# Cleverest Movie Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212 "2007-11-20T18:39:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/1 "2007-11-20T18:39:15Z")
Hoew about titles which aren’t bad, but aren’t descriptive, either? Ones that show wit or have hidden meaning? Like **The Last of Sheila** James Cameron is on record that there are multiple meanings to **The Abyss** I’m not terrifically fond of it myself, but that was obviously the case for **Good Will Hunting** as well. Rod Serling intended double or triple meanings for his Twilight Zone episode **Steel**. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/2 "2007-11-20T18:59:59Z")
**The Ladykillers** (the 1955 version, at least) has multiple meanings: (1) Colloquially, “ladykillers” are gentlemen who charm ladies; (2) The group led by Professor Marcus decide that they need to kill the little old lady Mrs Wilberforce; (3) Mrs Wilberforce turns out to be a lady who is a killer – her actions indirectly, and withut her knowledge, kill all of Professor Marcus’s gang. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/3 "2007-11-20T19:22:49Z")
[Transamerica](http://imdb.com/title/tt0407265/) is a very clever title. The movie is about a pre-op M2F transsexual who takes a cross-country trip. ---
**Author:** ![Genital\_Warthog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/edb3f5/32.png) [@Genital\_Warthog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genital_Warthog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/4 "2007-11-20T19:28:01Z")
[Hindfeld](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140167/) It’s a spoof of _Seinfeld_ and all of the characters make a wager to see who can get some anal sex first. It’s a farce AND a pun! Also, they renamed Kramer as “Creamer.” LOLZ ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/5 "2007-11-20T23:28:15Z")
**Inside Man** is a good movie (IMHO), and the title has also provoked a lot of comment, with people suggesting it may have two or three separate-yet-related meanings. There’s one meaning that pertains to the plot, so I won’t spoil it, and there’s ‘inside man’ as in someone on the ‘inside’ who assists a robbery. There’s also the sense of ‘addressing a fundamental aspect of human nature’. Clever title. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/6 "2007-11-21T00:09:56Z")
Maybe not the cleverest by some definitions, but **Snakes on a Plane** has to be the most successful title in movie history. I can’t think of any other film thats so well known based purely on the fact of how amusing people think the title is. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/7 "2007-11-21T03:54:09Z")
I just finished watching **Keeping Mum** , which has several meanings in the context of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/8 "2007-11-21T05:00:06Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] Maybe not the cleverest by some definitions, but **Snakes on a Plane** has to be the most successful title in movie history. I can’t think of any other film thats so well known based purely on the fact of how amusing people think the title is. [/QUOTE] Hey, it delivered what it promised. I just came to mention Inside Man, but it looks like I have been beaten to 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:** [November 21, 2007, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/9 "2007-11-21T07:43:45Z")
I thought _Boxing Helena_ was going to be about a kangaroo in the ring. Not gonna make _that_ mistake twice. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/10 "2007-11-21T08:07:26Z")
“In a Lonely Place”. Not only is it beautifully evocative and haunting, but it has lots of possible meanings. On the literal level, it is where a body is dumped in the film, but it can also refer to the emotional state that Bogart & Gloria Grahame find themselves in. As the lead character is a Hollywood screenwriter, I’ve also seen it suggested that it refers to the loneliness of writing and Hollywood itself. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/11 "2007-11-21T09:00:08Z")
The name “ **Gattaca** ” is composed entirely of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA. The four nucleotode bases of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/12 "2007-11-21T09:56:46Z")
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/13 "2007-11-21T10:48:06Z")
**Titanic** – not only refers to the ship, but also the budget, the length, and the size of James Cameron’s ego. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/14 "2007-11-21T11:29:16Z")
**House II: The Second Story** ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/15 "2007-11-21T12:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I thought _Boxing Helena_ was going to be about a kangaroo in the ring. Not gonna make _that_ mistake twice. [/QUOTE] I came here to mention this one,had no idea what it was gonna be about when I watched it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/16 "2007-11-21T14:14:55Z")
I suspect many of the “cleverest” titles will be porn. My favorite double-bill of all time was THAR SHE BLOWS with HAWAIIAN THIGH. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/17 "2007-11-21T14:38:43Z")
> [@](#): > > I suspect many of the “cleverest” titles will be porn. Really? I’ve found those porno parody titles to be pretty obvious and lame. “E.T. – The Extra Testicle” “Trader Hornee” Right There might be a lot of suggested ones, but I’ll strongly debate their being “cleverest”. Or ever Clever. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/18 "2007-11-21T14:44:14Z")
(Okay, hang in there with me on this one. Most people I’ve told this to think it’s the dumbest thing they’ve ever heard and give me the ol’ :rolleyes: ) **The Terminal** could have been the cleverest movie title ever if they changed the ending to my ending. At the end of the movie Tom Hank’s character is about to be let into America when he suddenly gets extremely ill, paramedics are called, but too late he has died. We then find out he was trying to get into the country the whole time to get a life saving operation for himself. However he was never able to communicate this to anyone and time runs out. Thus “The Terminal” wasn’t refering to the airport but rather Tom Hank’s character. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/19 "2007-11-21T15:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Like **The Last of Sheila** [/QUOTE] God. Damn. It. The one I come in to mention, and it’s not only in the OP, it’s _the first friggin’ example given_ in the OP?!?!? Okay, then, I submit _Gaslight_, one of the few movies to have actually added a new meaning to an existing word. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212/20 "2007-12-06T14:48:26Z")
“Birth of a Nation” seems odd at first glance since it’s about the aftermath of the Civil War, not the Revolution. But the title refers to the Civil War as being the “birth” of one nation, in that it meant the end of what was previously seen (to some, anyway) as an alliance of sovereign states. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleverest-movie-titles/427212.md?page=2)