# Movies you once loved, but now you know they sucked **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146 "2005-03-18T15:59:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/41 "2005-03-18T23:45:04Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Sorry for the double-post, but I didn’t answer the OP. While I loved re-watching _Short Circuit 2_ (not too long ago, as a matter of fact) \*Short Circuit \* was pretty awful. \*Mary Poppins \* was arrogant and snooty, although I do love Dick Van Dyke. And _Never Ending Story_ - man those kids were whiny. If you read the books, Mary Poppins was precisely that! ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/42 "2005-03-18T23:49:25Z")
> [@Ol'Gaffer](#): > > Really?! I have to agree with **Johnny L.A.** This was one of my favorites as a kid (I had it taped off of one of the PBS pledge drives). It was on AMC or something a couple of months ago and it is still really cool (other than some of the crap they did in Africa which we would consider blatantly racist today). Great surfing, great scenery, great soundtrack, even the jokes are decent. > > Plus, it has all of that fantastic footage of Cape St. Francis. Living in Hawaii, we see some of the [kids](http://www.surfart.com/legends/Hemmings/pipeline.gif) who were surfing back then - they are all [old geezers](http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/images/RepSenPhotos/hemmings.jpg)!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/43 "2005-03-18T23:56:15Z")
When I was a young teen, one of my favorite movies was Stanley Kubrick’s _Spartacus_. Lawsy, how I loved that movie. I read the Howard Fast novel, I bought the soundtrack LP, I filled my life with Spartacular stuff. Big poster of Kirk Douglas on my bedroom wall. Spartacus memorabilia, including an ashtray depicting Tony Curtis looking extremely limp-wristed. A few years ago, I bought the VHS widescreen version of _Spartacus_, hoping to recapture the magic. Unfortunately, the magic had gone away. It’s not a terrible movie, but it’s one of Kubrick’s weakest efforts, and it just doesn’t thrill my middle-aged self the way it did my adolescent self. I kind of wish I hadn’t watched _Spartacus_ again. I also kind of wish I still had that Tony Curtis ashtray. I bet it would be worth a boatload o’ cash on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/44 "2005-03-19T00:33:00Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Living in Hawaii, we see some of the [kids](http://www.surfart.com/legends/Hemmings/pipeline.gif) who were surfing back then - they are all [old geezers](http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/images/RepSenPhotos/hemmings.jpg)!! 😛 Oh I know. I met Robert August a few years back in Santa Cruz and I had that exact feeling. He had been immortalized in my head as this 20-year-old SoCal surfer through repeated viewings of the movie. Imagine my shock when he turned out to nearly 60 and balding!!! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/45 "2005-03-19T00:43:30Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > My first entry: Gremlins > > Too many things to nitpick, but why is it that in bad movies there’s always a wise old Chinese man who gives someone some magical yet destructive thing, then after all hell breaks loose, he takes it back, saying “Westerners are not ready for this”? Not that there aren’t plenty of reasons to dislike _Gremlins_ and not that the “wise Asian, stupid whitey” trope isn’t hoary, but in this instance wasn’t it the grandson who sold Gizmo after the old man refused? Anyway, I’ll put _Gladiator_ on the list. I was very impressed with it when I saw it in the theatre. Bought the DVD and have never been able to get through it again in one sitting. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/46 "2005-03-19T01:24:24Z")
**Angry Red Planet**. I refuse to see it again because I know that the rat-bat-spider thing is going to be lame. I don’t want that to happen to my memories. I did watch the original \*\*The Fly \*\* recently, with Dave Hedison. That film gave me nightmares for months when I ws eight. Now, not so much. (It doesn’t help that _Help Meeee_ has become such a cliche.) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/47 "2005-03-19T01:30:32Z")
**Silver Streak**. I definitely loved that one when I was a kid. I saw it again maybe a year ago, and boy was it hard to watch. Gene Wilder gets thrown off train, gets back on, gets thrown off again, gets back on again, Richard Pryor shows up out of nowhere and then keeps inexplicably showing up, train goes out of control and crashes, the end. Throw in some ludicrous early scene where Gene Wilder successfully picks up Jill Clayburgh and gets a hummer in about two hours. Talk about stretching credibility. And they still had time to cover Gene Wilder in shoe polish and have him perform a painful “Steppin’ Fetchit” routine. Another One - **The Graduate**. When I first saw it I thought it was great - they got on the bus and lived happily ever after! When I saw it recently I was more like “Those two idiots deserve each other.” ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/48 "2005-03-19T01:45:54Z")
I bought a DVD of \*\*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid \*\* on the strength of how much I had loved the movie after my one viewing of it as a kid. Ouch! Yeah, it has some great scenes–jumping off the cliff and stuff–but nothing can bring it back from the depths it plummets to when, out of nowhere, the “Raindrops Keep Fallin” on My Head" sequence happens. And the repetition of “Who ARE those guys” is irritating rather than clever. I still haven’t watched it all the way through again. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/49 "2005-03-19T02:06:51Z")
I knew the animated Rankin-Bass _The Hobbit_ couldn’t be as good as I remembered it being when I saw it in 1978 or so but I was unprepared for exactly how much it was going to suck. This got me into Tolkien? I was embarrased I got it out of the library for my five year old. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/50 "2005-03-19T02:27:10Z")
The “Raindrops” song inclusion in the film is just inexcusable. **Lagomorph** : Wanna know what sounds even worse than the RB **Hobbit**? Their version of **Return of the King** : [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079802/#comment](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079802/#comment) Gad, even the video cover looks ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/51 "2005-03-19T02:52:44Z")
I see from the link that Casey Kasem voices Merry. “Zoinks! It’s, like, a talking tree!” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/52 "2005-03-19T03:04:00Z")
_Krull_ was clearly aimed at my demographic when I saw it. Well, I ain’t in that demographic anymore. And they inexcusably dubbed the wonderful Lysette Anthony, which ruins it completely. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/53 "2005-03-19T03:17:48Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > If you read the books, Mary Poppins was precisely that! What?! Snooty, or a dyke? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/54 "2005-03-19T03:39:05Z")
> [@davmilasav](#): > > Yeah but I bet you noticed old Dave’s painted-on pants a lot more this time. 😃 You totally read my mind! I loved **Labyrinth** as a kid and I rented it a while back. Hooo boy, good thing I was too young to realize exactly what I was seeing. I could have been scarred for life. And yes, I second the observation that there are a lot of muppets in the movie. I guess it just seems so much more real when you’re young. I always liked the muppet guy who used a big shaggy sheepdog as a horse, though. He was sweet. ---
**Author:** ![partyx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@partyx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partyx2)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/55 "2005-03-19T07:38:53Z")
independence day ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/56 "2005-03-19T14:13:25Z")
Billy Jack ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/57 "2005-03-19T15:34:01Z")
Wow, people seem to be listing only things that they first saw in their childries, while I’m listing stuff that I first saw during my adultery. Like Jurassic Park. What a stupid, horrible movie that was. Richard Attenborough went way down in my book for that. Same with Jeff Goldblum. Laura Dern is still a major object of my lust, however. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Escorpio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@El\_Escorpio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Escorpio)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/58 "2005-03-19T17:30:15Z")
_High Road to China_ I saw it in the theater when I was 10. Loved it. Saw it again in college. Awful. Maybe I should watch it just one more time, just to make sure. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/59 "2005-03-19T18:08:53Z")
_Spice World_. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146/60 "2005-03-19T18:48:24Z")
I think I’ll have to disagree with those of you wanting to spare Spielberg’s blushes in ToD. During the dinner, the prince and his entourage are on their best behaviour - see the Prince’s fake shame and embarressment concerning the thugee past. I think the scene is included as yet another excuse to make Kate Capshaw squirm and make faces. In addition to being a borderline racist movie, it’s also pretty misogynistic throughout. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-once-loved-but-now-you-know-they-sucked/295146.md?page=4)