Posted on 07/13/2012 7:04:50 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
Let's start out with the recognition of perhaps the WORST special effect ever seen in a movie was the flaming paper plate on a line passing itself off as a flying saucer in "Plan Nine From Outer Space." However, I recently saw a movie that might have had a special effect just as lame.
It was "Knights of the Round Table," starring Robert Taylor as Lancelot. Anyway, Lancelot, along with King Arthur and some allies were at a meeting at Stonehenge. The bad guys (Modred) suddenly decided to attack the Arthur crew. So Lancelot saves the day by pushing one of the Stonehenge rocks over to prevent the bad guys from getting to them while they made their escape. What made the scene especially ridiculous was that Lancelot really didn't even put much of an effort into shoving over that Stonehenge rock. And when the Stonehenge rock hit the ground, it was with the gentle thud of styrofoam rather than a crash of several tons worth of rock. Oh, and how could Stonehenge manage to stand all these years since from we saw in the movie just a 60 mph wind would have knocked those Stonehenge rocks to the ground?
I wonder if Robert Taylor or any of the other actors at the time objected to participating in such an incredibly lame special effect.
Hey, at least the Giant Claw attacked the United Nations building. I say let’s bring that giant chicken back to finish the job!
“The Claw” the monster film of a giant bird around the 1950’s probably is my contestant for the worst special effects, short of some Taiwan cheesy martial arts films.
But one must keep in mind what was available per that time period in as such as could be done.
So some films which came out during the 30’s,40’s and 50’s had some phenomenally good special effects. War of the Worlds has always been my favorite. And it came out in what, 1954?
You can watch all of these wonderful movies here for free!
http://archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3ASciFi_Horror&sort=-publicdate
I don’t know if it could be considered a special effect,but the horrible helicopter accident that claimed Vic Morrow’s life (as well as the two children’s lives)is at the top of my list.
I guess it could be considered a special effect because of the pyrotechnics that caused the helicopter to fail.
I’ve become a fan of Morrow’s. He was a terrific actor and a good-looking man whose work gives him immortality.
Superman 3 was pretty bad,too.
The satellite stopping in orbit and creating weather was beyond preposterous.
At first I thought you were talking about Vic Morrow,but the picture clearly says otherwise.
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