Favorite Movies No one Knows

[D'Snowth]

Just got to thinking about a movie I liked when I was a kid, but I don't believe anyone else is remotely familiar with it...

Don Bluth gave us some of the most wonderful animated features of their time - where most animated films of that time were mostly happy, silly, bright and zany, Bluth's films always had a deeper layer of subtext, and had some memorable darker moments as well, compared to other animated films.

While I'm sure everybody's familiar with such films as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and All Dogs Go to Heaven, there's one particular film that most people don't seem to be as familiar with - Rock-a-Doodle. From the early 90s, about an Elvis-like rooster who leaves the farm after being publically humilated, and becomes a big rockstar in the big city, while his barnyard pals try to find him, because an enemy band of owls have thrown the farm land into a perpetual thunderstorm. As always, great story, wonderful subtext, nice animation, but unlike most of Bluth's other films, this had some toe-tapping songs as well... and surprisingly, NO character voiced by Dom DeLuise. But I still liked it... seems like the last time I ever saw it played on TV was probably 1998 or so on HBO.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

A 1991 animated feature, if I remember correctly. It seems "Rock-A-Doodle" used to be shown fairly often on the cable channels, but yeah- it's been a while. If it's a Don Bluth film, I'm sure it's pretty good.
One other film I liked as a kid- and haven't seen it in forever- was Rover Dangerfield, an animated movie from the early '90s- maybe 1992 or so. It's based on the life and comedy of Rodney Dangerfield of course- it's just that it's a dog who's in his role, which just goes to prove for Rodney that he's had a dog's life and he still gets no respect.

 

[D'Snowth]

Aw, I loved Rover Dangerfield!

"Yeah, I know what you're thinkin'... you're wishin' you were at grandma's house!"

 

[Baby Gonzo]

I always loved Don Bluth's films, especially the ones from the 80s. Rock-A-Doodle was a film that I never had on video, but I watched it all the time. Actually, I think it was the only movie we ever rented when I was a kid. I do have it on DVD. It's not one of Don Bluth's best, but it has a special place in my heart at least.

Actually, I few years ago, I went to a special showing of The Secret of NIMH. I had the honor of meeting Don Bluth and Gary Goldman and shaking hands with them. I even got Don Bluth's autograph. It was a great experience.


Speaking of films that no one seems to know, for years I struggled to find the name of a movie I used to love on the Disney Channel. It was not a Disney film and I had always known that. The plot and animation were extraordinarily bizarre. In the film, an artist falls alseep under a magical tree and when he wakes up, he is able to talk to animals and he discovers that his paintbrush has magical powers. And somehere in the middle of the movie he is abducted by mushrooms who try to turn him into a mushroom. Uh... Yeah... I told you it was sort of weird. As it turned out, it was a Yugoslavian animated film called The Elm-Chanted Forest. It isn't a spectacular film by any means, but I adored this one as a kid. (Here's a ridiculous and rather horrendous trailer, by the way.) Now that I look back at it, I probably sounded like I was hallucinating when I tried to explain to people what this movie was about.

 

[Xerus]

One movie I enjoyed during the early 80's was a live action comedy called Midnight Madness. About five teams of college kids going on a wild puzzle race throughout a city trying to find clues in crazy places. It has stars like David Naughton, Stephen Furst, Eddie Deezen, Maggie Roswell, Paul Reubens, and a very young Michael J. Fox in his very first movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Madness_(film)

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I told you it was sort of weird. As it turned out, it was a Yugoslavian animated film called The Elm-Chanted Forest.

I've heard about this movie from many other children of the '80s- though I never recall seeing it myself in the '80s. But don't worry- you're not alone in your memories of this rather bizarre movie. lol.
And I do recall hearing about that Midnight Madness movie before- it sounds like it would be cool to check out sometime. It's always cool seeing Michael J. Fox's movies- he's made so many memorable characters. Of course, a lot of them do seem kinda similar, but he just does those characters so well! "For Love Or Money", "Life with Mikey" and "The Secret of My Success"- those are great movies- remind me so much of Alex P. Keaton on "Family Ties". And of course, I love him as Marty McFly in the "Back to the Future" movies.

Of course, to get back to the point of the thread- here's another classic movie- and a Christmas movie at that- that I found fairly hilarious but some may not have heard of. (But MST3K fans surely have.) The 1964 sci-fi classic- "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"- I got this on DVD for a buck a while back and watched it- all I can say is "WOW!"......LOL.
One neat note of trivia- one of the cast members includes Bill McCutcheon, aka Uncle Wally on Sesame Street!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Conquers_the_Martians

 

[D'Snowth]

Off topic, but on the subject of Don Bluth, did anyone else besides me liken The Tale of Despereaux to his work? I mean in the CGI world, it certainly was nowhere near as bright and cheery as something from say Pixar or even DreamWorks.

 

[Son of Enik]

One movie I enjoyed during the early 80's was a live action comedy called Midnight Madness. About five teams of college kids going on a wild puzzle race throughout a city trying to find clues in crazy places. It has stars like David Naughton, Stephen Furst, Eddie Deezen, Maggie Roswell, Paul Reubens, and a very young Michael J. Fox in his very first movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Madness_(film)

THANK YOU! Someone else remembers Midnight Madness, that is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I thought I was alone, thank you Xerus for making my day!

 

[JaniceFerSure]

One movie I enjoyed during the early 80's was a live action comedy called Midnight Madness. About five teams of college kids going on a wild puzzle race throughout a city trying to find clues in crazy places. It has stars like David Naughton, Stephen Furst, Eddie Deezen, Maggie Roswell, Paul Reubens, and a very young Michael J. Fox in his very first movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Madness_(film)

I watch Midnight Madness once a week at YouTube.

 

[Drtooth]

There's this weird channel I got ever since I had to buy a DTV box... it runs all these weird obscure little movies every single day, sometimes you'll actually find a good one.

Father's Day, they ran the obscure sequel to "Christmas Story" (If Sequel is the right word). It was from the same book the Christmas Story movie was based off of (or part of the series? I'm not sure). And Jean Shepherd returned as the narrator... but there was a different cast. It had Mary Stemebergen (SP?) and Charles Grodin as the mother and father. And I think Macauly Caulkin's brothers as the kids. It really isn't as good as Christmas Story, and the actors seem to try too hard to be the other actors at some points in the film (Charles did it the best, I think...) but it still was a pretty funny film.

It takes place during July, and it has to do a lot with battle tops (Yes, kids were playing that game that early, but with actual tops) and you got to see a LOT more of the Bumphasses (the ones that had the large dogs that ate the turkey at the end of the first movie)... If I could just remember what it was called, though...