Movies you thought were good, but really aren’t

[Vandal]

Now that I have a bit more time on my hands, I like to check out movies that I haven’t seen in a long time. Some are as good as I remember, some just just okay, and some just don’t cut it anymore.

I’ll start with…

Beverly Hills Cop

My 24-year old self thought this was hilarious back in 1984. Eddie Murphy as a wise-cracking cop from Detroit showing those uptight, by-the-book BHPD cops how to get the bad guys. But this movie has no plot to speak of, just a series of Murphy-led vignettes. He gets thrown through a window, but there’s no blood. He gets his way by crying racism to the white folks at the hotel. He “breaks” into a secure warehouse just by jumping a short wall. He gets dressed down by the always popular “angry black police chief” in Detroit.

The worst scenes take place at the big shootout at the bad guy’s house. His henchmen, armed with automatic weapons, are no match for three cops with pistols. A lot of potted plants get blown away, but not Eddie. I can’t believe how bad this entire scene was.

Also, Murphy was born in 1961, so how many 23 year old cops have already been promoted to detective? None!

I know it’s just a movie, but this older and wiser 62 year old thinks Beverly Hills Cop is truly terrible.

Anyone else have a movie to add to this thread?

[Beebs52]

Gone With the Wind.
I know I know, classic yada.

I saw it in high school when they rereleased it. I was excited. Mind you I had read the book 3 times by then and had very specific visions of who looked like what and acted like what.

Main thing was Clark Gable. He did not do it for me. He's not that alluring to me and just, well, meh. Vivian was sorta okay but...Olivia was sorta okay but...Leslie okay but was even wimpier than in book.
The guy who played Scarlett's dad was good, and of course the whole spectacle was spectacular.

But still.

[jaybee]

Gone With the Wind.
I know I know, classic yada.

I saw it in high school when they rereleased it. I was excited. Mind you I had read the book 3 times by then and had very specific visions of who looked like what and acted like what.

Main thing was Clark Gable. He did not do it for me. He's not that alluring to me and just, well, meh. Vivian was sorta okay but...Olivia was sorta okay but...Leslie okay but was even wimpier than in book.
The guy who played Scarlett's dad was good, and of course the whole spectacle was spectacular.

But still.

I will never forgive Gone With the Wind. Of course, I'd always heard that famous line: 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn". So I just wanted to actually see it. Didn't really have much interest in watching the movie, just wanted to see that one iconic line. Four hours over two nights (Network TV). I watched Atlanta burn. Saw lots of swooning. Little girl dying on a horse. All of it. I didn't realize that what I was waiting for was the very last line of the movie.

[silverscreenselect]

I didn't realize that what I was waiting for was the very last line of the movie.

It's not the last line. After Rhett walks out on her, Scarlett wonders what she's going to do and then says an almost equally famous actual last line, "After all, tomorrow is another day."

[Ritterskoop]

I'm not claiming any of these is a bad movie, only that I was deeply disappointed:

Citizen Kane - I acknowledge the camera work was revolutionary for its time, but there is no one to root for.

Sunset Boulevard - OK, I actively hated this one.

Casablanca - I think I would have loved this one if I'd been able to see it when it was released. But by the time I saw it, there had been so many clips over the years (I kept thinking, "Oh, this is the scene where he says that famous line..."). I'm not complaining that it had been spoiled, but that's what my problem boils down to, I guess. So I guess it doesn't fit Vandal's category.

And PS, this is the kind of thread of which we need more, so thank you.

[Ritterskoop]

And yes, Gone With the Wind is its own special kind of suckage. I'm remembering the music was pretty great, though, and the costumes? But yeah, the story itself was hard to buy.

[Bob Juch]

And yes, Gone With the Wind is its own special kind of suckage. I'm remembering the music was pretty great, though, and the costumes? But yeah, the story itself was hard to buy.

You have to realize the audience in 1939 was much different from today. Adjusted for inflation, it's still the highest-grossing film of all time.

I hate it.

[Beebs52]

An analysis of the book, sorta interesting. Mitchell was found by many to be historically accurate.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xp ... story.html

[jaybee]

An analysis of the book, sorta interesting. Mitchell was found by many to be historically accurate.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xp ... story.html

Yeah, But did anybody really give a damn?

[Beebs52]

An analysis of the book, sorta interesting. Mitchell was found by many to be historically accurate.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xp ... story.html

Yeah, But did anybody really give a damn?

We'll figure it out tomorrow.

[Vandal]

I'll add an odd 1974 film: The Parallax View, directed by Alan J. Pakula

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and the movie made no sense whatsoever. Warren Beatty and his hair somehow escapes death multiple times without even trying.

I looked it up on Wiki later and read the synopsis, but it it didn't seem to match what I had just watched. And the music was wretched.

Sorry, Warren.

[Ritterskoop]

Oh, and this is a slightly different category: Amadeus was astounding. Just stop.

But do NOT watch the director's cut.

There is a reason the studio made Milos Forman cut all that crap. It was beyond tedious. No amazing music could save it (I remember Maurice Jarre accepting the Oscar that year for A Passage to India, and in his speech, saying, "I am so happy Mozart was not eligible this year.").

[silverscreenselect]

And yes, Gone With the Wind is its own special kind of suckage. I'm remembering the music was pretty great, though, and the costumes? But yeah, the story itself was hard to buy.

You have to realize the audience in 1939 was much different from today. Adjusted for inflation, it's still the highest-grossing film of all time.

I hate it.

My mother-in-law and her first husband (Mrs. SSS's father, who died before I met her) were part of the huge crowd standing in line outside the theater for the World Premiere waiting for all the stars to put in their appearance. It was an enormous social event for Atlanta at the time. Years later, Ted Turner owned the CNN center, just outside the Omni (the basketball/hockey arena at the time). They opened a six-screen AMC theater in the complex and as part of the lease agreement, Turner required them to show Gone with the Wind every day on one screen. It played for several years at that theater.

GWTW was also re-released several times over the years (I saw it originally in one of the re-releases in the 1960s) very successfully. That was of course in the days before home video, and the studio didn't release it on TV until 1976.

[silverscreenselect]

I'll add an odd 1974 film: The Parallax View, directed by Alan J. Pakula

I love the Parallax View. It's an amazing paranoid conspiracy thriller and it's probably more meaningful today than it was when it was first released.

[Beebs52]

Oh man.

2001 A Space Odyssey. Weirdly boring and pretentious.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I cannot watch GWTW without seeing
Carol Burnett in her new dress

[Beebs52]

I cannot watch GWTW without seeing
Carol Burnett in her new dress

Yes! Lovely green drapes with shoulders. Best evah

[Vandal]

Let me add Grease to this list. Soundtrack notwithstanding, this is bad. I know it has been pointed out ad nauseam, but the cast is way, way too old to be playing high schoolers, and it isn’t close. Sure, ONJ is adorable and JT is cool, but the rest of the student casting is awful.

Also, the Vince Fontaine character sure hasn’t aged well. Creepy older guy hitting on high school girls ain’t ever cool.

My son was watching the last scene at the carnival. He noticed that the song was just “We go together like…” followed by a bunch of random words. Too many other scenes are like this, unfortunately. Random background nonsense set to music.

I still like most of the soundtrack and listen to it in rotation with my other faves. This movie is officially out of rotation.

And I am officially cranky old guy.

[BackInTex]

I will add Tom Jones to the list. I don't know if anyone here thinks this is a good movie. It won Best Picture as the Academy Awards in 1963 (or maybe 1964), so some folks though it was good. I don't know how.

I decided to watch it the other night. I got about 45 minutes in. Couldn't take it anymore. It really seems like a low budget film, trying to be a serious period piece, but plays more like a Mel Brooks parody. Either way, not good.

[Beebs52]

This is a movie... before watching I had read the book...that, while was well made is the worst. The Exorcist.
Watched it in the theater with college friends
Had nightmares and had to concertedly remove it from my head for two months.
Couldn't possibly watch again.

[silverscreenselect]

One reason some movies don't seem to hold up well is because things that they did that were new are very old hat today. Blazing Saddles was the first movie that used eating beans and farting as a joke. (Before that, movies tended to ignore bodily functions.) It was hilarious. Now, almost every juvenile comedy has fart jokes,almost all of them terrible. Similarly, Animal House was really the first film to feature a food fight. Again, the idea of a food fight was funny back then, not so funny now. (In addition, the relationship between Prof. Donald Sutherland and his undergrad student would be a lot ickier today, even though the film is intentionally set in 1962.)

One movie that I can't sit through anymore today is Bullitt. Yes, the car chase is still great, and there's a very good foot chase through the airport in the last scene. But the rest of the movie is a draggy two hours. So, I'll watch the car chase and then fast forward to the finale and have an enjoyable 20 minutes instead of a dull two hours.

[Beebs52]

Sorry, Blazing Saddles is still a hoot. Just warped.

[Vandal]

This is a movie... before watching I had read the book...that, while was well made is the worst. The Exorcist.
Watched it in the theater with college friends
Had nightmares and had to concertedly remove it from my head for two months.
Couldn't possibly watch again.

Spoiler

[Beebs52]

Thanks a lot...

[Bob Juch]

One reason some movies don't seem to hold up well is because things that they did that were new are very old hat today. Blazing Saddles was the first movie that used eating beans and farting as a joke. (Before that, movies tended to ignore bodily functions.) It was hilarious. Now, almost every juvenile comedy has fart jokes, almost all of them terrible.
Similarly, Animal House was really the first film to feature a food fight. Again, the idea of a food fight was funny back then, but it is not so funny now. (In addition, the relationship between Prof. Donald Sutherland and his undergrad student would be a lot ickier today, even though the film is intentionally set in 1962.)

One movie that I can't sit through anymore today is Bullitt. Yes, the car chase is still great, and there's a very good foot chase through the airport in the last scene. But the rest of the movie is a draggy two hours. So, I'll watch the car chase and then fast forward to the finale and have an enjoyable 20 minutes instead of a dull two hours.

Oh, please! How many food (usually pie) fights were in the old B&W comedies?