Thanks again, Houston and movie titles that really get my goat
I was fortunate enough to expand the Movie Memories presentations market to Houston recently.
It was a pleasure to meet many of the residents of the Eagle's Trace retirement community for my "Movies Set in the Lone Star State" presentation.
That presentation begins and ends with Alamo movies and includes Academy Award-winner Giant, the larger-than-life, star-studded 1956 tale of cattle, oil and bubbling emotions starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.
My host, Joan Pyle, who is "Jo" to her friends, met me at the door when I arrived. The entire staff couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. I can't wait to return to Eagle's Trace to make more Movie Memories in the Bayou City.
What's in a title? Well, ...
Let's get right to the point. Some movie titles, like Of Mice and Men, It's a Wonderful Life and Thank You for Smoking (a personal favorite from Jason Reitman) are perfectly in tune with what the film is about.
They either intrigue, entice or, for whatever reason, make you want to throw down your hard-earned money and see the movie.
That's not what this item is about, however.
Let's consider for a moment the worst movie titles of all time. Often an unfortunate or carelessly planned title provides a hint that something wicked this way comes. That almost always turns out to be the case.
For every lousy film title you can think of that fronted a movie that wasn't all that bad, such as The Shawshank Redemption, for instance, I can counter with something like The Men Who Stare at Goats. In my humble opinion, that was one of the few awful clunkers George Clooney has ever appeared in.
Then there are the real stinkers like Freddy Got Fingered, a nearly unwatchable little ditty starring, if we can call it that, Tom Green as a cartoonist who moves back in with his parents.
Maybe you can name some yourself. I'd love to hear from folks who over the years have come across some movie titles they feel are so bad they make it nearly impossible to appreciate even a good movie that follows the title.
If you could use some suggestions to refresh your memory, the folks over at The Hollywood Reporter have come up with a list they call The 50 Worst Movie Titles of All Time, which does, by the way include both The Men Who Stare at Goats and that disgusting Freddy one. (Click here for the link.)
Oh, and there's this one: Dude, Where's My Car? Really, dude?
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