If so and so is listed in the credits

[Johnny Z]

Ok, my co-worker and I have had this discussion about Bill Paxson, who seems to turn up in really bad movies. Who else is almost sure to show up in the credits of a bad movie? I am new here, so please forgive me if this has been discussed before.

[Ash]

Lance Henrickson

[sufferbus]

nick mancuso

[Mofo Rising]

Well, Bill Paxton also shows up in some very good movies.  NEAR DARK, for one.  He also directed what I consider a very good movie, FRAILTY.

Udo Kier, ubiquitous creepy German guy, shows up in more than his fair share of bad movies.

[Ash]

Udo Kier is the feminine guy who got slashed in half by Shinji's thumb laser string in "Johnny Mneumonic" right?

Wasn't he also in Korn's "Make Me Bad" video?

[Mofo Rising]

Udo Kier

Man, that IMDb biography is crazy.

Casper Van Dien is a name that deserves mention too.

I'm wondering about the question.  Is it that if the movie is bad, a certain actor is bound to show up?  Or is that a certain actors name guarantees a bad movie?

I think the latter is the more interesting question.  Are there any actors that guarantee a bad movie bar none?

[Fearless Freep]

Tim Thomerson
Brion James
John Carradine
Rutger Hauer
Christophoer Lambert
Richard Moll

To name just a very few

[Johnny Z]

It is true he has had his share of good movies too. When she brought it up, I could only think of bad ones also.

[freelancePatsy]

John Phillip Law
Wings Hauser
Cameron Mitchel
Adam West
Hulk Hogan
Richard Keil

[JohnL]

Brad Dourif

[fritz21]

Paul Newman. Why the heck did he take WHEN TIME RAN OUT?

[Conrad]

Lou Diamond Phillips
Eddie Izzard

[The Burgomaster]

Some actors and directors:

John Saxon
Richard Lynch
Cirio Santiago
Fred Olen Ray
Anthony M. Dawson (aka Antonio Margheriti)
Linda Blair

[yaddo42]

Yet "Near Dark" had Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen.

I recent saw Udo Kier a decent Werner Herzog film "Invincible", but it was a small supporting role.

Some of these actors its more like they had a "use by" date. If its after a certain year, then it's certain that the film is bad.

Cameron Mitchell was in great films like "Hombre" (with Paul Newman) and "My Favorite Year".

Paul Newman probably did WTRO for the paycheck, but he did mix some poor film choices in with some good work in the 70s and 80s when he was really caught up in his auto racing career/hobby.

Rutger Hauer was in lots of good stuff until the early 90s. Recent he was in "Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind", but that's probably the first decent film I've seen him in for about the past eight years.

John Phillip Law was in one of the Ray Harryhausen/Sinbad movies, and recently was in a fun little overlooked movie called "CQ" about the kind of "groovy spy movies" that the Austin powers films were making fun of. Anyone who loved or loathed "Danger: Diabolik" should seek it out. The "movie within a movie" that's part of the plot has a feel like that flick, intentionally.

Since John Carradine was in damn near everything it's a little hard to lump him in, even if the majority of his career was made of the kind of movies we love to hate, and bless him for it. The man made "The Shootist" and "Satan's Cheerleaders" around the same time.

But I agree with Richard Moll and Adam West.

I'll add, just off the top of my head:

Freddie Prinze Jr.
Robert Davi
Billy Drago
Dean Cain
Robert Carradine (after about 1982)
Yahoo Serious
Fred Williamson (with a few exceptions)
Joe Estevez
David Heavener

[AndyC]

Clint Howard. He's especially  interesting in that the degree of badness is proportional to his placement in the credits. The higher Clint's name appears, the worse the movie is. Clint, however, is always great.