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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: Fiery Winds on February 27, 2013, 04:52:38 PM
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For some reason, the intro to a movie popped into my head from my childhood, and it's killing me that I don't remember the movie. Help me figure it out!
Here's what I know:
- I owned it on VHS, so probably 1990 or earlier.
- Intro scene starts in the middle of nowhere, sun shining bright and hot
- Camera is low on the ground, and you can the ripples of heat off the road/dirt (don't remember if there was a road).
- A man rises out of the heat ripples as he walks closer to the camera from a long ways off, getting taller.
I don't remember anything else past that point, and I may have mis-remembered; I haven't seen this in over 20 years.
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Could be anything :S
All I can think of is Raising Arizona.
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Damn dude...do you really expect an answer from that description? :lol I mean, I'd like to help but there's no way I could pinpoint a movie from that unbelievably vague description... I'm going to stick around to see if there will be an answer cause I will be absolutely floored if someone finds it out.
Definitely update as you remember things cause...that's a doozy.
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Could be anything :S
All I can think of is Raising Arizona.
Nope. :(
I think it was right at the beginning of the movie, and showed the intro credits as he walked closer and closer. It was a fairly long shot (2 minutes or so).
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Could it be The Road Warrior or Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome?
Check Road Warrior intro narration on YouTube. I'd post a link but I'm on my phone.
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.......patiently waiting to see if I was right........don't mind me......
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I watched it and it was pretty close ( road warrior )
Let's see ! :p
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Nope! It was definitely close, but too much action in it. Imagine you have a camera on the ground pointed towards someone half a mile (km) away. The ripples from the heat make it hard to see anyone at first, but slowly a figure emerges. He gets closer and closer, rising higher out of the ground. If I recall correctly, music was playing in the background as he walked. Gah, this has been irritating me for years, and I can't figure it out!!!
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There is a famous scene from Lawrence of Arabia like that, but Omar Sharif is on a camel, and it is a few scenes in to the movie. Don't recall if music is playing.
A fun thread. /bookmarks
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Yeah, not that either. And when I say "desert", I don't mean sand dunes, but more of a flat tundra. Like Arizona (but not Raising Arizona). ;)
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Did 'Maverick' start like that? I can't recall but I know at one point he was cast out and left for dead.....I don't know for sure...
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Well, we can try to narrow this down in a number of ways:
1) Was this a purchased movie or something you taped yourself?
2) What types of movies do you typically prefer?
3) How old were you at the time?
The amount and types of movies released on VHS (particularly those you would purchase) seem to lead in the direction of a bigger studio movie. Some of the smaller movies (less well-known) wouldn't lend themselves to private ownership, particularly because they were expensive back then. Your age at the time and genre of your preferred movies could also help.
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Well, it was so long ago that I was probably 8 at the oldest (probably younger though). That puts it at 94 at the very latest. Don't remember if the cassette had a box or not, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't taped. I honestly don't remember anything else about the movie other than the intro. :-\
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What type of movies did you or those who may have taped it prefer?
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You can't think who was in it or what genre the movie is. Could be something with Jean Claude or Chuck Norris or something?
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I tried searching for it, but this is like finding a needle in a hay stack with what clues I'm given.
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I agree. "Help me help you"!!!
Knowing the preferred genres of whoever may have taped it might help to eliminate some possibilities. I doubt that someone who is not a big fan of comedies would take the time to record Raising Arizona, so this is a necessary element.
Are you certain it was a paved road? Heat waves and desolation certainly imply a desert or similar type setting. If it was paved, that eliminates Westerns unless you consider the few parts of Young Guns II that took place in modern times. Are you certain it was the beginning of the movie?
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I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'll never figure it out. This was a last ditch attempt since all my other attempts at searching have failed. It could have been a western, a family friendly film, or sci fi.
I can't confirm whether there was a road or not. It would probably have to be rated G or PG (but not ruling out PG-13). I'm almost sure it was at the beginning of the movie, since it was such a long shot.
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I can't think of anything specific, but I think this kind of shot is pretty common. Almost any time someone gets stuck in an Arizona or Nevada type desert in a film there's a shot like what you describe. That's going to make it harder to find this specific movie, because we only have a description of a shot that has probably been used, with slight variation or none, in dozens of movies.
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You're killing me. Don't ask for help then admit defeat. GENRES DAMMIT!!!
In 1994, people didn't just go around willy nilly recording anything and everything that was on TV. If someone took the time to record it, it was probably something of considerable interest. Did you live at home with mom and dad and 1.5 siblings? What kinds of movies did they like? Midget porn? Period dramas with werewolves? How in the hell are we supposed to help if we have to extract data piece by piece.
Me. 42 years old (22 in 1994). I like(d) horror and sci-fi as did my step-father...the only other one who, likely, would have recorded something. No westerns. No crime dramas. No musicals. Aside from martial arts movies, I only recorded TV shows or blockbuster, big-budget movies. So, if I was performing a similar search for a movie from my own past, that is where I would start. I can't speak for the others in this thread, but I have a ridiculous memory for movies, so finding this needle in a haystack is not necessarily impossible. But good God man, throw me a freakin bone.
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Haha, I really do appreciate the help!
1994 is the latest, which makes me 8, my sister 9, my younger brother 2. If it was taped (possible), then it was probably something for my sister and/or I, or my parents. Probably the latter, if the reason why I don't remember the rest is because I pulled out the blank cassette and said, "wrong movie".
Genre wise, it could have been a western, period drama, action, or family (emphasizing conservative values). Now that I think about it, it may have been a kid walking, not a grown man. Whoa, that realization hit me like a ton of bricks! Major nostalgia moment.
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Okay, so we have basically eliminated horror. Where do you live? I was thinking it could be something like Walkabout, which is Australian and is fairly well-known, but I just watched the beginning and it doesn't fit the bill. Were there credits onscreen? Are you certain it was the beginning of the movie?
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I'm in California. Not certain about credits, and since it was VHS, not 100% certain it was at the beginning, but mostly sure.
The colors in this photo are the closest I could find to what I remember, though the terrain and camera angle aren't right. Not a lot of detail in the shot, very unfocused, with the ground, sky, and kid being the only objects of note. That could also be my poor memory!
(https://libraryroadtrip.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/desert-rainbow-az.jpg?w=487)
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I know this is a longshot, but could it be this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaWuXHMrwXo
This was a well-known TV intro. I know its not a kid, but its the first thing that came to mind earlier today. I'm still searching....
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Nope, not quite. Not as dark, and if there were credits, they wouldn't be as flashy.
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Ok. It was worth a shot.
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Perhaps High Plains Drifter?
I'm pretty sure the movie starts like that, but he is on a horse, not walking.
I tried searching for a video of it but couldn't find anything on YouTube.
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once we finally figure out Fiery's movie, I've got one loaded up. It is also one that has been bugging me for years.
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Is it My Own Private Idaho?
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once we finally figure out Fiery's movie, I've got one loaded up. It is also one that has been bugging me for years.
Well throw it in the mix and let's have a go. I'm stumped at the moment.
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this being Fiery's thread, I'll let him make the call on if he wants to move on to mine or not.
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Have at it!
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It might be Hardware from 1990 directed by Richard Stanley.
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Ok, so here are some things I remember about my movie:
- The genre would be mostly psychological thriller, bordering on horror, but definitely not gory (that I can remember)
- It definitely seems like a B-movie, my guess is that I saw it on USA Up All Night, but that is just a guess
- The cars/clothes/hairstyles lead me to believe it was from the 70's or maybe early 80's
- What I remember about the story: It was about a teacher and his wife (I think she was either pregnant or they had a young child) moving to a new city where he finds a teaching job at a local high school. He starts seeing that there is something sinister going on with the students (they are evil) and he is very paranoid about them. Eventually he feels his family is threatened and at one point in the movie someone is pushed from the top of a building - I don't know if it was the teacher, his wife, or it could have been the teacher pushing one of the students.
- The actor that played the teacher is someone that I've seen before in other movies. To me he looks a bit like Richard Chamberlain with a beard:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Richard_Chamberlain_DF-ST-83-03559.jpg/220px-Richard_Chamberlain_DF-ST-83-03559.jpg)
He had a similar hairstyle in the movie and a full beard just like Chamberlain's.
If we can't figure it out by the story/description, I think our best bet is to figure out who the actor is and see if we can come up with a list of his movies from IMDB.
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Hmmm...first actor i thought of from that era who typically had a beard was James Brolin, but it doesn't seem to be him.
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Ok, so here are some things I remember about my movie:
- The genre would be mostly psychological thriller, bordering on horror, but definitely not gory (that I can remember)
- It definitely seems like a B-movie, my guess is that I saw it on USA Up All Night, but that is just a guess
- The cars/clothes/hairstyles lead me to believe it was from the 70's or maybe early 80's
- What I remember about the story: It was about a teacher and his wife (I think she was either pregnant or they had a young child) moving to a new city where he finds a teaching job at a local high school. He starts seeing that there is something sinister going on with the students (they are evil) and he is very paranoid about them. Eventually he feels his family is threatened and at one point in the movie someone is pushed from the top of a building - I don't know if it was the teacher, his wife, or it could have been the teacher pushing one of the students.
- The actor that played the teacher is someone that I've seen before in other movies. To me he looks a bit like Richard Chamberlain with a beard:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Richard_Chamberlain_DF-ST-83-03559.jpg/220px-Richard_Chamberlain_DF-ST-83-03559.jpg)
He had a similar hairstyle in the movie and a full beard just like Chamberlain's.
If we can't figure it out by the story/description, I think our best bet is to figure out who the actor is and see if we can come up with a list of his movies from IMDB.
Village of the Damned?
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Ok, so here are some things I remember about my movie:
- The genre would be mostly psychological thriller, bordering on horror, but definitely not gory (that I can remember)
- It definitely seems like a B-movie, my guess is that I saw it on USA Up All Night, but that is just a guess
- The cars/clothes/hairstyles lead me to believe it was from the 70's or maybe early 80's
- What I remember about the story: It was about a teacher and his wife (I think she was either pregnant or they had a young child) moving to a new city where he finds a teaching job at a local high school. He starts seeing that there is something sinister going on with the students (they are evil) and he is very paranoid about them. Eventually he feels his family is threatened and at one point in the movie someone is pushed from the top of a building - I don't know if it was the teacher, his wife, or it could have been the teacher pushing one of the students.
- The actor that played the teacher is someone that I've seen before in other movies. To me he looks a bit like Richard Chamberlain with a beard:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Richard_Chamberlain_DF-ST-83-03559.jpg/220px-Richard_Chamberlain_DF-ST-83-03559.jpg)
He had a similar hairstyle in the movie and a full beard just like Chamberlain's.
If we can't figure it out by the story/description, I think our best bet is to figure out who the actor is and see if we can come up with a list of his movies from IMDB.
Raising Arizona ?
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Hmmm...first actor i thought of from that era who typically had a beard was James Brolin, but it doesn't seem to be him.
yeah, definitely not Brolin.
Village of the Damned?
not it. There were no sci-fi or possession type elements that I remember.
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Children of the Corn?
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I was thinking of The Brood
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Children of the Corn?
would have remembered that. It's definitely more of a B-movie, much less well known.
I was thinking of The Brood
nope. Still thinking too much sci-fi/horror. The high school kids weren't possessed (that I can remember), they were just evil assholes to this guy. It was more on the psychological thriller side.
Raising Arizona ?
Well no...
unless round is funny.
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I found a list of all the movies from Up All Night but couldn't find a movie that fits your description. I know you said it was possibly shown there but not definitely.
https://usaupallnight.blogspot.com/2011/06/coming-soon-usa-up-all-night-movie-list.html?m=1
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Children of the Corn?
Speaking of which: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixA1i34hOg
:2metal:
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Girls gone Wild?
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USA Up All Night - holy shit!
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any other ideas? Anybody have any idea who the actor might be? It seems like I've seen him in a few of these types of b-movies.
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I was thinking the actor could be Tom Skerritt.
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not him. honestly, I don't even know if the guy I'm thinking of is still acting or not. I doubt it. At least not in major motion pictures. Maybe in Hallmark or Lifetime type TV movies.
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Village of the Damned?
not it. There were no sci-fi or possession type elements that I remember.
That's odd because it sounds exactly like Village of the Damned. Not trying to tell you you're wrong but literally everything you said happens in that movie.
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I assume you are speaking of this version? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_the_Damned_(1960_film)
My movie wasn't black and white. The start of my movie might as well have been Mr Holland's Opus - meaning there were no mysterious things happening. It was just a young family moving to a new area and the guy gets a job at a high school.
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Well, a lot of horror movies start that way... but Village of the Damned kids were younger than high school, guys.
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I assume you are speaking of this version? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_the_Damned_(1960_film)
My movie wasn't black and white. The start of my movie might as well have been Mr Holland's Opus - meaning there were no mysterious things happening. It was just a young family moving to a new area and the guy gets a job at a high school.
No, I'm talking about the remake by John Carpenter in 1995. I missed the part where you said the main character (teacher) had a beard because Christopher Reeve doesn't have a beard in Village of the Damned. He did kind of look like Chamberlain without a beard at the time and even had a relatively similar hairstyle. The film you describe is just oddly similar to VoTD, I'm a huge horror movie fan and I don't know of too many movies that start off almost exactly that way (minus the high school part, which I figured could have been not entirely accurate since you are asking us to help you figure out what the film is) :lol There's even a guy that climbs up a roof and jumps off of it in the film. But yeah, I guess I didn't read too closely because he doesn't actually get pushed off, he is possessed by the kids and jumps off himself.
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ha, yeah definitely not that one. My movie is pretty firmly in the 70's era, maybe early 80's. The protagonist was definitely a teacher of older kids.
One of these days I'm going to figure out what that blasted movie was. It has been bugging me for years!
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_films_of_the_1970s
Try this. It's a pretty extensive list.
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thanks, I'll troll through it here and there. I just wonder if it would be included at all since I would consider it to only border on horror.
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I looked at the movies between 78-81 but couldn't find anything. There is also a chance that you are talking about a Made for TV movie, which could make it harder to pin down.
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yeah, that's a definite possibility. Although from what I remember it was fairly "cinematic" and "film-like".
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The films description sounds like "Sometimes They Come Back". But it wasn't released until 1991.
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yeah, sorta similar I guess, but the teacher wasn't going back to his hometown or anything like that. It was also a very understated movie - no signs of supernatural stuff that I can remember.
Also, Otter was definitely not in it. :)
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Never figured it out, eh?
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heck no. I went through pretty much every movie in the 70s and early 80s from the list tapsmiled posted from wikipedia and even looked up most of the leading actors but nothing looked like it or him. I also looke dat the list of psychological thrillers and none of those were it.
I'm thinking I might try sending a note to somebody like Chris Gore to see if he knew what I was talking about.
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From time to time I've revisited this, and I'm at a loss on both accounts. Quite frankly, I'm useless.
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Ok, so here are some things I remember about my movie:
- The genre would be mostly psychological thriller, bordering on horror, but definitely not gory (that I can remember)
- It definitely seems like a B-movie, my guess is that I saw it on USA Up All Night, but that is just a guess
- The cars/clothes/hairstyles lead me to believe it was from the 70's or maybe early 80's
- What I remember about the story: It was about a teacher and his wife (I think she was either pregnant or they had a young child) moving to a new city where he finds a teaching job at a local high school. He starts seeing that there is something sinister going on with the students (they are evil) and he is very paranoid about them. Eventually he feels his family is threatened and at one point in the movie someone is pushed from the top of a building - I don't know if it was the teacher, his wife, or it could have been the teacher pushing one of the students.
- The actor that played the teacher is someone that I've seen before in other movies. To me he looks a bit like Richard Chamberlain with a beard:
He had a similar hairstyle in the movie and a full beard just like Chamberlain's.
If we can't figure it out by the story/description, I think our best bet is to figure out who the actor is and see if we can come up with a list of his movies from IMDB.
so uh, 4 years later and . . . I found it!!
The movie is Class of 1984, released in 1982.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tlM1gvzOsk
Ok so it wasn't a full beard but Perry King with that beard bears a passing resemblance to bearded Chamberlain.
I had no memory of Roddy McDowall and Michael J Fox (in his second movie role) being in this film.
Alice Cooper's song "I Am the Future" plays during the movie intro so I probably should have just asked TAC and he would have known the movie right off the bat.
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And the DTF.org Tenaciousness award goes to you Big Hath!
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heh, you have no idea. I've been trying to find out what that movie was on and off for the past 20 years or so.
Tried another run at it yesterday and one of my google combinations was something like "thriller new teacher terrorized by students pregnant wife" and it was about 4 links down the page. I know I've tried a search on those words or very similar combination to that before. Guess I got lucky this time.
My description of the movie actually isn't too far off now that I'm reading about it. It's kind of amazing that I remembered that much of a movie I've only seen one time probably 25 or 30 years ago.
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Have had trouble remembering a movie for some time now and suddenly remembered this thread. Thought I'd ask and see if anyone here knows it.
The movie is about some people trying to make some alien invasion movie, but they couldn't get the studio backing or something. So they decide to shoot it in secret. They also use a famous black actor for their leading role but they shoot all his scenes without him knowing that he's in a movie so he ends up thinking some weird shit is actually happening.
I think it ends with him agreeing to be in the movie and the fake movie ending with him having to stand on some tall building and scream something like "GO HOME, SUCKERS!".
Been trying to locate this movie for ages now but with no luck.
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Have had trouble remembering a movie for some time now and suddenly remembered this thread. Thought I'd ask and see if anyone here knows it.
The movie is about some people trying to make some alien invasion movie, but they couldn't get the studio backing or something. So they decide to shoot it in secret. They also use a famous black actor for their leading role but they shoot all his scenes without him knowing that he's in a movie so he ends up thinking some weird shit is actually happening.
I think it ends with him agreeing to be in the movie and the fake movie ending with him having to stand on some tall building and scream something like "GO HOME, SUCKERS!".
Been trying to locate this movie for ages now but with no luck.
Bowfinger.
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Hahah yeah there it is. Thanks, mate.
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Well, since there's this thread, let's see if someone remembers a movie, maybe it sucked but the premise sounded nice and I wanted to try and see it wholly.
I don't remember the protagonist - if I did, I would browse through his filmography on IMDB. He's an almost middle aged, good looking dude, the kind you have seen here and there but you can't pinpoint his exact roles. A Pierce Brosnan kind of dude, a little tiny bit past his prime but not old yet.
The movie is about this guy taking a train and travelling back in time once he enters a gallery, he find himself in a '800 village, I've seen just the beginning so I don't know how it goes on, but at the beginning he finds this time travelling gallery by accident and he's intrigued and keeps coming back.
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249517/ ?
That's from Googling, so I have no idea if that's even close.
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249517/ ?
That's from Googling, so I have no idea if that's even close.
That has to be it^^^. Funny thing is when I read the posted question I was thinking Twilight Zone.
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For some reason, the intro to a movie popped into my head from my childhood, and it's killing me that I don't remember the movie. Help me figure it out!
Here's what I know:
- I owned it on VHS, so probably 1990 or earlier.
- Intro scene starts in the middle of nowhere, sun shining bright and hot
- Camera is low on the ground, and you can the ripples of heat off the road/dirt (don't remember if there was a road).
- A man rises out of the heat ripples as he walks closer to the camera from a long ways off, getting taller.
I don't remember anything else past that point, and I may have mis-remembered; I haven't seen this in over 20 years.
The first movie that came to mind was Phoenix with Ray Liotta, but that came out in 1998. During the opening credits there's a scene of a blazing sun and then it opens with the camera low on the ground but it's the four of the guys looking at something. Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef0c6jc0-GE
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249517/ ?
That's from Googling, so I have no idea if that's even close.
That's it! I remember Mark Harmon now that I see him.
Thanks a lot! :tup