The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made

by Chris Gore

Think you know Hollywood movies? Think again!

No matter how many movies you've seen, no matter how many trivia contests you've won, this book is sure to have some surprises for you.

The fifty flicks featured here aren't playing at the local Google-Plex or renting at your video store. These films never actually made it to the big screen---they're the gems that got lost in the Hollywood shuffle, consigned to Development Hell. Imagine, if you

* Alfred Hitchcock's The Blind Man , about a pianist suddenly given the ability to see
* Destino , the surreal fusion of two gigantic artistic Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney
* The unmade Star Trek film, Starfleet Academy
* Greta Garbo's triumphant return to the screen that never happened, Lover and Friend
* A senior citizens' Animal House?!?

Each movie here is a treat for the imagination, and also a lesson in the dos and (mostly) don'ts of Hollywood. In here are dramas, sci-fi flicks, comedies, sequels, animated films, and biopics certain to stir the imagination! For the movie enthusiast, this book is a speculative joy, and for the aspiring filmmaker, it's a crash course in cinematic survival.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Media Tie In

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

Reviews

[Rhadaway]

had to take it back to the library so I didn't read all the pages. I enjoyed what I read. It's funny because it was published over 20 years ago so you can see that some movies in the book in fact got made. I liked that he included a good variety of films. May have allowed his opinion to creep in a little too much. Many good insights from the "what might have been" files. Recommended for fans of Jodorowsky's Dune, Director's Commentary tracks, gossip about who all auditioned for what role, the concept of "development hell," and the podcast How Did This Get Made.

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Begins a bit slowly with some old movies, then hits stride with some more recent movies. With tinsel town being with it is, queasy about funding this shares story ideas initially funded, some by famous people, but then funding is pulled for various reasons. Some are based upon books so they can be read and considered, insightful, swearing. B/W pix.

[Aki Umemoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book about films that were either planned but never got into production or films that started but never finished. This was written in 1999, wish there was an updated version of more recent movies that never got made.

[tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

my favourite is the gritty gangster drama whose protagonist is made of ice cream.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite suffering from a lack of proper citation -- this badly needs an index, citing both sources and where you can read some of the scripts discussed -- this is a great look at films that never were. A first-person version of HEART OF DARKNESS from Orson Welles? SWIRLEE, a gangster with an ice cream cone for a head? (you can see test footage on YouTube). There are plenty of oddball and fascinating projects on display, and lots of comfort food for your imagination. If only Disney had gotten to make FANTASIA 2 with Salvador Dali...

[Joyce]

Most of these fall into two categories: star vehicles where the star died or got too old for the part; and concepts (e.g. Alien vs Predator) that appear to have eventually been made although by different teams. My favorite: a B-movie about a gangster made out of soft-serve ice cream. Uh... yah.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! About 5 of these have been made into films since this book's publication in 1999. Written by the creator of Film Threat.

[Dan Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good premise and some interesting stuff, but its outdated (some of the films have been made since it was published) and I found myself hating the author by the end of it.

[Jef · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting, but needs an update - several of these have been made in the last 10 years.

[Joe Faust · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconsistent; too much about some projects and a cursory mention of others.