McDowell probably does relish strange or offbeat roles, but I think Caligula sets the bar much, much higher. And I’ve only seen the Cinemax expurgiated version (no faked porn, no sword thrust explodes bladder scene)
You know what always disappointed me? Mark Hamill in Village of the Damned. It always left me scratching my head and thinking, “Luke Skywalker, a preacher?”
That horrible film was ‘Isn’t she great?’. Awful.
Speaking of sean connery, has anyone seen Highlander 2: the Crackfest?
Now there was a movie that never should have been made.
What about Jack Nicholson in “Wolf.” Was that movie ever a waste of time! The idea of Jack Nicholason as a werewolf isn’t a bad one, but boy pee-yoo did that movie stink.
Gene Hackman in Superman was GREAT. Ditto for Superman II. He was the best part of two decent/pretty good flicks.
My favorite great actors/crappy movie of all time was Ben Kingsley and Forrest Whitaker in “Species”. Two superb actors in a by-the-numbers aliens attack flick designed primarily to showcase Natasha Henridge’s (sp?) (fantastic) body. What I loved about the film is that Kingsley and Whitaker played it straight, putting all of their considerable acting skills into mouthing some of the dumbest lines ever scripted.
V.
Thank you, SuaSponte, for reminding me about Species. Ben Kingsley is another one of my favorite actors who seems to do a lot of “whatever they’ll pay me for”, like that Alice in Wonderland thing that was on TV, but he always gives 100% and never just walks through it. See also Sneakers with Robert Redford. The only thing that I’ve ever seen him in that I’ve actually been embarrassed for him was Harem from I think 1985, with Nastassia Kinski, what a stinker. Nobody came out of that one alive. And that was the only thing I’ve seen him in that he himself looked a little bit embarrassed, especially in one of the so-called “love scenes”.
Helena Bonham-Carter in Fight Club. She did a lovely (as it were) job as Ophelia in Hamlet (even though Mel Gibson would NOT be my first choice as the Prince), and then she went and slutted herself out for a “Hey! Look! Brad Pitt’s abs!” film. Blech
Gene Hackman saved the Superman movie! He’s a true actor, master of his craft.
There are so many bizarre miscastings it’s hard to limit, but here’s a hearty agreement for Audrey Hepburn over Marilyn Monroe in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Also notable: Michael Caine in Hurry, Sundown; it screwed the pooch all way around; Jane Fonda and cockney Michael Caine as languid Southerners??
Clint Eastwood in Bridges of Madison County; hey, I was a guest, I didn’t choose the movie.
Whazzis name–hunk du jour–as Lestat in Interview w/ a vampire. Daniel Day Lewis could have done something w/ it, or even Johnny Depp. Once again, a good book, screwed.
Veb
Steve Martin and Heather “yummy” Graham in Bowfinger.
Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man.
Gene Kelly in Xanadu.
Jack Nicholson in Batman.
Two Words: “The Avengers”
Sean Connery, Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes in the world’s dumbest flick. If Uma had a nickel for everytime somebody said “She ain’t no Diana Rigg” she’d be Bill Gates. Hell…she’d have 20 or 30 bucks just from me.
But the absolute worst of all time was Tom Selleck as King Ferdinand in “Christopher Columbus”.
Chico Marx as a monk talking with Christopher Columbus in “The Story of Mankind”. His character doesn’t even have a name! He has not one funny line! What was the point?
TSOM has got to be one of the weirdest flicks ever made. I’d love to get a copy on videotape so I can show it at my annual Bad Film Festival. It’s based on a popular history book by van Loon, and the casting of this movie is epically strange. Vincent Price aqs “Mr. Scratch” (the Devil) and Ronald Colman as “The Spirit of Mankind” make some sense, but why cast Peter Lorre as Nero, or Groucho Marx as Peter Stuyvesant, or Harpo Marx as Isaac Newton (!) (!!!) But at least Groucho gets to do some wheeling and dealing with the indians, and Harpo gets to play the harp after getting hit on the head with an apple (don’t ask). But then why put Chico in a role where he can’t do anything? Even his fake-Italian accent is wrong for what is supposed to be a Spaniard. Maybe they just didn’t want to break up the set, so they felt that had to put him somewhere.
Maybe they can splice together scenes of Tom Selleck’s King Ferdinand with Chico’s to get a complete bad Columbus epic.
I just saw Toy Story 2 again (another birthday request. At least it’s at the $1 matinee now).
I felt sorry for Bo Peep(Annie Potts). She’s the cutest character, and they gave her nothing to do, not even tag along for Woody’s rescue, just kiss him at the end.
Not only did Jessy (Joan Cusack) get all of his attention, Barbie (Jodi Benson) completely upstaged both of them.
Bo and Jessy both need better parts before they sign on for “Toy Story - the Prequel”.