# "You're too good for this": good actors in bad movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189 "2006-12-31T04:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/21 "2006-12-31T17:41:15Z")
Michael Caine in _Jaws 4_. Caine himself says he has forgotten the movie, but swims in the pool it bought every day. ---
**Author:** ![sneezy5660](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@sneezy5660](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sneezy5660)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/22 "2006-12-31T17:49:02Z")
I’d like to nominate John Carradine in Frankenstein Island. This thing sucks like a Hoover. I know he needed beer money or something to do this turkey. The only good thing about the movie is watching it and doing your own MST3K. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/23 "2006-12-31T18:28:32Z")
**Julianne Moore** and **Anthony Hopkins** should have followed the lead of Jodi Foster who had enough sense to pass on “Hannibal.” Speaking of **Jodi Foster** , she and Richard Gere had zero chemistry in “Sommersby.” ---
**Author:** ![Romola\_Des\_Loups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@Romola\_Des\_Loups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romola_Des_Loups)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/24 "2006-12-31T18:59:24Z")
Kate Beckinsale in Underworld, a movie which would have had a better script, better storyline and deeper character development if it consisted entirely of Kate jumping off buildings in a leather corset. Even if all she said was ‘umf’ when she landed. Although the daft mare made a sequel, so I suppose she deserves all she gets. Forest Whitaker in just about everything he ever made, really. Orlando Bloom in ‘Troy’. Although i’m not an Orlando fan, i can’t understand why he signed up for a part which made him look like such a pussy. “Come with me, i know a safe place.” - Yeah, of course you do, you big girl! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/25 "2006-12-31T19:02:00Z")
[QUOTE=Romola Des Loups] Forest Whitaker in just about everything he ever made, really. [/QUOTE] I did feel bad for him in _Battlefield Earth_, but then again, he did sign up for it -he must’ve read the script and thought it would be good or pay well or something. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/26 "2006-12-31T19:08:05Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I did feel bad for him in _Battlefield Earth_, but then again, he did sign up for it -he must’ve read the script and thought it would be good or pay well or something. [/QUOTE] anyone who participated in that movie had to be doing because they were short of cash to pay thier coke dealer or something. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/27 "2006-12-31T19:37:46Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] I’m sure the Jeremy Irons blackmail somehow involved little pieces of green paper with pictures of dead white guys on them. [/QUOTE] I’m reminded of a quote from Michael Caine re: Jaws: The Revenge. ‘I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.’ Caine and Irons seem to come from a school of thought that says ‘work is work, who cares if the movie sucks, as long as they pay me’. Sir Alec Guinness was apparently in the same mode of thought when he agreed to do Star Wars - and later came to regret it when he became Obi-Wan to everyone and their kid brother. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/28 "2006-12-31T19:47:00Z")
What the hell is Jon Voight doing in _Baby Geniuses 2?_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/29 "2006-12-31T19:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] ‘I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.’ Caine and Irons seem to come from a school of thought that says ‘work is work, who cares if the movie sucks, as long as they pay me’. [/QUOTE] Conventional wisdom is that’s how British actors look at American movies. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/30 "2006-12-31T19:57:32Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] What the hell is Jon Voight doing in _Baby Geniuses 2?_ [/QUOTE] Laughing all the way to the bank, I presume. I remember Sally Struthers saying something similar about those correspondence schools she used to shill for…money is money, baby, and she wasn’t doing anything illegal. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/31 "2006-12-31T20:05:17Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] > [@Tengu](#): > > ‘I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.’ Caine and Irons seem to come from a school of thought that says ‘work is work, who cares if the movie sucks, as long as they pay me’. Conventional wisdom is that’s how British actors look at American movies. [/QUOTE] I came in here to mention Caine and Gene Hackman. Hackman seems to have much the same philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/32 "2006-12-31T20:10:24Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I once imagined Sean Connery in a sequel to _Highlander_. I’m glad they never made that movie. [/QUOTE] Boy, that’s only the ten trillionth time someone’s made that joke. Actually, Sean Connery is once actor who DOESN’T deserve to be felt sorry for for being in bad movies… because he’s been in so damned many of them. For an esteemed actor, an Oscar-winning actor in fact, Connery has consistently chosen to act in one Christ-awful movie after another, including - as with Highlander II - some of the very worst films ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/33 "2006-12-31T20:14:15Z")
How about the MST3K gem _Overdrawn at the Memory Bank_ starring Raul Julia? Horrible horrible movie. But I’ve got to go, I have data to process! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/34 "2006-12-31T21:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=Elysium] How about the MST3K gem _Overdrawn at the Memory Bank_ starring Raul Julia? [/QUOTE] Post 8. 😃 [QUOTE=Argent Towers] What the hell is Jon Voight doing in _Baby Geniuses 2?_ [/QUOTE] Making Baby Jesus cry. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/35 "2007-01-01T00:44:22Z")
[QUOTE=longhair75] anyone who participated in [**Battlefield Earth**] had to be doing because they were short of cash to pay thier coke dealer or something. [/QUOTE] Or were “persuaded” (i.e., blackmailed and/or brainwashed) into doing it by the Church of Scientology. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/36 "2007-01-01T01:36:57Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] [Sean Bean](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000293/) has made a career out of being the best thing in some godawful movies. [/QUOTE] I have such a crush on him for some reason. I just have to see whatever movie he’s in and most of them are pretty bad. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/37 "2007-01-01T02:20:15Z")
[QUOTE=Romola Des Loups] Kate Beckinsale in Underworld, a movie which would have had a better script, better storyline and deeper character development if it consisted entirely of Kate jumping off buildings in a leather corset. Even if all she said was ‘umf’ when she landed. [/QUOTE] Does Kate Beckinsale have any other talents other than looking hot in tight leather? _Underworld_ was an awful movie, but I’m not exactly sure that Kate was “too good” for it. Seemed about the right fit to me. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/38 "2007-01-01T03:00:30Z")
[QUOTE=PunditLisa] Speaking of **Jodi Foster** , she and Richard Gere had zero chemistry in “Sommersby.” [/QUOTE] Is that a whooshing sound I hear? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/39 "2007-01-01T03:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] Neil Dickson in _Biggles_. A talented and immensely likeable actor in one of the most badly-scripted movies I’ve ever sat through. [/QUOTE] Not only was that a bad movie (a lame time-travel story involving 1980s characters with the famous Biggles character), but on the VHS box it actually said: “World War One meets the 20th Century!”. Just look at that for a while. Savor it. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/40 "2007-01-01T04:43:55Z")
I posted somewhere else that Harrison Ford is far too good an actor for the drek that is “Air Force One”. Samuel L. Jackson in any Star Wars movie… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189.md?page=3)