# Best Cast/Worst Movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2013, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912 "2013-11-02T09:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/21 "2013-11-02T19:19:54Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > No love for [Cleopatra?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937/combined) It was a BOMB but a huge bomb, so well financed that it helped break the studio financially that made it, so sorry, not appropriate here. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/22 "2013-11-02T19:52:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [The Madwoman of Chaliott](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064621/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast) Well it sounds like an art film that flopped, not a piece of crap that inexplicably got good actors. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/23 "2013-11-02T19:58:54Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hey, remember when Academy Award winners Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton teamed up with Academy Award winner Charlton Heston and Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn? No? Of course you do; on hand to deliver supporting-cast lines, there’s Jenna Elfman in the middle of her award-winning run on _Dharma and Greg_; Holland Taylor, in the middle of her award-winning run on _The Practice_; Garry Shandling, fresh off his award-winning run as _Larry Sanders_; and Buck Henry is always perfect. > > So how could [_Town & Country_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141907/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast) miss? I remember seeing the promos for “Town and Country” and thinking, “It LOOKS like it’s supposed to be a comedy, but none of these bits in the trailer are funny at all.” I imagine a lot of people had that response. But wasn’t it a big-budget film with major studio backing? Sounds like a garden-variety studio flop to me. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/24 "2013-11-02T20:08:44Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Trust me, you’re going to get a bunch of big budget flops posted, not B-movie schlock and direct-to-video dreck like you planned. > > My favorite is “Naked Space,” subsequently re-titled “The Creature Wasn’t Nice.” A comedy take on “Alien” wherein a crew picks up a small gelatinous mass that grows into a people-eating monster… that communicates via show tunes (30 years later, I _still_ hum “I Want To Eat Your Face.”). > > It stars Leslie Nielsen, Patrick McNee, Cindy Williams, Gerritt Graham, and Bruce Kimmel (who also directed, sang, and played the creature; I think he choreographed it as well). The set is, for the most part, a hallway where they change the numbers every time someone goes by to indicate the ship is big, a couple of rooms, and everything could be done by a high school drama dept. The movie looks like it was made for about what Williams made for a single ep of “Laverne and Shirley,” so I’ve never figured out what the cast was doing there. Kimmel’s e-mailed me a few times over the years, but I’ve always thought it rude to ask. I think he and I are the only people that think the film’s _hilarious_. Sounds like exactly what I’m thinking of … I never heard of the film, I guess Kimmel or someone he knew pulled some strings to get that cast. > [@](#): > > For more thread-fodder, I suggest following the career of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who’s making a steady stream of low-budget direct-to-dvd action films that inexplicably include Hollywood A-listers like Bruce Willis, Robert DeNiro, Forrest Whitaker and names that are also recognizable, if not as big. I don’t know what’s up with that… Interesting. I’ll keep an eye out. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/25 "2013-11-02T20:10:30Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > The one with the famous cast. You know, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Orson Welles, David Niven, Ursula Andres, Deborah Kerr, William Holden, Charles Boyer, John Huston, Jacqueline Bisset, Angelica Houston (not famous at the time, now famous), Peter O’Toole. I don’t think either version qualifies, as neither is really a bad movie. A mediocre spoof and a mediocre Bond film at worst. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/26 "2013-11-02T20:11:54Z")
Kind of cheating, because I haven’t actually seen the movie, but maybe a (Dis)Honorable Mention for [_Zardoz_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070948/?ref_=nv_sr_1)–granted, I haven’t really heard of most of those people, but Sean Connery was already a big name (“Bond. James Bond”), and Charlotte Rampling seems to have already had a reasonably prominent career at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/27 "2013-11-02T20:14:43Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Kind of cheating, because I haven’t actually seen the movie, but maybe a (Dis)Honorable Mention for [_Zardoz_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070948/?ref_=nv_sr_1)–granted, I haven’t really heard of most of those people, but Sean Connery was already a big name (“Bond. James Bond”), and Charlotte Rampling seems to have already had a reasonably prominent career at that point. Oh, I think Zardoz is a GREAT example. I mean, how did they pitch that movie to Connery? “You’ll be a badass who carries a gun and wears braids, AND your costume will consist of an adult diaper!” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/28 "2013-11-02T20:37:34Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I don’t think either version qualifies, as neither is really a bad movie. A mediocre spoof and a mediocre Bond film at worst. You don’t think the 67 Casino Royale is a bad movie? What made it rise above bad? The writing? The Story? The photography (which I will give a solid B to), the editing? The direction? It isn’t Plan B or Rocky Horror bad, but it is a truly awful turd sitting in the punch bowl that is bad movies. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/29 "2013-11-02T20:38:36Z")
Recent releases that are supposed to be pretty poor: _Escape Plan_, Schwartenegger, Stallone, Amy Ryan; and _Last Vegas_ (Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen) is apparently just awful. As for one I’ve actually seen, I give you _The Two Jakes_, the Nicholson-directed sequel to _Chinatown_: Nicholson (who should have stuck to acting), Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Eli Wallach, Reuben Blades, David Keith, Richard Farnsworth, James Hong. Most of these people (with the exception of Tilly) can carry a film on their own. All of them together couldn’t save this mess. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/30 "2013-11-02T20:40:09Z")
_Zardoz_ got typical so-so reviews from both critics and the audiences. It lost money on its original release. It probably has made a fair amount now, since it’s a cult film. I don’t think this fits your description in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/31 "2013-11-02T20:43:37Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Another recent film: _The Big Wedding_. Featuring: > > Robert De Niro- 7 Oscar noms. 2 wins. > Katherine Heigl- 1 Emmy. > Diane Keaton- 4 Oscar noms. 1 win. > Amanda Seyfried- Several “Best Cast” noms and a win for films like _Les Misérables_. > Topher Grace- Won “Best Ensemble” SAG for _Traffic_. > Susan Sarandon- 5 Oscar noms., 1 win. 4 Emmys. 1 BAFTA. > Robin Williams- 4 Oscar noms., 1 win. 8 Emmy noms., 2 wins. 2 SAGs. 5 Cable Ace awards! > > 7% at Rotten Tomatoes, 3% among top critics. > > (I haven’t/won’t see _Movie 43_ but I think many of the big stars only did cameo/segments. The above aren’t in small roles.) That doesn’t count. Heigl signed a contract with the devil to get into movies. The fine print said the movies would all suck, each one more so than previous. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/32 "2013-11-02T20:51:22Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > That doesn’t count. Heigl signed a contract with the devil to get into movies. The fine print said the movies would all suck, each one more so than previous. She can flop on my set anytime. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/33 "2013-11-02T21:33:30Z")
Maybe not quite at the level of some of the other films mentioned, but the first one that leaped to mind was _The Keep_, a book I really liked and thought should make a good horror film, especially with a cast like Ian McKellan, Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, and Jurgen Prochnow, but it was pretty much a vast, non-scary, stupid pit of suck. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/34 "2013-11-02T21:40:57Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Oh, I think Zardoz is a GREAT example. I mean, how did they pitch that movie to Connery? “I’m sick of being typecast as James Bond!” “We hear you, Sean. Say, would 007 wear a red diaper with thigh-high boots?” “No, he would not.” “So throw in a handlebar mustache and it’s problem solved, buddy.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/35 "2013-11-02T21:41:35Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > You don’t think the 67 Casino Royale is a bad movie? What made it rise above bad? The writing? The Story? The photography (which I will give a solid B to), the editing? The direction? It isn’t Plan B or Rocky Horror bad, but it is a truly awful turd sitting in the punch bowl that is bad movies. I thought it was a fun little spoof. Especially Woody Allen as the Bond villain. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/36 "2013-11-02T21:53:40Z")
Another suggestion: _The Bonfire of the Vanities_, a 1990 movie starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall and Morgan Freeman. The movie was directed by Brian De Palma. You might remember that it was based on a novel by Tom Wolfe that was hugely popular in the late 1980s, so there was a lot of anticipation for the movie. But the movie flopped commercially and has a 16% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/37 "2013-11-02T21:57:03Z")
A year after 1974’s _Young Frankenstein_ (with writing credits going to Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder) came _The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother_, written by Wilder, and starring several of the YF cast: Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, and the voice of Brooks. Joining them: Dom DeLuise, Leo McKern, and Roy Kinnear. I suppose the 1975 movie has its fans, but to me it’s really unfunny. Anytime I’ve tried to watch it I’ve found myself feeling embarrassed for the participants. It’s an odd experience because the movie made just the year before is such an evergreen source of laughs. (And the failings of TAOSHSB can’t be solely attributed to Brook’s lesser involvement, since not absolutely everything he’s made has risen to the standard set by YF.) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/38 "2013-11-02T22:03:42Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Sounds like exactly what I’m thinking of … I never heard of the film, I guess Kimmel or someone he knew pulled some strings to get that cast. Yep, video of all of them in Tijuana or something like that. It’s just so weird - Nielsen was hot at the time thanks to _Airplane_ and _Police Squad_, Williams was shooting the last season of _Laverne and Shirley_, Graham was recognizable for _Used Cars_, at least, and Patrick MacNee was Patrick MacNee. You spend the whole movie wondering what the hell they’re all doing there. Btw, it was renamed _Naked Space_ on video after Nielsen had a hit with _Naked Gun,_ five years after it was released. The “I Want To Eat Your Face” number is on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEyEL-BvbqQ). ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/39 "2013-11-02T23:21:57Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hey, remember when Academy Award winners Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton teamed up with Academy Award winner Charlton Heston and Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn? No? Of course you do; on hand to deliver supporting-cast lines, there’s Jenna Elfman in the middle of her award-winning run on _Dharma and Greg_; Holland Taylor, in the middle of her award-winning run on _The Practice_; Garry Shandling, fresh off his award-winning run as _Larry Sanders_; and Buck Henry is always perfect. > > So how could [_Town & Country_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141907/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast) miss? Aww, I liked Town & Country. People should give it a second look because it really is quite funny. Movies like that are really out of style these days, but if it had come out in 1983 it would probably be considered a beloved classic. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912/40 "2013-11-03T00:32:54Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > My favorite is “Naked Space,” subsequently re-titled “The Creature Wasn’t Nice.” A comedy take on “Alien” wherein a crew picks up a small gelatinous mass that grows into a people-eating monster… that communicates via show tunes (30 years later, I _still_ hum “I Want To Eat Your Face.”)… > > Kimmel’s e-mailed me a few times over the years, but I’ve always thought it rude to ask. I think he and I are the only people that think the film’s _hilarious_. Put me down for #3. I bought the DVD at a $2.99 bargain bin years ago and I think it’s hilarious. It’s a space movie that looks like it was filmed over a weekend with a camcorder and a $500 budget, but the dialog is hilarious and the facial expressions of the characters are often priceless. The smartass computer, Nielson trying to act like he knows how to fly a spaceship, Gerrit Graham with his trucker hat and constant insubordination, John with his synthetic meals. I’m laughing just thinking about it. Holy smokes, [the full movie is on youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhdBSdzjTiQ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cast-worst-movie/672912.md?page=3)