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When people think of American cinema in the 1990s, it’s somewhat understandable they’d immediately leap for the big hitters: Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, The Shawshank Redemption, Titanic.
It was a decade stuffed with memorable titles, major box office hauls, and the indie boom fueled by Sundance and Miramax. But the decade’s cultural behemoths have sometimes overshadowed a rich selection of films that haven’t lingered in the mainstream conversation in the same way.
These are the movies that were either misunderstood, overlooked, or simply swamped by noisier competition at the time. Some were box office disappointments that deserved better; others were always destined for cult status. But all of them are very much worth revisiting, or discovering for the first time.
1. Internal Affairs (1990)
Richard Gere rarely gets enough credit as a villain, but he is superbly slimy in Internal Affairs, playing Dennis Peck, a corrupt LAPD officer whose slick exterior masks a rot that spreads far and wide. Andy Garcia, doing some of his best work, plays the righteous Internal Affairs agent who starts to unravel Peck’s criminal empire.
Director Mike Figgis (who went on to helm the Oscar winning Leaving Las Vegas in 1995) keeps the tension bubbling beneath the surface, allowing for a more psychological and insidious cop drama. It’s a film that exudes masculine insecurity, and the power dynamics shift with every scene, with Gere at the absolute top of his game.
It’s no surprise that The Departed (2006, itself a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong masterpiece Infernal Affairs) borrowed some of its tonal cues from Figgis’ film, Internal Affairs keeps you unbalanced all the way to the end.
2. Catchfire (1990)
Also known by its director’s pseudonym Alan Smithee (Dennis Hopper disowned the final cut), Catchfire is one of those notorious production disasters that hides a surprisingly compelling little noir inside. Jodie Foster plays Anne, an artist who witnesses a mafia hit and goes on the run, only to fall into the orbit of a mysterious recluse (Hopper) who may or may not be her salvation.
The film is rough around the edges, with a kind of erotic tension that feels very of its era, but Foster grounds it in something real, and there’s a fractured, offbeat energy to it that’s oddly compelling. Catchfire was understandably lost in the dust that was left by another Foster film, 1988’s gripping and harrowing The Accused; but despite its checkered history, Catchfire (especially in its longer director’s cut, ‘Backtrack’ which restores Hopper’s name to the credits) is well worth a look.
3. Alive (1993)
Based on the true story of the 1972 Andes plane crash, Alive didn’t exactly bomb, but it’s rarely talked about in the same breath as other survival films. Directed by Frank Marshall and featuring a young Ethan Hawke, it’s a harrowing tale of endurance, community, and of course, cannibalism.
There’s a reverence to Alive, a refusal to sensationalise the grislier aspects of the story. It’s a film about moral compromise and the instinct to live, and it handles its subject with irable restraint.
Marshall’s film feels especially forgotten in the wake of J.A. Bayona’s sensational portrayal of the same story in 2023’s Society of the Snow; but Alive offers us a bold and daring adaptation of what is truly one of the most astonishing tales of survival in human history, and despite the itted brilliance of Bayona’s film, Alive is a far better and more thoughtful film than it’s perhaps given credit for.
4. Kalifornia (1993)
Part road movie, part serial killer thriller, Kalifornia is an unnerving descent into America’s underbelly. David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes play a young couple touring famous murder sites for a book, only to pick up a hitchhiker (Brad Pitt) and his girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) who may embody the very material they’re trying to study.
Pitt is sensational as the charming, feral killer, and the film becomes a slow motion exercise in dread as the characters spiral toward inevitable disaster. Thematically it shares elements (and the presence of Lewis) with Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers which came a year later, but is a more serious affair; lacking a story written by Quentin Tarantino actually works in Kalifornia’s favour.
Dominic Sena’s film is gritty, disturbing, and full of dark irony, and although it made no sort of commercial splash on its release whatsoever, it holds up now as one of the most offbeat and effective thrillers of the ’90s.
5. Quiz Show (1994)
Robert Redford’s sharp, elegant drama about the 1950s quiz show scandal is one of the decade’s most intelligent films, and it has aged beautifully. Ralph Fiennes plays Charles Van Doren, a handsome, privileged intellectual who becomes the face of a rigged game show, while John Turturro is equally excellent as the more harsh, working-class contestant, who gets cast aside in favour of better ratings.
Quiz Show, as you might expect, deals with ethics, media manipulation, and the dangerous appeal of fame, all presented through a cinematic prism that doesn’t curtail to Oscar baiting scene stealing; although it was correctly nominated for Best Picture, losing in a crowded field that included Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption (all 1994).
Maybe that’s part of the reason that Quiz Show falls through the cracks somewhat when the subject of 90’s classics comes up, but don’t let that stop you giving it a watch if you haven’t already.