cool movies

Here is a list of some of my favorite movies that are not that well known. Are all great for different reasons and should be better recognized.

1) Hard Times - Probably my second favorite movie ever made. A terrific story about friendship, honor, and sacrifice. And it has the best non-asian fight scenes ever. Charles Bronson is a bad ass bare knuckle boxer.

2) Shogun's Shadow : IMHO, the greatest action movie ever. Pure adrenaline rush from start to finish. Sonny Chiba is a fantastic bad guy pursuing a magnificent seven type group across Japan. Truly mind blowing, over the top fight scenes. And main good guy Ken Ohta might have the coolest movie moves with a samurai sword ever!

3) Murder By Decree : A scary Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper film that probably has the best movie version of both Holmes and Watson. Watson especially is shown as a capable and brave companion, not a bumbling idiot. Very good fight scene between Holmes and the Ripper, and some really frightening moments. If a filmaker in the 70's had been smart, he would have done a Holmes series with Christopher Plummer as star.

4) Inframan : An early '70's Hong Kong kung fu rip off of Ultraman, that improves on the original. Really fun. Great to watch with your kids. If you can't enjoy this one, you have no heart.

5) The Odd, Angry Shot : A war movie from Australia that is really compelling. It is a "small" movie, not a big-budget Oliver Stone type movie, but it is a better Vietnam movie than anything the U.S. industry has produced. I saw it when I was in high school, and it has stuck with me.