# "Great" films that you didn't like **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210 "2007-09-14T18:23:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/21 "2007-09-14T23:52:53Z")
I have to agree with _Gone With The Wind_, _Casablana_, _Citizen Kane_, and _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. _Gone with the Wind_ is about an hour too long and Scarlet O’Hara is loathsome and shallow and deserves every bad thing that happens to her. _Casablanca_ is just plain boring, and so is _Citizen Kane_, although I do recognize its importance in film history. Although Audrey Hepburn is a real hottie, I can’t stand her or Peppard’s characters in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ for the same reasons zyzzyva mentioned. Mickey Rooney’s character is so cringeworthy and outright racist by today’s standards it’s hard to believe nobody’s mentioned this yet. Some of the other titles mentioned so far are among my favorite films. But hey, _de Gustibus non est Disputandem_ ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/22 "2007-09-15T00:09:22Z")
Godfather II. I read numerous times that it was one of the few sequels that eclipsed the original (which I wasn’t wild about either) so I rented it and fell asleep three different times before giving up. And I like gangster movies ! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/23 "2007-09-15T00:13:49Z")
_The Graduate_. I wasn’t expecting every character in the film to be so intensely unlikable, but I could have handled that. What really caught me by surprise was how they were all so totally boring. Unlikable is okay. Uninteresting is the kiss of death. Crappy movie. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/24 "2007-09-15T00:18:23Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] _The Graduate_. I wasn’t expecting every character in the film to be so intensely unlikable, but I could have handled that. What really caught me by surprise was how they were all so totally boring. Unlikable is okay. Uninteresting is the kiss of death. Crappy movie. [/QUOTE] Vastly overrated, by a vastly overrated director. Mike Nichols is the blandest, least interesting director this side of Jerry Paris. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/25 "2007-09-15T00:51:49Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] _The Graduate_. I wasn’t expecting every character in the film to be so intensely unlikable, but I could have handled that. What really caught me by surprise was how they were all so totally boring. Unlikable is okay. Uninteresting is the kiss of death. Crappy movie. [/QUOTE] That’s the one I was trying to remember when I came into the thread and settled for _The Usual Suspects_, which was at least interesting. _The Graduate_ is plain-ass boring. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/26 "2007-09-15T01:04:51Z")
The Graduate 2001 The Godfather (including sequels) The Matrix Titanic Everything by the Coen brothers (Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink, etc.) Everything by Oliver Stone (Conan, Platoon, Salvador, Scarface, etc.) Easy Rider Dirty Harry Taxi Driver Saving Private Ryan The Shawshank Redemption I have seen and **do like** Casablanca, Citzen Kane, The Usual Suspects, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Schindler’s List, and Grave of the Fireflies. I haven’t seen the rest that people have mentioned ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/27 "2007-09-15T01:07:50Z")
_Saving Private Ryan_: The first 30 minutes are truly great, the violence and blood being a realistic portrayal of the horrors of war. The middle is just a snooze fest. The last third is a stupid, cliched, cartoony battle that is just reveling in violence and blood for its own sake. _Pulp Fiction_: One of the worst movies ever made. Nothing redeeming or worthwhile whatsoever. A complete waste of celluloid from beginning to end. _Memento_: A disgusting movie about disgusting, worthless people about whom I couldn’t care less. Ooo, it’s told backwards, ooo. And it has a twist ending, ooo. And just how the hell did he remember that he couldn’t remember, anyway? _Lord of the Rings_: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. And I still say that Sam was the true hero, and Frodo was a weak simpleton. _Unforgiven_: Shoot, shoot, kill, kill, blood, blood, snore, snore. Someone needed to explain the concept of “plot” to those who made this movie. _E.T._: Just dumb. Dumb. A big-budget cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/28 "2007-09-15T01:40:30Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Everything by Oliver Stone (Conan, Platoon, Salvador, Scarface, etc.) [/QUOTE] Sorry, had to nitpick this. I’m listening to the _Scarface_ soundtrack, so I figure I have to make the correction–Brian DePalma directed _Scarface_, not Stone. ETA: Just checked. Oliver Stone did indeed write the screenplay…Not sure if that’s what you meant. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/29 "2007-09-15T01:47:15Z")
The movie that always jumps to mind when I hear this question is “Gandhi.” I’m inclined to think people praised this movie as great because its SUBJECT was a great man. The movie is cerftainly competently made, and Kingsley’s performance is excellent, but it’s a by-the-numbers biopic in every way that rushes across decades of history, has little dramatic interest, and doesn’t really have anything to say you couldn’t have gotten from the Wikipedia entry on Gandhi. I’ve also never quite understood the love for “Apocalypse Now,” though that movies seems to be loved mainly by young men so maybe it’s not that widely regarded as great. It’s got all the elements of a great film - great director, great actors, great concept, some truly great scenes and lines - but they just don’t come together for me. Taken as a whole it’s pretentious crap, and the ending is so awesomely pretentious and stupid it makes my eyeballs bleed. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/30 "2007-09-15T03:37:09Z")
_Easy Rider_ - I guess 1969 was one of those things where you had to be there. _On the Waterfront_ - I’d always heard that Brando have been a great actor when he was at his peak. Then I saw this and realized he was an over-acting ham even at his best. _The Sting_ - I watched this for the first time just last week. I liked it but I was amazed by how cheap it looked. Quite frankly it looked like a made-for-TV movie that somehow got Newman and Redford for the leads. ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/31 "2007-09-15T04:08:42Z")
2001- I cannot think of a more boring film. Ever. Watching a spaceship dock for 10 minutes with the Blue Danube playing in the background??? Ugh. Please just shoot me now. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/32 "2007-09-15T04:11:59Z")
A Clockwork Orange. Pretentious, masturbatory bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/33 "2007-09-15T04:12:27Z")
I can’t believe I forgot this one… Raging Bull Without exaggeration, I can’t make it through that movie without falling asleep. Some really top notch acting at times, but really effing boring. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/34 "2007-09-15T04:16:37Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] A Clockwork Orange. Pretentious, masturbatory bullshit. [/QUOTE] Gah, forgot this one too. I’m a massive Stanley Kubrick fan but I just hate this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/35 "2007-09-15T04:48:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Gah, forgot this one too. I’m a massive Stanley Kubrick fan but I just hate this movie. Then perhaps I will check out some of his other films… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/36 "2007-09-15T05:42:26Z")
I’m torn. Because on the one hand, I really want to support Sofia Coppola because the mainstream Hollywood industry can use more female directors. On the other hand, I skipped huge bits of **Marie Antoinette** (yeah, yeah, very pretty, big whoop, nothing _happens_), and **Lost in Translation** left me bored and apathetic–an extreme ‘meh’. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/37 "2007-09-15T08:22:21Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Vastly overrated, by a vastly overrated director. Mike Nichols is the blandest, least interesting director this side of Jerry Paris. [/QUOTE] Heretic, burn him, burn him. ok, for me anything by Kubrick. Recently saw Gone with the Wind at our local art deco theatre where they do old movies on the big screen once a month, and thought it was lame! ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/38 "2007-09-15T09:08:23Z")
Ditto on: _The Graduate_ _Unforgiven_ _ET_ _Platoon_ _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ Never actually saw _Driving Miss Daisy_, but I thought it was weird that it won while Spike Lee’s _Do the Right Thing_ was in theaters. Re: _Gone With the Wind_, IMHO the problem is they cut a really important character (Will Benteen), minimized many others (Grandma Fontaine, Scarlett’s parents’ families, other citizens of Atlanta), and basically ignored some fascinating issues Mitchell had raised. There’s a lot of backstory in the book. Pretty dresses and Clark Gable are nice, but not an adequate substitute. Of course the book is also extremely racist and goes to great lengths to justify slavery. It’s tough to read, but does provide a glimpse of America in the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/39 "2007-09-15T09:29:32Z")
[QUOTE=fessie] Of course the book is also extremely racist and goes to great lengths to justify slavery. It’s tough to read, but does provide a glimpse of America in the 1930s. [/QUOTE] Umm, the 1930’s? Don’t you mean the 1860-1870’s? Or are you refering to the period when the book was written? ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210/40 "2007-09-15T09:36:46Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] Umm, the 1930’s? Don’t you mean the 1860-1870’s? Or are you refering to the period when the book was written? [/QUOTE] When the book was written. There’s absolutely nothing to suggest a “revisionist” view of slavery, in her telling; it’s just and right and the natural order of things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-that-you-didnt-like/419210.md?page=3)