# "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:** 4
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/61 "2007-01-03T02:05:43Z")
Have we mentioned Alan Rickman in _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_ yet? I was so rooting for the Sheriff of Nottingham, he wasn’t onscreen nearly enough. But was that a case of him being too good for the movie or Costner being too bad? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/62 "2007-01-03T02:26:51Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Have we mentioned Alan Rickman in _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_ yet? I was so rooting for the Sheriff of Nottingham, he wasn’t onscreen nearly enough. But was that a case of him being too good for the movie or Costner being too bad? [/QUOTE] I’m going with the latter. Though I’m not sure if his \*acting \* was so dismal or if it was just his jarring attempt at an _accent_. ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/63 "2007-01-03T03:30:08Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] [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] 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] I think Irons actually enjoys the chance to cut loose and overact, just for fun. He could probably have made the Profion character in _Dungeons and Dragons_ almost believable, but he looked like he was having a good time chewing the scenery instead. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/64 "2007-01-03T10:50:18Z")
What about [The Formula](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080754/) , with Marlon Brando\* and\* George C Scott both trying to outham each other. Feel free to add any film Brando made after 1979 to the list, with the exception of 1989’s [A Dry White Season](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097243/), which was really quite good. Brando was usually facsinating - you can never take your eyes off the guy, but man, the films… mm ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/65 "2007-01-03T10:57:02Z")
Humphrey Bogart in The Return of Doctor X. Joseph Cotten made some absolute shockers towards the end of his career. Yet was arguably one of the stars of Citizen Kane (not to mention his other good works). ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/66 "2007-01-03T17:08:28Z")
I remember reading Dennis Hopper saying his son asked him why he was in the movie “Mario Brothers”. He said he did it to get money to buy him shoes. His son told him he didn’t need shoes that badly. ---
**Author:** ![mambocrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@mambocrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mambocrow)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/67 "2007-01-03T19:01:59Z")
Sir Lawrence Olivier in “The Betsy”. ---
**Author:** ![DieselCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@DieselCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DieselCat)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/68 "2007-01-04T05:47:37Z")
Maybe it’s just a collective case of amnesia, which I could hardly blame you for, but I’m stunned I’d be the first one to mention Ben Kingsley’s turns in _Bloodrayne_ and, to a lesser extent, _A Sound of Thunder_. I mean, _Ghandi_…_Sexy Beast_…and anything with the words “director Uwe Boll” attached. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not the same. I’m guessing it’s that same school of thought as Caine, et al – work is work is work. Yes, I sat through _Bloodrayne_. 3 a.m. on a Saturday, I’m stuck on the watch desk overnight, I figured a hot chick in tight leather and some vampire killin’ might be just the thing. May God forgive me, because my brain cells never will. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/69 "2007-01-04T16:59:08Z")
> [@Charogne](#): > > Ummm… how about Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman and the Dewey Balfa Band in The Big Easy? My teeth are still on edge. You’re kidding, right? That’s a hell of a good movie, and probably the best one Goodman was ever in. I think the gold standard for this category is Joan Crawford in “Trog.” ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/70 "2008-02-18T21:06:02Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078] You’re kidding, right? That’s a hell of a good movie, and probably the best one Goodman was ever in. [/QUOTE] :eek: Have you never seen _O Brother Where Art Thou?_ I love this movie more every time I watch it … and already it’s like 8 gazillion. I was so amazed by the **Biggles** “promotion” that I had to look it up at imdb. > [@](#): > > Meet Jim Ferguson. He lived a daring double-life with one foot in the 20th century and the other in World War I. Then I decide it must be intentional. Another of the tag-lines is … > [@](#): > > Fast food executive Jim Ferguson stepped out of his 47th floor office to go to the bathroom… and ended up in the middle of World War I. History will be grateful forever. I mean, promoting going to the bathroom in the same sentence as fast-food? What a picture that paints! Is it a comedy? Has anyone actually seen it? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/71 "2008-02-18T21:12:22Z")
Sarah Polley in _Dawn of the Dead_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/72 "2008-02-18T21:27:14Z")
Weren’t Ellen Cherry and Larry Borgia both in that really old awful Zombie movie? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/73 "2008-02-18T21:28:45Z")
Just last night I watched the mediocre [Amazon Women on the Moon](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/fullcredits), which, despite the promising title, consisted of a bunch of sketches loosely tied together by the fact that they weren’t funny. Among the cast of many recognizable has-beens and future has-beens was a radiant Michelle Pfeiffer looking way to good to be in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/74 "2008-02-18T21:32:26Z")
Dear God in Heaven. I raised a ZOMBIE!!! Mods, I’m so sorry. I forgot I’d done a search. :o Kill me now. Just don’t eat my brainsssssssss! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/75 "2008-02-19T02:21:38Z")
One of the classic bad movies with great casts is **[The Madwoman of Chaillot](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064621/)**. Cast included Katherine Hepburn, Danny Kaye, Paul Heinreid, Yul Brenner, Oscar Holmuka, Richard Chamberlain, Donald Pleasance, Dame Edith Evans, Guilietta Massena, Charles Boyer, and John Gavin. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/76 "2008-02-19T02:50:29Z")
I read this thread the first time and I’m \*still \*annoyed I was beaten to Alan Rickman! But it does let me bring up Robson Green. I don’t know how familiar he is in the USA, but a very good UK Actor. He was interviewed here about the brilliant and creepy series _Wire in the Blood_, but they also asked why he’d done the cheesy Catherine Cookson’s _The Gambling Man_ and he said (AFAIR); “It would have been rude to turn them down after they’d driven all the way to my place with that truck full of money.” (and then he smiled and everyone in the studio and at my place went _squeee_!) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/77 "2008-02-19T03:03:11Z")
[QUOTE=DieselCat] Maybe it’s just a collective case of amnesia, which I could hardly blame you for, but I’m stunned I’d be the first one to mention Ben Kingsley’s turns in _Bloodrayne_ and, to a lesser extent, _A Sound of Thunder_. I mean, _Ghandi_…_Sexy Beast_…and anything with the words “director Uwe Boll” attached. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not the same. I’m guessing it’s that same school of thought as Caine, et al – work is work is work. Yes, I sat through _Bloodrayne_. 3 a.m. on a Saturday, I’m stuck on the watch desk overnight, I figured a hot chick in tight leather and some vampire killin’ might be just the thing. May God forgive me, because my brain cells never will. [/QUOTE] I saw Bloodrayne and I kept thinking “that guy looks a lot like Ben Kingsley, but it can’t be him…nah…OMG, it _is_ Ben Kingsley, WTF is he doing in this crap?” ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/78 "2008-02-19T12:59:08Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Conventional wisdom is that’s how British actors look at American movies. [/QUOTE] I wish I could remember the one who said this recently: “I hate it when people ask me ‘Why did you do this movie’… Well, ‘So I could eat?’” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/79 "2008-02-19T13:47:41Z")
Tom Hanks, the top in acting talent, made The Money Pit,Volunteers & The Man with One Red Shoe in a row. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/80 "2008-02-19T14:08:10Z")
**Jeremy Irons** isn’t just in Dungeons and Dragons and Eragon, but also The Time Machine. From watching him in Dungeons and Dragons, personally I think he accepts stupid movies every once in a while just so he can get out and really chew some scenery. In D&D he really looks like he’s having a good time, totally knowing that the movie and his part was total cheeseball. Personally, I thought watching his sheer glee rather made up for the movie–though admittedly not enough that I have any desire to watch it again, or ever watch Eragon. [QUOTE=Ellen Cherry] :eek: Have you never seen _O Brother Where Art Thou?_ I love this movie more every time I watch it … and already it’s like 8 gazillion. I was so amazed by the **Biggles** “promotion” that I had to look it up at imdb. Then I decide it must be intentional. Another of the tag-lines is … I mean, promoting going to the bathroom in the same sentence as fast-food? What a picture that paints! Is it a comedy? Has anyone actually seen it? [/QUOTE] Personally I **loved** Biggles (when I was 10.) It’s [doog](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=335151&highlight=doog). Not quite the classic doog of Big Trouble in Little China, but pretty good if you’re in the mood for something of that ilk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189.md?page=5)