loaded question: what film from the prestreaming era were you obsessed with that would be considered obscure now?

Spacehunter Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

This week’s question was inspired by this tweet:

(Screengrab here for the inevitable day that Twitter disappears.)

Modified slightly to give it a bit more leeway:

What film from the prestreaming era were you obsessed with that would be considered obscure now?

Bonus points if you can dig up a 40-year-old VHS cover.

My answer is what I quote-tweeted in response to @KrisWolfheart:

(Screengrab here for the inevitable day that Twitter disappears.)

I must watch Spacehunter again! I haven’t seen it since I moved away from that library in 1988.

Your turn…

(You can also discuss this at Substack or Patreon, if you prefer. You don’t need to be a paying subscriber to comment, but you will need to register with either site to do so.)

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Bluejay
Bluejay
film buff
Mon, Jan 23, 2023 4:53pm

Does Starman count? I don’t know if it’s exactly obscure, but it isn’t as present in the current pop culture landscape as some other stuff. I had a HUGE crush on Karen Allen because of that movie. :-)

Also, always, The Flight of Dragons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJFcQiixYFg&ab_channel=GWOtakuTZ

djconner@gmail.com
djconner@gmail.com
patron
movie lover
Mon, Jan 23, 2023 7:19pm

A movie I also haven’t seen since circa 1988, Nate and Hayes, with Tommy Lee Jones, and while it didn’t have Miles of Keefe, it did have Michael O’Keefe. AKA Savage Island outside the US, which I only learned today.

I also haven’t seen it since 1988 or earlier, but I remember it being pretty fun.
comment image

RogerBW
RogerBW
patron
movie lover
Wed, Jan 25, 2023 12:28am

1984’s Dreamscape, I think recorded off a TV broadcast. Dennis Quaid before Innerspace killed off his cocky kid persona, and a pre-Spielberg Kate Capshaw. It’s certainly not brilliant, but it has a sense of fun.

stucifer
stucifer
moviegoer
Fri, Feb 10, 2023 10:48pm

1994’s made-for-TV The Cisco Kid, starring Jimmy Smits and Cheech Marin, which we taped off the on-air broadcast and rewatched dozens of times.

Less obscurely (but it seems still somewhat unknown to people my age), we had 1990’s Dick Tracy on VHS, and my sister and I adored it. To the point where in high school I did a definitely unauthorized stage adaptation of it.

Bluejay
Bluejay
film buff
reply to  stucifer
Sat, Feb 11, 2023 4:48pm

Less obscurely (but it seems still somewhat unknown to people my age)

It still surprises me how many pop culture things I take for granted that younger people don’t seem to know. I’ve encountered kids and young adults who’ve never heard a song by the Beatles, don’t know who Sting is, and can’t tell Billy Joel apart from Neil Diamond. Of course it’s my fault for thinking those artists and their work are universal and everlasting (and I’m sure I’m shamefully ignorant of many pop-cultural landmarks in other traditions that millions of other people take for granted themselves). Still, as younger generations increasingly say “Huh? What’s that?” to things I grew up with, I’m feeling the passage of time more keenly. :-)

(On a more serious note, this also reminds me that community memory is more fragile than we think; we need to identify what’s important for us to remember, and fight for it.)

Bluejay
Bluejay
film buff
reply to  stucifer
Sat, Feb 11, 2023 9:23pm