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Thread: Favorite "B" Movies
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07-27-2012, 08:38 PM #1
Favorite "B" Movies
Here's a few of my favorites. I think they can all be referred to as "B" movies:
1: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
2: The Eyes of Laura Mars
3: The Blob
4: Rocky Horror Picture Show
5: The Birds
Honorable Mention to The Grateful Dead Movie, if that can be considered "B".
Everytime any one of these come on TV, I will sit down with a six pack and a pizza
Last edited by schindlerpiste; 07-31-2012 at 08:28 AM.
“How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”. — Jimi Hendrix
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07-27-2012, 08:52 PM #2
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07-27-2012, 09:32 PM #3
The Birds and Pulp Fiction were critically anticipated and high-profile releases- pretty far from B movies.
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07-27-2012, 09:43 PM #4Good-lookin' wool
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Hot Dog...
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07-27-2012, 10:15 PM #5
Any movie nominated for best freakin' picture cannot be considered a B-movie. C'mon.
Intended A movies that ended up being B movies that I like...
Palmetto
Wild Things
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07-27-2012, 10:57 PM #6
My logic has nothing to do with it. I know what a B movie is. And where did I say anything about critical acclaim or popularity? Even the heaviest mouth-breather can recognize that a highly anticipated movie can meet with scorn, or that a well-promoted movie need not cost a lot of money to produce.
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07-28-2012, 12:11 AM #7Registered User
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Hard Ticket to Hawaii
Hilariously bad Andy Sidaris classic. Still not sure if he was serious or laughing at himself as he made these.
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07-28-2012, 07:01 AM #8
I wasn't too sure about The Birds (that is why it is on my list), but I'm pretty sure that Pulp Fiction can't be a "B" movie. Too many great actors at the peak of their careers, great director, too much $$$ and fanfare. Pulp Fiction would have never been on the bottom end of a double feature.
“How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”. — Jimi Hendrix
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07-28-2012, 07:57 AM #9
Wet Hot American Summer
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07-28-2012, 09:03 AM #10
Hot and saucy pizza girls.
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07-28-2012, 09:18 AM #11
Pulp is not a B movie... It may have been shot and produced in the style of, but isn't.
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07-28-2012, 09:29 AM #12
North Shore
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07-28-2012, 10:40 AM #13
Right. Inspired by B movies, sure. "Reservoir Dogs" is much more B since Tarantino was unknown when it was made. I think the modern equivalent would be straight to video or made for TV, which is why any self-respecting list should contain TGR favorite "Ice Spiders."
"Night of the Living Dead" and "Death Race 2000" are both pretty great. "Gun Crazy" too.
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07-28-2012, 10:44 AM #14Registered User
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a lot of what has already been said but i'll add Toxic Avenger.
Ohh, and obviously not many people here has studied film.
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature. Although the U.S. production of movies intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s, the term B movie continued to be used in the broader sense it maintains today. In its post–Golden Age usage, there is ambiguity on both sides of the definition: on the one hand, many B movies display a high degree of craft and aesthetic ingenuity; on the other, the primary interest of many inexpensive exploitation films is prurient. In some cases, both may be true.
In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre—the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in the 1950s. Early B movies were often part of series in which the star repeatedly played the same character. Almost always shorter than the top-billed films they were paired with, many had running times of 70 minutes or less. The term connoted a general perception that B movies were inferior to the more handsomely budgeted headliners; individual B films were often ignored by critics.
Latter-day B movies still sometimes inspire multiple sequels, but series are less common. As the average running time of top-of-the-line films increased, so did that of B pictures. In its current usage, the term has somewhat contradictory connotations: it may signal an opinion that a certain movie is (a) a genre film with minimal artistic ambitions or (b) a lively, energetic film uninhibited by the constraints imposed on more expensive projects and unburdened by the conventions of putatively "serious" independent film. The term is also now used loosely to refer to some higher budgeted, mainstream films with exploitation-style content, usually in genres traditionally associated with the B movie.
From their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided opportunities both for those coming up in the profession and others whose careers are waning. Celebrated filmmakers such as Anthony Mann and Jonathan Demme learned their craft in B movies. They are where actors such as John Wayne and Jack Nicholson first became established, and they have provided work for former A movie actors, such as Vincent Price and Karen Black. Some actors, such as Béla Lugosi and Pam Grier, worked in B movies for most of their careers. The term B actor is sometimes used to refer to a performer who finds work primarily or exclusively in B pictures........
Pulp Fiction (1994), directed by Quentin Tarantino on a $8.5 million budget, became a hugely influential hit by crossing multiple lines, as James Mottram describes: "With its art house narrative structure, B-movie subject matter and Hollywood cast, the film is the axis for three distinct cinematic traditions to intersect."[163]Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
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07-28-2012, 10:46 AM #15doughboyshredder Guest
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07-28-2012, 11:07 AM #16Registered User
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07-28-2012, 01:32 PM #17
I find this to be sorely misguided.
Tarantino is definitely influenced by obscure B-movies from across the globe (blaxploitation, Japan, Europe, etc), but he's always been able to see the ingenious elements of certain B-movies and then expands, exploits, and basically turns those elements into an A-movie, via better scripts, better dialogue, better actors. Pulp Fiction may have been inspired by B-movies, but it was anything but (the production value, the script, the acting were all way above B-movie status). Furthermore, Tarantino's films have all been art-house films (i.e. indie films a la Soderbergh and Smith, etc). Art-house films are rarely/almost never B-movies.
Here's a pretty good historical breakdown of the term, which was coined back in the early days of Hollywood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie
I would almost put Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies up there with Tarantino's work in that they were a lot smarter, edgier, and well-crafted than most B-Movies, but they are defintely closer to the definition than anything Tarantino has done (with the exception of Death Proof, which is easily the most B-movie specific flick Tarantino has crafted in terms of really trying to mimic the genre to a tee).
Honestly, the undisputed KING of B-Movies is Roger Corman...
http://www.rogercorman.com/
Also many B-Movies transcend the moniker: Halloween is a classic B-Movie, which has gone on to not only be a cult classic, but a highly revered independent film amongst cinephiles. Ditto for Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one). Speaking on these latter two, John Carpenter spent his career making B-Movies, but as with Tarantino, he often elevated his films above/beyond the genre (again, Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China), but they are still B-Movies at heart (I interviewed Carpenter once, and dude has a college degree, both his parents were college professors, but he grew up in the South and on a steady diet of drive-in movies, hence his love for the horror and western genres; he rigorously mixed the two in most of his films).
In terms of a more modern definition of a B-Movie, we could set a price tag on it, say 50 million or less (sure, a film like Battleship is probably more akin to a B-Movie, but the fact that they spent in excess of 200 million on it means that those making it did not consider it to be a B-Movie; B-Movies are often low-budget, featuring no-name (or lesser known) stars and usually done by a director you haven't heard of).
One can also argue that films like Mad Max are essentially B-Movies, but since it was "foreign" to American audiences it eventually transcended to an art-house film. Speaking of Oz films, this is a great documentary on the B-Movie/Exploitation era of Australian filmmaking: http://magnetreleasing.com/notquitehollywood/
It's worth watching as many of the films inspired Tarantino (he's actually in the film talking about how he "borrowed" from many of these unseen-outside-of-Australia classics).
That said, some of my favorite "B-Movies" include:
Hell Comes To Frogtown
Death Race 2000
Gone In 60 Seconds (the original, NOT the Cage remake)
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
Mr. Billion
Nightmare on Elm Street
The Arrival
Perfect Getaway
PS
For the record, a lot of big name directors got their starts making B-Movies: Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, Raimi, and a ton of others.
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07-28-2012, 02:04 PM #18Hugh Conway Guest
So a B-Movie is a movie that sucks that you like. Genius definition.
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07-28-2012, 02:51 PM #19
Attack of the killer clowns...... Anyone?
That actually might be a C movie.
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07-28-2012, 02:53 PM #20
Breaking Away.
"You damn colonials and your herds of tax write off dressage ponies". PNWBrit
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07-28-2012, 03:03 PM #21Registered User
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07-28-2012, 03:17 PM #22
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07-28-2012, 04:37 PM #23Registered User
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07-30-2012, 10:16 AM #24Funky But Chic
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...although it's hard to call of work of such true genius a B movie.
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07-30-2012, 10:35 AM #25
My favorite movie of all time: 'Eraserhead'. It was considered B when I saw it and I'm sticking with that.
Would 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High' count?Merde De Glace On the Freak When Ski
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