# Great movies that need better titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751 "2020-04-28T17:12:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/101 "2020-05-05T11:42:30Z")
_A Quantum of Solace_ is a perfectly fine Bond film. It had the misfortune of being bookended by two much better ones, but on its own merits it’s fine and has the most beautiful Bond girl to date. I kind of wish they’d called it _Die, Actually_ or _Die, Die, Die, Die, Die._ ---
**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:** [May 5, 2020, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/102 "2020-05-05T12:26:00Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > _A Quantum of Solace_ is a perfectly fine Bond film. It had the misfortune of being bookended by two much better ones, but on its own merits it’s fine and has the most beautiful Bond girl to date. I kind of wish they’d called it _Die, Actually_ or _Die, Die, Die, Die, Die._ They try to use actual Bond story titles (or at least things from Fleming’s Bond canon) in titling the Bond films, so you come up with things like _The World is Not Enough_ (The Bond family motto, introduced in the book _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_ and actually used in that film) or _A View to a Kill_ (shortened from the short story title “From a View to a Kill”. Or _Octopussy_. There was a short story entitled “Quantum of Solace”. It actually makes sense within the context of the story. Thank Bond’s lucky stars that they didn’t try to name movies “The Hildebrand Rarity” or “Property of a Lady” or “Risico” ---
**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:** [May 5, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/103 "2020-05-05T13:05:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Thank Bond’s lucky stars that they didn’t try to name movies “The Hildebrand Rarity” or “Property of a Lady” or “Risico” How about “Reflections in a Carey Cadillac”? ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/104 "2020-05-10T10:52:19Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Since I read your post a few days ago, it’s been hovering in the back of my mind. It occured to me that Andy is not the protagonist, it’s Red. Sure, the camera follows Andy’s exploits and he is much of the story but that story is what’s told during lunch (“those of us that remember him, speak of him often”). The breakout is only important in that it changes Red’s mind and prevents him from being institutionalized. Which is also why Brooks suicide was important to the story. If Andy was the protagonist the camera would stay on him througout his trip to Mexico and it would end with him seeing Red walk up to him while cleaning the boat. > > The ‘Redemption’ happens when Red talks to the parole board. That’s an interesting point. Have you read the written work? Who is the main character in Stephen King’s story? ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/105 "2020-05-10T10:56:38Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > [Sex Kittens Go To College.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz9TXhs4Cjk) Awesome title, great trailer, but it’s even worse than you’d think a movie that has both Mamie Van Doren and Conway Twitty would be. You forgot to mention Tuesday Weld! Va-va-voom!.. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/106 "2020-05-10T11:04:40Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Totally agree here. They should have named (_The Silence of the Lambs_) after the novel instead. 😉 Fair enough. This is the second time in this thread (along with _Shawshank Redemption_) I’ve been called out for ripping a film name which actually retains the title of the written work on which it’s based. I still say they’re poor titles, and the films would’ve been better served with new names. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/107 "2020-05-10T11:11:14Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I learnt from QI that the Italian title for _The Sound of Music_ translates as _All Together, Passionately_, which might have led to disappointment among some customers. > > (And apparently one South Korean cinema owner tried to get more customers in by shortening it - he had all the musical numbers cut out). In Argentina, it was called _La novicia rebelde_, which I believe roughly translates to “Rebel Nun”. Which IMHO is a vastly superior title! Regarding the SK theater proprietor: he improved the film by deleting all those pesky production numbers which interrupt the action. Plus he can run more showings per day. Everybody wins! ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/108 "2020-05-10T12:31:19Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > **Shawshank Redemption** - too hokey. Andy was innocent of the charges, so he didn’t need redemption. I suppose Shawshank Penitentiary is a real place, but the word “Shawshank” is meaningless outside of the state of Maine, and doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. > [@divemaster](#): > > **The Hudsucker Proxy** is my favorite Coen Bros. film. But I’m sure the title has put some folks off. I probably would have never watched it based on the title alone. I’m not sure what a better title would be; I mean, it’s 100% accurate. Just not something you’d pick off the video shelf back in the day. Re the films mentioned in the above two quotes: I’m not a great film buff; have seen the former – reckoned it impressive, though not one of my life’s supreme “highs”; have been aware of the latter and its name, but not seen it. I do have a loathing of film titles which combine the grotesquely weird and the enigmatic, in the way that those two do; to the extent of causing a tendency toward reluctance on my part, to see the film. Titles of this sort have me thinking, “what on earth is a shawshank, and how does one redeem it?” or “what are huds, and who or what sucks them, by proxy or otherwise?”; and in whichever case, “who the hell cares?” (I have problems with quoting-mechanisms) – **Elendil’s Heir** expresses a dislike of “IMO blah and unrevealing titles”, as with _The Queen_ and _The King_. Another “blanket” hate of mine, is for such film titles (to some extent, titles of any creative work; but films particularly) which are just “The [single word]”. One such title which I particularly dislike, is _The Train_, starring Burt Lancaster. I have only praise for the actual film – and my being a railway enthusiast, gives it special value for me (though I find all the wrecking which takes place, quite harrowing): but of all the pedestrian / stodgy / moronic titles – _The Train_, for me, takes the cake. I’d have some trouble coming up with a really good alternative title; but IMO anything would be better than the one which it bears. I gather that the French prose work which was the inspiration for it, is titled _Le Front de l’Art_ = “The Art Front”, which in my view, wouldn’t really work as an English title; but, for me, still superior to the actual one. I’ve seen it suggested that at the time – the mid-1960s – at which _The Train_ was made, there was quite a vogue for films with such “The [single word]” titles; film-makers at the time, thought they were punchy / powerful / arresting in their succinctness; as far as I’m concerned, such stuff is just “caveman-speak”, and to be regretted. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/109 "2020-05-10T12:57:43Z")
“Gaby: A True Story” All the accollades went to “My Left Foot” which had a better title, , but that’s all. “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”. I can never remember how that goes. “The Boys”… 1998 Australian classic buried under a blah name. “Sorcerer”, better remake of “The Wages of Fear”, but misleading irrelevant title. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751/110 "2020-05-10T14:04:08Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > That’s an interesting point. Have you read the written work? Who is the main character in Stephen King’s story? The story is written in first-person. Red is the narrator. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-that-need-better-titles/852751.md?page=5)