40 Best Movies You Have Probably Never Seen

Shot in black and white and nominated for six Academy Awards, the film details the life of controversial comedian Lenny Bruce, whose acerbic stand-up act challenged obscenity laws in the 1950s and 1960s. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 88% freshness score.

Historical drama “Becket” stars famed actors Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole, both of whom were nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for their work in the film. Following a restoration, the film was re-released in 2007 and grossed under $150,000.

“Fat City” is director John Huston’s unsparing, unsentimental look at the career fate of two boxers and their seedy world they inhabit. It was one of Huston’s later movies, and Susan Tyrell received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her work in the movie. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the gritty film a 100% freshness score, and 85% of audiences liked the movie.

Animated drama “The Breadwinner” has a 95% freshness rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie — which was executive produced by Angelina Jolie — grossed just over $300,000 at the domestic box office.

“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is a film about an aging bakery truck driver in Boston who is also a small-time gun runner and faces jail time unless he rats out his friends. The title character is played by film noir-star Robert Mitchum, and the movie also features Peter Boyle.

Director Richard Brooks’ “Elmer Gantry” tells the story of an immoral salesman who teams up with a female preacher. The movie won three Academy Awards and was nominated for two others.

Shot in a fake documentary style, “Punishment Park” is a drama in which authority figures round up and abuse a group of anti-establishment types in the Vietnam War era. The filmmakers had trouble finding distribution for the provocative movie, and it was also never screened on television. Today it has a 92% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however.

Before Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper shared the screen in “A Star Is Born,” there was a 1954 version featuring Judy Garland and James Mason. The movie has a 98% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 41 critic reviews, compared with the 2018 remake’s 90% rating with 515 reviews.

Rights to the 2018 film “The Tale” were acquired by HBO Films following its screening at Sundance. which prevented the movie from having a theatrical release. This didn’t stop critics from seeing it and rating it with a 99% freshness Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Film noir “Night and the City” received mixed reviews when it was originally released in the U.S. Audiences reviewing the movie on Rotten Tomatoes have been much kinder, with 90% of the few people rating it on the site giving it a positive rating.

“Advise & Consent” is a gripping political drama based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Allen Drury that features an all-star cast. The film examines the excesses of political partisanship when a dovish candidate (Henry Fonda) is nominated as secretary of state.

Musical “The Band Wagon” has been certified 100% fresh by critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Lou Lumenick in the New York Post went as far as to say, “Sorry, the beloved ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ isn’t the finest of the legendary MGM musicals. ‘The Band Wagon’ has better music, better dances, better direction, more lavish sets and costumes and a wittier script (by the same writers).”

Overlooked in its initial release, “Bigger Than Life” is now regarded as one of the best movies of the 1950s. The film is about a genial suburban teacher who becomes addicted to an experimental, life-saving drug that transforms him into a violent man. The strong supporting cast features Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau.

Fantastical comedy “O Lucky Man!” stars a young Malcom McDowell as a coffee salesman. While fewer than 7,000 users have rated the film on IMDb, it’s earned an above average rating of 7.7/10, and an average 7.6/10 from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dramatic western “The Rider” has won numerous awards from film festivals across the world and has a 97% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite its critical success, the film was only played in 224 theaters at its widest release, according to Box Office Mojo.

This film noir is about a husband and wife, both obsessed with guns, who go on a crime spree. Joseph H. Lewis’s direction is noteworthy for its shots of the unfolding events seen from the inside of the getaway car. The edgy film made a bigger impression in France than in the United States, and influenced French New Wave movie directors of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

“Pickup on South Street” combines film noir with the red-scare anxiety of the 1950s. Richard Widmark plays a petty crook who steals a pocketbook that holds a microfilm containing classified U.S. secrets. The thief is pursued by both the FBI and communist spies. The film received a 91% freshness rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Seven Days in May” is yet another underseen film starring Burt Lancaster, who appears along with Kirk Douglas as two military leaders. The movie was nominated for two Academy Awards and currently has a 91% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Gunfighter,” a melancholy take on the Western genre, stars Gregory Peck in the title role as a man who is frequently challenged by younger men to gun fights. The idea for the movie arose from a dinner that screenwriter William Bowers had with one-time heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, who said everyone he met wanted to fight him.

The Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus describes “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” as “Paul Schrader’s directorial masterpiece.” Despite its critical acclaim, the film about celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima grossed less than $440,000 in North America against an estimated production budget of $5 million.

Like “Seven Days in May,” “Seconds” was directed by the prolific John Frankenheimer. The movie originally bombed at the box office but has been critically praised in years since. In 2015, the movie was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress

Vincente Minnelli, who made some of the greatest musicals of all time (“An American in Paris” and “Gigi”), shifted genres in this cynical film about a ruthless movie producer (Kirk Douglas) who takes no prisoners on his way up the ranks in Hollywood. The supporting cast includes Barry Sullivan and Dick Powell. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 79% freshness rating.

This remake of 1934’s “Imitation of Life” is heavy on melodrama and racial themes. Although it was not embraced by critics upon its original release, it was added to the National Film Registry in 2015.

“Lonely Are the Brave,” an iconoclastic Western written by the once-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, stars Kirk Douglas as a cowboy who breaks into a jail to see a friend and is pursued to the Mexican border by the authorities. The film prefigured the anti-hero film sentiment of the later 1960s and dealt with issues such as individual freedom versus authority, sanctuary for illegal immigrants, and the increasing militarization of law-enforcement agencies.

Director Sidney Lumet was famous for depicting characters grappling with moral and emotional torment in films such as “12 Angry Men,” and “The Pawnbroker” is one of his best. The motion picture stars Rod Steiger as a pawn shop owner in Harlem embittered by the loss of his family in the Holocaust and walls himself off from humanity.

The multi-talented Danny Kaye carried this expensive ($4 million budget) burlesque romp that was set in Medieval times. Though it failed at the box office — despite a cast that included Angela Lansbury, Basil Rathbone, and Glynis Johns — it is fondly remembered for its alliterative skit “The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice with the palace has the brew that’s true.”

A critics’ favorite, scoring 96% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, “The Miracle Worker” is the story about Anne Sullivan’s relentless effort to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate. It was originally presented on television, then shifted to Broadway, with Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke as Hellen Keller, roles they would reprise on the big screen. Both actresses won Academy Awards for those roles.

Prolific director Robert Altman is perhaps best known for films such as “MASH” (1970) and “Gosford Park” (2001). Among his lesser known works is the eerie and dreamlike “3 Women,” starring Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. The movie was never available on VHS and was re-released 27 years after its theatrical release.

“Killer of Sheep” — about the lives of black residents in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood during the 1970s — was directed by Charles Burnett and submitted as his film thesis while attending UCLA. Unfortunately for film fans, it did not receive a commercial release for 30 years due to legal complications regarding music used in the film. Despite this, it was added to the National Film Registry in 1990.

Nicholas Ray directed this Western, noteworthy for featuring a woman, Joan Crawford, as the dominant character. Crawford plays an imposing saloon owner who stands down any man who challenges her. Sterling Hayden in the titular role is Crawford’s one-time lover.

John Sayles’ “Matewan” is based on the true story of coal miners who went on strike in Matewan, West Virginia, during the 1920s. While the movie was not a huge financial success upon its release — it grossed just under $1.7 million at the domestic box office — it was nominated for an Academy Award and received positive ratings from 93% of critics and users on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Opening Night” portrays the emotional journey of an actress following the death of a fan. Written and directed by independent film pioneer John Cassavetes, the movie has been given positive reviews by 96% of critics and 91% of audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

This film about the darker side of Australia floated in obscurity for years — the movie’s negative was lost following a successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival. The print was rediscovered years later and restored in 2009. It’s since amassed a 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“A Raisin in the Sun,” based on a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959, looks at the life of an African American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s and struggles with poverty and racism.

Anthony Quinn, who played an Arab freedom fighter in “Lawrence of Arabia,” returns to the desert in this film about Libyan leader Omar Mukhtar, who led Libyan forces against invading Italian troops beginning in 1929. Libya’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi bankrolled the film that featured Oliver Reed as an Italian general and Rod Steiger as Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Rosalind Russell plays the title role in “Auntie Mame.” She was nominated for an Academy Award as the free-spirited woman who takes in her nephew after his father dies and encourages him to seek adventure and experience life.

“A Patch of Blue” is about a black man and a blind white teenage girl who fall in love. It has a 89% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes — with only six critic ratings — and an exceptional 8.0 out of 10 user rating on IMDb, with fewer than 7,200 users contributing.

Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd” tells the story of a country music singer’s rise to fame and beyond. The film was not a financial success when it first came out, but it was added to the National Film Registry in 2008.

“The Train” is the third film to appear on this list directed by John Frankenheimer — the others being “Seven Days in May” and “Seconds.” The movie grossed $6.8 million at the domestic box office on a reported $5.8 million budget. It currently holds a 92% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Blake Edwards, known for lighter cinematic fare such as the Pink Panther movies, dealt with a more sober subject in “Days of Wine and Roses.” Jack Lemmon plays an alcoholic who marries a woman (Lee Remick) whom he gets addicted to alcohol. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards and won for Best Music, Original Song. The movie received a 100% freshness score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.