The 100 Most Underappreciated Films: Part Eight
By Darren Williams
10th November 2009

71. Django, Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967; Giulio Questi)

Django was a strong little spaghetti western that spawned a dozen name-only sequels. Unlike most films that spawn endless sequels, at least two were the equal of the original, Django, Kill... is its superior. Best described as a gothic horror western, the opening scene has Django escaping from his own grave, the plot sees him trying to catch up with the men who betrayed him for gold and left him for dead. When he finally catches up to the gang he finds himself in a bizarre town where they have been killed and the two most prominent townsfolk have stolen the gold. A brutal and baffling western that puts most others in the genre to shame.

72. From Beijing with Love (1994; Leek Lik Chi, Stephen Chow)

Stephen Chow finally getting an international audience was well-deserved, if a decade too late. But despite the love for Shaolin Soccer and Kung-fu Hustle, too much of his back-catalogue still seems to go unappreciated. From Beijing with Love is a James Bond spoof with Chow in the Bond role. He finds himself engaged to recover the recently stole cranium of China's only dinosaur and does so with a mixture of Chow's usual offbeat comedy and martial arts routines. It's probably not the finest of Chow's Chinese films, but it's a consistently funny and entertaining piece of action cinema.

73. Lemora (1975; Richard Blackburn)

Atmospheric vampire drama that has that 'only in the 70s' feel to it. 13 year old Lila Lee looks to visit her gangster father. She runs away from the church that raised her to travel to an odd little town called Astaroth. The town is haunted by vampires and Lila is rescued from them by Lemora, a mysterious woman who either wants to protect or corrupt her. With the dreamlike atmosphere and the overtones of paedophilia and lesbianism running through the film, Lemora actually feels closer in spirit to European horrors of the 70s than American ones and it'd be very easy to imagine Jean Rollin directing this. It's imaginative, decadent and brilliant.

74. Long Weekend (1978; Colin Eggleston)

Part of the wave of incredible independent cinema coming from Australia in the 70s, Long Weekend tells the story of a couple whose relationship has broken down. They decide to go for a camping trip to the beach together in an attempt to save their crumbling marriage but they find themselves hating each other even more. They treat nature with contempt, running down a kangaroo being the most notable of their crimes, they destroy their environment and the environment is finally fighting back. . The idea of animals striking back against humans was a common theme in the 70s but this isn't a typical shlocky horror, it has a thoughtful and meditative quality the others often miss. Long Weekend is ballsy, refusing to give us anything approaching a sympathetic character and willing to put horror audiences to the test with it's graphic depiction of love falling apart.
　
75. Man in the Back Seat (1961; Vernon Sewell)

Adapted from an Edgar Wallace story and playing out like a British Detour, The Man In The Back Seat focuses on the cruelty of fate and how it can destroy even our best-laid plans. The plot revolves around two incompetent low-level crooks as they plot to rob a bookie as he leaves the racetrack with his winnings. They knock him out and try to steal his money only to discover that the bag with the cash is chained to his wrist and the key has gone missing. They bundle him into the back seat of their car while they try to figure out a plan to get the bag off his wrist and dump him before he wakes up. But everything they try goes wrong, and the bookie doesn't seem to be waking up. The film then turns into a desperate race to dump him before he dies and they're stuck with a corpse. They make one last ditch attempt to lose the body, only to find fate has one more trick up its sleeve, the viewer is just left to ponder if what we see in the dying moments of the movie is a guilt ridden hallucination or a supernatural nod to Macbeth. The Man In The Back Seat is little more than a quota quickie, but it demonstrates the talent of Sewell to perfection. The natural brevity of the film's one hour running time helps a great deal, but we're provided with a strong script and an atmospheric and haunting style from Sewell.

76. Matewan (1987; John Sayles)

Sayles seems destined to forever be one of America's greatest directors who will forever be underrated. Possibly his finest film, Matewan is set in a small mining town in West Virginia. In the 1920s, the mine owners decide to break the spirits of their striking workers only to met by strong resistance from the community. The more violent the company's thugs get, the stronger the community resist. It's a film ofvirtuism and a heroism deeper than in any action movie and it should have made Chris Cooper into a star.

77. Putney Swope (1969; Robert Downey)

The film is one of Downey Sr's many satires of America in the 60s. Putney Swope is the token black member of a powerful board of businessmen. The Chairman of the Board dies during a meeting and during an election for a new chairman, all the other directors are banned for voting for themselves and instead vote for him on the assumption no-one else will. Putney fires the board and fills the agency with black radicals except for one token white member. He renames it the Truth and Soul agency and refuses to advertise liquor, cigarettes or war toys. One of the most subversive and funniest films of its era.

78. Season's Greetings (1986; Michael A. Simpson)

A made for tv film based on Alan Ayckbourn's play. An extended family gather for Christmas and infidelity, family feuding and a near murder wipe out the pretence of goodwill to all men. It retains the feel of the stage farce but tightens it to give it a claustrophobic feel, making the comedy come from the frustration these people seem to feel at being stuck together. The highlight of the film has to be Geoffrey Palmer's rather pathetic doctor, desperate to express something through his elaborate Christmas puppet play. The entire cast are excellent but the only performer really coming near to Palmer is Peter Vaughn's aggressive troublemaker who delights in tormenting Palmer.

79. Under The Skin (1997; Carine Adler)

Under the Skin is based around a blistering performance from Samantha Morton as Iris, a young woman who goes off the rails following her mother's death. Unable to deal with her grief and desperate to find some kind of love, Iris pushes the boundaries of her relationship with her sister and becomes dangerously promiscuous. In many ways it feels like a British film of the 60s, but with more explicit sexuality (can't imagine many directors getting away with a watersports scene back then) The casting of Rita Tushingham helps the 60s feel and Morton has the same kind of off-kilter brilliance as Tushingham did at her peak.

80. Unman, Wittering And Zigo (1971; John Mackenzie)

Unman... is another one of those films that make you realise how deeply weird British cinema actually was in the 60s and 70s. David Hemmings plays a teacher assigned to an all-boy school after the disappearance of his predecessor. The boys tell him that they murdered the old teacher, and intimidate him until the boys are the ones running the class and putting both Hemmings and his wife in danger. A thoughtful and frightening film, with a first-rate performance from Hemmings as the bullied young teacher.