# The least subtle film ever made **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612 "2013-03-22T04:11:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/21 "2013-03-22T12:35:46Z")
Granted that the OP (Original Poster) immediately added qualifications to the OP (Original Premise), I’m going to see you all and raise you a _Reefer Madness_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/22 "2013-03-22T13:03:24Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > in fact his use of black and white was indeed subtle. Either you’re being subtle enough to whoosh me, or I need to genuinely spit-take at the alleged subtlety of the Catalyst Character in a black-and-white movie being the one shown in glorious color. (Heck, it’s the single obvious image chosen from among all others to instantly get the point across on [TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SplashOfColor), explaining that this of course usually indicates something important.) It’s like unto a movie with no music – except whenever the villain enters, helpfully accompanied by a DUN-DUN-DUN! What struck you as subtle? The important stamp being made to look EXTRA important? The long-suffering Jews finally getting to celebrate the Sabbath, with SPECIAL EMPHASIS just in case we’d miss the point? The black-and-white story of THEN giving way to a full-color ending set NOW? Dorothy’s entrance to Oz? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/23 "2013-03-22T13:25:32Z")
Really, if you look at any of the films from Spielberg’s WWII trilogy - Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List and Raiders of the Lost Ark - he doesn’t really do “subtle” when it comes to the Nazis. > [@Smeghead](#): > > I haven’t seen it, but I’m going to go ahead and throw in the recent _Atlas Shrugged_ movie anyway. I have a hunch. I checked it out of the library for free a few weeks back (apparently they now have these buildings where they will send you DVDs like Netflix, but for free). It’s about a subtle as being smacked in the face by a piece of Rearden metal. I’m surprised the names Michael Bay and James Cameron haven’t come up at this point. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/24 "2013-03-22T13:35:58Z")
Gotta +1 (+2 ?) with the \*Crash \*crowd. Originally the filmmakers wanted to include the subtitle: “Crash: Where Racists Demonstrate that Racism is Bad, Bad, Bad for People of Different Races. Here, Let Us Demonstrate in Every Single Scene.” But the producers knew that with a title like that, they wouldn’t be in serious contention for the Oscar. So they shortened the name to just “Crash” and it won! This is a 100% true fact by the way. Look it up if you don’t believe me. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/25 "2013-03-22T13:47:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’m surprised the names Michael Bay and James Cameron haven’t come up at this point. I entered this thread assuming we were skipping “genres of the obvious” like action flicks, porn, etc. I would nominate **American Beauty** - lauded when it came out as a deeply-introspective commentary on Life in America. It was instead self-serving glurge and glaringly unsubtle in its dismissal of “average folks” who are clearly trapped in a world they don’t understand and unable to be themselves… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/26 "2013-03-22T13:54:33Z")
Well, films by Jews about Nazis… I kind of expect them to be unsubtle, so really, Spielberg gets a pass on that one. Like having Spike Lee direct a movie about slavery, you’d expect to be hit on the head a few times with THE MESSAGE, right? The recent film _Flight_ was pretty unsubtle: “Drinkin’ and druggin’ and flying planes is bad, m’kay?” Well, except for the fact that the hungover, slightly coked up pilot actually saved the day. Shit… let me think this one over. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/27 "2013-03-22T14:34:21Z")
What is wrong with directness. Why is subtle better? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/28 "2013-03-22T14:51:06Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I entered this thread assuming we were skipping “genres of the obvious” like action flicks, porn, etc. I would nominate **American Beauty** - lauded when it came out as a deeply-introspective commentary on Life in America. It was instead self-serving glurge and glaringly unsubtle in its dismissal of “average folks” who are clearly trapped in a world they don’t understand and unable to be themselves… “Gee, I WONDER if maybe the macho, militarist is secretly gay…” ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/29 "2013-03-22T14:59:41Z")
Snakes on a Plane? Or, the upcoming film I know nothing about except the awesomeness of the title, “John Dies at the End”… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/30 "2013-03-22T15:04:52Z")
What, nobody has ever seen a film by Quentin Tarantino? _Inglourious Basterds_ makes _Shindler’s List_ look like… like… wait, I’m trying to think of a subtle movie. _Bikini Beach Party_? _Animal House_? _Ocean’s Twelve_? Don’t rush me. I’ll think of one by the time this gets revived as a zombie. Oh! _Zombieland_! No, that’s not it. And _Django Unchained_ makes _Inglourious Basterds_ look like _Shindler’s List_. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/31 "2013-03-22T15:12:28Z")
**Shoot em Up** – the entire film is an excuse for people just shooting at other people, like it’s a – uhh… whaddaya call that type of film? **Comin’ at Ya!** – a 3D movie whose every scene is an excuse to advance the idea of exploiting the film’s 3D. The entire movie is made up of the 3D "tricks’ that they usually throw into a 3D movie (like the paddle-ball ballyhoo guy in the 1950s _House of Wax_) to show off the 3D. Only this movie consuists of nothing but excuses to show off the 3D. There’s something about Mexican bandits stealing brides, but it’s really a case “Plot? We don’t need no steenking plot! We got things to poke out of the screen!” (This film has never, to my knowledge been released on home video. If shown in 2D its inanity is revealed. I suspect it’s just too stupifd to release on any 3D system.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/32 "2013-03-22T15:20:04Z")
_The Green Berets_. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/33 "2013-03-22T16:02:30Z")
Hmmm… sub·tle [suht-l] adjective, sub·tler, sub·tlest. fine or delicate in meaning or intent; difficult to perceive or understand: subtle irony. I nominate Happy Feet[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366548/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366548/). It was not so subtly put out as a kids movie. It’s not a kids movie at all. I expected Al Gore himself to make a cameo to remind us of the horrors of Global Warming and how evil fishermen are a bunch of wild men intent on killing innocent little animals… ---
**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:** [March 22, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/34 "2013-03-22T16:13:14Z")
How about Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/35 "2013-03-22T16:17:26Z")
Caligula. A bunch of friends are coming over Monday night to watch it over fried chicken and yogurt. I’ve tried to preview it, but could only make it in about a half hour without getting sick. It’s going to be a fun evening. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/36 "2013-03-22T16:19:08Z")
_Avatar_ is on the short list. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/37 "2013-03-22T16:23:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I thought the original **Red Dawn** was about as subtle as a sledgehammer, with its realization – however convoluted – of jingoist ideas and sayings. The one that made me actually laugh was when an invading soldier actually _does_ Pry a Gun from a gun owner’s Cold Dead Hand. And then, IIRC, the camera pans up to show the bumper sticker, just in case you didn’t get the point. (All of which makes _Men In Black_’s retort along those lines that much funnier.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/38 "2013-03-22T16:24:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The recent film _Flight_ was pretty unsubtle: “Drinkin’ and druggin’ and flying planes is bad, m’kay?” Well, except for the fact that the hungover, slightly coked up pilot actually saved the day. Shit… let me think this one over. I don’t have your address or I’d send along a bottle of ibu. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/39 "2013-03-22T17:04:17Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > What, nobody has ever seen a film by Quentin Tarantino? > > _Inglourious Basterds_ makes _Shindler’s List_ look like… like… wait, I’m trying to think of a subtle movie. I disagree about this one. A movie where it’s unclear exactly who is good and who is bad, can’t be the least subtle film. Shosanna is obviously good, but some of the inglorious bastards are on the line. The German military guy that they captured was noble in a way. Zoller and Landa both had some redeeming traits. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612/40 "2013-03-22T17:40:52Z")
How about [Sergeant York](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034167/)? I love the movie, but it’s pure propaganda. It won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Editing, and was nominated for 9 more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-least-subtle-film-ever-made/653612.md?page=3)