The Worst Movies of All Time: Or, What Were They Thinking?

by Michael Sauter

Looks at over fifty bad movies starring some of Hollywood's biggest actors and filmmakers

Genres: Nonfiction, Media Tie In

358 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love "so bad they are good" movies and this is another of a multitude of books written about that subject, several of which I have read. There is nothing new in this one and the films you expect are all here with a couple of questionable choices thrown in. There are also a number of errors which are always off-putting. If you love the genre, you have read all of this before but it is a good enough book to have along when you are waiting in the dentist's office before facing the whirring drill.

[Drew Perron · Rating 1 out of 5]

This feels like it was written by someone who wanted to create the next Siskel and Ebert At the Movies, the next Mystery Science Theater 3000... but decided that the "actually thinking about the movies" step was unnecessary. He goes in assuming that you already agree that these movies suck, and hedges it by including mostly critically panned films and/or box-office bombs. Then he riffs shallowly on them, using material that would've been interesting in 1975, but maybe not so much when this was published 20 years later. There's a few laughs, a few good observations, but honestly, even those few movie review websites that existed when this came out had him beat.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't necessarily agree with all of Michael's choices...but it's still a fun read.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was going to get specific with all the things that are wrong with this book, but I'll just say that instead of being a fun romp through bad decisions, it was more like reading the rants of a 30-year-old internet troll who still lives in his mom's basement.

[F. Dum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered this book by chance, and as a lover of bad movies, I just had to check it out. And I immediately liked it. Michael Sauter has a fun way to write, and his selection of movies is interesting and varied, and especially quite individual. You get a few classics, but I also get to read about lots of films I've never even heard of.

I also really like how the book is structured. It's not just one long list of films, but the book consists of three parts with different kind of "bad" movies:

I. The Megaton Bombs is the main part of the book, and describes in detail fifty big-budget Hollywood failures in chronological order. Sauter describes in detail the delusional hybris of all involved. Each film gets about five pages and a few stills. He also inserts a few "Signs of the Times" about general themes and developments -- this part is also well readable as a history of Hollywood filmmaking.

II. So Many Bad Movies, So Little Space describes about thirty miscellaneous failures, each under a lovely heading, like "The Worst Remake of a Classic" (the 1976 King Kong), "The Worst Excuse for Comedy Starring Sylvester Stallone" (Rhinestone, 1984), or "The Worst Overgrown Grab-Bag of All-Star Cameos" (The Story of Mankind, 1957). Each film gets about half a page, sometimes with a still.

III. The Baddest of the B's: About 80 of the most (in)famous B-movies in alphabetical order, each with about a third page. As I love old B-movies, this really complements the book nicely.

So yeah, I didn't expect I would like this book so much. Yes, it doesn't cover anything perpetrated by Hollywood in the past 30 years or so, but then again, I don't care much for 21st century cinema, so I'm fine with that. My onle gripe is that this book is totally focused on US cinema, with only a few British bombs and Japanese B-movies (Godzilla and Gamera). There's SO much interesting Eurotrash and Asian oddities, it would have been nice to have had a fourth part with international trash.

This minor quibble apart, this is a totally enjoyable and enlightening read, heartily recommended to any true cinéaste who, over time, has gotten bored with all the standard dramas and seen all the classics. I'm sure even long-time trash afficionados will discover a few gems here.

[Daniel Folk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull beyond belief

[Ron Castillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book can be fun to see where personal tastes lie. Personally I think the author is a little full of himself and truly hates some of his source material, but an objective reader can see through it and come to his/her own conclusions.