# Movies that made a big pop culture splash but are now disporportionately forgotten **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2014, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755 "2014-11-16T08:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/281 "2014-11-28T21:26:30Z")
I think I’ve got one that hasn’t been mentioned yet: [_Love Story_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Story_%281970_film%29) from 1970. To be fair, I’ve never even seen it, but it certainly was in the zeitgeist for a while when I was a little kid back in the 70s. _“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”_ :dubious: \ Even though the AFI seems to have a boner for this film , according to [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Love-Story-Ali-Macgraw/dp/B00AEFYK5M/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1417209753&sr=1-1&keywords=love+story+1970), it’s ranked #13,758 in sales. Pretty weak. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/282 "2014-11-29T11:18:47Z")
My first thought was The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. A Fish Called Wanda - “Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not “Every man for himself.” And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.” A funny film, although the humour might not travel so well. The Austin Powers films were huge amongst my friends, and we would see them _en masse_, several car loads of us. Never with any other film have we been so obsessed. I’ve seen all of the films mentioned in this thread at least twice, possibly ‘Ghost’ has little cultural relevance today or that might just be me. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/283 "2014-11-29T15:41:14Z")
My father was a movie theater manager when “The Poseidon Adventure” came out and it was so mobbed, they put in a few benches in the back of the theater. (don’t know how or why, fire codes and all.) “Tommy” was HUGE when it came out and now it’s a curiosity shown on TV once in a blue moon. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/284 "2014-11-29T20:09:52Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I see from IMDB that the most popular film released in the 1980s was… > > (wait for it) > > Beetlejuice. > > (Beetle-_what_? I hear the under-30’s cry) > > Not that that necessarily means it made a big pop-culture splash, but … I think (from memory) it did. Tim Burton! Winona Ryder! > > Talking of Winona Ryder … how about _Heathers_. Not that it wasn’t a good movie (it was) - but does anyone still remember it much? I’m under 30 and I fondly remember Beetlejuice. Though, as a child, I was more fond of the syndicated animated series that went into reruns for years (well into the mid-nineties, IIRC), and found the film flummoxing – why was there so little of Betelgeuse and why was he such a malicious perv!? In the cartoon he was a lovable rogue and a guardian angel of sorts for Lydia. Who were the Maitlands and why should I care!? My appreciation of the film has grown, and I kinda cringe at the cartoon now. Funny how that works. (I still want to ride Doomy the Dragster of Doom, though) * * * So how 'bout that Cloverfield movie? The hype and viral marketing of it were so unavoidable that I’m kind of glad “America’s Godzilla” is kind sinking back to the depths from whence it came. The irony of course is that the actual American Godzilla was so godawful that it retains relevance, in addition to association with the timeless property it bastardized, by having retractable kitsch quality. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/285 "2014-11-30T01:04:25Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > So how 'bout that Cloverfield movie? The hype and viral marketing of it were so unavoidable that I’m kind of glad “America’s Godzilla” is kind sinking back to the depths from whence it came. That’s an interesting call. “Cloverfield” is a great example of being a victim of its own marketing. They tried to keep the monster design under wraps, and wound up creating a situation where people were unavoidably disappointed. They tried to merge Blair Witch Project’s intimacy with a Hollywood budget, and they wound up overpromising and underdelivering. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/286 "2014-11-30T01:09:56Z")
And Cloverfield reminds of The Blair Witch Project! Which I had to struggle to remember the name of but was all-that then. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/287 "2014-11-30T02:19:39Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > So how 'bout that Cloverfield movie? The hype and viral marketing of it were so unavoidable that I’m kind of glad “America’s Godzilla” is kind sinking back to the depths from whence it came. > > The irony of course is that the actual American Godzilla was so godawful that it retains relevance, in addition to association with the timeless property it bastardized, by having retractable kitsch quality. I think that one might qualify. I remember it being a huge deal…well, briefly, anyway. Or at least the marketing way, as **typoink** points out. Can’t remember how people felt about actual film. I remember thinking it was decent–not embarrassingly horrible, but not mindblowingly good. Good solid B. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/288 "2014-11-30T02:34:39Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > What? > > You presume to think that we transgender people should embrace a specific role in a specific film from decades ago because “younger gays” can embrace some other film as a camp classic? If you’ve seen Crying Game I’d be interested in your thoughts on the character. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/289 "2014-11-30T02:45:35Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I haven’t scrolled through every page, but has [the Crying Game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_Game) been mentioned yet? That’s a movie that seems to have dropped into a black hole. It was a huge sensation just about 20 years ago, and given that transgender issues are such hot topic nowadays, you’d think that’d make some kind of comeback. While _The Crying Game_ was a successful, Oscar-winning movie, it’s my recollection that the “sensation” at the time was really about the Dil plot twist. There was also a big spoiler controversy because Gene Siskel revealed the twist on _Siskel & Ebert_. Over the years I’ve heard the plot twist in _The Crying Game_ referenced a number of times (sometimes as an example of a plot twist that everyone knows), but rarely anything else about the film. I suspect that far more people know that there’s a transgender character in _The Crying Game_ than know that most of the other major characters are members of the IRA, even though the latter is essential to the plot and is established within the first few minutes of the movie. I’d guess that _The Crying Game_ has probably been a victim of its twist being so well known, as there are likely plenty of people who never bothered to watch it because they figure they already know everything important about it. But there are actually plenty of other twists in the plot, and the fact that Dil is transgender doesn’t even have much to do with the IRA storyline. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/290 "2014-11-30T02:50:52Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I think that one might qualify. I remember it being a huge deal…well, briefly, anyway. Or at least the marketing way, as **typoink** points out. Can’t remember how people felt about actual film. I remember thinking it was decent–not embarrassingly horrible, but not mindblowingly good. Good solid B. I’ve actually never seen it, but I think “solid B” is the general reception. And I think, had it been just another Hollywood movie, it would be thought of as a decent modern creature feature. But the pre-hype, as I remember it, was full of “JJ Abrahms & co are going to reinvent the monster movie and make an instant iconic classic.” When they didn’t, the movie was remembered as a failure to deliver, rather than the perfectly servicable movie he delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/291 "2014-11-30T16:49:12Z")
A minor one,but I remember [Deadly Pursuit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096098/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_12) getting a lot of hype as it was the big return of Sidney Poitier to the movies after over a decade away from them. It got a lot of attention and hype and turned out to be just another 80’s actioneer with a mix-matched pair of buddies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755.md?page=14)