10 More Under-the-Radar Picks for Christian Movie Lovers
The Perfect Game; image courtesy of Image Entertainment from MovieStillsDB.com.
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Back in August, I recommended 12 under-the-radar movies for readers of Beautiful Christian Life. Since we’re still mostly stuck inside these days, here are 10 more picks from my recent book on under-the-radar titles, The Best Movies You Never Saw.
While only a few are overtly Christ-centered, they all embrace a biblical message, providing much to think about for viewers working to live out their faith in a secular age.
1. Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
Bang the Drum Slowly; image courtesy of Paramount Pictures from MovieStillsDB.com.
“Probably everybody’d be nice to you if they knew you were dying,” says second-rate catcher Bruce Pearson, who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
This terrific tale of baseball and terminal illness beautifully bears out that truth. Goaded on by his friend, pitcher Henry Wiggen, Pearson’s teammates decide to take this dim-witted slob under their wing. This is quite a change for them, as most never cared for the catcher and teased him unmercifully.
Unlike many films in the terminal-illness genre, this low-key gem avoids sentimentality or manipulation. There isn’t a false note anywhere, with terrific work from Michael Moriarty as Wiggen, Robert De Niro as Pearson, and an Oscar-nominated Vincent Gardenia as the exasperated coach. Mark Harris adapted the script from his own cult-fave novel, laying out a lesson in loving the unlovable.
“Not a bad ball player,” says Wiggen near the end, “when they gave him a chance. When they laid off him long enough. …
“From here on in, I rag nobody.”
98 min. Rated PG for language and guys changing in the locker-room. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
2. Belle (2013)
Belle; image courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures from MovieStillsDB.com.
Belle tells the incredible true story of England’s Dido Elizabeth Belle. The illegitimate daughter of an African slave and an 18th-century British admiral, she was raised a free gentlewoman in the upper-class household of her uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield. Later, as England’s Lord Chief Justice, Murray presided over a notorious court case involving slavery.
Little is known about the actual woman, so the script throws in some added material on her upbringing. Nonetheless, Belle did have a white stepsister, and thus the moving story-strands about sibling rivalry and a portrait being painted are both true to life.
100 min. Rated PG for themes and language. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
3. Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018)
One final hard-to-believe true story: Stubby was a New Haven street dog who befriended a group of troops preparing for the First World War. One soldier took a real shine to the terrier and smuggled him off to Europe on the troop ship—whereupon Stubby not only became a sort of combat mascot but also learned to locate wounded men and sniff out gas attacks. At one point, he even nabbed a dangerous German scout.
This low-key animated gem never pushes the sentiment, refusing to over-humanize the dog and sticking generally to facts: Yes, Stubby was actually promoted to sergeant and received a medal—along with doggy-shaped gasmasks made by grateful French civilians. He even learned how to salute!
84 min. Rated PG for war scenes. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
4. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; image courtesy of 20th Century Fox from MovieStillsDB.com.
Kind of a spiritual successor to John Huston’s 1951 masterpiece The African Queen, this later Huston opus features Deborah Kerr as a nun stranded on an island with a U.S. Marine during World War II.
When Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum) washes ashore on a life-raft, he finds the place abandoned—except for Sister Angela, who is likewise marooned. Since there’s plenty of food, things seem hopeful for the unlikely pair—until several Japanese troops move in.
Both romance and action are notably restrained, with the script instead highlighting parallels between becoming a Marine and becoming a Catholic nun. Each lead has a code of honor she or he must obey, and whether Angela can renounce her forthcoming vows for the smitten soldier remains an open question right up to the end.
Filmed on Trinidad and Tobago in handsome CinemaScope, Heaven is a thoughtful, nuanced study of two decent but different people serving, growing, admitting their flaws, and maintaining their dignity in circumstances far from ideal.
107 min. Not rated; very family friendly. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
5. The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
The Peanut Butter Falcon; image courtesy of Roadside Attractions from MovieStillsDB.com.
Though it was something of a comeback for up-and-down actor Shia LaBeouf, this comical and heartfelt film belongs to co-star Zach Gottshagen, who was diagnosed with Down Syndrome as a baby.
Fittingly, Gottshagen plays a 22-year-old with Down syndrome who flees his ill-suited confinement at a retirement home and heads off to a training school for professional wrestlers. Somewhat vulnerable since he left in only his tighty-whities, the resolute Zak hooks up with Tyler (LaBeouf), a young refugee who agrees to get him to his goal.
Falcon is a feel-good road movie, adding in a bit of religion; a bit more romance in the form of a staffer who comes after Zak; and various goofball adventures, including plenty of inspiring camaraderie and a good deal of healing for LaBeouf’s troubled hero. Co-starring Dakota Johnson, Thomas Haden Church and Bruce Dern.
93 min. Rated PG-13 for language and drinking. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
6. Ikiru (1952)
Japanese director Akira Kurosawa is best known for Rashomon and The Seven Samurai—but some regard this as his best, and I’m not inclined to argue.
It’s the deeply moving story of a Tokyo bureaucrat who learns he has a terminal illness and suddenly reevaluates everything he’s lived for.
In the course of the story, the stiff workaholic Watanabe will abandon his desk to seek other avenues of fulfillment—perhaps a profligate night of wine, women and song? Or maybe work on his nonexistent relationship with his son? How about spending time with an exuberant young lady, in hopes that her zest and zeal will rub off?
None of that works, and eventually Watanabe will find his purpose in a rather unexpected way—and a thoroughly selfless one as well. Through all this, it’s clear that the deadly illness has somehow awakened him to what he’s been missing. As one character puts it, “We only realize how beautiful life is when we stumble upon death.”
Most terminal-illness tales end with the protagonist’s death; but when that happens here, there’s still nearly 50 minutes of run-time left—allowing Kurosawa to highlight Watanabe’s legacy, while also skewering the hypocrisy of so-called “public servants” who want credit for other people’s work.
Though Ikiru is long and slow, it is never boring, thanks to evocative symbolism and wonderful performances—especially Takashi Shimura in the lead. His yearning, shell-shocked visage, like some iconic image from a great silent movie, will haunt you long after this tale is done.
143 min. Not rated; some strong language. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
7. The Perfect Game (2010)
The Perfect Game; image courtesy of Image Entertainment from MovieStillsDB.com.
Focused on the only perfect game ever pitched in the Little League World Series (1957), this is yet another winning sports-underdog movie based on a true story. Set mostly in Mexico, where its scrappy underdogs originated, Perfect Game boasts plenty of laughs, a little romance, a great Bill Conti score (he did Rocky), and a solid cast including Clifton Collins Jr. and Cheech Marin. The latter really shines in the unlikely role of a Mexican priest!
118 min. Rated PG; very family friendly. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
8. Sunrise (1927)
Sunrise; image courtesy of Fox Film Corporation from MovieStillsDB.com.
German film pioneer F. W. Murnau can feel awfully slow to contemporary audiences. And, indeed, this deeply moving tale with a rural husband temporarily lured away from his wife by a seductive vamp, does take a while to get moving. But if you can give Murnau about 45 minutes, you’ll be astounded how much emotional power the story accumulates—especially in its furious storm-at-sea climax. It’s also very funny and romantic! Note especially how the chastened husband does eventually get all the joys the seductress promised—but in a much more lasting and legitimate fashion.
Considered by some the greatest product of the silent era, Sunrise stars Janet Gaynor, who successfully transitioned to sound with the first version of A Star Is Born (1937).
94 min. Not rated. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
9. The Tenth Man (1988)
Despite a massive and successful career in a huge array of roles, I still think this early made-for-TV movie is Anthony Hopkins’s best performance.
In a script based on an unused film-proposal by the great Catholic novelist Graham Greene, the story is set in occupied France during World War II. Hopkins plays Jean-Louis Chavel, a pampered lawyer who is randomly rounded up and kept in prison, where he and several others can be retributively executed whenever the French Resistance tries to sabotage the Nazis. One night, after a lethal round of violence in the city, Chavel is chosen to be shot in the morning; but in a fit of cowardice, he convinces a young man to take his place—in exchange for leaving everything Chavel owns to the lad’s mother and sister.
After the Allied liberation three years later, the penniless Chavel, having heartlessly bought his own life, wanders aimlessly for a time and finally winds up at his own former estate. Keeping his identity a secret, he hires on as a live-in handyman—only to find that his victim’s desolated sister has been waiting for Chavel to return so she can kill him.
And this is only the first half of the movie!
Greene’s gripping plot features a sensational late-in-the-film twist you will never see coming; the whole thing is utterly enthralling. Its bravura cast includes Kristin Scott Thomas and Derek Jacobi.
For a long time impossible to see, this little-known masterpiece recently became available for streaming at Amazon.
100 min. Not rated; some bloodshed. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
10. Overcomer (2019)
Overcomer; image courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing Affirm Films from MovieStillsDB.com.
Overcomer is the latest and best from the Kendrick brothers, whose faith-based indies tend to turn a hefty profit due to modest budgets and crowd-pleasing appeal.
Though sometimes too preachy, the film succeeds due to strong performances and a gripping sports climax that plays up the usual underdog motif—while throwing in one compelling extra tweak (hint: it has to do with earphones).
Young Aryn Wright-Thompson pretty much carries the film as a high-school runner who fights her way to victory despite bouts of asthma—with help from an aging hospital patient whom life seems to have tossed aside.
As of this writing, Rotten Tomatoes shows only 53 percent of nationwide critics liking this film—as opposed to 98 percent of regular viewers. You can count me among that 53 percent.
And the 98.
119 min. Rated PG; very family friendly. Currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
