. It’s a classic of French poetic realism, anchored by a haunting performance from Jean Gabin.
6. The Big Combo (1955) - Director: Joseph H. Lewis. A police lieutenant's obsessive quest to take down a sadistic, cultured mob boss leads him deep into the criminal underworld. Shot in stunning, high-contrast black and white by cinematographer John Alton, this film is a brutal and stylish film noir, famous for its psychosexual undertones and unflinching violence.
7. Black Narcissus (1947) - Director: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. A group of Anglican nuns attempts to establish a convent high in the Himalayas, but the dizzying altitude and the palace's sensual past begin to stir up repressed jealousies and desires. A visually breathtaking masterpiece of Technicolor cinematography, this is a stunning psychological drama about faith under pressure.
8. Brain Damage (1988) - Director: Frank Henenlotter. A young man becomes the unwilling host to a parasitic, brain-eating creature named Aylmer who injects him with an addictive, hallucinogenic fluid. This gory, darkly hilarious horror-comedy is a wild and sleazy allegory for drug addiction, filled with surreal visuals and Henenlotter's signature New York grime.
9. The Brood (1979) - Director: David Cronenberg. A man tries to uncover the radical and disturbing "psychoplasmic" therapy his estranged wife is undergoing while their disturbed daughter is terrorized by strange, murderous creatures. This is Cronenberg at his most personal and visceral, turning the pain of a messy divorce into a truly unsettling masterpiece of body horror.
10. Burn! (1970) - Director: Gillo Pontecorvo. Marlon Brando stars as a British agent sent to a Caribbean island to incite a slave revolt against the Portuguese, only to be sent back years later to crush the very rebellion he started. It’s a brilliant and searing political epic about colonialism, exploitation, and the cynical mechanics of revolution.
11. Candy Mountain (1988) - Director: Robert Frank & Rudy Wurlitzer. A down-and-out musician embarks on a road trip from New York to Canada in search of a reclusive and legendary guitar maker. A low-fi, melancholy journey through the fringes of the music world, this indie gem is filled with memorable cameos from musicians like Tom Waits and Joe Strummer.
12. Carrie (1952) - Director: William Wyler. Not to be confused with the horror film, this is a somber and powerful adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie. A young country girl, played by Jennifer Jones, finds that her pursuit of love and success in the big city comes at a great moral cost, especially for the married man (Laurence Olivier) who ruins himself for her.
13. Caught (1949) - Director: Max Ophüls. A young woman who dreams of marrying rich gets her wish when she weds a tyrannical, Howard Hughes-like millionaire, only to find herself trapped in a gilded cage. Fleeing his control, she takes a job with a humble doctor, forcing a choice between wealth and love. A psychologically astute noir-melodrama, famed for Ophüls' elegantly fluid camerawork.
14. Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979) - Director: Joan Micklin Silver. A love-struck civil servant spends his days in a state of romantic obsession, endlessly replaying the moments from his affair with a married woman who has since left him. A funny, bittersweet, and painfully relatable anti-romance that perfectly captures the heartache and absurdity of being hopelessly hung up on someone.
15. Comfort and Joy (1984) - Director: Bill Forsyth. After his girlfriend unexpectedly leaves him right before Christmas, a Glasgow radio DJ has a minor existential crisis that leads him to get caught in the middle of a turf war between two rival ice cream truck companies. A charming, quirky, and melancholic comedy from the beloved Scottish director.
16. The Company of Wolves (1984) - Director: Neil Jordan. A dark, Freudian, and visually stunning retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, framed as a young girl's fever dream. Blending gothic horror with fairy tale logic, the film explores themes of female sexuality, puberty, and the predatory nature of men in a world where the wolves aren't always what they seem.
17. Criss Cross (1949) - Director: Robert Siodmak. An armored-car driver, still hopelessly in love with his treacherous ex-wife, gets pulled back into her orbit and roped into a heist planned by her new gangster husband. Starring Burt Lancaster, this is a quintessential film noir, dripping with doomed romance, fatalism, and shadowy, rain-slicked L.A. streets.
18. Dancing Lady (1933) - Director: Robert Z. Leonard. A determined burlesque dancer (Joan Crawford) sets her sights on becoming a star in a Broadway show, catching the eye of both the show's demanding director (Clark Gable) and a wealthy playboy. A classic pre-Code backstage musical, notable for being the screen debut of Fred Astaire.
19. Dark Star (1974) - Director: John Carpenter. The low-budget, sci-fi comedy that started it all for Carpenter and co-writer Dan O'Bannon. The bored, scruffy crew of a spaceship on a long-term mission to destroy unstable planets must contend with a runaway alien that looks like a beach ball and a sentient, philosophical bomb that decides to question its own existence.
20. Death Race 2000 (1975) - Director: Paul Bartel. In a dystopian future, the ultimate sporting event is a transcontinental road race where drivers score points for running over pedestrians. A gloriously campy and satirical slice of Roger Corman-produced exploitation, this film is a B-movie classic that skewers celebrity culture and America's obsession with violence.
21. Deception (1946) - Director: Irving Rapper. A cellist, reunited with the pianist she loves after the war, hides the fact that she was the mistress of a monstrously egotistical composer. This opulent, high-strung melodrama pits Bette Davis against a scenery-chewing Claude Rains in a battle of wills filled with jealousy, artistic rivalry, and magnificent lies.
22. Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle) (1983) - Director: Luc Besson. In a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has lost the ability to speak, a lone man battles for survival against scavengers and brutal thugs. Shot in stark black and white and told almost entirely without dialogue, this is the visually inventive and primal debut feature from the future director of The Fifth Element.
23. Detour (1945) - Director: Edgar G. Ulmer. A down-on-his-luck piano player hitchhiking to Hollywood to meet his girlfriend makes one catastrophic decision that sends him spiraling into a nightmare of accidental death and blackmail. Shot in just six days, this is the ultimate low-budget film noir, a grimy, sweat-soaked masterpiece of pure fatalism.
24. Dodsworth (1936) - Director: William Wyler. A newly retired auto tycoon and his restless, self-absorbed wife embark on a grand tour of Europe, only to find their marriage slowly crumbling as they drift apart and discover new romantic interests. A remarkably mature and sophisticated drama about love, aging, and the search for meaning in later life.
25. Dreamchild (1985) - Director: Gavin Millar. In the 1930s, the elderly woman who was the real-life inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland" travels to America to receive an honorary degree. The journey forces her to confront her confusing and repressed memories of the shy, stammering Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). A poignant and beautifully melancholy film featuring incredible creature effects by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
26. A Fine Madness (1966) - Director: Irvin Kershner. Sean Connery plays a rebellious, womanizing poet in Greenwich Village who suffers from a severe case of writer's block and an even more severe allergy to authority. His anarchic behavior leads his long-suffering wife to consider a radical cure: a lobotomy. A chaotic, funny, and surprisingly dark satire of conformity and the creative spirit.
27. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) - Director: Roy Rowland. The only feature film written by Dr. Seuss is a surreal musical fantasy about a young boy who hates his piano lessons and dreams himself into a bizarre world ruled by his tyrannical teacher. In this land, 500 boys are forced to play a gigantic piano. A commercial flop that has since become a beloved cult classic.
28. Forbidden Zone (1980) - Director: Richard Elfman. A surreal, Dadaist musical comedy that feels like a Fleischer cartoon on acid. When a family discovers a portal to the Sixth Dimension in their basement, they fall into the bizarre world ruled by a lecherous King and his jealous Queen. Fueled by the manic energy of Danny Elfman's Oingo Boingo score, this is a truly one-of-a-kind midnight movie.
29. 49th Parallel (1941) - Director: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. After their U-boat is sunk off the Canadian coast, a group of stranded Nazi sailors must trek across the vast country to find refuge in the then-neutral United States. A brilliant piece of wartime propaganda that doubles as a compelling road movie, showcasing the diversity and resilience of the Canadian people.
30. Foxes (1980) - Director: Adrian Lyne. A look at the lives of four teenage girls coming of age in the San Fernando Valley at the tail end of the 1970s. Navigating parties, drugs, and dysfunctional families, the film is a surprisingly sensitive and realistic portrait of adolescent friendship, anchored by strong performances, especially from Jodie Foster as the group's de facto den mother.
31. Get Crazy (1983) - Director: Allan Arkush. A wild, cartoonish comedy about the backstage chaos at a New Year's Eve rock concert, where a well-meaning stage manager must contend with a greedy promoter, a reclusive rock legend, and a host of eccentric performers. A loving and frenetic tribute to the Fillmore East, packed with music, gags, and rock and roll energy.
32. Glen or Glenda? (1953) - Director: Ed Wood. The famously inept director's heartfelt and deeply personal plea for tolerance towards transvestism. Wrapped in a pseudo-documentary format and featuring bizarre, dream-like cutaways with a scenery-chewing Bela Lugosi, it’s a film of astonishing sincerity and unparalleled strangeness.
33. Good News (1947) - Director: Charles Walters. A bubbly and energetic MGM musical set on a college campus in the roaring twenties. A football star needs to pass his French exam to play in the big game, so he enlists the help of a studious librarian, leading to romantic complications. The film is a pure explosion of Technicolor joy, best known for the show-stopping "Pass That Peace Pipe" number.
34. Go Tell the Spartans (1978) - Director: Ted Post. Set in the early days of the Vietnam War, this cynical and clear-eyed film follows a weary Army major (Burt Lancaster) and the group of American military "advisors" he commands at a remote outpost. It's a prescient and unvarnished look at the futility and confusion of a war that was already being lost before it officially began.
35. Gun Crazy (1949) - Director: Joseph H. Lewis. A gun-obsessed man and a sharpshooting carnival femme fatale embark on a crime spree, their mutual love for firearms fueling their passion for each other and for robbery. Filmed with a raw, kinetic energy—including a famous single-take bank robbery sequence—this is a landmark noir that influenced countless lovers-on-the-run films to come.
36. Heartland (1979) - Director: Richard Pearce. In the early 20th century, a widow travels to the harsh Wyoming frontier to work as a housekeeper for a dour Scottish rancher. Based on real diaries, this is a quiet, unsentimental, and beautifully realized film about the brutal realities and simple dignities of pioneer life, anchored by incredible performances from Rip Torn and Conchata Ferrell.
37. Hell in the Pacific (1969) - Director: John Boorman. During World War II, a downed American pilot and a stranded Japanese naval officer are the only two inhabitants of a remote island. With virtually no dialogue, the film is a tense and powerful allegory, as the two enemies must move from conflict to grudging cooperation in order to survive.
38. The Hidden (1987) - Director: Jack Sholder. A straight-laced FBI agent teams up with a peculiar L.A. detective to track a series of violent criminals who all share a love for fast cars and loud music. The truth is far stranger: the culprit is a body-hopping alien parasite. A clever, action-packed, and surprisingly witty gem that is one of the best sci-fi thrillers of the 80s.
39. High and Low (1963) - Director: Akira Kurosawa. A wealthy shoe executive is faced with an impossible moral choice when a kidnapper accidentally abducts his chauffeur's son instead of his own, but still demands the ruinous ransom. The film is a masterpiece of two halves: a tense, theatrical drama set almost entirely in one room, followed by a sprawling, meticulous police procedural.
40. High Tide (1987) - Director: Gillian Armstrong. A drifting, backup singer for an Elvis impersonator finds herself stranded in a small coastal town where she unexpectedly reconnects with the teenage daughter she abandoned years before. A raw and emotionally powerful drama, carried by a phenomenal performance from Judy Davis.
41. Hi, Mom! (1970) - Director: Brian De Palma. A Vietnam vet, played by a young Robert De Niro, returns to New York and tries his hand at amateur pornography and radical avant-garde theater. A chaotic and darkly comedic satire of late-60s counter-culture, voyeurism, and racial politics, this is early, anarchic De Palma at his most audacious.
42. The Hit (1984) - Director: Stephen Frears. A Cockney gangster who ratted out his friends a decade ago is tracked down in his Spanish hideaway by two hitmen—a world-weary veteran and a volatile upstart—who are tasked with bringing him back to Paris to be executed. What follows is a stylish, existential, and unexpectedly funny road movie through a sun-drenched, desolate Spain.
43. Home of the Brave (1949) - Director: Mark Robson. One of the first Hollywood films to directly tackle anti-Black racism in the military. A Black soldier, paralyzed by psychosomatic trauma after a reconnaissance mission in the Pacific, relives the bigotry and battlefield horrors he endured under the care of an Army psychiatrist.
44. Housekeeping (1987) - Director: Bill Forsyth. Two young sisters in a remote 1950s town are sent to live with their eccentric, transient aunt after their mother's death. As the aunt's bizarre behavior begins to alienate the community, the sisters are pulled in opposite directions between conformity and a life on the fringes. A beautiful, haunting, and deeply unusual film about family and finding a place in the world.
45. In a Lonely Place (1950) - Director: Nicholas Ray. A volatile Hollywood screenwriter with a history of violence becomes the prime suspect in a murder. His new neighbor, a burgeoning actress, provides his alibi and falls in love with him, but she soon begins to doubt his innocence as his terrifying temper flares. A devastating look at love, self-destruction, and paranoia, featuring Humphrey Bogart's finest performance.
46. I Walked With a Zombie (1943) - Director: Jacques Tourneur. A Canadian nurse is hired to care for the mysteriously catatonic wife of a sugar plantation owner on a Caribbean island. She is soon drawn into a world of voodoo, local legends, and dark family secrets. Produced by Val Lewton, this is a poetic, atmospheric horror film that uses shadow and suggestion to create a profound sense of dread.
47. Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959) - Director: Bert Stern. More than just a concert film, this is a vibrant, sun-soaked snapshot of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and the people who attended it. Capturing legendary performances by Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Mahalia Jackson, and more, the film is a joyous and beautifully shot celebration of music, fashion, and American culture.
48. The Killing (1956) - Director: Stanley Kubrick. A career criminal assembles a crew for one last, perfect heist: robbing a racetrack during a major race. Told in a fractured, non-linear timeline that jumps between characters and perspectives, this is the brilliant, meticulously planned crime thriller that put a young Kubrick on the map.
49. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) - Director: Robert Aldrich. Brutal private eye Mike Hammer gets pulled into a web of murder and conspiracy after picking up a terrified woman on a dark highway. His search for a mysterious "great whatsit" leads him to a glowing briefcase with apocalyptic contents. A cynical, violent, and unforgettable atom-age noir that ends with a bang.
50. Lonely Are the Brave (1962) - Director: David Miller. A proudly iconoclastic cowboy in the modern world gets himself arrested to break his friend out of jail. When the plan goes awry, he escapes alone and is hunted across the New Mexico mountains by a reluctant sheriff. With a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, this is a moving and elegiac story of a man out of time, featuring a fantastic performance by Kirk Douglas.
51. Macao (1952) - Director: Josef von Sternberg & Nicholas Ray. A cynical American adventurer, a sultry nightclub singer, and an undercover cop all find themselves entangled with a powerful gangster in the exotic port of Macao. A moody and atmospheric noir, this film is a clash of directorial styles that nevertheless delivers a satisfying dose of danger and romance with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell.
52. Marked Woman (1937) - Director: Lloyd Bacon. Bette Davis stars as a "clip joint" hostess who decides to testify against her powerful mob boss employer after he is responsible for the death of her sister. Inspired by the real-life case against Lucky Luciano, this is a tough, gritty Warner Bros. crime drama.
53. Mikey and Nicky (1976) - Director: Elaine May. A small-time bookie in a panic calls on his oldest friend for help when he learns there's a hit out on him. Over one long, dark night, the two men wander the streets of Philadelphia, their fraught relationship unraveling in a torrent of paranoia, recrimination, and long-buried resentments. A raw, improvised, and devastating character study.
54. Miracle Mile (1989) - Director: Steve De Jarnatt. A young man answers a ringing payphone and intercepts a frantic call revealing that nuclear war is about to begin. What follows is a desperate, real-time race through the nocturnal streets of Los Angeles to find his new love and escape the city before the missiles hit. A unique and terrifying thriller that brilliantly shifts from romantic comedy to apocalyptic nightmare.
55. Mixed Blood (1985) - Director: Paul Morrissey. A wildly over-the-top, satirical crime film about a charismatic Brazilian matriarch who runs a gang of juvenile drug dealers, known as the "dwarf-pack," in New York's Lower East Side. As she wages war against a rival gang, the film descends into a frenzy of violence and dark comedy.
56. Monkey Business (1952) - Director: Howard Hawks. A chimpanzee in a research lab accidentally concocts a youth serum and dumps it into the water cooler. A stuffy chemist (Cary Grant), his wife (Ginger Rogers), and his boss (Charles Coburn) all drink it, causing them to regress to a state of hilarious, uninhibited childishness. A classic and chaotic screwball comedy.
57. The Naked Kiss (1964) - Director: Samuel Fuller. A former prostitute arrives in a small, seemingly idyllic town, determined to start a new life. She finds love and a respectable job, but her dark past and the town's even darker secrets collide in an explosion of melodrama, murder, and social commentary. A lurid, brilliant, and unforgettable pulp masterpiece.
58. The Naked Spur (1953) - Director: Anthony Mann. A bounty hunter, determined to use his reward money to buy back the ranch he lost, enlists the help of a disgraced cavalry officer and an old prospector to track a wanted killer. When they capture their man, the journey back becomes a tense psychological battle of greed, betrayal, and shifting allegiances. A tough, brilliant western starring James Stewart.
59. Near Dark (1987) - Director: Kathryn Bigelow. A small-town boy is unwillingly turned into a vampire and falls in with a nomadic family of bloodsuckers who roam the desolate American heartland in a blacked-out RV. A stunning and influential genre-bender, this film is part western, part horror, and part doomed romance, shot with poetic, visceral style.
60. 1918 (1984) - Director: Ken Harrison. Based on the play by Horton Foote, this film takes place in a small Texas town during the final year of World War I, as the community grapples with the twin threats of the war abroad and the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic at home. A quiet, moving, and beautifully acted piece of American historical drama.
61. The Ninth Configuration (1980) - Director: William Peter Blatty. A military psychiatrist arrives at a gothic castle being used as an asylum for servicemen who have seemingly gone insane. As he attempts to treat his bizarre patients, his own sanity begins to come into question. A strange, surreal, and deeply philosophical film that is part black comedy, part theological debate, and part intense psychological drama.
62. On Dangerous Ground (1951) - Director: Nicholas Ray. A violent, bitter city cop, on the verge of being fired for his brutality, is sent upstate to help with a murder investigation in a snowy, rural landscape. There, he meets a blind woman who is the sister of the main suspect, and her compassion begins to thaw his frozen soul. A powerful noir that contrasts urban decay with stark natural beauty.
63. One-Eyed Jacks (1960) - Director: Marlon Brando. The only film directed by Brando is a strange, brooding, and visually spectacular western. After his partner betrays him, an outlaw escapes from prison seeking revenge, only to fall in love with his betrayer's stepdaughter. A deeply personal and operatic film, obsessed with Freudian psychology, betrayal, and tortured masculinity.
64. Over the Edge (1979) - Director: Jonathan Kaplan. In a sterile, planned suburban community with nothing for its teenagers to do, boredom and alienation fester into vandalism and rebellion, culminating in an explosive, all-out riot against the adult authority figures. A powerful and authentic cult classic that captures the raw energy and frustration of youth.
65. Paris Blues (1961) - Director: Martin Ritt. Two expatriate American jazz musicians in Paris find their commitment to their art tested when they fall for two vacationing American tourists. Starring Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, with a magnificent Duke Ellington score, this is a romantic and atmospheric look at the lives of artists and the choices they must make.
66. Payday (1973) - Director: Daryl Duke. Rip Torn gives a ferocious, career-defining performance as a relentlessly selfish and charismatic second-tier country music singer on a 36-hour downward spiral of booze, pills, and violence somewhere in Alabama. A gritty, realistic, and uncompromising character study that deglamorizes the musician's life.
67. Peeping Tom (1960) - Director: Michael Powell. A psychologically damaged filmmaker murders women with a blade hidden in his camera's tripod, filming their faces as they die. Released the same year as Psycho, this deeply disturbing film about voyeurism and trauma was so reviled at the time that it destroyed its director's career, but is now rightly regarded as a masterpiece.
68. Personal Best (1982) - Director: Robert Towne. The intense physical and emotional relationships between a group of female athletes training for the Olympics are explored, focusing on the bond between a rising star and an older, more experienced competitor which evolves into a romance. An intimate and incredibly well-observed film about competition, love, and the dedication of athletes.
69. The Plague Dogs (1982) - Director: Martin Rosen. From the creators of Watership Down comes this even more harrowing animated feature. Two dogs escape from a cruel animal testing laboratory and are hunted across the countryside, all while trying to understand the world of humans who have so abused them. A beautiful, devastating, and unflinchingly bleak film.
70. Point Blank (1967) - Director: John Boorman. A criminal named Walker, double-crossed and left for dead after a heist, methodically and relentlessly works his way up the corporate ladder of "The Organization" to get the money he is owed. A cool, brutal, and brilliantly fragmented neo-noir that plays like an existential revenge dream.
71. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) - Director: Larry Cohen. The ancient Aztec winged serpent god Quetzalcoatl is resurrected and begins nesting atop the Chrysler Building, snatching unlucky sunbathers and window washers from Manhattan's rooftops. A witty, energetic, and wonderfully strange monster movie that blends creature-feature fun with a gritty New York crime story.
72. The Revolt of Job (1983) - Director: Imre Gyöngyössy & Barna Kabay. In 1943, in Hungary, an elderly Jewish couple, fearing the coming Holocaust, adopts a non-Jewish Christian boy in the hopes of passing on their heritage and property to him. A gentle, deeply moving, and ultimately heartbreaking fable about love, faith, and the desperate attempt to cheat fate.
73. Ride the High Country (1962) - Director: Sam Peckinpah. Two aging ex-lawmen, one still a man of principle and the other long past it, take a job guarding a gold shipment through dangerous territory. This poignant and elegiac film serves as a beautiful tribute to the classic western and its legendary stars, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, while signaling the genre's changing, more cynical future.
74. Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) - Director: Don Siegel. Filmed on location at Folsom Prison with actual inmates and guards as extras, this is a tough, realistic, and explosive depiction of a prison uprising. The film eschews easy heroes and villains to focus on the brutal conditions and bureaucratic indifference that led to the riot, told with Siegel's signature unsentimental style.
75. The Saga of Anatahan (1953) - Director: Josef von Sternberg. Based on a true story, a group of Japanese sailors is stranded on a remote island during WWII and refuses to believe the war has ended. The presence of the island's lone woman leads to a savage breakdown of discipline and a battle for dominance. This was the legendary director's final, haunting, and self-financed film.
76. Saint Jack (1979) - Director: Peter Bogdanovich. An American hustler with a heart of gold tries to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore, eventually deciding to open the classiest brothel in town. A wonderfully atmospheric and underrated character study, featuring a charming lead performance by Ben Gazzara and a vivid sense of place.
77. Say Amen, Somebody (1983) - Director: George T. Nierenberg. An absolutely joyous and uplifting documentary celebrating the pioneers of gospel music, focusing on the lives and careers of "Professor" Thomas A. Dorsey and "Mother" Willie Mae Ford Smith. The film is less a dry history and more a powerful, spirit-filled experience, bursting with incredible musical performances.
78. Secret Honor (1984) - Director: Robert Altman. A tour-de-force solo performance by Philip Baker Hall as a disgraced Richard Nixon, alone in his study late at night with a bottle of whiskey and a tape recorder. In a rambling, paranoid, and profane monologue, he attempts to justify his life and presidency. A riveting, claustrophobic, and brilliantly theatrical piece of filmmaking.
79. The Sender (1982) - Director: Roger Christian. A suicidal young man with telepathic abilities is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where his nightmares—filled with rats, insects, and other horrors—begin to manifest as reality for his psychiatrist and the other patients. An intelligent, stylish, and deeply unsettling psychological horror film.
80. Shack Out On 101 (1955) - Director: Edward Dein. A bizarre Cold War-era concoction set in a greasy-spoon diner on the California coast. The diner's inhabitants, including a busty cook, a lecherous short-order cook, and a handful of oddball regulars, get mixed up in a plot involving spies and stolen atomic secrets. A strange and campy cult classic.
81. The Shanghai Gesture (1941) - Director: Josef von Sternberg. An English ingénue gets drawn into the decadent, shadowy world of a Shanghai gambling den run by the mysterious "Mother Gin Sling," a powerful woman who holds a dark secret about the girl's father. A deliriously stylized and atmospheric melodrama, dripping with exoticism and forbidden desires.
82. Smile (1975) - Director: Michael Ritchie. A sharp and hilarious satire that uses a small-town California beauty pageant as a microcosm for the desperate, often pathetic, pursuit of the American dream. The film follows the stressed-out organizers, the ambitious contestants, and the leering judges in a pitch-perfect skewering of empty optimism and suburban absurdity.
83. Songwriter (1984) - Director: Alan Rudolph. Willie Nelson plays a country singer who wants to break free from his slick, mob-connected manager. To do so, he signs over all his new songs to his former partner (Kris Kristofferson) and sets out to sabotage his own career so he can get out of his contract. A laid-back, rambling, and enjoyable satire of the music business.
84. The Stepfather (1987) - Director: Joseph Ruben. A man obsessed with finding the perfect, idealized American family has a simple solution when his new step-family doesn't live up to his impossible standards: he kills them and moves on to the next town. A chilling and suspenseful thriller, anchored by a terrifyingly brilliant performance from Terry O'Quinn.
85. Straight Time (1978) - Director: Ulu Grosbard. Dustin Hoffman gives a fantastic, hard-edged performance as a career criminal just released from prison who tries, and quickly fails, to go straight. Pushed by a sadistic parole officer, he inevitably returns to a life of crime. A gritty, authentic, and unsentimental look at the revolving door of the justice system.
86. Streamers (1983) - Director: Robert Altman. A group of diverse young soldiers wait in their barracks to be shipped out to Vietnam, their boredom and anxiety escalating into explosive racial and homophobic tensions. Based on the powerful stage play, this is a claustrophobic and incredibly intense ensemble piece, directed with raw intimacy by Altman.
87. Streetwise (1985) - Director: Martin Bell. A landmark documentary that provides a devastating, intimate, and empathetic look at the lives of homeless and runaway teenagers living on the streets of Seattle. The film follows a group of kids as they hustle, struggle, and survive, creating a powerful and unforgettable portrait of forgotten youth.
88. The Tenant (1976) - Director: Roman Polanski. Polanski himself stars as a timid file clerk who moves into a Parisian apartment where the previous tenant, an Egyptologist, committed suicide. He soon becomes consumed by a creeping paranoia that his new neighbors are conspiring to drive him to the same fate. A deeply unsettling and surreal psychological thriller that completes Polanski's "Apartment Trilogy."
89. They Live by Night (1949) - Director: Nicholas Ray. An inexperienced young fugitive and the girl he falls for try to carve out a normal life for themselves while on the run. The directorial debut of Nicholas Ray, this is a lyrical, tender, and ultimately doomed lovers-on-the-run story that predates and heavily influenced Bonnie and Clyde.
90. Ticket to Heaven (1981) - Director: Ralph L. Thomas. A young schoolteacher, despondent after a breakup, is lured into a manipulative, cult-like group that uses brainwashing and sleep deprivation to control its members. His friends and family must then stage a desperate, high-stakes attempt to deprogram him. A chilling and effective psychological drama.
91. Track 29 (1988) - Director: Nicolas Roeg. A lonely, unfulfilled woman, trapped in a passionless marriage to a model-train-obsessed doctor, has her world turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious young man who claims to be the son she gave up for adoption years ago. A surreal, bizarre, and darkly funny psychodrama from the master of fractured narratives.
92. Twice Upon a Time (1983) - Director: John Korty & Charles Swenson. In this wildly inventive animated film, heroes must save the world from a villain who wants to trap everyone in a perpetual nightmare. Produced by George Lucas, the film is famous for its unique "lumage" animation style, which used cutout, backlit photographs to create a distinctive, dream-like visual texture.
93. Under Fire (1983) - Director: Roger Spottiswoode. Three American journalists covering the final days of the Somoza regime in 1979 Nicaragua find their professional neutrality tested when they are caught between the rebels and the government. A smart, gripping, and politically charged thriller about the moral compromises of war correspondence.
94. Used Cars (1980) - Director: Robert Zemeckis. A gloriously rude and cynical comedy about a high-stakes war between two rival used car lots across the street from each other. Kurt Russell leads a team of fast-talking salesmen who will do absolutely anything—from hacking a presidential address to staging a "mile of cars"—to outsell their competition.
95. Vampire’s Kiss (1989) - Director: Robert Bierman. A yuppie literary agent believes he's been bitten by a vampire and is slowly turning into one himself, a delusion that drives his already-unhinged behavior to terrifying and absurd new heights. This is a brilliant black comedy, famous for one of Nicolas Cage's most iconic and gloriously over-the-top performances.
96. While the City Sleeps (1956) - Director: Fritz Lang. After a media magnate dies, his son pits his top executives against each other: whoever can catch the "Lipstick Killer" terrorizing the city will get the top job. A cynical and gripping ensemble thriller that serves as a sharp critique of media sensationalism and corporate ambition.
97. Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978) - Director: Karel Reisz. A Vietnam War correspondent convinces a Marine buddy to smuggle a large amount of heroin back to the States for him. But when the deal goes wrong, the Marine and the journalist's wife are forced to go on the run from a pair of truly frightening crooked federal agents. A gritty, paranoid, and powerful thriller that captures the hangover of the Vietnam era.
98. Withnail & I (1987) - Director: Bruce Robinson. Two unemployed, alcoholic actors flee their squalid London flat for a supposedly restorative holiday in the English countryside, which quickly descends into a disaster of rain, mud, and alcohol-fueled paranoia. An endlessly quotable and beloved cult classic, this film is a hilarious and profoundly sad ode to friendship and failure at the end of an era.
99. Zardoz (1974) - Director: John Boorman. In a post-apocalyptic future, a savage "Exterminator" (a loincloth-clad Sean Connery) stows away inside a giant floating stone head to find the truth about the god Zardoz and the effete immortals he serves. A bizarre, ambitious, and wonderfully psychedelic science-fiction epic that has to be seen to be believed.
100. A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) - Director: Peter Greenaway. After their wives are killed in a freak car accident involving a swan, two zoologist brothers become obsessed with themes of decay, symmetry, and evolution. They begin a strange affair with the crash's sole survivor and conduct bizarre time-lapse experiments, filming the decomposition of various animals. A highly stylized, deeply intellectual, and visually stunning film.