Stinkeroo

[Sepiatone]

TCM is noted for showing just fair old movies from time to time, likely to fullfill the notion of being a "classic" movie channel. They might sporadically broadcast movies from the '30's and '40's that weren't really all that great, but not too shabby nonetheless.

 

But there have been stinkbomb movies for as long as movies have been made. I mean, REALLY odorous.

 

Just for fun, I'd like to see either a day, or a running series, say on Saturday afternoons, of what were considered the biggest "stinkeroos" of old Hollywood. Not just the ones where some might think were great films, but others feel otherwise, but stink so much there's NO argument or disagreement.

 

There has GOT to be a TON of those, don'tcha think?

 

Sepiatone

[mrroberts]

This could really start a lot of mud slinging here, and we already get a good amount of that . How about an Ed Wood month?

[AndyM108]

Unless you excluded "So Bad It's Good" ( Reefer Madness, Ed Wood) or "The Emperor Has No Clothes, but he's still the Emperor" ( The Jazz Singer ) from the "stinkeroo" category, I doubt if we could ever come up with any real consensus of a top 10 Stinkeroo list.

 

I'm sure we can all compile lists of our own, but I'm sure that every one of them would meet with at least a few objections. I've even heard there are still a few surviving fans of The Jazz Singer.

[Dargo2]

Well, if Paul Newman was still around(and of course a regular member of the TCM boards), I'll betcha he'd suggest a certain 1954 movie that he felt might've fit into Sepia's criteria here quite nicely.

 

(...and after watching "The Silver Chalice" myself years ago, I don't think I could dispute his pick)

[hamradio]

Some movies becomes a turkey because people take them the wrong way or have a preconceive perception about them before watching them.

 

During the studio era, "The Bluebird" (1940) was one of the biggest flops because viewers took it literally. That movie was pure symbolism of why happiness cannot be found in dwelling on the past, the want for money and wealth, etc. My goodness is that story ever so revelant today!

 

"Howard The Duck" is a recent flop but was it because they saw that George Lucas made it and thought up front, it was a serious film like "Star Wars" he made before and went in with that notion. Just by the title one should had known it was a comedy parody. Maybe thats why I don't see it as bad as most. Wonder if one time traveled back and tweaked it a little and gave it the title "Donald Duck The Movie", what the end result would had been?

 

I remember when "Airplane!" first played in my downtown theatre, the manager said that was the worst "Airport" film ever made, I explained it was a parody NOT a serious movie. Strange, he still never got it?

 

People didn't like "Cowboys and Aliens" but I thought it was neat because it was done with the Jules Verne flavor. Like the balance between what the 19th Century people would have recognised as "high tech" and the tech we see today. (as in their weapons). Lol in "The Aurora Encounter", the "Wild Wild West" theme it had, the spacecraft looked like it was made from an old boiler.

 

This is my personal take on them but I know many won't share this view.

 

Edited by: hamradio on Nov 18, 2013 2:10 PM Lol thought of wrong producers!

[lavenderblue19]

Sepia, you asked about stinkers from the 30's and 40's, but a film that imo is a real stinker is *Where Angels Go Trouble Follows* . It was suppose to be a sequel to the Ida Lupino directed film *The Trouble With Angels* .

Where Angels Go is awful from the start. The theme song during the credits is probably the worst song ever heard in film. The Trouble with Angels, Roz Russell and Hayley Mills was a very cute film and enjoyable. Where Angels Go, again with Roz is dreadful, just my opinion.

[sfpcc2]

Ed Wood did not make that many movies, (maybe five or six) so a month of his films would be hard to do. Besides a lot of his later work was basically pornography. I don't think TCM is going to go in that direction.

[Hibi]

And its repeated throughout the film, including the school dance. LOL.

[lavenderblue19]

I know, it's it's so bad. What a waste of film! LOL

[lavenderblue19]

At least Mr. Polifaz didn't have that silly, most annoying theme song that is repeated throughout the film

[Kid Dabb]

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Edited by: Kid_Dabb on Nov 18, 2013 2:58 PM

[Fedya]

> I'm sure we can all compile lists of our own, but I'm sure that every one of them would meet with at least a few objections. I've even heard there are still a few surviving fans of *The Jazz Singer*.

 

Why would anybody think Neil Diamond was a good actor?

 

Anyhow, my vote goes to *Dondi*. Painfully unfunny.

[Hibi]

I have a fondness for bad movies about Hollywood. The Oscar and Valley of the Dolls are 2 of my guilty pleasures...........

[lavenderblue19]

Don't forget *The Carpetbaggers*

[Hibi]

YES! And Harlow. The 60s were a mecca for trashy Hollywood films about Hollywood.......

[DownGoesFrazier]

For a movie that was supposed to be pretty good, but I thought was just awful-----LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS (1970)

[Tikisoo]

Don't bother watching THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (1969) on 11/28. Despite the talent of adorable Butch Patrick and various voice actors, this Chuck Jones full length film is a pretentious stinker.

[sewhite2000]

Opinions are going to vary on any film, I suppose. But refusing to even view a film based on something you've read or heard annoys me. Like my mom used to tell me about Brussels sprouts, you never know until you try.

 

A number of years ago, I was hanging out with some people. Except for one good friend who was also there, I didn't know anybody terribly well, and so the conversation was all over the map as people were trying to find common points of interest. Somehow, Heaven's Gate came up as an example of one of the worst movies of all time, although it quickly became apparent that no one at this little party had actually seen it. Well, I had seen it, and I said it wasn't terrible. It was a little long and meandering, perhaps, but the production values were extraordinary. Maybe no film I had ever seen really made me feel so much like I was in the actual Old West, not a movie set. And there were several really good acting performances in it.

 

Well, everybody just kind of blinked and stared at me. A couple of people snickered at the concept that it could actually be a good movie. There had been so much bad press about it over the years that people have just accepted that it's terrible without even watching it.

 

In a similar vein, for years and years, the only thing I knew about How Green Was My Valley was that it was the film that "robbed" Citizen Kane for Best Picture. I had read that it was John Ford at his hokey and sentimental worst, and it came out on top that year just because Academy voters were desperate to give the prize to anyone but Orson Welles. I had never rented it, but I did begrudgingly watch it when it had its TCM premiere a few years back, and it turned out that I liked it very much. It's so different from Citizen Kane, it's like comparing apples and oranges, but I no longer think that it "stole" the Best Picture prize.

 

So, maybe TCM could have some kind of "Decide for Yourself" day for movies that may or may not have been unfairly maligned.

[AndyM108]

Opinions are going to vary on any film, I suppose. But refusing to even view a film based on something you've read or heard annoys me.

 

What about refusing to watch any movie with subtitles, no matter what the genre? You might as well admit that you can't read, or don't want to read out of some weird sort of principle.

 

And then there are those who refuse to watch any movie in black & white, or "old" movies in general, or "movies made after 1980" or whatever date they pick out of a hat. What can you even say to people like that?

[Sepiatone]

Yes, it is obvious to regular readers and contributors to this forum that even movies rated among the "best" of any chosen year or genre will have it's detractors. And perhaps my suggestion is difficult to fullfill.

 

But despite the differeing opinions on movies, despite their critical ratings, there HAS to be some that just plain don't deserve a rating, they're so dismal. It's OK to enjoy them BECAUSE they're lousy; It's the FACT they're lousy is why they qualify. For example, I enjoy the hell out of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE because it IS so God awful! Which makes me think a day or something of stupid, stinkeroo pictures would be good for those of us who like to hunt for new "guilty pleasures".

 

Sepiatone

[Hibi]

I miss MST3000. They showed plenty of stinkeroos on that show back in the day..........

[DownGoesFrazier]

Sometimes, if people have very busy schedules, it doesn't take much to "refuse" to view a film.

[Sepiatone]

Another complaint is about the frequency of movies. I always think of what my Dad quipped when seeing yet another rerun on TV one night:

 

"We gotta buy a new TV. I've already seen all the stuff on THIS one!"

 

Anyway, frequency is a main reason for my not watching TCM some particular night.

 

But still, the injection of some really bad '30's or '40's movies, played in prime time, might break things up a bit, and prove what the pawn shop guys always say, "Just because something's old, doesn't make it valuable".

 

Sepiatone

[DownGoesFrazier]

"What's the frequency, Kenneth"?

[traceyk65]

A "so-bad-it's-good" theme would be fantastic! Especially if TCM took suggestions or took a vote on it...they'd have to be careful, though--sometimes bad really is just bad.

 

Movies that were advertised as bad but aren't really (or were flops in their time, but have come to be seen as Classics) might be another good theme.