Growing up as I did as a film lover in the 1990s, looking back now I can see it truly was a special time for both independent and mainstream cinema. Every month saw the release of half a dozen tent pole pictures, huge-budgeted blockbusters which essentially kept the film industry afloat so that there was more money to put into smaller, more intimate pictures.
Whether this is the case now, of course, is up for debate, but back in the final decade of the 20th century there seemed to be a fair balance between big and small movies, both the mainstream and more quirky character-based pictures. It’s arguable whether this equilibrium was ever reached again.
Below are ten American films from the 1990s which may have slipped by you in the past couple of decades. Whether they were critical or commercial hits or not, these are movies which I believe deserve more appreciation.
1. Ed and His Dead Mother (1993)
Right after the roaring success of Reservoir Dogs, Steve Buscemi took a lead role in a little known obscurity by the name of Ed and His Dead Mother. Directed by Jonathan Wacks, it’s one of those comforting little indie films the 90s were so full of, only this one has some rather unsavoury factors about it, ensuring it borders on the fine line between horror and comedy.
Steve stars as Ed Chilton, the owner of a hardware shop who is trying to adjust to life now his mother has died. Ned Beatty plays his uncle Benny, who attempts to lift Ed’s spirits and help him get on with his life. When sharp suited salesman AJ Pattle (John Glover) visits his store with the promise he can revive his dead mum, Ed goes along with the scheme for a mere 1000 dollars. However, things do not go according to plan. When reanimated, Mabel (Miriam Margoyles) is not quite the woman she once was. As we are told in the black and white opening scene set in a courtroom, Ed ends up decapitating his mother, whose behaviour has become increasingly bizarre.
If this film is a metaphor for letting go of a dead loved one and moving on in life, then it puts its point across very literally and with many broad laughs. The script is wonderful, full of sharp gags and witty little lines, but it’s the cast who make it gently dazzle. The always great Glover is shiftiness personified as the salesman, and Ned Beatty is hilarious as Benny, always ogling the girl who sunbathes over the road. Margoyles puts in a fine effort too, one of the best British character actresses to make it over the other side of the pond. But it’s Buscemi who carries the film, with his gentle, mild mannered depiction of a son who just can’t move on, until he has no choice.
Ed and His Dead Mother is the kind of film that sells you on its title alone, but the press were less than kind to this quirky tale of a momma’s boy who literally cuts off the apron strings. Many critics claimed the direction to be the film’s major problem, praising the script and performances but having problems with Wacks’ approach. While the film failed to set the world alight back in the day, it is now something of a cult curiosity (thanks largely to Buscemi’s fame) and can be viewed easily, and freely. I suggest you do so.
2. Diggstown (1992)
Something of a favourite among hardcore James Woods fans is Diggstown (1992). Directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Steven McKay, the film stars Woods as Gabriel Caine, a con man who’s just got out of prison and has a fresh scam on his mind. Fitz (Oliver Platt) is his partner in crime, and together they travel to Diggstown, a place that puts boxing on a pedestal.
Bruce Dern is John Gillon, a high roller who owns most of the town and once managed their most famous export, boxer Charles Diggs. Fitz challenges the city’s claim that Diggs once KO’d five boxers in one day and insists that Gillon will pay him $100,000 if he can bring to town a boxer who can floor all ten of Diggstown’s best fighters. Gabriel chooses Palmer (Louis Gossett Jr.) for the job, an ex-boxer nearing fifty whose glory years are behind him. Can Palmer rise to the challenge, or have Fitz and Caine pushed it too far this time?
Diggstown works on many levels. Firstly, it’s the classic underdog story, where the man least likely to succeed does so in the end. Dern is the establishment, smug and complacent, and Woods and Gossett Jr. are the little men, the rebels standing up to his cruel greed. Though the feat seems impossible, we genuinely root for them and want them to come out on top.
The script is great of course, but the acting is what makes the picture a winner. Woods is at his motor-mouth best, a man who could talk his way into and out of anything. This is the kind of role no one else could have played. Woods is the star here, the central figure, and it’s a thrill to see him as the leading man in a major piece of mainstream entertainment. The fact he carries it (aided of course by the brilliant Louis Gossett Jr.) is a credit to him. One of the finest American actors of our time, he shows his range as the wily crook.
Diggstown does have a sizeable following, especially in the US, but I still feel it deserves more attention. A lavish blu-ray release seems the right way to go at this stage. A 90s indie classic, Diggstown deserves cult classic status.
3. City Hall (1996)
Coming six years after their collaboration on Sea of Love, director Harold Becker and Al Pacino teamed up once more for this riveting, largely overlooked drama. With a script co-written by Paul Schrader, the story concerns a mob shoot out which takes place in a busy street and includes the killing of an innocent child.
Martin Landau is Judge Stern, a friend of Mayor John Pappas (Pacino), heavily criticised for having previously let the killer out of jail, while the cop involved in the shooting, Detective Santos, much to the distress of his family sees his name smeared with the ugliness of the scandal. It is the deputy mayor, Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack), with help from police union lawyer Marybeth Cogan (Bridget Fonda), who starts looking for clues, and their investigations lead to worrying links between the establishment and the mob.
City Hall was a financial disappointment upon release, a film which was overshadowed by more showy pictures. Even Pacino fans didn’t bother to see it, instead opting for the much more publicised Heat, his first on screen stand off with Robert De Niro. City Hall, though, is a fine suspense drama, full of tension, twists and turns. It is wonderfully directed in a no-frills fashion by the ever reliable Becker, a hugely underrated director who made some of the finest American movies from the 1970s onwards.
Acting-wise the film is without fault, with Pacino, Cusack, the hugely overlooked Fonda, and Landau all sturdy in their roles. It may have suffered commercially due to its sizeable budget and the uncommercial quality of the story, but thirty years on it seems unfair that such a well made and engaging picture as this is so overlooked.
4. Catchfire (1990)
Despite directing one of the biggest hits of the 1960s, Easy Rider, Dennis Hopper was never really offered a film that matched it. He loved to direct, but the work he got to take on rarely ignited his flame. His first directorial picture of the 1990s was Catchfire, written by Alex Cox and three other writers. It follows Jodie Foster as a woman who goes on the run after witnessing a mob killing at the hands of Joe Pesci. Directing with a touch of glossy class, Hopper also stars in the picture as Milo, a mysterious hit man who tracks her down but typically offers to spare her life if she’ll do anything and everything he desires. Pure Hopper.
As with most of his directorial work, the cutting and releasing for Catchfire was all over the place. There is a three hour cut out there somewhere, rather predictably the one that Hopper preferred, and the film also went out on TV in the States as Backtrack with 20 extra minutes put in. Though we cannot see the 180 minute cut, the Hopper approved TV edit is just about good enough. A simmering, suspenseful film, it’s well acted and wonderfully directed too, with a surreal edge that separates it from other bog standard action thrillers from that era. As well as directing with firm efficiency, he delivers a stunning performance as the New York accented killer. “Passion’s a hard thing to conceal” is one of his stand out lines.
Hopper’s view of Catchfire soured quickly, seeing as he disowned it and wanted his name removing from the credits. Though no masterpiece, it is highly engaging, and just the kind of film that you have to see to believe. When all is said and done, who could resist a film that features Joe Pesci, Charlie Sheen, Dennis Hopper, Vincent Price and even Bob Dylan as a chainsaw wielding artist? I’ll await your response…
5. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
One of Martin Scorsese’s most underrated pictures is Bringing out the Dead, a harrowing, enthralling and completely disturbing ride into the farthest reaches of urban hell. The film stars Nicolas Cage as Frank Pierce, a New York city paramedic who is starting to lose his mind. He is close to a complete breakdown, a man highly depressed by the number of deaths he has on his conscience. In a dizzying and disorientating fashion, the film charts his near-descent into near mental oblivion.
Written by Paul Schrader, and based on the novel by Joe Connelly, on paper Bringing out the Dead looks like it might merely be Taxi Driver in an ambulance, with Travis Bickle being replaced by a more sensitive soul who just cannot take it any more. That said, it doesn’t take long to realise that the film is a very different beast indeed. Full of jump cuts, speedy editing, and an overall fragmented visual style, it is the most un-Scorsese film you could pick out. Frantic and jarring, it’s a hugely distressing but totally engaging thriller of the mind, a psychological roller coaster which grabs you by the scruff of your neck and refuses to let go for two very tense hours.
Its story and visual approach aside, one reason to watch and enjoy Bringing out the Dead is to see some of the most talented actors of American cinema at their very best. Cage delivers what might just be one of the finest and most overlooked performances of his whole career, while ample support is provided by the likes of a completely unhinged and close to terrifying Tom Sizemore, a sweet and appealing Patricia Arquette and the ever reliable John Goodman.
Bringing out the Dead might take a bit of getting used to, but if you do adjust to its unnerving atmosphere, there is much to enjoy. Certainly seen as a lesser Scorsese movie by most critics, I feel it’s one to reassess now that it’s reached its 25th anniversary.