So let's move onto other things to get all roiled up about. To wit TimeOut's list of Cinema's 50 greatest, flops, follies, and failure. And all you have to know about the list to sense it's controversial is that The Wizard of Oz is included:
It was William Blake who observed that the path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. It's an axiom Hollywood has taken to heart. From the earliest days, directors have loved to push the boundaries, to reach for the stars, to, quite frankly, completely overreach themselves. The resulting, resounding thud can often be heard around the globe, if it isn't drowned out by the sound of audiences demanding their money back.
But this isn't a list of bad movies, far from it. This is a list of noble failures, grand follies and spectacular flops. Some failed because they were ahead of their time, some because they were far behind it, some because the artists responsible were chasing grand, personal visions understandable only to themselves, and others because those artists were, quite frankly, complete idiots. There are masterpieces on this list, there are all-out, car-crash disasters, and there are movies that stroll the fine line between the two. But every one is worthy of respect and renown, if not celebration. So let us now praise cinema's 50 most famous flops, follies and failures...
So here are all 50 films on the list:
50. Wild Wild West (1999)
49. Eat The Rich (1987)
48. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
47. Inchon (1982)
46. Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979)
45. The Spirit (2008)
44. When Time Ran Out (1980)
43. Che (2008)
42. Mars Attacks! (1996)
41. Alexander (2004)
40. Sleuth (2007)
39. Enter the Void (2009)
38. White Dog (1981)
37. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
36. Masked and Anonymous (2003)
35. Showgirls (1995)
34. Guest House Paradiso (1999)
33. The Boat that Rocked (2009)
32. Ishtar (1987)
31. The Great Dictator (1940)
30. Best Defense (1984)
29. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
28. The Fountain (2006)
27. Greed (1924)
26. Red Beard (1965)
25. Convoy (1978)
24. The Holy Mountain (1973)
23. Grindhouse (2007)
22. Popeye (1980)
21. Sorcerer (1977)
20. To Be or Not To Be (1942)
19. The Postman (1997)
18. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
17. Rosebud (1975)
16. New York, New York (1977)
15. Zabriskie Point (1970)
14. Hulk (2003)
13. Lady in the Water (2006)
12. Lola Montés (1955)
11. Southland Tales (2006)
10. Pirates (1989)
9. 1941 (1979)
8. Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
7. Reds (1981)
6. One From the Heart (1982)
5. Peeping Tom (1960)
4. Playtime (1969)
3. Dune (1984)
2. Heaven's Gate (1980)
And the #1 flop, follie, and failure per TimeOut? You'll have to click here to find out.
What's on the list that shouldn't be there? What isn't on the list that should?
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3 comments:
It is correct that, for the most part, this is not a list of bad films...there are a few on there that are on all-time fave list. One of my guilty pleasures is '1941' -- it's kind of like a live-action cartoon and has some great stunts and FX. I also love 'Playtime' -- it probably was misunderstood when it came out but it's such a great film that any film lover should see. Now, 'When Time Ran Out'...that is just a bad film...
Someone who wants to procrastinate writing more than I do this afternoon should tally up the overlap between these movies and those featured in Nathan Rabin's My Year of Flops feature at the Onion AV Club.
OZ lost money when it was first released, and like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, became a hit later in its life. It was a *big budget* film for its day - around $3m if I remember correctly. So it was expected to sell a lot of tickets and make a lot of money... and it did not.
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