# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/141 "2014-11-17T15:33:01Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Indeed. I saw _8 1/2_ last year, and that crap’s just boring. Hey, it was boring when I saw it 40 years ago, back during the heyday of Fellini and Truffaut and Bergman and them guys. (And I actually liked a lot of that shit back then. But not _8 1/2_.) ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/142 "2014-11-17T15:42:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And I actually liked a lot of that shit back then. But not _8 1/2_. Do you still like their movies, and what would you recommend now? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/143 "2014-11-17T15:42:58Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > What kind of example do you want? You’ve named some of the most popular movies of the last few decades and said no one watches them anymore. > > The Sixth Sense is still held up as one of the great twists of all time. > Jerry Maguire has the catchphrases that people still remember. > Rocky has another sequel in development right now. > Jaws gets a new deluxe DVD/Blu-ray every few years because people love it. > American Graffiti is loved mostly by film buffs of a certain age, but still loved, > Bad News Bears, same deal. > Dumb & Dumber just spawned a sequel that made $40 million YESTERDAY. > The Wizard of Oz begat Oz: The Great and Powerful, one of last year’s most popular movies. > > What is your criteria for saying they’re forgotten? I’d agree with most of this list, but I’d disagree with Jerry Maguire. Sure, the phrase, “show me the money!” is still back there in our memories, but it’s dropped out of use. (No great loss.) And “You (choking pause) complete me” probably isn’t used by anyone anymore, even as a joke. As best as I can tell, it’s totally dropped out of the culture. Gone, but not missed. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/144 "2014-11-17T15:44:16Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Good example, methinks! Yeah, Sasha Baron Cohen came out with the Bruno flick a few years later, it made a much smaller impact, and now his act on the whole seems to have faded. He’s trying to bring his stuff back to TV, but it doesn’t seem very promising. How long can you go on telling a joke when everyone is in on it? And where can you go from “up”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/145 "2014-11-17T15:56:06Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > …“modern classics” despite not being that big when they came out, such as _The Princess Bride._ You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/146 "2014-11-17T16:02:16Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > …\*Airplane \*was made to parody it (even though Airplane’s storyline was borrowed from a whole 'nother movie), and there were several sequels,each of them getting sillier. > > But in retrospect it is seen as little more than hackneyed plot with one-dimensional characters told by hack writers. The actors themselves later dismissed it as junk. Surely you can’t be serious? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/147 "2014-11-17T16:20:34Z")
Add me to the voices that say **Jerry McGwire** has much less cultural impact today that some think. I can’t even remember the last time someone has said “Show me the money” and the last time I remember hearing someone saying “You… complete me” was in the early 2000s. My nomination is **Gladiator**. The movie was HUGE in 2000. It’s barely remembered today (partially because I think people went back and watched it and realized it was pretty crappy). ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/148 "2014-11-17T16:31:43Z")
Along the lines of Crocdile Dundee, I remember Yahoo Serious and \*\*\*Young Einstein \*\*\*being a thing for about a half hour… today I had to go and look it up because I had forgotten everything but a very vague image of the movie poster and it being Australian. ---
**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 17, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/149 "2014-11-17T16:36:08Z")
> [@FuriousGeorge](#): > > Along the lines of Crocdile Dundee, I remember Yahoo Serious and \*\*\*Young Einstein \*\*\*being a thing for about a half hour… today I had to go and look it up because I had forgotten everything but a very vague image of the movie poster and it being Australian. We as a nation said no to Yahoo Serious. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/150 "2014-11-17T16:39:43Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > We as a nation said no to Yahoo Serious. Agreed, but we did take an overly long look at him before saying nay. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/151 "2014-11-17T16:47:26Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Surely you can’t be serious? He means _Airport_, not _Airplane_ (and sequels Airport '75, '77…) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/152 "2014-11-17T16:50:37Z")
How about some **Jack Nicholson** movies? [Prizzi’s Honor](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089841/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_24). It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and won for Best Supporting Actress. These days, it has a mediocre 6.8 rating on IMDb and nobody watches it. Or going back a bit further, [Five Easy Pieces](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065724/). Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay, and it inspired a Mad Magazine parody, which was the marker of cultural significance for a movie back in the day. Who watches it today? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/153 "2014-11-17T16:56:17Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > He means _Airport_, not _Airplane_ (and sequels Airport '75, '77…) Yeah, it’s kind of funny that Airplane is better remembered than the movies it was parodying. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/154 "2014-11-17T17:05:06Z")
Oh, and another from the early 70s: **The French Connection**. It was groundbreaking at the time, and the car chase scene was breathtaking to 1971 audiences. These days the movie just seems kind of…ordinary and dated, and has largely dropped out of cultural memory. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/155 "2014-11-17T17:10:49Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > [Five Easy Pieces](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065724/). Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay, and it inspired a Mad Magazine parody, which was the marker of cultural significance for a movie back in the day. Who watches it today? I’ve never seen the movie, but I have seen the diner scene multiple times. Similarly, I saw the whole, “She’s my sister.” [Slap] “She’s my daughter.” [Slap] “She’s my sister _and_ my daughter.” multiple times before I ever saw _Chinatown_. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/156 "2014-11-17T17:27:32Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Oh because a classic has to be old? I am talking about movies that are more recent in origin but people now treat them as classics. Yes, I am using the term in a sense different than as applied to the Iliad and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/157 "2014-11-17T17:35:19Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > What kind of example do you want? You’ve named some of the most popular movies of the last few decades and said no one watches them anymore. > > The Sixth Sense is still held up as one of the great twists of all time. > Jerry Maguire has the catchphrases that people still remember. > Rocky has another sequel in development right now. > Jaws gets a new deluxe DVD/Blu-ray every few years because people love it. > American Graffiti is loved mostly by film buffs of a certain age, but still loved, > Bad News Bears, same deal. > Dumb & Dumber just spawned a sequel that made $40 million YESTERDAY. > The Wizard of Oz begat Oz: The Great and Powerful, one of last year’s most popular movies. > > What is your criteria for saying they’re forgotten? First let me repeat post #116: > [@](#): > > That’s common knowledge, but still Oz is no longer the cultural presence it was during the TV age when it was a widespread tradition to watch it on prime-time TV during the holidays. \*I added Oz at the end of my list as an aside rather than another instance of a forgotten movie. I added it as a footnote that it had a phenomenal presence because everyone would watch it on the same bat channel at the same time and discuss it the next day. Of course, that applies to all shows but I thought it was worth a footnote because I think it particularly applies to this show which gained its status not in the original 1939 movie theater but in TV syndication. And Dumb & Dumber, if you carefully read my original post :dubious:, was cited as a Jim Carrey movie with lasting cultural impact, as opposed to Liar Liar which people usually watch on TBS if at all. Dumb & Dumber remains hugely phenomenal. Rocky still has a niche following, and gets referenced now and then, such as a spoof of the old guy and the chicken, but I lived through the 70s, and it wasn’t quite as big as Star Wars, but was hugely phenomenal. People talked about it and referenced it all the time. Jaws was hugely phenomenal and the main attraction at the Hollywood studios, and I’m sure people still watch it once every five years, but I’m seeing much less of the duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh (such as the Caddyshack candy bar) these days. This one is debatable, but no reason to dismiss my list out of hand. American Graffiti is now mainly remembered as the movie that spawned Happy Days, and doesn’t garner much attention. I still love it and the first Bad News Bears, and BNB still gets referenced now and then, but we used to watch these movies in syndication at local drive-in theaters. Jerry Maguire and Sixth Sense. C’mon. Forget about it. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/158 "2014-11-17T18:18:20Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Yes, I would agree that these movies are _not_ good examples of what I was talking about in the OP. > > Take Bad News Bears. The vast majority of movies from 1976 are _totally_ forgotten. BNB was big that year and is remembered a lot more than the average movie from that year. So I would not call it “disproportionately forgotten.” > > You could make a four-by-four matrix that might look like this: > > Big then, relatively big now: Classic > Big then, relatively forgotten now: Flash in the pan > Small then, relatively big now: Cult film > Small then, forgotten now: POS > > The “relatively” is not needed for the last one because its absolute level of popularity never changed. > > “Flash in the pan” is not quite the right word, since that “flash” can continue for several years. Caligula What’s Up, Doc? Risky Business Smoky & the Bandit Every Which Way But Loose Cannonball Run Benji Deliverance Prizzi’s Honor Erin Brochovich Three Men and a Baby ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/159 "2014-11-17T18:41:56Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’d agree with most of this list, but I’d disagree with Jerry Maguire. Sure, the phrase, “show me the money!” is still back there in our memories, but it’s dropped out of use. (No great loss.) And “You (choking pause) complete me” probably isn’t used by anyone anymore, even as a joke. > > As best as I can tell, it’s totally dropped out of the culture. Gone, but not missed. > [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Add me to the voices that say **Jerry McGwire** has much less cultural impact today that some think. I can’t even remember the last time someone has said “Show me the money” and the last time I remember hearing someone saying “You… complete me” was in the early 2000s. > > My nomination is **Gladiator**. The movie was HUGE in 2000. It’s barely remembered today (partially because I think people went back and watched it and realized it was pretty crappy). Disagree. “You had me at \”, swapping whatever for \ is still used in current pop culture references. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755/160 "2014-11-17T19:42:40Z")
There are a ton of films that could be talked about. Beaches, Heathers, Titanic, Terms of Endearment, The English Patient, Girl, Interrupted, Magnolia, Fargo, Ghandi, etc. So I’m going to limit myself to what is IMO the prototypical answer to the OP. Ordinary People set the standard for late 70s/early 80’s dramas. Even more than Kramer vs Kramer or the Deer Hunter. Won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Redford’s first film and Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton in his first film even though he split the nomination with Judd Hirsch. and a Best Actress nomination for MTM and unbelievably Donald Sutherland was left out in the cold. From personal experience (many years later) it is brutally and unapologetically real - probably because of how real life of some actors was mirroring the movie. It could have defined an entire genre of films (realistic drama of the common man) and it was a commercial and critical success and is a 92% critic/88% viewer on Rotten Tomatoes. Today it is merely an entry on a list of Best Picture winners. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-made-a-big-pop-culture-splash-but-are-now-disporportionately-forgotten/704755.md?page=9)