# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/81 "2012-10-11T09:33:17Z")
Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs A Clockwork Orange ---
**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 11, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/82 "2012-10-11T09:47:34Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Pulp Fiction I’m not seeing how _Pulp Fiction_’s title is anything short of wholly descriptive. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/83 "2012-10-11T11:19:17Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I’m not seeing how _Pulp Fiction_’s title is anything short of wholly descriptive. Someone mentioned _Happiness_. That seems to come close tonwhat you’re looking for, although I guess it could be deemed ironic. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/84 "2012-10-11T11:24:19Z")
As a child, I was disappointed to discover that \* Watership Down \* included no sinking ships. Just a bunch of rabbits. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/85 "2012-10-11T12:31:12Z")
The Black Hole was not what I was expecting… > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > [The Iceman Cometh](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070212/) had nothing to do with [George Gervin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gervin) Or with [Deniz Tek](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniz_Tek#The_between_years). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/86 "2012-10-11T14:25:28Z")
Only the first scene of **Fargo** takes place in Fargo, N.D. Virtually all of the movie takes place in Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/87 "2012-10-11T14:42:01Z")
“O Brother Where Art Thou” doesn’t really seem to fit anything in the movie. A movie called “The Aristocrats” that sounds anything but noble. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/88 "2012-10-11T15:39:15Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Similarly, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. When I watched that, I was worried it would be some obscure symbolic reference that I wouldn’t understand, but then she came right out and said it. > > OTOH, if “Cat on a hot tin roof” is or was a common southern saying, then it might make more sense, but of Tennessee Williams coined it for the play I’m sure a lot of people were confused. Oh, but wait: using your logic upthread, you should have been completely aware of the plot since it was a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tennessee Williams three years before the movie came out. :rolleyes: ---
**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 11, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/89 "2012-10-11T15:53:55Z")
So Gandhi is perfectly descriptive, but The Babe is not? I’d say both are equally famous to the average American. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/90 "2012-10-11T16:24:04Z")
A friend of mine almost refused to see **Wag the Dog** in the theater with me because she assumed it was a kid’s movie. You know, about a dog named Wag. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/91 "2012-10-11T16:44:07Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > A Clockwork Orange Especially for Americans. It came out when I was a kid, and I thought the title was simply a random selection of words, like “A Telephone Indiscriminate”… it was only much later that I learned it referred to a wind-up toy. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/92 "2012-10-11T17:24:17Z")
The Brown Bunny ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/93 "2012-10-11T17:32:35Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > 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. I’m in Big Brothers & when I took my Lil Bro to Super-8, I had to explain it was not going to be about a team of eight super-heroes. For the OP, tho the book explains the title perfectly, it takes some deep thinking to figure out why the movie was titled **A Clockwork Orange**. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/94 "2012-10-11T17:32:56Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > The Brown Bunny That movie should have been called “You’d be better off watching paint dry for 2 hours and then a few minutes of redtube…the blowjob scene isn’t worth it” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/95 "2012-10-11T17:35:23Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Pulp Fiction > Reservoir Dogs > A Clockwork Orange I shoulda known… :smack:😛 Oh- one mentioned above - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. When that was announced, Mom had forgotten that The Raiders of the Lost Ark’s main character was named Indiana Jones. So she thought that was the tackiest title imaginable for a film about Jim Jones & the Peoples Temple tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/96 "2012-10-12T11:46:42Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > As a child, I was disappointed to discover that \* Watership Down \* included no sinking ships. Just a bunch of rabbits. Was your disappointment rapidly replaced by terror? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/97 "2012-10-12T13:14:31Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That movie should have been called “You’d be better off watching paint dry for 2 hours and then a few minutes of redtube…the blowjob scene isn’t worth it” That was the most awfully boring movie, hands down, ever. One hour and forty minutes of a man driving, in real time, across America. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/98 "2012-10-12T16:06:35Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > So Gandhi is perfectly descriptive, but The Babe is not? I’d say both are equally famous to the average American. I’ll admit I don’t find _The Babe_ a good example for this thread. But clearly a lot of people disagree with my examples as well. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/99 "2012-10-12T16:20:05Z")
_Curse of the Cat People_ is about a little girl lost in a fantasy world–that does not involve anthropomorphic felines. Yes, it is a sequel to Cat People, which concerns exactly what you would think, but people expecting a straight-up return of the monster(?) from the first movie are in for a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315/100 "2012-10-12T16:34:01Z")
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: If you didn’t know it was Chinese, you’d think this was a prequel to Madagascar with animals making wisecracks at each other [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-deceptive-or-completely-unclear-titles/637315.md?page=6)