Badmovies.org Forum

Okay, let's hear the nominations.

Mine are:

* John Carradine - the undisputed king of shamelessness (and to think that he used to be in good movies like THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE)

* Cameron Mitchell - he wins the special "I'll Go to Italy and Act in Just About Anything" Award

* John Saxon - even appeared as a guest star on THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN

* David Carradine - from the Oscar caliber BOUND FOR GLORY to incredible trash like P.O.W. - THE ESCAPE

* Linda Blair - I think that her complete lack of talent has something to do with this

* Rod Steiger - a great actor (see IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and THE PAWNBROKER), who quickly fell from grace

* Charles Bronson - solid character actor in movies like THE GREAT ESCAPE and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, later signed a deal with the devil and appeared in movies like DEATH WISH III and ASSASSINATION

* Lou Diamond Phillips - from LA BAMBA to BATS (need I say more?)

* Brian Dennehy - has some talent, but JUST WON'T GO AWAY!

* Bo Svenson - from WALKING TALL, PART 2 to INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (has anyone seen that movie?)

Don't forget Michael Caine! Highly-respected, yet still willing to make grot like "Jaws The Revenge," "Beyond The Poseidon Adventure," "Dressed To Kill," and (let us never forget) "The Swarm?" And that's hardly a complete list. There is no way in Hell he could read the scripts and NOT know he was making some of the worst movies of all time.

Likewise John Lithgow! Skilled and filled with charm early on, now he never passes up an opportunity to being hooting, shrieking, and whooping like an overcaffinated chimp. "Ricochet," "Cliffhanger," and "Raising Cain" are some of the more horrifying examples. (One has to assume wearing a dress in a Brian DePalma film is a bad sign for the career of the guys. But then, it didn't do poor Nancy Allen much good either...)

Gene Hackman. He had ups and very low lows in his career. It seemed at one point that a new movie starring Gene was released every week.

Then there's GEORGE KENNEDY! 'nuff said.

Klaus Kinski freely appeared in a lot of movies he knew were junk just for the money. He turned down a role in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to appear in VENOM, because he was offered more money.

ummm...did we all forget about Bill Paxton? Need I say more?

Better not forget Roger Moore. What was he thinking when he signed up to work with Jean Claude Van Damme on that piece of trash "The Quest" or as it is better known as " a crappy remake of Bloodsport".

Actually come to think about it what the hell is Van Damme thinking about these days!

Christopher Lloyd is my top pick. I swear, there was a period where he was in every movie released. James Earl Jones, too. Christopher Walken is getting there (two words: Kangaroo Jack!)

Walken in Kangaroo Jack? Say it isn't so!Maybe his kids pushed him into it.

I actually enjoy it when I see certain well respected actors in crappy movies. Micheal Caine would be the first to admit he made a lot of guff in the 70's and 80's, solely for the money.

As he said about Jaws 4 : " I haven't seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. But I have seen the house it built, and it's fantastic. "

Hats off all round, I say. I'd do exactly the same.

....but with a reason: Carradine had said he mostly was only acting in movies to support his first love...Theatre. I like to think his last words, though, might have been:

"I sure made a lot of crappy movies!"

:-)

I think it's pure luck that Bruce Campbell didn't make a whole lot of really bad films.  Through his career he pretty much has taken everything he's been offered but it just so happens that his school buddy who asked him to be in a load of films was a highly talented director.  There are still plenty of blotches on his CV though, McHale's Navy, Dusk Til Dawn 2, Serving Sara, the Love Bug, Assault on Dome 4 etc. I'm sure these films were just jobs to him.

Plus has anyone seen 'Sundown'. Its described as a comedy/horror/western starrring Bruce Cambell, so it sounds like my kinda film.

Pete

ANY & ALL that stared in the Police Academy series

Jeff Goldbloom (obviously)

Jack Palance (who is staring in a local TV add for funiture here in good ole Mempho - Jolly Royal Furniture)

Burt Reynolds has gone from Deliverance to Cannon Ball Run II

I can't fault those who admit they're doing a movie for the paycheck.

My personal picks are Dennis Hopper (does he get a discount in the 7-11 if he mades more than three films per year?), Eric Roberts (I saw him in four different movies last weekend, his roles ranging from pilot on a falling airplane, mobster and hitman) and Ice T. Funny fact, they use to be in the same bad B thrillers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up making movies together. Probably they have already.

Another good one may be Santiago Segura (he played vampire Rush in "Blade II", he is the one who dies in the epilogue, and he appears in the "Beyond Re-animator" trailers), but he is hardly known outside Spain, though the creator of "Ain't it cool news" mentioned him as one of his favourite actors ever.

Yes, he's a good actor, and yes, he's currently riding high on The West Wing, but our beloved Ramon Estevez ("Martin Sheen" to you) has always been willing to take any role if the paycheck's right, which means that any time a movie producer has said, "Hey, we need someone who looks like a militant hardass for a confined cameo role," Sheen's name has been at the top of the list.

I dunno, I'd have to go with Carradine and Jack Palance.  My God, I mean, Palance was in Angel's Revenge.  Angel's Revenge!

Oh, the horror.

Acting's a job and working is better than not working, although sometimes you get stuck in a turkey.

John Carradine, Bela Lugosi (who never turned down a roll after he passed on Frankenstein), and Michael Caine get tops on my list.

                        Let's add Gary Busey,Treat Williams,Jeff Fahey,Eric Roberts,and Nastassja Kinski to that list,since they have no self-respect for themselves these days,and will prostitute their acting talents for the almight dollar.
                       And,let's not forget Richard Burton,Patrick Bergen,Matt McCoy, and Sybil Danning,who all went from big budgeted films,to low budgeted rubbish.

Christopher Walken w/ currently 82 films to his credit 4 this year alone!
Michael Caine at 105 w/ 3 this year so far
Dennis Hopper at 137 w/ 5 this year

It would seem Hopper is the winner

Gene Hackman has 94 films to his credit! In 2001, he made five films!

Aside from John Carradine, Christopher Lee is probably the all-time champ. I think he appeared in over 200 films. And countless TV shows too.

http://www.houseofhorrors.com/leefilms.htm

He appeared in 257 films!!!!!

And 60 TV shows.

Well... that pretty much takes the cake. Go Lee!

Don't forget Rutger Hauer.

I'm pretty sure Lee is in the Guiness Book of World Records for most leading roles, with John Wayne runner up.

Made a few nifty comments about Newsweek...

On his work ethic -

"I hardly turn down anything, that's true.  I don't have hobbies.  I don't have kids.  I really like to go to work.  And when you're working, you want to stay a little bit fit and thin - so you look nice and your diet's better."

On his hair in 'A View to A Kill'

"That was my secret in every scene.  No matter what I was talking about, I was thinking, 'Do you like my hair?'  It gave me a little bit of an edge."

There were also some choice comments made about pay scale for character actors instead of stars between John Reilly, Katy Bates, and Dennis Quaid -

Reilly - "You get tired of fighting for the job every time, and fighting for, like, basic pay.  After a while, you're like, 'F*ck, I just want this to be a little bit easier.'  I've got kids now."
Quaid - "It's really difficult if you're not the star of the film.  Basically, you don't get paid like you used to.  They put all their money into the star, and then there's a take-it-or-leave-it attitude with the supporting characters."
Bates - "It's sort of like dogs around a bowl of food."

I know these two have been said, but Martin Sheen (Spawn, Visa commercial, Catch Me If You Can) as well as Charlie Sheen tend to do anything they get their hands on.

Also, you can't stop counting Christopher Lee, he is in two huge blockbusters (LOTR and Star Wars), it seems he is by no means done yet.

How about Jerry O'Connell, he had a recent straight to video premiere at a Blockbuster in Berverley Hills, opening to a whopping 3 fans.

Lance Henrisken certainly is has been in movies with a wide range of quality.  Usually does a good job

Rutger Hauer seems willing to take anything but sometimes you can tell he's just doing it to pay the bills

I still think Joe Estevez is just Emilio's b-movie alter-ego.

Dennis Hopper ranges from the truly good to the truly bad. ("Space Truckers" anyone?)

Peter O'Toole did "Lawrence Of Arabia" and "Beckett" and "Lion in Winter"...and "High Spirits"

.

Martin Balsam. What is it with the name Martin?....anyway, he was in "Psycho" and "The takeing of Pelam 1.2.3." And, also some cheese along the way. But, he did have an active carrer.

After SPACE 1999, Martin Landau appeared some of the lowest budgeted films ever made (there's one reviewed here at Badmovies, THE BEING). He got better roles in the late 80s and throughout the 90s but after winning his Oscar® for playing Bela in ED WOOD, he's been appearing in loads of forgettable films. He's got something like 100 films to his credits. And several big TV shows (like S1999 and Mission Impossible) but has appeared in 60 something episodes from various TV shows.

And how about actresses. Louise Fletcher would probably win this one easily. After CUCKOO'S NEST she basically starred in terrible movies.

Two words..Brad Frikkin' Dourif! Started off fine in ...Cuckoos Nest, then went on to appear in every s**tty movie ever made. Just because you don't see him, doesn't mean he isn't there. Both the "Chucky" and CRITTERS franchises, SENSELESS, for god's sake. He even appeared alongside fellow "call me anytimer" Christopher Walken in one of the Prophecy  flicks. It seems that if a movie needs a creepy guy, and Walken, Hopper, or Railsback, are busy...ole' Brad will step in. He's like on the b-list of the b-list! He's friggin' everywhere.

Yeah, but he's in The Two Towers now - so he's kinda redeeming himself somewhat.

First of all, I thank everyone for participating in my message board posting!

As far as John Carradine goes (and I think this probably applies to most actors on this message board), I picked up this tidbit of information:

On the FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND dvd, there is a special feature interview with one of the cast members. She said that, when asked why he made good movies as well as crap, Carradine replied, "the color of the money is the same." She also said that Cameron Mitchell was paid $1,500 a day to be in FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND.

I think we all need to remember that actors appear in movies because it is their JOB, no different from someone who works for a retail store, or fixes lawnmowers, or sells cars. They do it to earn a living. Not all actors have lofty, artistic visions of being in only "good" movies. And I respect Carradine for his honesty. Look at guys like Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty (who were in ISHTAR),  Laurence Olivier (who was in CLASH OF THE TITANS), and Paul Newman (who was in WHEN TIME RAN OUT). They are all respected actors who appeared in crap, but still insist that they are artists.

When asked why he appeared in so many questionable movies, Michael Caine gave the explanation that because he grew up in poverty, he felt that if he didn't keep working, he might lose it all.

Michael Caine has also stated that he had taken rolls solely on the basis of the location they were going to be shot at.

Good point, Joe.
Some actors have a bad habit of thinking too much of them selves...latest Hollywood babble from George Clooney, he blows up at a reporter who dares to call "Solaris" boreing....Hey George, it ain't the Holy Grail!.....and your no Graham Chapman either!.....
The good actors , Like Lee ,Cushing, Hackman, get work because they are Pros, and do the best they can with what they are given. Like i said...pros.
They do the best with the part , and have to leave the other stuff to someone else. Just like the rest of us.

I never even thought it was bad to be in every movie possible.

A) we live in a capitalist society, so that is what we strive for

B) Look, work is work, everyone does crap once in awhile, and sometimes crap needs to be made. Look at the actors who never bounced back from crap (Helen Hunt, Anna Paquin).
So, if you do crap and move on, more power to you.

C) Sometimes it is fun to have a reputation for doing everything isnt that what a "character actor" is.

A couple more to add. Talk about wanting creepy guys, what about  Steve Buscem. Is he in every Sandler movie? Is he in every third movie? Man is he strange?

Recently, Sylvestor Stallone is taking that path. Anyone seen his straight to video release of "Eye See You."  How about Rocky 5 that he is making? As well as the Rocky the Broadway musical he is making. Oh, and the next Rambo where he fights Osama Bin Laden. Im serious. These are his upcoming plans. Does he have no shame?

It was fun scanning through these old actors.... I might have missed him, but Charlton Heston NE1?  Ben Hur / Soylent Green.  Go figure...

Solent green is a awesome movie! Maybe not Ben Hur, but ito be honest w/ you I thought that SG was actually more "meaty" BH

OUCH!

How about Louis Gossett Jr.  I know this man has won one Oscar (or was it an Emmy).  I just can't remember what picture it was.  All I remember is that he was in all the Iron Eagle, Jaws III, The Punisher, a movie with Chuck Norris, and a little known tv movie with Blair Underwood.
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Meteor Man can kick Superman's ass.

Yes. Louis Gossett Jr. won an Oscar for "An Officer and a Gentleman." He used his new-found fame to land starring roles in one terrible movie after another. He is not alone. Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, David Carradine, Eric Roberts, Louise Fletcher and a whole slew of others have either won or been nominated for Oscars and then watched their careers go straight to B-Movie hell.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee have to be the winners in this category.

How about Russ Tamblyn? His list is certainly a lot shorter than most of the others mentioned in this posting, but I think his fall from major productions like West Side Story to trashy Al Adamson movies makes him a legitimate addition to the list.

Anyone who can star in West Side Story, Satan's Sadists, Twin Peaks, and War of the Gargantuas is alright in my book. :)

what about:

RODDY MCDOWALL !!!

what about:

RODDY MCDOWALL !!!

Hold on . . . have we mentioned Yul Brynner yet? I mean, he starred in some classic trash like THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR and a bad Italian action film or two before he died . . .