AU REVOIR, LES ENFANTS, 1987

Ah, a boys-at-boarding-school movie where Robin Williams won't jump around and inspire us all.

Directed by Louis Malle.

CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, 1989

This delightfully dark (and frankly, not that overlooked) Woody Allen picture about the aforementioned topics was made before half the actors ran off to join "Law and Order" and "ER."

Directed by Woody Allen.

INSIDE MAN, 2006

Who is the Inside Man, anyway? Jodie Foster?

Directed by Spike Lee.

GATTACA, 1997

Finally, a movie about what would happen if the fascists control both the space program and genetic engineering.

Directed by Andrew Niccol.

TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE, 2004

A somewhat annoying man steps out from his famous cinematographer father's long shadow long enough to examine it.

Directed by Mark Wexler.

REBECCA, 1940

She's the most menacing character that never appeared in a movie.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

BROKEN FLOWERS, 2005

Former Don Juan Bill Murray (really) learns from an anonymous letter he has a son and sets out to find which of his former girlfriends is the lucky mother.

Directed by Jim Jarmusch.

THE ICE STORM, 1997

Spiderman and Frodo and their parents get a little rowdy in the '70s in the 'burbs in the ice.

Directed by Ang Lee.

LONE STAR, 1996

Half Western. Half mystery. Half family drama.

Directed by John Sayles.

HEAVEN CAN WAIT, 1943

It's womanizing -- Lubitsch style! As Don Ameche tries to explain his way into Hell upon his death, he can't help but like "the ladies."

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

CORRECTION:

An astute reader has brought it to my attention that Naomi Watts may not actually have a mandatory nudity clause in her standard contract. Overlooked Movie of the Day regrets the error.

21 GRAMS, 2003

Is it in all of Naomi Watts' contracts that she appear topless? Or in all of Sean Penn's contracts to portray a man with a torturted soul?

Directed by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu.

CHARADE, 1963

Audrey Hepburn's husband is murdered, but instead of grieving, she sets out with Cary Grant to figure out where the old man hid his stash.

Directed by Stanley Donen.

THE STATION AGENT, 2003

You know how it is when you want to play alone with your trains but you keep accidentally making friends.

Directed by Thomas McCarthy.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE, 1942

Once again, actors come to the rescue, using comedy to save the free world from the Nazis.

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 2000

Forget about your Mount Vernon-dwelling, pointy-hatted president. It's much better than that.

Directed by David Gordon Green.

SPARTAN, 2004

Val Kilmer has really let himself go since playing this secret agent who searches for a kidnapped Veronica Mars (good thing she's cute) as the body count mounts around him.

Directed by David Mamet.

THE PAPER CHASE, 1973

Not really about paper. No big chase scene. But lots of drama about, um, law school.

Directed by James Bridges.

CITY LIGHTS, 1931

One of the saddest comedies. One of the best movies.

Directed by Charlie Chaplin.

FLOWER OF EVIL, 2003

Secrets wrapped in lies sprinkled with scandal tied with ambition served with a side of murder and topped with a smile.

Directed by Claude Chabrol.

THE BIG HEAT, 1953

A bomb and a pot of coffee serve as motivation in this oddly misogynistic gangster cop noir where being a woman around the hero seems to be the kiss of death.

Directed by Fritz Lang.

SWIMMING POOL, 2003

What do you get when you cross an uptight British writer with a teenage French sexpot? A little inspiration and a lot of casual toplessness.

Directed by Francois Ozon.

STEAMBOAT BILL, JR., 1928

The plot doesn't even matter. I get the same flutters in my stomach watching Buster Keaton do one of the most thrilling stunts captured on film as I do watching sharp shooters fling arrows at Toshiro Mifune.

Directed by Buster Keaton.

BEDAZZLED, 1967

If Faust and Arthur got together at a swingin' love-in ...

Directed by Stanley Donen.

THE LADY EVE, 1941

Barbara Stanwyck plays in one of the best poker scenes in the movies, as she tries to rescue the man she loves from the other man she loves.

Directed by Preston Sturges.

HEIST, 2001

Rebecca Pigeon is cast yet again as the sexy female lead. And yet, compared to Lindsay Crouse ...

Directed by David Mamet.

INSOMNIA, 1997

The first-time director did such a great job. Now, let's round up Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Academy-Award winner Hilary Swank and set the movie in Alaska so we can get rid of those pesky subtitles. Now you're talkin'!

Directed by Erik Skjoldbaerg.

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, 1988

He's furry, lives in the woods behind the house, has giant teeth and is big enough to eat the children. But don't worry; he's friendly.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI, 1998

Not exactly Bogart and Bacall, but it's roughly the same Philip Marlowe story on pot and with rockin' supporting players.

Directed by Joel Coen.

ANATOMY OF A MURDER, 1959

A tale of rape, murder, courtroom theatrics and panties in Ishpeming, Michigan.

Directed by Otto Preminger.

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, 1946

The title has almost nothing to do with the movie, and the title character is the most boring character in the film. But I suppose "My Darling Wyatt" doesn't have the same ring to it.

Directed by John Ford.

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, 1944

Humphrey Bogart, in an exotic locale with a bar and a pianist, smokes a lot and eventually joins the Free French against the Vichy government with a beautiful woman in tow. A completely original plot!

Directed by Howard Hawks.

VELVET GOLDMINE, 1998

On the plus side: A bombastic Ewan McGregor and a killer soundtrack. On the negatory side: Christian Bale's hair and a limp Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Directed by Todd Haynes.

THE PLAYER, 1992

A Hollywood story about a Hollywood executive who gets caught up in a Hollywood plot of blackmail and murder. And, of course, it has a Hollywood ending.

Directed by Robert Altman.

LA NOTTE, 1961

Perhaps not a typical overlooked movie, but we won't be getting more of these meandering films of callous disconnect as Antonioni died yesterday.

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

THE SEVENTH SEAL, 1957

A Crusader looking to stave off death challenges the grim reaper to a board game.

Directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Gone Free Range

I'm headed to the best film festival this side of the St. Louis River. Back in a few days.

BROKEN BLOSSOMS, 1919

One part poetic performance, one part heart-breaking story, one part casual racism.

Directed by D.W. Griffith.

INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS, 2004

A film crew follows documentarian Werner Herzog as he sets out on Loch Ness in search of the famous monster. Tension mounts as his Hollywood-minded producer tries to make the documentary sexier and action-packed.

Directed by Zak Penn.

NOTORIOUS, 1946

Sebastian is the ringleader of a nefarious group of Nazis, but he doesn't notice his wife is a spy for the Yanks. Maybe Mommy will figure it out.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

GOOD MORNING, 1957

It's not often you find a bona fide classic film with fart jokes.

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu.

THE SPANISH PRISONER, 1997

How many cons in this movie? Are you sure? Really?

Directed by David Mamet.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, 1968

Henry Fonda is as good as the bad guy as Charles Bronson is bad as the good guy.

Directed by Sergio Leone.

M, 1931

I don't know which is scarier, the child killer or the folks who go after him.

Directed by Fritz Lang.

MILLER'S CROSSING, 1990

Johnny's sick of the high hat. So he makes a play at a rival gangster, whose henchman ain't no schnook.

Directed by Joel Coen.

TROUBLESOME CREEK: A MIDWESTERN, 1995

What could be more fun than a film about how the 1980s farm crisis forced this elderly couple to auction off all their belongings in the snow just so they could try to keep the bank from foreclosing on their land?

Directed by Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan.

THE ILLUSIONIST, 2006

The second best magic-themed movie from last year. And Rufas Sewell is terribly mustachioed.

Directed by Neil Burger.

DARK CITY, 1998

Waaaaaay better than the Matrix, Mr. Book. And Rufus Sewell is NOT terribly mustachioed.

Directed by Alex Proyas.

BOB LE FLAMBEUR, 1956

Have you ever been so involved in what your doing that you lose track of time? Have you ever done that in the middle of a heist that you so very carefully planned?

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE, 1932

This is what happens when your mark is a bit of a flirt and your partner-in-crime is a bit jealous.

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

WALKABOUT, 1971

Two stranded kids' trek through the wilderness is interrupted by an Aborigine boy and Jenny Agutter's nude swim.

Directed by Nick Roeg.

PETULIA, 1968

Petulia is married to Richard Chamberlain. So why's it so hard to have an affair with George C. Scott?

Directed by Richard Lester.