Time's top ten cinematic flops

I've seen three of them. 2 of them are ok, and I'll watch em if I stumble across them on cable.
 
I must be way out of touch - only saw one of the movies. Really didn't think Waterworld was that bad, no monumental achievement but in its own campy way, entertaining.

Gary
 
Saw five in the theaters, one more on video. Went to one in the '70s ("The Passage", starring Anthony Quinn) where the theater manager tried to talk us OUT of it....

Ron Wanttaja
 
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I've seen 5 of them. I dont think waterworld and Stealth was all that bad.
 
Tristar said:
I've seen 5 of them. I dont think waterworld and Stealth was all that bad.
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Stealth had Jessica Biel in it so guys don't notice how bad the rest of the movie was.

Waterworld = Mad Max visits Wild Water Kingdom
 
Was Dune on the list?

(the wireless at KMCO is a little too slow to try to get thru the entire list)
 
steingar said:
The sad thing is I own a number of these movies. The list is woefully incomplete, since it doesn't have the Burton/Taylor version of Cleopatra.
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I admit to owning a copy of one (Battlefield Earth) and watching two others (Wild Wild West and Waterworld) on TV. I picked up Battelfield from the bargain bin for $5 because I read the book many years ago and sorta liked it. The movie was so-so and probably incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't read the book. WWW looked interesting in that I did enjoy the original series before it got really wacky towards the end of the run, but I can see why it didn't have much success.
 
I'll have to see speed racer and gigli some time. Have seen all the rest multiple times. My wife says if there is a BAD movie on, I'll find it :yes:

shywon
 
I remember I walked out of Evita (Madonna). The sound was atrocious. Madonna, only less so.
 
smigaldi said:
I have only seen two of those and one of the two I liked. I do not own a single copy of any of them.
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Opps gotta take that back. I got Gigli confused with Jersey Girl, which is not on the list. So my update is as follows:


I have only seen one of those and did not like it all that much and I don't own a DVD or VHS of it.
 
I cannot imagine a movie worse than Speed Racer.

But I know Hollywood can make one!
 
I loved Speed Racer. Non-stop graphics and manga style action. Even if you hated it, I doubt you'd ever seen anything like it.
 
I don't think bad was a requirement. Flop is gross versus budget.

Paying with todays dollars it's a lot easier to flop say than for a bad Elvis movie in the 60's. :D
 
Yeah... I own a couple of these. Not sure why Stealth got the rating. It wasn't the best but not completely awful (unless I fell asleep through it). I was prepared for Battlefield Earth. Travolta must have let his stunt double stand in.
I've seen a whole lot worse. They missed Starship Troopers II.
 
Like the man said, its a flop when cost is greater than revenue. Waterworld and Stealth weren't bad movies by any stretch, but they each cost a mint and didn't make much. The rest of those were reportedly pretty bad.
 
Sorry, folks, but one of the top ten worst movies ever made has to be....

Pearl Harbor

  • Mountains on Long Island????
  • "I'm having his baby but you're still alive...?"
  • P-40s dogfighting with Zeros??
  • The Doolittle Raid was launched off a 1980s era US Supercarrier??
  • The Japanese had to attack Pearl harbor because the US cut off Japan's fuel supplies? Seriously? There were no imperialists in Tojo's regime?
PH was Saving Private Ryan meets Titanic which subsequently crashed into Gigli.
 
dmccormack said:
Sorry, folks, but one of the top ten worst movies ever made has to be....

Pearl Harbor

  • P-40s dogfighting with Zeros??
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In the beginning of December, 1941, Welch and 2nd Lt. Kenneth Taylor had moved their P-40s away from the main airfield at Wheeler to a nearby auxiliary field at Haleiwa as part of a gunnery exercise. The vast majority of Army Air Force fighters at Wheeler were parked in neat rows on the main flightline; although war with Japan appeared imminent, it was decided that the possibility of sabotage from the ground presented a greater threat than a potential air attack, and it was easier to guard them while parked in neat rows than dispersed on the airfield perimeter. Thus when the Japanese carrier-based sneak attack against Pearl Harbor and Wheeler and Hickam Fields came on the morning of December 7, 1941, the majority of the Army Air Force fighter force was easily destroyed on the ground, several of them when the first P-40 pilot attempting to take off to fight was hit and killed on his takeoff roll and his fighter went crashing down the flightline at Wheeler.
That Sunday morning Welch and Taylor were just leaving an all-night party at Wheeler Field, Hawaii. As they stood outside an army barracks watching the tropical dawn grow brighter, neither had any idea of the momentous event which was about to change their - lives. Welch was saying that instead of going to sleep, he wanted to drive back to their own base at nearby Haleiwa Field for a nice Sunday morning swim.
Suddenly the Japanese swooped down on Wheeler Field, which was a center for fighter operations in Hawaii. Dive bombers seemed to appear out of nowhere. Violent explosions upended the parked planes, and buildings began to burn. Welch ran for a telephone and called Haleiwa as bullets sprayed around him.
"Get two P-40s ready!" he yelled. "It's not a gag--the Japs are here."
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http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_welch.html

dmccormack said:
  • The Japanese had to attack Pearl harbor because the US cut off Japan's fuel supplies? Seriously? There were no imperialists in Tojo's regime?
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Three possible causes
1) US desire for free trade with China directly clashes with the goals of Japan both religious and economic to create a Pacific empire and control China.

2) Japan and the US see each other as potential enemies whose differences will not be settled by diplomacy after the 1905 Portsmouth Treaty because the US rejects the idea of empire and announces it will leave the Philippines in 40 years. Japan who wishes an empire cannot allow this because to justify her claims to empire she needs the Euro-American colonial powers as a scape goat. If the US frees the Filipinos then perhaps the British might too leave India or the Dutch their colonies. Japan wants to appear as liberators to the peoples of Asia not new colonial conquerers.

3) Japan invades China and US-Japanese relations sour, the US imposes economic sanctions on Japan after she invades Indochina and Japan rather then loose face, that is be humiliated and leave Indochina and China chooses war.
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http://boards.history.com/thread.jspa?threadid=800018021&tstart=0&mod=1179615903140

Plus it should also be known that the US did NOT cut off oil supplies from Japan but it did cut off avgas shipments to Japan. Along with some other aspects of material embargoes the Japanese government felt that the action was part of a hostile act by the US.
 
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smigaldi said:
Plus it should also be known that the US did NOT cut off oil supplies from Japan but it did cut off avgas shipments to Japan.
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The movie shows the P-40s turning inside Zeros -- no way, no how.

As far as causes for the war -- Japan's designs, intentions, and policy was imperial. <---- period

Pearl Harbor has horrible acting, worse dialog, and awful historical research.

It was a terrible movie.

Even The Final Countdown was better.
 
I don't think we want to turn this thread into a iscussion on the causes of WWII.

Finding scenery or hardware nit picks on movies that depict different times is not really a challenge.

The movie was what it was. The recreation of specific events concerning 12/7/41 and the Dollittle Raid were about as fair and accurate as you could expect.
 
dmccormack said:
The movie shows the P-40s turning inside Zeros -- no way, no how.
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Well whatever they showed is not what the question was. You asked about P40s dog fighting zero at Peral harbor. the answer is yes that happened. The little story I linked for you is what made the writers put that their version into the movie.

dmccormack said:
As far as causes for the war -- Japan's designs, intentions, and policy was imperial. <---- period
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Whatever. But we did cut off fuel supplies and that was used by the Japanese as part of their excuse.

dmccormack said:
Pearl Harbor has horrible acting, worse dialog, and awful historical research.
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Some of it, but not all of it.

dmccormack said:
It was a terrible movie.

Even The Final Countdown was better.
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No disagreement there. I still cannot watch the thing for more than about 10 minutes.
 
RMCN172RG said:
I don't think we want to turn this thread into a iscussion on the causes of WWII.

Finding scenery or hardware nit picks on movies that depict different times is not really a challenge.

The movie was what it was. The recreation of specific events concerning 12/7/41 and the Dollittle Raid were about as fair and accurate as you could expect.
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Not really -- in PH the raid took off from modern carrier, the crew had a firefight on the ground (didn't happen), they flew to Tokyo in formation (didn't happen), and so on...

PH tried to be a war movie when it tried to be a romance.

It didn't do either well.

Compare PH to Saving Private Ryan or Glory -- which had a few nitpick inaccuracies -- but did not impact the story.
 
smigaldi said:
Well whatever they showed is not what the question was. You asked about P40s dog fighting zero at Peral harbor. the answer is yes that happened. The little story I linked for you is what made the writers put that their version into the movie.
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Welch and Taylor did no dogfighting with Zeros... the two engaged Vals -- torpedo bombers.

Big difference.

By the way, Scott -- the site you referenced links to this site: http://prweb0.voicenet.com/~lpadilla/pearl.html

The page title? Hollywood Abominations: Pearl Harbor (2001)
 
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Haarruummppph. If you guys think Pearl Harbor is that bad, you haven't been to the movies much. Try watching Catwoman on a full stomach.
 
gprellwitz said:
Not to many of those who make movies for the popular masses!
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Saving Private Ryan and Glory were both tremendous films with good box office and critical results.

Despite a few minor historical nitpicks, the movies attempted to be true to the era they portrayed (SPR was a fictional story, while Glory was based on historical events).

Its obvious some filmakers can use research to more accurately portray war on film while still appealing to the masses.
 
dmccormack said:
Saving Private Ryan and Glory were both tremendous films with good box office and critical results.

Despite a few minor historical nitpicks, the movies attempted to be true to the era they portrayed (SPR was a fictional story, while Glory was based on historical events).

Its obvious some filmakers can use research to more accurately portray war on film while still appealing to the masses.
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I agree that it can be done and sometimes even is done. That's why I included the qualifier "many" in my post. I merely contend that a significant number do not do it!
 
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