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I saw this question asked over at the Straight Dope Message Board, and thought it was a fantastic topic.  Go with any definition of "least stupid" you want, just tell me what your nomination is.

For me, I'm going to go with a movie that isn't necessarily super-intelligent or pretentious, just a movie that shows sheer competence and never drops the ball.

Here we go, Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI.  There's no shortage of stupidity in the movie, but it all has to do with, for lack of better words, the "human condition".  Cinematic brilliance and very unstupid for almost three and a half hours.  I can't manage to be unstupid for more than thirty minutes at a time.

So, nominations?

Nominations:

1.) Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953)- The film's subject matter is just so serious, there's no place for it to be stupid. When I first saw this, all I could think about was my own family and my parents and what's to become of them as they grow older. In a way, the movie is propoganda for the respect of Japanese culture, possibly as a backlash to a get up-and-go generation that invaded post-war Japan, but it also a transcontinental story that calls for the better treatment of our elders. There is no room for stupidity.

2.) Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - A classic story as told by a maniacal Carl Dreyer who took a studio's budget on lavish costumes and period castles, and diminished it to abstraction through extreme close ups and off centered framing. Totally not stupid-- totally art.

3.) Anything by Dziga Vertov

4.) Lynch's Eraserhead (1977) - It's ten in the morning and my brain isn't thinking critically, but I know this movie isn't stupid. In fact, I'd like to make honorary additions of all of Luis Bunuel's surrealist films. And for that matter, I'll add any surrealist film that is truly surrealist (not Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, or Donnie Darko) - Blood of a Poet, Stan Brackhage films, Guy Maddin, Brothers Quay, and even my favorite stop animation movie maker, Ladislas Starewicz.

Threads.......enough said.

I would say either Johnny Got His Gun or Schindler's List.  I say this even though I am neither anti-war or Jewish.

This is actually a great topic, because you can usually find some stupid moments in even the greatest movies.  The fact that movies require "suspension of disbelief" means that there is almost always SOMETHING in the movie that is excessive, outlandish, larger than life and even borderline stupid.  Anyway, here are a few "least stupid" movies (in no particular order) that come to mind:

* TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (although the "Boo Radley" character might almost cross the line into pseudo-horror movie stupidity)

* WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

* THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (one of my all-time favorites and one of Sinatra's best performances)

* THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

Notice that there are no Irwin Allen movies on  my list . . .

I gotta agree with Scottie on the surrealist [serious] films.  I just saw 'Belle de jour' the other day and it was great, and not stupid at all, plus Blood of the Poet is pretty good too.

Sure not all of them are particularly serious all the time, but that doesn't necessarily translate to stupid.

Hmmm... this is an interesting topic, and I think I'll have to mull it over a little longer.

I'm going to have to say Boondock Saints.  A movie full of ideas that shouldn't work but do, excellent acting, unreal characters and scenes that shouldn't be funny but are.

It also has Ron Jeremy as a sleezy mob sub-boss and Willem Dafoe as a (and I'm not kidding) homophobic homosexual.  He also looks surprisingly good in drag.  And a buddy of mine is one of the extras because it was partially shot in my home town.....

These are all great films!
Some of my all-time favorites, and some new favorites are on here --
I want to second just about all of Scottie's nominations, and I also loved Boondock Saints, though it skirts the line --
I would disagree that Stan Brakhage's entire body of work is worthy of all-praise.  Ever see his film Deserts?  Crap.  Pretentious and dull.  Really stupid, in fact!
I would nominate Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal as the most un-stupid film ever:  The debate over the existence of God/What is Redemption/What is Forgiveness/What is Existence?  Jeez Louise . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

peter johnson wrote:

> I would nominate Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal as the most
> un-stupid film ever:  The debate over the existence of God/What
> is Redemption/What is Forgiveness/What is Existence?  Jeez
> Louise . . .
> peter johnson/denny crane
>

Still pushing that SEVENTH SEAL, I see.  As always, I would recommend it on a double bill with STRANGE BREW.  Watch the sublime with the sublimely stupid and you may just approach the meaning of life.



Post Edited (10-28-05 22:51)

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Haven't seen all the movie but the book was told from the kid's persective and Boo was a pretty scary character from that point of view.

I would go with "Beckett" as a not-stupid movie

I'd rank 12 Angry Men as one of the least stupid films out there.  Can't think of any stupid moments that aren't deliberately from the characters.

Are you hiding in my attic again Mofo?  I thought we'd discussed that . . .
In point of fact, we have what we call CheeseFest here, with a few assorted nogoodniks come over & watch clips & etc.
The week before we left for Scotland, we had, as a double feature:
The Seventh Seal and Strange Brew.
Some of us want to make our own Max von Sydow T-shirts -- More on this as it develops(?).
peter johnson/denny crane

peter johnson wrote:

> Are you hiding in my attic again Mofo?  I thought we'd
> discussed that . . .

Well I'd leave if you didn't have me chained up in here.  By the way, I need a refill on my bucket of fish heads.

As for THE SEVENTH SEAL and STRANGE BREW, that is kind of creepy.  But for anyone listening, watch them both and watch them now.

Another nomination for least stupid movie, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.  I do not agree with Kubrick's philosophy, but there is a deep intelligence at work in that movie.  I was lucky enough to see it on a big screen a few years ago (I was not around in 1968), and trust me, it makes a hell of a difference.

I'd have to toss Silent Running into this pile.

Hydroponic space stations?  A druidic groundskeeper?  Robots programmed to play poker?  It all makes sense in context but they sound bizarre out of it...