Oh, the Shame of It

[srowley75]

This thread was inspired in part by a post in the "Films Seen Lately" discussion...

No doubt we've all subjected ourselves to a significant dose of bad filmmaking over the years. But despite the overacting, misdirection, incoherent and/or trite screenwriting, and bizarre sets typical of these productions, we often nevertheless derive enjoyment from these aesthetic disasters and learn to love and accept them for what they are. (Many of the films included in the "Worst Movie" thread are prime examples of this type of what may be considered junk food cinema.)

Yet there are those films that have no redeeming qualities. They're literally so bad that they deny the viewer any pleasure whatsoever. Watching them is an excruciating experience that usually involves the viewer's feeling embarrassment for the actors onscreen who are humiliating themselves in a disastrous production.

For me, I don't think any type of film experience could trump sitting through a bad comedy. It's pure torture to sit in a theater or in front of a television watching an actor or actress make a fool of themselves with a bad pratfall or a tired or lame joke. Even if you're alone, you get the feeling that you can hear the groans they must have elicited from an audience. One of the worst I've sat through was the recently mentioned Swing Your Lady, but there are others: anything from Wheeler and Woolsey, Hold That Ghost, the Ernest films, Mel Brooks' films after History of the World Part I, Nacho Libre.

All that babbling aside, I ask the inevitable question:

Have you ever seen a film so bad that you felt shame for the performers? It doesn't have to be a comedy, though I would guess that comedies are the sort of films that elicit this response the most.

(And if you can't name one film that fits this description, consider yourself blessed.)

[movieman1957]

The first one that comes to mind is "Man of LaMancha." Whether it is a great story or not to sit through O'Toole and Loren sing was quite painful for me. The movie was confusing and overacted and just awful.

That being said my wife and daghter love the story and are willing to overlook what are problems for me and enjoy it.

[knitwit45]

do awful acceptance speeches count? Most of the ones heard any more are enough to make me squirm with embarrassment. At the top of the list (today) for bad movies is the aforementioned "Swing Your Lady". UGH!

[melwalton]

Fiirst one comes to mind is titled either THE BOYFRIEND or TTHE GIRLFRIEND. It came out in the 60s and starred Twiggy ( Leslie Hornby? ) I walked out of the theater less than halfway through the film.

I sat through GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT and found it the most boring film. It got the award. I never thought much of those awards.

I've slept through some westerns and Vincet Price type horrpr films because rhey were on the bill with a film I wanted to see, .... mel

[jdb1]

Magical Mystery Tour is the first movie that springs to mind in this category.

Then there's the 1967 opus The Trip, which was written by Jack Nicholson, directed by Roger Corman, and starred Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, Susan Strasberg, and a host of other trippy 60s players. The characters and the actors playing them are drugged out, careless, self-indulgent, mindless and egocentric. The movie's a mess. Ugh.

Honest, we weren't all like that back then. Really.

[klondike]

Then there's the 1967 opus The Trip, which was written by Jack Nicholson

Funny you should mention Mr. Nicholson, Jude!
Because thinking about this thread just yeasterday, I was shocked to realize that no less than 4 out of the handful of movies I'd suffered through that fit this category featured the old Jackster himself (namely Goin' South, The Passenger, The Missouri Breaks, & Man Trouble), the very man who is, arguably, and likely justifiably, among our finest modern film performers!

The characters and the actors playing them are drugged out, careless, self-indulgent, mindless and egocentric. The movie's a mess. Ugh.
Honest, we weren't all like that back then. Really.

Are you sure? 'Cause I remember groovin' on microdot at this ashram out in Peekskill back in '69, and there was this mega-cool chick who looked just like Ina Balin, and we . . um . . well, memories are very subjective, is all I'm sayin'!

[srowley75]

I guess the film itself doesn't necessarily have to be a turkey, either - it can be a bad performance sticking out like a sore thumb in a good film that leaves you wincing.

For me, one that fits that description is Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. And I'm sure literally everyone who sees Breakfast at Tiffany's feels that way about Mickey Rooney's performance - it's nightmare fuel (to steal a phrase from the MST3K gang).

[phil noir]

Years ago I remember seeing Glenn Close in a comedy called Maxie (made about 1985, I think), in which she played a modern woman possessed by the ghost of a dead 'twenties flapper. Ruth Gordon was in it as well, playing the flapper's friend.

I recall being distinctly embarrassed by Ms Close's attempts to be wacky and zany. Some actors can do that kind of comedy and some can't. I'm afraid GC comes into the second category.

[klondike]

I guess the film itself doesn't necessarily have to be a turkey, either - it can be a bad performance sticking out like a sore thumb in a good film that leaves you wincing.

You mean like DeNiro in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle?
Man, it's not a huge exaggeration to say that I might have preferred to dine on anchovies in chocolate sauce while sitting on broken glass, to having bruised my fontal lobe on the sight & sound of Bobby Deniro sado-masochistically cast as Fearless Leader in TAoR&B . . and then to witness him, in that role, spoofing his character Travis Bickle?!! >>>aaaaaaaagggg-hagakkk<<<
Small wonder it made co-stars Rene Russo & Jason Alexander visibly cringe; it was perverse enough to have made Lonesome Rhodes beg for mercy!! Heck, were I in the rock group Supertramp, I would have sued for unconcionable abuse of soundtrack!

[jdb1]

Then there's the 1967 opus The Trip, which was written by Jack Nicholson

Funny you should mention Mr. Nicholson, Jude!
Because thinking about this thread just yeasterday, I was shocked to realize that no less than 4 out of the handful of movies I'd suffered through that fit this category featured the old Jackster himself (namely Goin' South, The Passenger, The Missouri Breaks, & Man Trouble), the very man who is, arguably, and likely justifiably, among our finest modern film performers!

The characters and the actors playing them are drugged out, careless, self-indulgent, mindless and egocentric. The movie's a mess. Ugh.
Honest, we weren't all like that back then. Really.

Are you sure? 'Cause I remember groovin' on microdot at this ashram out in Peekskill back in '69, and there was this mega-cool chick who looked just like Ina Balin, and we . . um . . well, memories are very subjective, is all I'm sayin'!

Crikey, Klonny, was that you????????

[MikeBSG]

ARRGH!

Who had to remind me of "The Missouri Breaks"? That was a real stinker. I saw where someone complained about "Hold That Ghost," but that Abbott and Costello film is miles better than "The Missouri Breaks."

What about "About Last Night," that hideous "sex comedy" from the mid-Eighties about contemporary relationships? Suddenly all sorts of lousy Eighties films are bubbling up in my mind: a dismal comedy with Michael Caine and Steve Gutenberg, practically everything with Burt Reynolds, and "Joe vs. the Volcano," which apparently has a cult following now. How about Kevin Kline in "The January man"?

The dreadfulness, the dreadfulness of it all....

[klondike]

How about Kevin Kline in "The January man"?

Uh-oh . . . here the roads diverge!

I actually liked The January Man.
A lot!
And still do!

[srowley75]

I believe this has already been mentioned/alluded to in another thread - but I've also felt embarrassment for actors and actresses who've either been victims of bad cosmetic surgery or who've outlived their golden years yet labor on under the misconception that they're still as young, vibrant, and physically sound as they were in their prime. I'm certainly not implying that older actors and actresses can't play romantic leads or similar, but when they're miscast or otherwise attempt a role intended to show audiences they've "still got it" when they've long since lost it, well....

Obvious examples from the past year or so include Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone. Another example from years past I could name would be Mae West's performance in Myra Breckenridge (and, so I've heard, Sextette).

Another I saw recently while home from Christmas was Dyan Cannon in a made-for-TV Hallmark movie that I can't remember the name of. I'm sorry, but the plastic surgery has literally left the woman looking like a martian and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for her every time I saw her face in close-up.

[mrsl]

srowley:

I mentioned Dian Cannon in a post in another thread. She was a cute, perky little thing when Cary Grant fell for her in his 60's to her 20's. But someone should tell her that now SHE'S the one in her 60's, and a little weight would help her more than hurt. She looks like a skeleton right now.

I'm always embarrassed for Barbara Eden tromping around that underwater submarine (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - the movie), in her ridiculous high heels.

And please God, don't let them trot out any more 90 somethings at this years' Oscar awards. To have them sit on the stage for a collective tribute to the Oscars, a director, or actor etc, is one thing, but to expect them to be able to read the cue machine that even the younger folks have trouble with, or to remember who certain people are is stupid. Last year, one elder seemed to mistake a young redhead girl for Susan Hayward by saying Hi Susie! It was off the microphone but I read his lips and felt bad for the old guy - it could have been Kirk Douglas.

Anne

[ChiO]

Have you ever seen a film so bad that you felt shame for the performers?

Do you mean like the embarassment I feel on behalf of the poor white whale in MOBY DICK? Really, how long was he stuck with Gregory Peck?

I've pondered this for a week (waay too much time on my hands). Since there are so many wonderful movies that I haven't seen, I generally don't bother with those where I think I may not find redeeming value -- an attitude that probably has kept me from seeing some special films. As one who, for wholly legitimate reasons, counts INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES and THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER and THE SADIST among his favorites, here are mine:

Best Combination of Boring & Obnoxious -- THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Redeeming Value: None once we hear The hills are alive with the sound of Muzak.

Only Movie That Made Me Walk Out of the Theater -- PRETTY BABY. When Brooke Shields was brought out on a platter, I found it morally and ethically reprehensible on the part of Malle and Shields' mother, and out I walked. Redeeming Value: Maybe I would feel differently over 30 years later, but I doubt that I will ever find out.

Why Did a Movie Icon Do This To Me? -- HELL AND HIGH WATER. Even Fuller was ashamed of this. Redeeming Value: Makes SHARK! look Oscar-worthy.