# Ishtar was not that bad! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474 "2003-01-03T19:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/1 "2003-01-03T19:51:58Z")
Inspired from this thread that brings up Ishtar several times: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=153733](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=153733) Ok, Ishtar wasn’t good but it wasn’t THAT bad. I actually kind of enjoyed it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/2 "2003-01-03T20:00:28Z")
Any bets where this one is going to end up? Cafe? IMHO? Pit? the possibilities, the possibilities! ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/3 "2003-01-03T20:04:41Z")
I’ve got five bucks on Cafe. Jeff ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/4 "2003-01-03T20:18:41Z")
Not that bad? It was a disaster!: [http://www.davesink.com/ishtar.html](http://www.davesink.com/ishtar.html) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/5 "2003-01-03T20:24:11Z")
Everyone who picked anything other than Cafe Society, pay up. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/6 "2003-01-03T21:00:07Z")
It was terrible. I’ve seen interviews where even Beatty admitted that. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/7 "2003-01-03T21:04:03Z")
It’s hilarious. The reason it was a disaster is because it was advertised as an action movie. _Telling the truth is dangerous business When you play the accordian in a rock 'n roll band!_ ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/8 "2003-01-03T21:49:26Z")
Oh crap, posted in wrong place. Sorry Mod. I think Cafe. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/9 "2003-01-03T21:51:35Z")
The trying to create a song while dying of thirst in the desert… The blind camel. The CIA agent saying “careful, I think one might have a rifle…” It wasn’t THAT bad… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/10 "2003-01-03T22:21:05Z")
I liked the line “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar”… ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/11 "2003-01-04T00:26:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by davesink \* > \*\*[http://www.davesink.com/ishtar.html](http://www.davesink.com/ishtar.html) \*\* Hey! That’s the guy that was at the premiere of _Heaven’s Gate_ too! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/12 "2003-01-04T00:44:12Z")
It was a _financial_ disaster. However, it’s a pretty good little movie. All of Paul Williams’ songs are a hoot. And the arms auction scene is classic comedy. Hell, even Jonathan Rosenblum – the Chicago Reader critic whose name used to appear on an ad here on the SDMB – thinks it’s a [good film](http://65.201.198.5/movies/capsules/4658_ISHTAR). The most insightful review – pointing out both the strengths and flaws of the film, is [this one](http://www.kabinet.org/magazine/issue6/ishtar.html) As time goes by people are beginning to review the movie, and not its price tag (which is why it got slammed – it was very expensive to make for what is a nice, mid-level comedy). It’s not a great film, by any means, but most of the people slamming it have never seen it and are only repeating the legends. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/13 "2003-01-04T01:26:46Z")
Well, Jonathan Rosenbaum was on crack. I recall reading his original review in the Reader waaay back in 1987. It went something like this: 1. Elaine May is a genius. 2. Elaine May made Ishtar. 3. Ergo, Ishtar is a work of genius. The rest of the review was a feeble attempt to square the actual damning evidence of the movie with his irrefutable logic. Rosenbaum was so enamored of Ishtar that he actually named it one of his top 10 movies of the year! [http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/rosenbaum.html](http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/rosenbaum.html) (Those wishing further proof of Rosenbaum’s addled state that year need only note that Norman Mailer’s awful Tough Guys Don’t Dance also made the list.) Not that Ishtar was absolutely terrible, mind you. It was feebly entertaining. It was even slightly more entertaining than the previous year’s Chevy Chase-Dan Ackroyd vehicle, Spies Like Us, which had a very similar plot. But when you consider that cost a zillion times more than that movie, and consumed the time and energy of much more talented people, you begin to realize why it’s considered a great Hollywood boondoggle. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/14 "2003-01-04T01:54:44Z")
I’ve seen Ishtar. I had no idea it cost a fortune to make. I thought it was a terrible movie, and complete steaming pile of crap. Now that I know that it cost of a lot of money, I think it is an expensive steaming pile of crap. Could a movie be less entertaining and more annoying? Probably. But Ishtar sets a standard that other movies will have to strive to live down to. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/15 "2003-01-04T04:18:43Z")
i didn’t think it was nearly as bad as everyone says. MST3k brought us hundreds of movies that were worse. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/16 "2003-01-04T04:38:01Z")
Wumpus writes: \> It was even slightly more entertaining than the previous year’s \> Chevy Chase-Dan Ackroyd vehicle, Spies Like Us, which had a \> very similar plot. But when you consider that cost a zillion times \> more than that movie, and consumed the time and energy of \> much more talented people, you begin to realize why it’s \> considered a great Hollywood boondoggle. Oh, please. Do a little research before you make such a statement. You can find the budgets for both these movies in their IMDb entries. _Ishtar_ had a budget of $40 million and _Spies_ had a budget of $22 million. _Ishtar_ thus cost less than twice as much, not a zillion times as much. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ishtar-was-not-that-bad/146474/17 "2003-01-04T04:47:30Z")
OK, I’ll be a zillion times more careful the next time I throw around a precise and accurate term such as “zillion.”