# Freaks
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 10, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501 "2008-12-10T03:41:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/1 "2008-12-10T03:41:42Z")
I just received this movie from Netflix and plan on watching it in a minute. Has anyone seen it? What did you think of it?
> **[Freaks (1932) ⭐ 7.8 | Drama, Horror](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/)**
>
> 1h 4m | Not Rated
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/2 "2008-12-10T03:49:16Z")
‘We accept her! We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!’
Seen it? I own it! 🆒
A true classic. The acting isn’t all that great, but the images are. The story shows who the true freaks are.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/3 "2008-12-10T03:49:46Z")
Tod Browning’s Freaks is brilliant. Watch it once, and you’ll be one of us.
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### Author:  [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/4 "2008-12-10T03:54:49Z")
OK, Diane, it’s like this: it is a great movie, but I hope you have a strong stomach.
I saw it eons ago, in college. I wasn’t really prepared. Afterward (I was really young remember) I got into an awful discussion with my date when I said some of those folks in the movie would have been better off if they’d never been born, my date being a very rigorous Catholic, even tho he was in a Jewish fraternity.
So, anyway, let us know what you think.
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### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/5 "2008-12-10T04:14:21Z")
Really cool movie, but I wouldn’t watch it before bed. There are a lot of really chilling images that’ll stick with you for a while.
And yeah, you’ll have to put up with a lot of really crappy acting, but that’s a good tradeoff for the authenticity of the movie.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/6 "2008-12-10T04:15:45Z")
> [@shy\_guy](#):
>
> There are a lot of really chilling images that’ll stick with you for a while.
There’s one in particular. But I can’t mention it without spoiling.
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### Author:  [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/7 "2008-12-10T04:34:30Z")
One image I can recommend you watch for without spoiling anything is the guy with no arms or legs lighting a cigarette with a match, using only his mouth…
…_and the ciggie is a hand-rolled._
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### Author:  [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/8 "2008-12-10T04:55:15Z")
Do you really have to “watch for it?” There’s not much subtlety in this movie…
😉
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### Author:  [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/9 "2008-12-10T05:08:26Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#):
>
> Afterward (I was really young remember) I got into an awful discussion **with my date…**
You invited a guy to go see “Freaks” on a _date_?? 😕
Anyways, great movie. Really memorable.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/10 "2008-12-10T05:14:17Z")
For your viewing/downloading pleasure, Tod Browning’s _Freaks_ at the [Internet Archive](http://www.archive.org/details/Freaks_401).
CMC +fnord!
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### Author:  [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/11 "2008-12-10T05:14:21Z")
No, Rodgers01, the guy took me. I had no idea going in what the movie was really going to be like. No follow-up date, it goes without saying.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/12 "2008-12-10T05:21:18Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#):
>
> …_and the ciggie is a hand-rolled._
Rolled, perhaps, but not by hand…
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/13 "2008-12-10T06:00:16Z")
I find the audio annoying and at times incomprehensible but other than that, no complaints.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/14 "2008-12-10T07:27:38Z")
It’s a good film. Its use of people who were not professional actors lends it a nearly documentary atmosphere that is _extremely_ effective in at least one classic scene. The plot is a little simplistic and the acting is wooden at times (the other side of using non-actors in major roles) but all in all it holds together well and delivers some very memorable images still with us today.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/15 "2008-12-10T13:06:50Z")
It’s wonderful. That’s all I have to say.
And I am so hoping that someone discovers this missing footage of the final scene.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/16 "2008-12-10T13:10:44Z")
It’s a good movie. You get to see some of the actual people that were in the circus acts back then. The new release is utter crap, so don’t waste your money on the new one.
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### Author:  [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/17 "2008-12-10T13:18:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> ‘We accept her! We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!’
Ramones fans will tell you that it’s ‘Gabba Gabba’ - see their song ‘Pinhead’
😉
Certainly worth watching. Banned in the UK for 50(?) years
MiM
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### Author:  [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/18 "2008-12-10T13:20:38Z")
Best weed movie ever made, if you’re into that.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/19 "2008-12-10T14:06:14Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#):
>
> Ramones fans will tell you that it’s ‘Gabba Gabba’ - see their song ‘Pinhead’
>
> 😉
>
> Certainly worth watching. Banned in the UK for 50(?) years
>
> MiM
It is out of copyright so you can watch it on sites that host old American movies. Take that censors.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freaks/476501/20 "2008-12-10T15:28:41Z")
The person leading the “Gooble Gobble” chant is Angelo Rossitto. While not a well-known name—although he had a ton of low paying movie credits for about six decades—he is best remembered for two roles a half-century apart: The aforementioned “Freaks,” and he was the “Master” unit of “Master Blaster” in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” as Max would call him, “the little man with the knowin’s of a lotta things.”
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