Martin Scorsese: Underrated American Films.
by Abds2012 | created - 26 Dec 2013 | updated - 04 Oct 2022 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
Passed | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A nineteenth-century New Hampshire farmer makes a pact with Satan for economic success, then enlists famed orator Daniel Webster to extract him from his contract.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon
Votes: 5,605
2. Across the Pacific (1942)
Passed | 97 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In December 1941, ex-army captain Rick Leland boards a Japanese ship heading to Asia via the Panama Canal where his Japanese hosts show interest in the American defense plans for the canal zone.
Directors: John Huston, Vincent Sherman | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Charles Halton
Votes: 5,442
3. Lady in the Dark (1944)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
Liza Elliott, "Allure" magazines editor-in-chief, suffers from headaches and continuous daydreams and undergoes psychoanalysis to determine why.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Warner Baxter, Jon Hall
Votes: 563
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
Director: Albert Lewin | Stars: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 14,444
5. Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both as well as everyone around them.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price
Votes: 14,772
6. The Razor's Edge (1946)
Approved | 145 min | Drama, Romance
An adventuresome young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at nothing to get him back, even though she is already married.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter
Votes: 6,787 | Gross: $5.00M
7. Out of the Past (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
Votes: 40,900
8. Body and Soul (1947)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Sport
A talented boxer's young career hits difficult terrain when an unethical promoter takes interest in him.
Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere
Votes: 5,367
9. The Three Musketeers (1948)
Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
D'Artagnan and his Musketeer comrades thwart the plans of Cardinal Richelieu to usurp King Louis XIII's power.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Van Heflin
Votes: 6,933
10. I Walk Alone (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Frankie Madison leaves prison expecting a share from his ex-partner. But Prohibition bootlegging didn't prepare Frankie for Big Business.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey
Votes: 3,287
11. Road House (1948)
Passed | 95 min | Action, Drama, Film-Noir
A night club owner becomes infatuated with a torch singer and frames his best friend/manager for embezzlement when the chanteuse falls in love with him.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm, Richard Widmark
Votes: 3,161
12. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
Votes: 33,301 | Gross: $0.01M
13. The Fountainhead (1949)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Romance
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith
Votes: 10,905
14. Force of Evil (1948)
Passed | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An unethical lawyer who wants to help his older brother becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.
Director: Abraham Polonsky | Stars: John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson, Marie Windsor
Votes: 7,665
15. White Heat (1949)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly
Votes: 35,738
16. We Were Strangers (1949)
Approved | 106 min | Adventure, Drama, Film-Noir
In 1930's Cuba, a bank clerk and an American mercenary assist a revolutionary group in a plan to kill the President but the Cuban Secret Police chief and the dictator's military complicate the plan's execution.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Pedro Armendáriz, Gilbert Roland
Votes: 1,324
17. Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
Not Rated | 132 min | Drama, War
A tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell
Votes: 15,796
18. Prince of Foxes (1949)
Approved | 107 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
An unscrupulous agent for the Borgias suffers a change of heart when asked to betray a noble count and his much younger, very beautiful wife.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Wanda Hendrix, Marina Berti
Votes: 1,975 | Gross: $2.55M
19. Battleground (1949)
Approved | 118 min | Action, Drama, History
True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy
Votes: 7,861 | Gross: $10.29M
20. Night and the City (1950)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
A small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe
Votes: 15,266 | Gross: $3.60M
21. Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)
93 min | Drama
A young woman enters college and learns some hard truths about sorority life, including snobbery and the cruelty of hazing.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Jeanne Crain, Dale Robertson, Mitzi Gaynor, Jean Peters
Votes: 372
22. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Approved | 124 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A seductive woman falls in love with a mysterious ship's captain.
Director: Albert Lewin | Stars: James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim
Votes: 4,736
23. Scaramouche (1952)
Approved | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In France during the late 18th Century, a man sets out to avenge the death of his friend at the hands of a master swordsman.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Stewart Granger, Janet Leigh, Eleanor Parker, Mel Ferrer
Votes: 6,364
24. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Passed | 118 min | Drama, Romance
An unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell
Votes: 16,452
25. The War of the Worlds (1953)
G | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite
Votes: 38,525 | Gross: $4.36M
26. Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Music
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Director: Jack Webb | Stars: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee
Votes: 1,502
27. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan
Votes: 54,741
28. War and Peace (1956)
PG | 208 min | Drama, Romance, War
Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia, including his disastrous 1812 invasion, serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman
Votes: 10,860 | Gross: $12.50M
29. Murder by Contract (1958)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer - until he finds his next target is a woman.
Director: Irving Lerner | Stars: Vince Edwards, Phillip Pine, Herschel Bernardi, Caprice Toriel
Votes: 4,362
30. City of Fear (1959)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A vicious killer escapes from San Quentin with a cannister of what he believes to be heroin but is actually a radioactive substance that threatens all Los Angeles.
Director: Irving Lerner | Stars: Vince Edwards, Lyle Talbot, John Archer, Steven Ritch
Votes: 1,630
31. The FBI Story (1959)
Approved | 149 min | Crime, Drama, History
A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell
Votes: 3,878
32. One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Not Rated | 141 min | Drama, Western
After robbing a Mexican bank, Dad Longworth takes the loot and leaves his partner Rio to be captured, but Rio escapes and searches for Dad in California.
Director: Marlon Brando | Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Pina Pellicer, Katy Jurado
Votes: 13,265 | Gross: $9.37M
33. The Hustler (1961)
Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, Sport
An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.
Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott
Votes: 86,782 | Gross: $8.28M
34. The Haunting (1963)
G | 112 min | Horror
Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn
Votes: 42,481 | Gross: $2.62M
35. America America (1963)
Approved | 174 min | Adventure, Drama
A young Greek stops at nothing to secure a passage to America.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Elena Karam, Harry Davis
Votes: 5,991
36. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)
Not Rated | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A Roger Corman tale of Dr. James Xavier's devastating experiments on himself and the unforeseen.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Ray Milland, Diana Van der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt
Votes: 8,162
37. Mickey One (1965)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama
After the mob tries to kill him for an unknown reason, a comedian steals the identity of a homeless man and goes on the run.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Warren Beatty, Alexandra Stewart, Hurd Hatfield, Franchot Tone
Votes: 1,878
38. The Naked Prey (1965)
Approved | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
During the 1800s, a safari guide, two elephant hunters and their crew run into trouble with the natives in the South African veld when they refuse to offer gifts to the tribesmen.
Director: Cornel Wilde | Stars: Cornel Wilde, Gert van den Bergh, Ken Gampu, Patrick Mynhardt
Votes: 5,875
39. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama, History
Al Capone's Valentine's Day surprise for the rival Bugs Moran gang in 1929 Chicago.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Jason Robards, George Segal, Ralph Meeker, Jean Hale
Votes: 4,766
40. Madigan (1968)
TV-14 | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In New York City's Spanish Harlem, detectives Madigan and Bonaro are given 72 hours by their superior to capture a hoodlum wanted for homicide in Brooklyn.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Harry Guardino
Votes: 4,072
41. The Night of the Following Day (1969)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Two men kidnap a girl off the streets, take her to a beach house owned by a drug-addicted stewardess, and hold her for ransom.
Directors: Hubert Cornfield, Richard Boone | Stars: Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, Rita Moreno, Pamela Franklin
Votes: 2,500
42. Play Dirty (1969)
R | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, War
During World War II a group of British commandos in North Africa disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital German oil depot.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews
Votes: 3,777
43. Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
M | 90 min | Comedy, History
Two mismatched sets of identical twins, one aristocrat, one peasant, mistakenly exchange identities on the eve of the French Revolution.
Director: Bud Yorkin | Stars: Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Jack MacGowran
Votes: 3,121
44. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
PG-13 | 125 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
When a bored Holmes eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon after an attempt on her life, the search for her missing husband leads to Loch Ness and the legendary monster.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Robert Stephens, Christopher Lee, Colin Blakely, Geneviève Page
Votes: 13,307 | Gross: $3.30M
45. The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
R | 103 min | Drama
A daydreamer convinces his radio personality brother to help fund one of his get-rich-quick schemes.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson
Votes: 6,074
46. The Big Country (1958)
Passed | 166 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston
Votes: 21,114
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