- Welcome to Badmovies.org Forum.
Recent posts
#41
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - November 23, 2025, 10:22:04 AMSTALAG 17 (1953):
This - the first big American POW movie, which surely influenced THE GREAT ESCAPE and directly inspired "Hogan's Heroes" (as proven in a court of law) - was a big hit upon its release, got Oscar noms and a statue for William Holden, and today receives almost unwavering hyperbolic commendations from everyone who's reviewed it on Letterboxd. It's okay, with a few parts that are above average, but it ain't no GRAND ILLUSION... a film Billy Wilder pretty clearly had seen and admired.
If you've ever seen or are aware of "Hogan's Heroes", there's no need for me to provide a plot synopsis, though I'll add that STALAG 17 only attempts to be funny about 3/4ths as much as an episode of "Hogan's Heroes", and succeeds approximately as often as a single episode (which is to say, imho, not too much). There is some legitimate suspense and drama in STALAG 17, though the lame comedy tends to interminably delay the compelling bits. (I suspect STALAG 17 also influenced Altman's M*A*S*H, a later film I also find laboriously unfunny.)
Holden plays a cynical, unpopular angler in the American officer's stockade. (Again, it's easy to identify elements of both Milo Minderbinder and Yossarian from Joseph Heller's outstanding Catch-22, published in 1961.) The best parts of the film are where Holden plays chess (literally and figuratively) with Peter Graves, playing one of the camp's ranking American prisoners. Holden is cagey in a way that's mostly fun to watch, sometimes tiresome (even he didn't think he deserved an Oscar for this performance). Graves, though, is very well-cast - it's hard to think of him as anything other than the smiling, upright AIRPLANE! Captain who likes talking to little boys about gladiator movies, so oddly he works quite well in a serious role as a man with something to hide.
Robert Strauss (star of THE NOAH) was also nominated for an Oscar, more evidence that audiences and the Academy luuurved STALAG 17 and seized any slender excuse to reward it. Strauss' slovenly, sex-crazed funnyman role probably deserves an Oscar nomination just as much as John Belushi deserved an Oscar nom for playing "Bluto" in ANIMAL HOUSE - though honestly Belushi was much funnier - but you can still tell Strauss is a good actor trying his best with thin material. Harvey Lembeck plays the Jerry to Strauss' Dino, and although I'm a lifelong Erich Von Zipper stan, Lembeck's got nothin' to work with here. Neville Brand (much later of EATEN ALIVE fame) does make an impression as a prison tough guy. Some guy named "Don Taylor" is 2nd-billed after Holden and spends most of the movie crouched silently in a water reservoir - ah, the Hollywood system!
Finally, as long as I'm name-dropping "Erich Von"s... it's inescapable that Erich Von Stroheim showed GRAND ILLUSION to Wilder (or reminded Wilder of it) while they were making SUNSETBLVD, and Wilder quickly decided he could do better than Jean Renoir. Maybe Wilder even offered Von Stroheim STALAG 17's scene-stealing role of "Von Schurbach", the "Colonel Klink" character on "Hogan's Heroes" as well as essentially the same role EVS played in GRAND ILLUSION, minus the depth and nuance of Renoir's finely written characters. EVS passed so Wilder cast Otto Preminger, the other German director he had in his rolodex.
Preminger has a couple of very interesting scenes here - Letterboxd users love the boots! - but I'd have been better off just rewatching Renoir's masterpiece.
3/5
Classic Hollywood's favorite funny German Sig Rumaan plays the "Sergeant Schultz" role here - and the character's name is Colonel Schultz....... which probably clinched Billy Wilder's lawsuit!
This - the first big American POW movie, which surely influenced THE GREAT ESCAPE and directly inspired "Hogan's Heroes" (as proven in a court of law) - was a big hit upon its release, got Oscar noms and a statue for William Holden, and today receives almost unwavering hyperbolic commendations from everyone who's reviewed it on Letterboxd. It's okay, with a few parts that are above average, but it ain't no GRAND ILLUSION... a film Billy Wilder pretty clearly had seen and admired.
If you've ever seen or are aware of "Hogan's Heroes", there's no need for me to provide a plot synopsis, though I'll add that STALAG 17 only attempts to be funny about 3/4ths as much as an episode of "Hogan's Heroes", and succeeds approximately as often as a single episode (which is to say, imho, not too much). There is some legitimate suspense and drama in STALAG 17, though the lame comedy tends to interminably delay the compelling bits. (I suspect STALAG 17 also influenced Altman's M*A*S*H, a later film I also find laboriously unfunny.)
Holden plays a cynical, unpopular angler in the American officer's stockade. (Again, it's easy to identify elements of both Milo Minderbinder and Yossarian from Joseph Heller's outstanding Catch-22, published in 1961.) The best parts of the film are where Holden plays chess (literally and figuratively) with Peter Graves, playing one of the camp's ranking American prisoners. Holden is cagey in a way that's mostly fun to watch, sometimes tiresome (even he didn't think he deserved an Oscar for this performance). Graves, though, is very well-cast - it's hard to think of him as anything other than the smiling, upright AIRPLANE! Captain who likes talking to little boys about gladiator movies, so oddly he works quite well in a serious role as a man with something to hide.
Robert Strauss (star of THE NOAH) was also nominated for an Oscar, more evidence that audiences and the Academy luuurved STALAG 17 and seized any slender excuse to reward it. Strauss' slovenly, sex-crazed funnyman role probably deserves an Oscar nomination just as much as John Belushi deserved an Oscar nom for playing "Bluto" in ANIMAL HOUSE - though honestly Belushi was much funnier - but you can still tell Strauss is a good actor trying his best with thin material. Harvey Lembeck plays the Jerry to Strauss' Dino, and although I'm a lifelong Erich Von Zipper stan, Lembeck's got nothin' to work with here. Neville Brand (much later of EATEN ALIVE fame) does make an impression as a prison tough guy. Some guy named "Don Taylor" is 2nd-billed after Holden and spends most of the movie crouched silently in a water reservoir - ah, the Hollywood system!
Finally, as long as I'm name-dropping "Erich Von"s... it's inescapable that Erich Von Stroheim showed GRAND ILLUSION to Wilder (or reminded Wilder of it) while they were making SUNSETBLVD, and Wilder quickly decided he could do better than Jean Renoir. Maybe Wilder even offered Von Stroheim STALAG 17's scene-stealing role of "Von Schurbach", the "Colonel Klink" character on "Hogan's Heroes" as well as essentially the same role EVS played in GRAND ILLUSION, minus the depth and nuance of Renoir's finely written characters. EVS passed so Wilder cast Otto Preminger, the other German director he had in his rolodex.
Preminger has a couple of very interesting scenes here - Letterboxd users love the boots! - but I'd have been better off just rewatching Renoir's masterpiece.3/5
Classic Hollywood's favorite funny German Sig Rumaan plays the "Sergeant Schultz" role here - and the character's name is Colonel Schultz....... which probably clinched Billy Wilder's lawsuit!
#42
Good Movies / Re: What is your first Horror ...
Last post by Alex - November 23, 2025, 10:19:58 AMAccording to my mum, as a toddler I loved watching The Blob and The Wolfman on a projector they received as a wedding present. I don't remember that, but I guess one of them would have been my first.
I do know Ash's first horror film (Howl. He woke up early one morning while I was watching it and the rest of the house was sleeping). The first story I read to him was James Herberts The Dark, because again everyone else was sleeping and it was the only book I had to read to him while he lay on my lap in the hospital.
I do know Ash's first horror film (Howl. He woke up early one morning while I was watching it and the rest of the house was sleeping). The first story I read to him was James Herberts The Dark, because again everyone else was sleeping and it was the only book I had to read to him while he lay on my lap in the hospital.
#43
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - November 23, 2025, 09:42:06 AMA lovely idea and a really natural one, Rev. After DOWN BY LAW and COFFEE AND CIGARETTES and other projects with Waits, it's surprising that never occurred to Jarmusch!
#44
Good Movies / Re: favourite mid 90s movies?
Last post by HappyGilmore - November 23, 2025, 09:24:12 AMA few I left off that I liked:
Lion King
Reality BitesIt's
Ed Wood
Mars AttacksIt's
12 MonkeysIt's
Se7enb
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Clueless
There's so many films released in the 90s I saw. I started the decade at 6 and was 15/16 when they ended.
Lion King
Reality BitesIt's
Ed Wood
Mars AttacksIt's
12 MonkeysIt's
Se7enb
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Clueless
There's so many films released in the 90s I saw. I started the decade at 6 and was 15/16 when they ended.
Quote from: zombie no.one on November 23, 2025, 04:55:54 AMI can see that about Mallrats. Seems like an even split on people who hate it and love it. I feel his three best films are Clerks, Chasing Amy and Dogma.Quote from: HappyGilmore on November 23, 2025, 12:46:07 AMChasing Amy
think this might be the only Kevin Smith film apart from CLERKS that I actually enjoyed... gotta be honest I was really disappointed with MALLRATS
#45
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by claws - November 23, 2025, 06:22:15 AM
#46
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by LordGraal - November 23, 2025, 05:11:30 AMQuote from: LilCerberus on November 22, 2025, 10:14:17 PMTonight's Stinker
The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
https://youtu.be/ORN5aT9Lxho?si=aLPZ6k6-OzLIN1UP
Pretty forgettable, as I've already forgotten most of it....
So there's an opening crawl about how Earth was abandoned after WW3, & the universe is dependent on an anti-radiation drug that's only found one place in the universe....
In a capital city on the moon, traffic controllers are watching a cargo ship that's ignoring attempts to contact while it's set on a crash course.... Meanwhile, a scientist & a politician are bickering over the need for a defense ship....
Everyone is safely evacuated from the dome as the cargo ship crashes into it.... The dome is immediately rebuilt by planes spraying chemtrails, while inspectors find a robot in the wreckage of the ship.... They decide to rebuild the robot & reprogram it to be friendly....
Then Jack Palance calls up & demands surrender of the universe, so the scientist, his son & his girlfriend decide to steal the defense ship & head for the planet he's on....
This is the movie I thought I was going to watch when I sat through that porno a few months ago, and somehow, less memorable.... Gets pretty slow & plodding.... Tries to insert "HG Wells" in the title, & even swipes the name JOHN CABAL, even though it has no relation to the Wells novel.....
Feels like it was supposed to be a TV movie or an unsold pilot.....
Not many films make me angry but this one does. I think it's the worse Star Wars cash-in of the time. At least films like War of the Robots tried to have some excitement in them. This is so shoddily made in all departments I can't even call it so-bad-it's-good. The effects are amateurish. They don't even bother with laser effects - any of the lame battles are fought using cattle prods. The location used to represent various planets is just scrubland. The writing and pacing is immensely childlike, lazy and boring and the cast clearly have problems mustering any enthusiasm - who could blame them. Attaching Wells' name to it is the ultimate insult.
#47
Good Movies / Re: favourite mid 90s movies?
Last post by zombie no.one - November 23, 2025, 04:55:54 AMQuote from: HappyGilmore on November 23, 2025, 12:46:07 AMChasing Amy
think this might be the only Kevin Smith film apart from CLERKS that I actually enjoyed... gotta be honest I was really disappointed with MALLRATS
Quote from: lester1/2jr on November 23, 2025, 02:17:59 AMThe Game (1997)
I recently found out The Game the rapper was named after this film. always thought that was a terrible rapper name.
Quote from: claws on November 23, 2025, 02:42:33 AM9. 12 Monkeys 1995
ok enough of you have now mentioned this one for me to do a rewatch. I don't remember much about it tbh
#48
Good Movies / Re: favourite mid 90s movies?
Last post by zombie no.one - November 23, 2025, 04:50:25 AMQuote from: M.10rda on November 23, 2025, 12:24:27 AMA personal favorite that I would contribute to the mix:
Hal Hartley's AMATEUR
I'd reckon that's my single favorite film from '94-'96. A beautiful object.
cool, never heard of it. just found Barry Norman's (I guess kind of our Roger Ebert circa 80s/90s?) review on youtube. (he liked it).
QuoteI'd nominate one that hasn't been mentioned yet:
THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD
...Probably the second greatest Christopher Walken performance after DEER HUNTER, and he never moves anything below his collarbone.
Also Oscar-worthy/career-best performances from Andy Garcia, Fairuza Balk, and Christopher Lloyd, with a serious contender from Treat Williams, in service of a screenplay that is more quotable than Tarantino & Avery's for PF.
But that's just me, what do I know?
I know I've seen this, but back then I would watch a lot of films in.... an alternate state of mind. maybe a rewatch in order
#49
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Thought Thread Part...
Last post by Trevor - November 23, 2025, 03:12:26 AMQuote from: Paquita on November 22, 2025, 11:37:10 PMI was recently scanning some movie titles and misread "Tales of Terror" as "Tales of Trevor". Now when I see anything with "Terror" in the title, I replace it with "Trevor" and chuckle.
😀😃😄😆😂😄😆🐢
I really needed that LOL, thanks.
#50
Good Movies / Re: favourite mid 90s movies?
Last post by claws - November 23, 2025, 02:42:33 AM1. The Shawshank Redemption 1994
2. Pulp Fiction 1994
3. Forrest Gump 1994
4. Se7en 1995
5. The Usual Suspects 1995
6. The Lion King 1994
7. Casino 1995
8. Fargo 1996
9. 12 Monkeys 1995
10. Ed Wood 1994
Never seen:
Heat 1995
Toy Story 1995
Trainspotting 1996
Sling Blade 1996
Seen, but didn't care much:
Léon: The Professional 1994
Braveheart 1995
2. Pulp Fiction 1994
3. Forrest Gump 1994
4. Se7en 1995
5. The Usual Suspects 1995
6. The Lion King 1994
7. Casino 1995
8. Fargo 1996
9. 12 Monkeys 1995
10. Ed Wood 1994
Never seen:
Heat 1995
Toy Story 1995
Trainspotting 1996
Sling Blade 1996
Seen, but didn't care much:
Léon: The Professional 1994
Braveheart 1995