The Blues Brothers among cinema’s best cult classics
Under-appreciated classics, oddball comedies and indie gems. From Aussie classic like Mad Max to prison drama The Shawshank Redemption, we rank the best cult movies of all time. SEE IF YOUR FAVOURITE MADE THE LIST
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It was the movie that almost never was — with a blown-out budget and an out-of-control drug-addicted star, there’s nothing quite like The Blues Brothers and never will be again.
The brainchild of Saturday Night Live’s Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi — then a big movie star thanks to Animal House — their vision of a musical road movie, which opened on June 20, 1980, was a litany of disasters.
It had a crazy, rambling plot and blew its $US17.5 million budget by $10 million, only to receive a limited release because, incredibly, distributors viewed it as a “black movie” thanks to its musical stars including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway and John Lee Hooker. The Washington Post called it “a ponderous comic monstrosity”.
But it turns out everybody did need somebody to love — the film took $US176 million worldwide with Dan Aykroyd calculating it has probably earned the studio $US 700 million over the decades.
“We could never foresee this,” he later said of the movie’s enduring legacy.
“We just wanted to make the best film we could, have some fun and work with some people we revered.”
In its immortal words: “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank, half pack of cigarettes, it’s dark out, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.”
Watch it on: Binge
OTHER CULT CLASSICS
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The ultimate cult movie, this show goes on and on and on.
When the movie starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Richard O’Brien was first released in 1975 it was ignored, but became a cult favourite at one cinema in New York, when fans began reciting the lines along with the movie and haven’t stopped since. Almost like a Time Warp.
Watch it on: YouTube
The Castle
The 1997 comedy starring Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry and Eric Bana was filmed in 11 days on a budget of $750,000, which it turned into over $10 million at the Australian box office alone. The story of the Kerrigan family’s fight to keep their home entered the Australian lexicon and has stayed there ever since. “How’s the serenity.”
Watch it on: Google Play
Clerks
The 1994 movie about convenience store assistants was the ultimate low-budget hit — wannabe writer and director Kevin Smith made it for $39,000 and turned it into $4.5 million at the box office. It’s low action, high dialogue, including classics like, “This job would be great if it wasn’t for the f … ing customers”.
Watch it on: Stan
Withnail & I
The 1987 black comedy starring Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann and Richard Griffiths where two 1960s struggling actors “go on holiday by mistake,” was a box-office flop, despite now being viewed as one of the best British comedies ever made.
Watch it on: SBS On Demand
Mad Max
Back in 1979, this low-budget dystopian movie split opinion — Stephen King called it a “turkey”. But George Miller’s action-packed movie with Mel Gibson went the distance, spawning two sequels and a 2015 reboot starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron that grossed $545 million worldwide and won six Oscars.
Watch it on: Foxtel Go
A Clockwork Orange
Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 futuristic movie starring Malcolm McDowell shocked audiences at the time with its depiction of rape and violence, but scored four Oscar nominations and became an art house favourite.
Watch it on: You Tube
The Warriors
This 1979 flick might be a sanitised version of the real gangs of New York, but its story about one gang’s desperate journey across the city is perfect storytelling. It was a hit on release, earning the studio five and a half times its $6 million budget — and still stands the test of time. “Warriors, come out to play!”
Watch it on: YouTube
The Shawshank Redemption
It regularly tops the best movies ever made lists, so it’s incredible to think that 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman only just managed to break even after being re-released following Oscar nominations.
Watch it on: Binge
Repo Man
Starring Emilio Estevez as a young guy working with a car repossession agency, this 1984 quirky movie was a box-office flop, but its edited-for-TV version elevated it to cult status, thanks to comedy swearing like “flip you, melon farmer”.
Watch it on: Google Play
Once Were Warriors
Another little film with a big impact — Lee Tamahori’s 1994 depiction of a Maori family ripped apart by violence was masterfully delivered by Temuera Morrison’s Jake the Muss and Rena Owen as his wife Beth. Although it did modestly, David Stratton called the movie “astonishing” and it is still seen as one of the best Kiwi movies of all time.
Watch it on: Google Play
The Princess Bride
This unlikely 1987 comedy, starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon and Robin Wright, was a modest success on release, but went on to sell millions of DVDs and downloads. All together: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Watch it on: YouTube
The Big Lebowski
Endlessly quotable, the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, starring among others, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi and David Huddleston, did well at the box office in 1998 but became such a cult favourite it even spawned an annual Lebowski Fest.
Watch it on: Binge
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The first movie created by the Monty Python team in 1975 couldn’t get financing so they raised the money for the King Arthur quest from rock stars including Elton John, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. It turned out to be a shrewd investment: it became one of the funniest comedies ever made.
Watch it on: Netflix