Collecting Movie Classics: Bombs Away!

04.15.11 | George D. Allen | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz PodcastPrint this Post

Every movie collector wants to have the greatest movies produced in their library, right? But who can ever agree on that list? We're tempted to say Movie Irv and his guest are about to share picks for their Top 10 "Guilty Pleasures," but they're not embarrassed at all when it comes to saying that they love these movies the public at large deemed worthy of BOMB status.

From All the Pretty Horses to Speed Racer and many other notable box-office duds, our flop-loving friends are now eager to share with you their reasons as to why you need to give some movies a second chance:

 
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  • mike jaral

    what about Heavens gate and Cleopatra? both considered bombs at the movies.

  • thom bennett

    Great fun! Let's have more. "Heaven's Gate" is an additional must, and remains a perfect example of an excellent film that fell victim to its bloated budget, rather than any concrete examples of poor acting, production values, etc. Bring it on!

  • DIRK

    Everyone always lists Steven Spielbergs 1941 as a bomb, but I loved it! Anything with the late Wendie Jo Sperber in it was fantastic!

  • Dragonfly

    I loved three of the movies mentioned:

    1. Hudson Hawk - Danny Aiello cracked me up - tongue in cheek all the way - critics really need to lighten up
    2. Looney Tunes - Back in Action - OMG, it's Looney Tunes, what's not to love
    3. Waterworld - maybe not science fiction at it's best but highly entertaining.

  • Gary Vidmar

    Some of my favorite box-office flops:
    Milos Forman's TAKING OFF
    Alexander MacKendrick's DON'T MAKE WAVES
    Peter O'Toole's musical version of GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS
    Stanley Donen's MOVIE, MOVIE and LUCKY LADY
    Polanski's PIRATES
    Peter Hyams' A SOUND OF THUNDER

  • ham

    cuthtroat island. not the best pirate movie ever, but very entertaining and a great performance by frank langella. i also think lost in space was highly underrated.

  • Richard

    Jackie Gleason's 1962 film 'Gigot' was aparently a box office flop, probably because of the risque subject matter. I saw a small part of it on TV in the early 70's and was intrigued by it but apparently it was never released on dvd or vhs. I'd love to see the whole movie someday.

  • jeanine

    I never knew Man On The Moon, Hello Dolly, and 1

  • jeanine

    I never knew Man On The Moon , Hello Dolly, and 1941 were bombs. I guess when you like a movie it isn't one.

  • Chip

    I love Hudson Hawk and 1941! Great movies!

  • BRIAN

    Cuban Rebel Girls(1959)Errol Flynns last film,also his worst.(Makes Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes look like Casablanca or Gone With The Wind)

  • John Stanaway

    PEARL HARBOR is still the worst movie made in the 21st Century that I have seen so far. How can anyone get away with such gross carving of both art and history? It is much the same as GONE WITH THE WIND except that Gable, Howard, Leigh, de Haviland and the rest go a long way to make up for the visual mud pies and distortions of history, while Affleck, Beckinsale and the others of the cast of PH are not enough to counteract its excesses (what did the Battle of Britain and Doolittle's Tokyo raid have to do with anything?)

  • http://www.moviesunlimited.com George D. Allen

    "Visual mud pies"--now that's a fun turn of phrase. Of course, at nearly $200 million box office in the US alone, the film may indeed have been critically savaged, but wouldn't exactly qualify in the particular category Irv & Mark are reviewing here (movies that failed that they think are worth looking at). It has been said that one shouldn't go to the movies to get your history straight, but (not having seen PH myself) I've heard that movie is quite the offender. The question is: what movie do you love that everyone else believes stinks to high heaven?

  • version

    Trog - starring Joan Crawford
    Water World
    The Land Time forgot (the pinnacle of McClures career)
    Zardoz - what was Sean thinking!??
    Godfather III - fortunately killed Sophia Coppollas acting career and she went to be much better director.

  • Bobby Decker

    I think Johnny Dangerously bombed too !.....today its a cult comedy classic !....the nielson family can eat s.......... !

  • Jay Albert Stockwell

    I think "Cannery Row" with Nick Nolte and Debra Winger was considered a bomb, but I liked it.

  • BadGnx2

    For any TRUE MOVIE FAN - DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE SO CALLED BOMBS!!! Many great films failed at the box office upon their initial release for reasons that are as varied as there are films themselves. Such as: "Wizard Of OZ", "Citizen Kane", "Its A Wonderful Life", "Point Blank" and countless others. Sometimes it takes a film years to find its way to a new and appreciative audience.

    "Speed Racer" was a film that deserved better. If ANYONE remembers the original cartoons, then they would know that the film is VERY faithful to its origins. This was a cheap cartoon originally, NOT "MACBETH"!! I thought the movie was loud, colorful and wild and a bit over the top - JUST LIKE THE CARTOONS!! In time it might become a cult film. It was well made.

    Some movies truly ARE DOGGIES, such as "Hudson Hawk", "The Other Guys", "The Hunter", "Sneakers" and MANY, MANY OTHERS. There's not an actor/actress in Hollywood that doesn't have a movie that they WISH THEY COULD TAKE BACK.

    Many films that had NOTHING going for them originally later became big hits and classics, such as "Casablanca" and "Dr. No".
    So GO AHEAD, BE BRAVE AND INVEST SOME TIME. You might wind up being pleasantly surprised.

  • http://www.moviesunlimited.com George D. Allen

    BadGnx2, you are spot-on to encourage others to seek out generally dismissed fare, because you're right, you just never know. But how appropriate to match up "Speed Racer" and "Macbeth." Contrary to what Irv (a clear fan of the movie) thought, I indeed found the Wachowskis' take on a cartoon I loved to be "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"! For a movie with such rapid cutting and kaleidoscopic imagery, it seemed to me to be quite sluggish. If I were picking in this category, I'd include two Nicole Kidman flicks that unjustly underperformed, "Birth" and "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus." Loved 'em both.

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