1) Shawshank redemption
2) Usual suspects
3) Cool Hand Luke
My top 3 movies which I consider exceptional and few people I know of only heard of them but i am from India :)
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Tango (1998) - Written and Directed by Carlos Saura.

If you study photography, storytelling, dance, film, or even color and art, Tango is a beautiful blend of them all. The camerawork is some of the most amazing use of film, theater, and dance. Admittedly, the story is thin, but it is a passionate piece of theater/film that obviously means something to the director.

The War of the Worlds (1953) - Directed by Byron Haskin.

This is the first War of the Worlds and, in my opinion, the best. It has the camp of 1950s sci-fi and the gravitas of good acting and human drama. The special effects STILL look good today. It won the Oscar for Special Effects back in 1953 and also won a Hugo and a Golden Reel (for Sound Effects). Campy? Sure. A classic. Totally.

RKO 281 (1999) - Directed by Benjamin Ross.

RKO 281 was the inside name for Citizen Kane at RKO. This is, in essence, the story of Orson Welles vs. William Randolph Hearst. The film introduced an amazing actor in Liev Schreiber (who I had the pleasure of learning acting from in college) as Orson Welles and he brings gravitas and authority combined with the inherent failings of the great director. The movie itself was released on HBO but can be found on Netflix and in video stores.
Source(s):
IMDB entry for Tango:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120274/

IMDB entry for War of the Worlds:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046534/

IMDB entry for RKO 281:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120801/

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1. Primer by Shane Carruth
2. Bubba Ho-tep by Don Coscarelli
3. Fight Club by David Fincher -- I know everyone has seen it, but it's been over 10 years, go watch it again.
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Intezone... very nice question. I'm going to answer in two ways.

My first answer is that a lot of people nowadays don't know about older films that are true classics. Everybody knew about them once upon a time, maybe when I was a kid, or even before then! But many people just ten years younger than me don't even know their names.

There are lots, but I'll give three in this category:

The Big Sleep
Vertigo
A Matter of Life and Death

Now for my second answer, I'll give you three that are a little bit more recent, but not that well known, although I loved them.

Rumble Fish
The Color of Money
In the Shadow of the Moon

I think a lot of people don't know them, and I'm not sure why. I might even be wrong about how well known they are. After all, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese... hardly obscure actors and directors!
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I'm going to go old school:

Casablanca: I know, everyone's seen it a thousand times. Do it one more time on a big screen. When I saw it at a theater it was like seeing a new movie. And really, can you get enough Bogart?

M*A*S*H. The movie was so much more cynical than the series! It was the first time I was amazed by what a movie could do - I went from laughing my butt off one second to tears the next. It usually takes several viewings to get all the background jokes and by-play.

3. Ronin. This one's got a lot of fast action, but with multiple possibilities that keep you guessing. Fun stuff, and for extremists, it demonstrates what the movie shootouts and chase scenes would really be like if the city wasn't conveniently cleared of population:
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1. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. I not only like this movie but the whole trilogy for exceptional cinematography. I loved the use of perspective and overall development of scale. The special effects sequences were also well choreographed and integrated into the film rather seamlessly. Though I found the story lacking when compared to the source material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pki6jbSbXIY

2. The Notebook: This was an exceptional romantic/drama. It had well developed characters, exceptional casting, and a remarkable plot that really pulled you into the characters world. It was also very easy to watch from a cinematic standpoint it was very well put together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3G3fILPQAU

3. Night of the Living Dead: One might think this was a horrid b film gone wrong. However, if you are looking at George Remero films from a purely traditional cinematic viewpoint then you are missing the depth of his work. This is an exceptional work in regard to its social commentary. The film is not just about the masses of undead flesh eating ghouls. It’s a vision of the break down of societal systems and a testament to the nature of the human character. It explores personal and interpersonal dynamics as well as moral and ethical behavior. I would recommend this film series to fully get a feel for what I am talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gUKvmOEGCU

I loved the idea of linking the trailer/clips that was used above so I did it too. I know the films listed above are well known but I wanted to comment on them. See my list below of more obscure films.

1. Cube: What I liked about this movie was the clever use of sets and pure level of paranoia it generated when you watch it. I loved the idea of people trapped in a giant cube forced to solve problems to escape or for instance make a bad decision and be cut into “cubes” lol. Overall I would say this movie was really overlooked. It was fairly good film technically and the plot elements and character development was well done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01hUyIrubWE

2. THX-1138: Lucas’s first major film and it was based off his student film at USC. This movie was way ahead of the times in 1971 and did really poorly at the box office. It stared Robert Duvall as a thx-1138 and envisioned an Orwellian, Brave New World future where man was chemically controlled and all aspects of his life were in the hands of the establishment. I liked this film for its plot and character development process. Over all and exceptional film way ahead of it’s time and not appreciated by many.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naso7_DFno8

3. A Clockwork Orange: This is simply a deliciously twisted story with a lot of unusual visual components. You really have to watch it to appreciate it. There are elements of big brother and a twisted sense of social organizations. Violence begets a cushy job sense of twisted justice…Victims become attackers and vice versa. It is just an odd wonderful exceptional film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8vq9RwYJKM&feature=related

I know I went past what you were asking I just wanted to share.

Oh and Casablanca, Treasure of the sierra madre, and the "man with no name" series.
Source(s):
Opinion and youtube.

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Spirited Away~ a fantastically made anime
Neverwhere~ BBC made miniseries by Neil Gaiman
The Fountain~ not many people watched this, which is surprising, it's beautifully made, the story is great and the acting is wonderful.
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1. Joe Versus the Volcano
2. The Mosquito Coast
3. Rope (dir by Hitchcock)
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