# Great Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085 "2012-05-16T12:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/1 "2012-05-16T12:52:46Z")
What are some of your favorite titles? I don’t mean how good the actual work is, just how awesome and memorable the title is. Literature, movies, TV (including individual episodes), fiction, non-fiction, whatever. For me, it’s the book _The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day_, by Scott O’Dell, and the movie _Live Free or Die Hard_. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/2 "2012-05-16T13:03:06Z")
_I Spit On Your Grave_ I’ve never seen it and I don’t know anything about it, but it sure is catchy. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/3 "2012-05-16T13:08:07Z")
Mildred Pierce. The name just promises huge gaseous explosions and heart pounding car chases. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/4 "2012-05-16T13:11:36Z")
Repent, Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man Come back to the five and dime store, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean There’s a Good Reason these tables are numbered, honey, you just haven’t thought of it yet. ETA also from the same album: Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off ---
**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 16, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/5 "2012-05-16T13:11:56Z")
For a while in the 1960s they had a love of ridiculously long titles: _Oh dad, poor dad, Mom’s hung you in the Closet and I’ve Feeling So Sad_ > **[Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Dad,_Poor_Dad,_Mama%27s_Hung_You_in_the_Closet_and_I%27m_Feelin%27_So_Sad)** > > Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad: A Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition was the first play written by Arthur Kopit. > Kopit was on a postgraduate scholarship from Harvard University when he entered the play in a playwriting contest. The play won the contest and an undergraduate production at Harvard, and gained the notice of the Phoenix Theatre in New York. Kopit explained: "I had been writing short stories, and I was having a lot of trou... _Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?_ > **[Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_Hieronymus_Merkin_Ever_Forget_Mercy_Humppe_and_Find_True_Happiness%3F)** > > Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? is a 1969 British musical film directed by and starring Anthony Newley. > Merkin is an internationally successful singer approaching middle age who retells his life story in a series of production numbers on a seashore in front of his two toddlers and aged mother. Merkin's promiscuous relationships with women are explored, particularly Polyester Poontang and the adolescent Mercy Humppe. Merkin compares the relationship with... _The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies_ > **[The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredibly_Strange_Creatures_Who_Stopped_Living_and_Became_Mixed-Up_Zombies)** > > The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (sometimes "!!?" is appended to the title) is a 1964 American monster movie written and directed by Ray Dennis Steckler. Steckler also starred in the film, billed under the pseudonym "Cash Flagg". Upon release, the film received negative reviews and is regarded by some critics as being one of the worst movies ever made. The film was lampooned in a 1997 episode of the cult sci-fi TV series Mystery Science Theater In th... _Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_ > **[Dr. Strangelove](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove)** > > Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, known simply and more commonly as Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 black comedy film directed, co-written, and produced by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character. The film also stars George C. Scott with Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and Tracy Reed. The film, which satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, is lo... \*The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade \* > **[Marat/Sade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat/Sade)** > > The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (German: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade), usually shortened to Marat/Sade (pronounced \[ma.ʁa.sad\]), is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. The work was first published in German. > Incorporating dramatic elements characteristic of both Antonin A... ---
**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 16, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/6 "2012-05-16T13:14:39Z")
In books, there’s always Fredric Brown’s mystery **We All Killed Grandma** I like the mystery by Sharyn McCrumb that’s a send-up of SF convrentiions: **Bimbos of the Death Sun** It has a lesser-known sequel **Zombies of the Gene Pool** I also admit to a love of **The Platypus of Doom and other Nihilists** > **[The Platypus of Doom and Other Nihilists: Cover, Arthur Byron, Adams, Neal:...](https://www.amazon.com/Platypus-Doom-Other-Nihilists/dp/B0006WBKUG)** > > The Platypus of Doom and Other Nihilists \[Cover, Arthur Byron, Adams, Neal\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Platypus of Doom and Other Nihilists ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/7 "2012-05-16T13:48:26Z")
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream ---
**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 16, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/8 "2012-05-16T14:08:40Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream I always thought this would be a great subtitle for one of the _Dilbert_ books. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/9 "2012-05-16T14:11:04Z")
Dolly Parton. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/10 "2012-05-16T14:22:05Z")
If we’re sticking to “serious” literary titles, I’ve always liked: _**The Postman Always Rings Twice Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? We Can Remember It For You Wholesale The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds**_ ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/11 "2012-05-16T14:57:21Z")
Mine are, oddly, both Three Stooges-related. After the film **Valiant Is the Word for Carrie** came out in 1936, the Stooges made **Violent Is the Word for Curly**. _Genius_. And there is a Three Stooges bio called **The Last of the Moe Haircuts**. ---
**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 16, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/12 "2012-05-16T15:01:44Z")
I like great parody titles. There was an episode of the TV series _The vOdd Couple_ about Felix Unger getting into the boxing ring. It was dcalled _The Fight of the Felix_. _Get Smart_ did quite a few of these, with _Valerie of the Dolls_ and _Tequila Mockingbird_, which I suspect was the inspiration for one Doper name. ---
**Author:** ![timid1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@timid1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timid1)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/13 "2012-05-16T15:03:12Z")
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamlined Baby Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/14 "2012-05-16T15:22:00Z")
**For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky** Wonderfully evocative, even if it turns out to be a bit too literal. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/15 "2012-05-16T15:26:42Z")
**Children of A Lesser God** The most evocative title I’ve ever encountered. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/16 "2012-05-16T15:44:57Z")
This thread reminded me of Henry Miller’s reaction to a title he liked. From Tropic of Cancer: In the same window: A Man Cut In Slices! Chapter one: the man in the eyes of his family. Chapter two: the same in the eyes of his mistress. Chapter three:-No chapter three. Have to come back tomorrow for chapters three and four. Every day the window trimmer turns a fresh page. A man cut in slices… You can’t imagine how furious I am not to have thought of a title like that! Where is this bloke who writes “the same in the eyes of his mistress . . . the same in the eyes of … the same … ?” Where is this guy? Who is lie? I want to hug him. I wish to Christ I had had brains enough to think of a title like that-instead of Crazy Cock and the other fool things I invented. Well, fuck a duck! I congratulate him just the same. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/17 "2012-05-16T15:49:48Z")
_The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_. If you haven’t, you should. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/18 "2012-05-16T15:54:08Z")
**Snakes on a Plane** C’mon, top that! ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/19 "2012-05-16T16:05:12Z")
_Hold The Candle Mother Dear, While I Shave The Chicken’s Leg_ is some obscure Irish country/folk song. I’ve never heard it, so I’ve no clue what it’s about, other than the obvious… > [@astorian](#): > > Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I always liked that title… > [@carlb](#): > > **For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky** > Wonderfully evocative, even if it turns out to be a bit too literal. Is that possibly the longest episode title ever? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085/20 "2012-05-16T17:20:14Z")
_Babylon 5_ had a lot of good episode titles, but these strike me as really outstanding ones: “The Parliament of Dreams” “The Geometry of Shadows” “Falling Toward Apotheosis” “Intersections in Real Time” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-titles/622085.md?page=2)