I don't know how well this film was rated or how well it was known but the film is Mr. Majestyk.
Anyway, so here's the story about how I found out about this movie I never heard about. One time my husband was telling me that when he moved out of his parents' house and into his own apartment one of the first things he did was binge watch every movie his parents wouldn't let him watch as a kid. He told me that when he was a kid this movie was on TV one night and there was a scene where two guys held someone against a concrete wall while someone else crushed him with a car so his mom covered his eyes with her hands and changed the channel which pretty much guaranteed he was going to remember that scene for the rest of his life and then find out what movie that was from as an adult so he could finish watching it all those years later and then later tell his wife about it when the subject of movies came up in a conversation.
Anyway, the movie has its own inspired t-shirt which I have.
Starring Burgess Meredith, Chris Sarandon, Ava Gardner, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Jerry Orbach, Martin Balsam. John Carradine, Beverly D'Angelo...and the list keeps going on.
Never hear it mentioned very often, but I think its a fun watch. A good "popcorn and candy" kinda scare.
It was critically well-received but, based on those in my life, it is lesser known.
I love this movie immensely. And here's a clip of some scenes -- if you haven't seen the movie and plan to, don't watch - ha! But i like this little montage because it uses the movie's music theme! I love composer Georges Delerue's music in the movie, too! (And he uses a Vivaldi concerto theme to great use, too) :)