# Movies with misleading titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441 "2006-12-01T04:33:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/1 "2006-12-01T04:33:44Z")
When you think about it, rather a lot of films have titles that could be seen as a bit misleading. For example: **Reservoir Dogs** - Features neither reservoirs nor canines **Trainspotting** - Not about railway enthusiasts **Serenity** - Not about inner peace **Chicago** - Has almost nothing whatsoever to do with the city **Lord Of The Rings** - Not about megalomaniac Telecom linesmen **Return Of The King** - Not about The Second Coming of Elvis There’s plenty more examples out there… what films can you think of that have misleading titles? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/2 "2006-12-01T05:11:56Z")
**The Babe** - A fat, old dude is not what I think of when I think of a babe. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/3 "2006-12-01T06:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] **The Babe** - A fat, old dude is not what I think of when I think of a babe. [/QUOTE] [The Babe?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/) ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/4 "2006-12-01T06:37:55Z")
**Falcon Breast**. Honestly, the old ladies at the Bird-Watcher’s Annual Potluck were very offended. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/5 "2006-12-01T06:43:11Z")
Have to mention Terry Gilliam’s **Brazil**. Fine film, but has nothing to do with the nation of Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/6 "2006-12-01T06:44:02Z")
**Naked Lunch** - As immortalized on The Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/7 "2006-12-01T06:47:00Z")
**The 400 Blows** ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/8 "2006-12-01T07:24:34Z")
[QUOTE=spooje] [The Babe?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/) [/QUOTE] [No, The Babe.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103747/) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/9 "2006-12-01T07:39:09Z")
**The Hunchback of Notre Dame** is not about Knute Rockne **Romancing the Stone** has nothing to do with Bianca seducing Sir Mick ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/10 "2006-12-01T10:18:04Z")
[Sorceror](imdb sorceror) It wasn’t exactly about magic. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/11 "2006-12-01T12:51:37Z")
**Caprese** beat me to it. It wasn’t until years later that I learned why the movie even had that title (apparently it’s the name on one of the trucks. **Visionquest** – sounds like it ought to be a Tolkien wannabe. **Chinatown** – Forget it Jake, it’s a misleading title. But nobody’d want to see _California Water Rights Intrigues_. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/12 "2006-12-01T15:20:23Z")
**Watership Down.** No ship. No water. Nuthin’ goin’ down. Jus’ rabbits, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/13 "2006-12-01T16:58:37Z")
**George Washington** was about some troubled kids in a decaying Southern town, not about the Father of his Country. **Star Trek: Insurrection** was mistitled. It was more of a mutiny than an insurrection. **All the President’s Men** was much more about Woodward and Bernstein than it was about Nixon’s flunkies, most of whom never even appeared in the movie. **Triumph of the Will** was supposedly about the German people’s triumph, but was more about their utter surrender - happily, in most cases - to the leadership of a single, profoundly evil man. **Star Wars** was about several battles, and the interludes, in just one war… it shouldn’t be plural. OK, so I’m nitpicking. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/14 "2006-12-01T17:10:28Z")
XXX: Nope, just some Vin Diesel movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/15 "2006-12-01T17:26:27Z")
**Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn.** He gets away. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/16 "2006-12-01T18:03:50Z")
Although the life of Christ may have been **The Greatest Story Ever Told** at its time, it fails to appear on numerous lists of great books. However, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time, so it may still be the greatest in terms of volume. **The Neverending Story** actually ends at some point. **Duck Soup** contains neither ducks nor soup. In **How The Grinch Stole Christmas** - both the 1966 Chuck Jones television program and the later Ron Howard film- although the Grinch takes a large number of Christmas presents, he actually fails in stealing the holiday of Christmas itself. And, of course, there’s the all-time great error whose IMDb entry is used as someone’s sig line here on the Dope: Krakatoa is west, not east, of Java. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/17 "2006-12-01T18:38:25Z")
**The General** is not about a senior military officer. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/18 "2006-12-01T19:29:42Z")
> [@Barbra Streisand from her 1994 concert at MSG](#): > > The Prince of Tides was neither about princes nor tides. Discuss. That was a good concert. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/19 "2006-12-01T19:55:50Z")
**Jaws** was really more about the _teeth_… and blood in the water. And I don’t remember any magnolias in **Magnolia**. Frogs falling from the skies, yes, but no magnolias. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441/20 "2006-12-01T20:08:48Z")
Been done before > **[Mis-named movies](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=373357)** > > What movies have a blatant error in the title? Birdman Of Alcatraz except that Stroud spends most of the film in Leavenworth. And that’s where all his bird-keeping activity is done. He only tranferred to Alcatraz at the end of the film, and he’s... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-misleading-titles/382441.md?page=2)