Posted on 08/01/2007 7:38:44 AM PDT by qam1
In honour of the release of "300" on DVD, we take a look back our favourite "oh-so-bad," from-the-'80s mythology-ish movies that we hate to love.
Long before Peter Jackson and his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy legitimized the genre, these movies dwelt somewhere between the A minus and B-movie grades and have since earned themselves cult status among a certain Gen-X cohort.
Let's be clear, we're not talking the overwrought sword and sandal variety such as "Gladiator" or "Troy," or those with long talkative sequences and fits and spurts of action, but those of the only decade in history in which they could have been produced - the over-the-top excessive 1980s.
While they do contain moments of mild winking-at-the audience-humour, generally the creators (big names like Wolfgang Peterson, Ron Howard and Terry Gilliam) of these movies took themselves so seriously, the results were a misplaced earnestness that we just can't help but laugh at. And, needless to say, time has not served them well.
Nestled in the years between the "Star Wars" effects advancements and the landmark Jurassic Park CGI achievements, their hokey heroes were surrounded by a medley of stop-motion animation, Henson-style puppetry and awkward costuming.
What follows is the best of the worst, those that made no attempt at tongue in cheek, or irony - just plain old fantasy flicks that were all filmic faux pas to the very last frame. Semi-mythological, semi-serious, fully pulped.......
If you go back further you would find several hercules movies staring Steve reeves, also the Sinbad series. By todays standards they are hokey but in their time they were quite good.
"Florida!"
Heh. Dy-no-mite!
How about that movie "LadyHawk" with Mathew Broderick? Wasn't Rutger Hauer in that too?
The only statement I can make about Mark Singer is “ He doesn’t have an acting bone in his body”.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll be sure to catch the pilot. Let’s just hope it’s more like “Battlestar Galactica” and less like “Jake 2.0”. :)
I'm confused, was this some thinly-veiled attempt to blame Reagan for these movies?
From what I can tell, not much info yet, it seems to be following in the footsteps of the 1980 movie. I can distinctly hear the Queen theme song in the background during the commercial. Which I think is good, I think Flash Gordon always worked best with tongue in cheek. But only time (10 days to be specific) will tell.
Oh yeah! I remember that film — don’t think I saw it all the way through. Rutgar Hauer is always fun. Wasn’t he a wolf by day, and his girlfriend was a hawk by night?
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) (Jane Seymour ‘nough said)
Excalibur (1981)
Flesh+Blood (1985)
Hawk the Slayer (1980)
LadyHawke (1985)
Lionheart (1987)
Red Sonja (1985)
Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984) — the greatest movie of this genre. I can’t believe they missed it. Sean Connery as The Green Knight is so great.
The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (1988)
Must be from the 80s.
I have a son and a daughter who are adults now. Starting in about middle school the two of them watched "The Princess Bride" and "Labyrinth" about a million times. They had memorized every word.
In high school they used to gather their friends together for a night of food, drink, food, drink (you know teenagers) and watching these two movies. With the whole crowd repeating every line of the script along with the actors/actresses.
They wore tapes out repeatedly.
I bought them on DVD for my son's 29th birthday - he was thrilled.
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Dragonslayer (1981)
Time Bandits (1981)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Beastmaster (1982)
Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
Krull (1983)
The Neverending Story (1984)
Legend (1985)
Willow (1988)
hah.. that reads like a list of my favourite movies!
she was an owl, and i think she was animal in the day, him by night.
oops.. not owl.. i’m thinking something else.
I know--talkative. But, as you wish.
We watched Clash of the Titans last night....
creepy getting this ping this morning... strange coincidence...
What? No “Princess Bride”?
I loved that movie. I still have the soundtrack...on vinyl baby!
I don’t know much about collectables, but I would hang on to that for awhile.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.