# Movies with deceptive or completely unclear titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315 "2012-10-10T15:22:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/21 "2012-10-10T17:01:37Z")
The title \*\*\*I Am Legend \*\*\*makes sense in Richard Matheson’s book, but not in Will Smith’s movie. In the book, the title refers to the hero’s last realizations before he’s killed by the vampires: 1. The vampires are TERRIFIED of him, far more afraid than he ever was of them. 2. In a world of vampires, HE’S the monster, and THEY’RE the normal ones! 3. Long after he’s dead, he’ll be remembered by the vampires, who’ll tell their kids scary stories of the human monster who roamed about in the daytime and put stakes through vampire hearts. After he dies, he’ll become a legend among vampires. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/22 "2012-10-10T17:02:01Z")
_Quantum of Solace_ (incidentally one of only two James Bond movies I’ve ever seen in a theatre) has a title that seems simply an attempt to be cool at first glance, but after you’ve watched the entire film and thought about the title, makes a nice, poetic sort of sense. (And yes, I’m aware that the meaning is made clear in the short story from which the title if not the plot is taken.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/23 "2012-10-10T17:26:36Z")
_Erin Brockovich Michael Collins John Carter_ Without knowing anything about the characters named, which one of these would you guess takes place on Mars? ---
**Author:** ![turtledove\_river](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@turtledove\_river](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtledove_river)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/24 "2012-10-10T18:02:56Z")
**Sling Blade**. Sounds like a slasher/vampire movie. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/25 "2012-10-10T18:05:22Z")
The Princess Bride sounds like the title of fairy tale movie targeted for the little kiddies. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/26 "2012-10-10T18:09:58Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you go into Fight Club expecting it to be about a bunch of people in a club, fighting, you’ll have your brain twisted into a knot by the time it’s done…just like the rest of us did. > > . Never seen it, not interested in a movie about a bunch of people in a fight club. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/27 "2012-10-10T18:13:13Z")
Blue Velvet. And National Velvet. BUtterfield 8. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/28 "2012-10-10T18:23:47Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The Princess Bride sounds like the title of fairy tale movie targeted for the little kiddies. Waitaminit… Seriously tho, I think that’s part of the reason I have such a hard time with parody now - I thought that movie was dead serious the first 100 or so times I watched it as a little kid. Something like that has to warp your brains. I submit **Super-8** and **Chocolat** both of which I enjoyed, but didn’t watch for forever based on the titles, and both of which the titles are related to the plot, but not exactly the main point. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/29 "2012-10-10T18:24:40Z")
**October Sky** makes no sense other than being an anagram for its source material, _Rocket Boys_. Apparently they changed it because they though women wouldn’t see a movie titled “Rocket Boys”. **Cat On A Hot Tin Roof** is not a very clear title. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/30 "2012-10-10T18:29:53Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If you’re not a sports fan, calling boxer Jimmy Braddock “Cinderella Man” makes no sense. > > But sports fans have heard the phrase “Cinderella story” thousands of times, with regard to athletes or teams that come out of nowhere to win championships. I’m not a sports fan and I’ve heard “Cinderalla story” in this context. BUT I never heard Cinderalla Man, so it did confuse me a little. The amazing thing with the Princess Bride as it can be watched straight and it can be watched satirically and it’s good either way! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/31 "2012-10-10T18:35:21Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Naked Lunch I can name two things wrong with that title! [/Nelson Muntz] ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/32 "2012-10-10T18:41:34Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > **October Sky** makes no sense other than being an anagram for its source material, _Rocket Boys_. I never knew that! **Dick**. One of my favorite movies. I tried telling my mother about it, but she wouldn’t hear it. She did the “la la la I can’t hear you” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/33 "2012-10-10T18:44:50Z")
Doper favorites **Brazil** and **Blade Runner** aren’t very revealing I was also sorely disappointed that **400 Blows** wasn’t a bukkake movie. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/34 "2012-10-10T18:47:57Z")
Well, _Pink Flamingos_ ain’t about lawn ornaments… I always thought _Africa Screams_ was a strange title for an Abbot and Costello comedy, until I heard about _Africa Speaks!_ ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/35 "2012-10-10T18:50:53Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _Erin Brockovich > Michael Collins > John Carter_ > > Without knowing anything about the characters named, which one of these would you guess takes place on Mars? Especially as [a different](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(astronaut)) Michael Collins orbited the moon. My next submission - _Cloverfield_ doesn’t suggest monster/disaster zone flick. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/36 "2012-10-10T18:51:15Z")
**The Babe** is not about a hot chick. It’s about a fat dude playing baseball. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/37 "2012-10-10T18:52:27Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > **The Babe** is not about a hot chick. It’s about a fat dude playing baseball. While _Babe_ is about a right pig. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/38 "2012-10-10T18:52:42Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > _Cloverfield_ doesn’t suggest monster/disaster zone flick. Great choice. Do you know what Cloverfield actually meant? I didn’t catch the reference in the movie, but I wasn’t really paying attention. It really did feel like a left field title. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/39 "2012-10-10T18:56:08Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > **The Babe** is not about a hot chick. It’s about a fat dude playing baseball. Of course it is. There’s nothing deceptive about a movie called “The Babe” being about “The Babe.” Also, is **Little Nemo** screwing with us? I can’t tell. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/40 "2012-10-10T19:01:07Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > While _Babe_ is about a right pig. And **Bringing up Baby** is not about parents of an infant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315.md?page=3)