# All-Time Worst Movie Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361 "2007-12-27T06:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/1 "2007-12-27T06:10:12Z")
Sitting here with Oprah on in the background - why yes, I am entirely too lazy to get the remote off the couch to change the channel - and a commercial for \*[The Great Debaters\*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427309/) comes on. Now, I’m sure this is a perfectly good film with a wonderful cast and a redeeming moral theme, but could there possibly be a worse title for it? It is very descriptive, which I suppose is nice, but I have to think that this title will scare away ticket buyers en masse. Something completely nonsensical would probably up the box office draw just on curiosity alone. I mean, it’s Debate! Is the average moviegoer expected to get excited about this? Anyways, I’m wondering what other films out there were killed before they had a chance by an awful title? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/2 "2007-12-27T06:23:43Z")
You may find [this thread (called “Worst movie title”) from last month](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=444879) of considerable interest. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/3 "2007-12-27T06:30:32Z")
Well crap… I blame Oprah ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/4 "2007-12-27T06:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] Well crap… I blame Oprah [/QUOTE] I know what you mean. Hey, did you know that Oprah is Harpo spelled backwards?! Coincidence? I think not! ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/5 "2007-12-27T07:31:00Z")
Yeah, who wants to see a movie about “great” debaters? If they want to sell tickets, they will have to make a movie about people who have _mastered_ it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/6 "2007-12-27T07:35:45Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] You may find [this thread (called “Worst movie title”) from last month](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=444879) of considerable interest. [/QUOTE] Ha! Betcha didn’t see _that_ coming! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/7 "2007-12-27T07:55:47Z")
Geeze, Hollywood, what’s next? _Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share_? ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/8 "2007-12-27T16:45:52Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] I know what you mean. Hey, did you know that Oprah is Harpo spelled backwards?! Coincidence? I think not! [/QUOTE] Her production company is called Harpo, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/9 "2007-12-27T18:44:04Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] Yeah, who wants to see a movie about “great” debaters? If they want to sell tickets, they will have to make a movie about people who have _mastered_ it. [/QUOTE] That’s what the BF and I said when we saw the preview. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/10 "2007-12-27T19:39:29Z")
Maybe to give this thread a different direction than last month’s, some of the Great Minds here at the SDMB could suggest improved titles to the ones that were actually used. I say this because I’ve been trying hard to come up with a better title than “The Great Debaters” and can’t come up with one. So, if you’re so smart, what would _you_ call it? ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/11 "2007-12-27T20:04:28Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Maybe to give this thread a different direction than last month’s, some of the Great Minds here at the SDMB could suggest improved titles to the ones that were actually used. I say this because I’ve been trying hard to come up with a better title than “The Great Debaters” and can’t come up with one. So, if you’re so smart, what would _you_ call it? [/QUOTE] The Master Debaters ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/12 "2007-12-28T00:00:55Z")
Well, I can’t think of a better title for it. But, I believe I do have a good title for its sequel. How about: _The Greater Debaters_ Purty good, eh? And, for the third in the series, I challenge you to do better than: _The Later Debaters_ I know, I know - I make it look easy. Guess it’s just something I was born with. I hope I never take it for granted. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/13 "2007-12-28T02:08:31Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] You may find [this thread (called “Worst movie title”) from last month](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=444879) of considerable interest. [/QUOTE] Four pages and nobody else hated _The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea_? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/14 "2007-12-28T03:53:57Z")
And as a search didn’t turn up any mention of it in the previous thread - could posters possibly have left out _They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?_? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2007, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-movie-titles/431361/15 "2007-12-28T07:09:15Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] Sitting here with Oprah on in the background - why yes, I am entirely too lazy to get the remote off the couch to change the channel - and a commercial for \*[The Great Debaters\*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427309/) comes on. Now, I’m sure this is a perfectly good film with a wonderful cast and a redeeming moral theme, but could there possibly be a worse title for it? It is very descriptive, which I suppose is nice, but I have to think that this title will scare away ticket buyers en masse. [/QUOTE] Ha, you’re talking about the same movie we tried to go see on Christmas night, but it was sold out. Denzel Washington directed and stars in it, and it’s a) him playing a good guy after having just played a psychopathic gangster, and b) an uplifting, intelligent movie geared toward African Americans, but of interest to everybody who likes uplifting, intelligent movies. What’s wrong with the title being descriptive? It lays out exactly what the movie is about, which is better than most movie titles. [QUOTE=Omniscient] I mean, it’s Debate! Is the average moviegoer expected to get excited about this? [/QUOTE] Maybe they’re not after the “average” moviegoer and are aiming for something higher.