Unsurprisingly, this is against Major League Baseball rules (Picture: Cinemax / Everett / REX / Shutterstock)
If you’re looking for something to stream but have no desire to watch the latest two-star Netflix Original or rewatch something on iPlayer you’ve seen 150 times already, it’s time to delve deeper into the streaming pool…
Here are three recommendations for the best hidden gems that you need to swim around for before they jump out at you.
There’s a rough, tough revenge flick; a movie that legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino often cites as one of his favourite ever. Plus an elite neo-noir murder-mystery headed up by the incomparable Jack Nicholson.
But our first streaming recommendation is a shockingly underseen thriller series about a Vietnam vet getting drawn into a life of crime…
Quarry (2016), Apple TV+
It’s not a proper meal unless the wine’s wearing wicker trousers (Picture: Cinemax / Everett / REX / Shutterstock)
Television viewers have been spoilt for choice when it comes to prestige crime dramas to enjoy over the past decade. There’s been Hannibal, True Detective, Fargo, Narcos, City on a Hill, Better Call Saul, Mare of Easttown, Ozark, the list literally goes on and on and on (and on).
It’s almost impossible to have watched and enjoyed them all. Some will naturally have just escaped your attention. But to escape almost everyone’s attention? Well, now that’s just strange. What exactly happened with the undeniably excellent (but not recommissioned Quarry) is anyone’s guess…
Damon Herriman and Ann Dowd in a scene that proves how perfectly designed Quarry’s set and production were (Picture: Cinemax / Everett / REX / Shutterstock)
Alright, no one has to actually guess – we know the answer: viewing figures were initially quite poor, production costs were relatively high and Cinemax were apparently shifting their focus to other types of production. These things culminated in the cancellation of a series which, given time, space and money, would’ve almost certainly gone on to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of True Detective and Better Call Saul.
This week is, it appears, Troubled Vietnam Vet Finds Settling Back Home Hard and Ends Up Committing Crime Week. First we recommended the 1977 movie Rolling Thunder and now we’re tipping our hat in the vague direction of the incredible but overlooked 2016 TV crime drama Quarry.
Upgrade’s Logan Marshall-Green is Mac ‘Quarry’ Conway, a Marine marksman who, upon returning home to Memphis from Vietnam in 1972, is rejected by his loved ones and demonised by the public. The disillusioned veteran is quickly recruited into a network of contract murders, corruption and crime that soon gets him involved a little too much with the Dixie Mafia.
‘What is that? Is it a second series?’ ‘Nope‘ (Picture: Cinemax / Everett / REX / Shutterstock)
Quarry is bleak and dark in some places. And violent in almost all others. But it’s also wildly creative, original and distinctive. It’s gritty, it’s engaging, it’s pulpy, it’s full of fascinating characters and packed with top performances by the likes of Marshall-Green, Jodi Balfour, Damon Herriman and Peter Mullan. Oh, and it has some of the most convincing production design this side of Mad Men.
Whoever signed off on cancelling this series after just eight episodes deserves to be fired and chucked into a large quarry to think about what they’ve done.
If you like it, try streaming: Ozark, Rectify, Hap & Leonard
While we’ve got you, here’s another recommendation of a hidden gem available to stream now…
Rolling Thunder (1977), Amazon Prime Video
The 18 certificate remake of Hook is much more violent than the original (Picture: Aip / Kobal / REX / Shutterstock)
1977 is probably best remembered for the cultural impact of the explosion of punk music. Despite the fact that the Top 40 was still mostly dominated by the likes of Leo Sayer and Wings, not The New York Dolls and The Sex Pistols.
Movies still kept up with music, though. Picturehouses (as people still mostly called them back then) were packed solid. In fact, 1977 was a truly incredible year for blockbusters. Star Wars broke records, while the likes of Smokey and the Bandit, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Saturday Night Fever entertained most of the world.
Such big-hitters were the cinematic version of Mull of Kintyre, though. For the Pretty Vacants of the film world, you had to look to the likes of John Flynn’s grimy vengeance thriller Rolling Thunder.
Young Tommy Lee Jones looking, well, young (Picture: Aip / Kobal / REX / Shutterstock)
William Devane, who’d go on to become a biggish TV face in the likes of Knots Landing and 24, stars. He’s a ‘nam vet returning home from a POW camp who’s struggling to adapt to life back home when he and his wife and son are attacked by a violent gang in their home, robbed and left for dead. The unwelcome visitors only departing after ramming Devane’s Major Charles Rane’s right hand into the garbage disposal for good measure.
Rane then recruits an old forces buddy, played by a young, monobrowed Tommy Lee Jones, to mount a revenge mission. One that’s bloody satisfying, in all senses of the term.
This schlocky exploitation movie is a little tacky in places, but there’s an air of class lent to it by its high-end central performances and Paul Schrader’s excellent script. Sure, the plot is a little limited and quite familiar (especially to modern audiences), but there’s a surprising amount of depth and sensitivity on show, especially towards war veterans. And that wasn’t exactly Hollywood’s default position in the mid-to-late 1970’s.
‘And I’m saying that £3.05 is too much for a first class signed for letter!‘ (Picture: Aip / Kobal / REX / Shutterstock)
Not convinced? Well, maybe Quentin Tarantino can talk you round. He frequently calls Rolling Thunder one of the all-time greatest movies ever made and often puts on private screenings to shows friends.
‘I saw it the weekend it came out with a double feature of Enter the Dragon,’ he says. ‘I saw it with my mum and her second husband. I thought: wow, this is like the best combination of character study and action film I’ve ever seen.
‘It was just the first time that I started looking at something other than just the narrative on screen. I started building around the narrative, the movie before the movie starts, what happens before it’s over.
‘Then I started going to see the director’s other movies. I’ve seen it a bunch of times, probably 15 times over the years.’
If you like it, try streaming: Taxi Driver, Death Wish, Point Blank
Fancy one more streaming recommendation? Try this little-seen but incredible TV crime drama on for size…
The Pledge (2001), Netflix
‘Carlsberg? Do you not have anything else? No? Okay, fine. No, seriously, leave it. It’s fine’ (Picture: Moviestore / REX / Shutterstock)
With so many films coming out now about the origins of common shop-bought products like Unfrosted (Pop-Tarts), Air (Air Jordans) and Blackberry (Blackberrys), you’d be forgiven for wondering if The Pledge charts the story of the invention of S. C. Johnson & Son’s famous polish spray. Luckily for us all, it doesn’t.
Instead, this studied and laudably cliché-free psychological thriller tells the somewhat more grim tale of a detective’s promise to find a child killer.
Jack Nicholson’s detective suspects fowl play (Picture: Moviestore / REX / Shutterstock)
Retiring police officer Jerry Black (an uncharacteristically restrained Jack Nicholson) is about to retire when news hits of a little girl’s murder. As he breaks the news to the kid’s distraught mother, he finds himself making an unbreakable promise to catch the murderer responsible. It’s a pledge he cannot forget, much to his own chagrin (and eventual downfall).
This is an actor’s film. It’s anchored by a mesmeric central performance which is reined in superbly by director Sean Penn. Having such a respected and capable actor in the director’s chair is perhaps why this is all about the cast and the terrific work they put in.
‘I’ll take a beer, thanks. So long as it’s not Carlsbe-oh, right. No, no. Carlsberg is FINE.‘ (Picture: Moviestore / REX / Shutterstock)
Robin Wright Penn (as she was known back then) is excellent, as is Benicio del Toro in an all-too-brief cameo. Look out too for the likes of Mickey Rourke, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren, Tom Noonan, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard and Harry Dean Stanton.
This really is one of Jack Nicholson’s best later roles. It’s up there with As Good As It Gets and The Departed. In fact, it’s only matched – or perhaps bettered – by another performance guided by Sean Penn, 1995’s superb The Crossing Guard.
Benny the Bull pulls off a double denim/steel bracelets combo with ease (Picture: Moviestore / REX / Shutterstock)
Alright, so it’s a bit glum and moody. It’s not really one to stick on if you’re looking to cheer yourself up. And it definitely isn’t a Netflix ‘n’ chill recommendation. But if you’re looking for a powerful yet restrained portrait of obsession, book out 123 minutes for The Pledge this weekend.
If you like it, try streaming: The Secrets in Their Eyes, Insomnia, Memories of Murder