Siskel & Ebert: Worst Of 1980 - Caligula, Can't Stop the Music, I Spit on Your Grave, Blue Lagoon
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- In this episode, Siskel and Ebert look at the most disappointing films that disappoint audiences. These films include: Caligula, Can't Stop the Music, Ffolkes, I Spit on Your Grave, The Blue Lagoon, The Final Countdown, The Mountain Men, When Time Ran Out and Windows.
Caligula was genuinely a one of a kind film experience that can’t be duplicated. To assemble that top tier a cast, create insanely impressive set pieces, and then let the producer make every wrongheaded decision possible to a point where it was disowned by the cast, the writer, and even the director is an impressive feat.
😂😂😂😂
It's one of the most fascinating failures in movie history.
After I saw this I looked up Tinto Brass and all his other movies are very low budget skin flicks. He's actually pretty consistent over about 60 years of film making.
Still alive, too.
@@Shorty_Lickens and even Tinto disowned Caligula.
The 70s was a Golden Age of sensational movies, and, the flip side, a Golden Age for god awful movies. Can't Stop The Music and The Apple are wonderfully god awful, and inexplicable, particularly The Apple. I went to see a flick about a fish that saved Pittsburgh as I recall, the weekend it came out.
I did not realize I Spit on your Grave was in 1980. I thought it was a 70s flick.
Thank you fo this classic.
It was originally released under the title "Day of the Woman" in '78. When it flopped, Jerry Gross re-released it in '80 under a new title and put Demi Moore on the poster art.
They should have been more gentle in the bumholing scene.
@@alohaohana901 more lube
The first few years of any new decade always has more in common with the previous one. Like early 90s stuff still has that classic 80s look, then grunge hit and it changed. And stuff from the early 80s looks WAY 70s still. It has that gritty look.
Wow, the music at the beginning... that hit all the nostalgia buttons. Thank you, RUclips algorithms.
And yet, "I Spit On Your Grave" is now a cult classic, that generated several sequels. A must see flick for any teenage girl's slumber party. LOL Revenge on rapists makes for bad storyline? I disagree.
Fun Fact: The film Caligula inspired Prince's music video "Gett Off."
The final countdown was actually a cool idea....I watched it not long ago
This channel always rocks.
Imagine what a different movie “Caligula” would have been if Gore Vidal had his way with it.
I agree that Siskel & Ebert's 'worst' films of the year were always pretty bad - but they were never quite as bad as their 'best' films of the year. Any time either of them said 'one of the year's best' - you knew it was a boring, pretentious, has-something-to-say-even-though-it-doesn't piece of self-indulgent drivel that Robert Redford or Woody Allen said you owed it to them to sit through.
Well stated; thank you. Despite their popularity, I do not think that Siskel and Ebert were as great as THEY thought they were!
Why are they using the theme music to 'Max, The 2000 Year Old Mouse'?
Both Siskel and Ebert were in their 30s here. Their 30s! Siskel just NEVER changed throughout all the versions of this show -- he never looked young, but he also didn't age. He just consistently looked middle aged.
Exactly right. He looked 45 his whole life
People looked older back then. Thanks the stress of change in the post-WW2 era, not to mention worse diets. But there was a positive aspect to this, too: back then, people embraced growing up.
Imagine seeing him with hair
Roger Ebert was 38 and Gene Siskel was 36.
@@spb7883 not sure about diets being worse then, on average. Absolutely everyone smoked up until the late 60s or so and I’m sure they both did at some point.
I have to say that listening to Malcolm McDowell’s commentary on Caligula is one of the most hilarious and interesting experiences
Malcolm MacDowell was known for his willingness to be a conduit for male nudity in cinema. A Clockwork Orange was also nearly a porno.
They did a commentary track for Caligula?!? And McDowell offered himself to be on it ?!?
I've got to hear that.
Many years after Caligula was released, I did some work on a Malcom McDowell movie. One day, he came out of his trailer a little late, and the AD got on his bullhorn and announced that "Ladies and gentlemen, now presenting the star of the award-winning film, Caligula, Mr. Malcolm McDowell!" He found the remark genuinelly offensive and cursed the DA all the way to the set.
Roger was dead right when he said that “Airplane!” would kill off the disaster movies.
I still laugh at Airplane!
@@gaywizard2000 Absolutely. Holds up.
Another great achievement from that movie.
It’s tough to recover from a parody that outshines its source material. That’s also why the Wholesome Western genre disappeared for 20 years after Blazing Saddles.
It was always more fun to watch their "worst" movies show. The lines poking fun at the bad movies were priceless. God bless them both.
Yup! I love ❤️ these episodes!
Ebert gave 3 stars to a movie that made my top ten worst of all time , Godfather 3. I couldn't trust him after that.
@@shivasirons6159taste is subjective. He may also have been reluctant to rip into it because of how legendary the first 2 films were and the fact that he may have given the benefit of the doubt to Coppola
@@shivasirons6159 Listen, there is NO doubt that Roger's final judgements could be occasionally questionable, but he was one of the finest critics of his generation. All of us can look back and say that we have had some bad "first takes" on films we saw. It happens. I will say, in particular that I wasn't on the same page with Ebert about comedies a lot. I love silly (stupid) comedies. He did not. 🤷♂️
These mainstream critics, thought their word was the only word. I spit on your grave, had rape but they didn't mention the part where she got even, and fucked them up.
I saw I Spit On Your Grave on cable somewhere (maybe IFC) unedited/no commercials and hosted by Joe Bob Briggs. He told a story about how the director of ISoYG had found a naked woman who had been raped and beaten and discarded. He helped her and got her to the police or a hospital. The director was inspired to make the movie and determined to show the harsh reality and degradation that makes rape horrific. In the film the rape is harrowing and goes on for awhile. It’s ugly and hard to watch, nobody rides in on a white horse and rescues her. Then a few days later she kills the rapists one by one including cutting the ring leaders dick off.
I've seen the remake, had no idea it was a remake. I was 12 in 1980. After seeing this review, I want to see the original.
@@kimberlyeley5816 no you don't,the rape scene is horrific.
Yah sure Kimberly it's a hard movie to view.
Be thankful Dario Argento wasn't behind that grindhouse Grand Guignol. 🤮
I've actually got a bunch of movies with Joe Bob Briggs commentaries on a hard drive, and "I Spit On Your Grave" was one of them. I tried watching it a few months ago, and couldn't do it. Good intent or no, it's such an ugly and mean-spirited movie, and I say that as someone who has seen Cannibal Holocaust a few times.
Fun Fact (as I understand it): the now iconic poster image of the girl's rear end in a forest isn't actually the actress from the film, but a young Demi Moore, who modeled for the promotional image which was produced after Charles Band (head of Empire Pictures in the 80s, and then Full Moon in the 90s) acquired the distribution rights to the film.
S & E were never better when they worked with WTTW/PBS in that high period of 'yuppie chic' circa 1975-1983 - their commentary was savvy but accessible, the film clips longer (because there no commercial breaks) and they themselves represented the kind of sensitive, intellectual, forward thinking male who grew out of the second wave feminist movement; each had his own kind of sex appeal because of that - and neither had to be particularly beautiful to warrant that. The show suffered as little when it went commercial (and we lost both the marvellous title sequence and Spot the Wonder Dog), and the loss of Siskel (which I found personally a little devastating), encumbered it more: Gene's 'replacements' always felt like they were temporary guest stars, and though Roger Ebert extended himself wholeheartedly, it was never same. They were in short, one of the great 'vaudeville' teams of television. If there is a hereafter, we can only hope they are seated on those red velvet fold down seats with Spot panting beside them as they review the best and worst of life itself.
Out of all those movies the two that have lasted are probably I Spit on Your Grave and Can't Stop the Music. The graphic sexual violence in I Spit on Your Grave is still shocking but it's meant to be and the revenge of the victim is quite satisfying. Can't Stop the Music is disco schlok but the music's great and the story is so bad its satirical. It's also a slice of gay New York in the late 70s.
Before aids killed so many it's tragic.
Ha! If Gene thought there was something wrong with the film industry in 1978, imagine what he would have thought of 2018
2018? Was that a year?
I can’t believe they are both gone now. I used to love their reviews.
Or 2022
He was on epsteins plane so I highly doubt he would have given much of a shit
Plus if they were still around they would be woke af too and playing ball with the studios just like they always did
Thank you for posting these great episodes of classic Siskel & Ebert. It’s like my childhood in front of my eyes again. I used to love watching these two all the time. They are missed. May they both R.I.P.
I second this comment. These videos are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I third this comment. I really enjoy watching these episodes as well.
My childhood too.
As I was growing up, my then best friend and I were a couple of fanatics about the movies. We talked, read, ate, drank, and slept the movies. And we went to the movies together once a week for a lot of years from the 1970s-1980s. After seeing our movie, we'd retreat back to his place to watch even more movies on his living room tv. And yes, we religiously watched Siskel and Ebert together every week.
Going to the movies with my friend every week back then is among my most fondest, happiest memories.
Very well stated.
I liked them too, but they need to get their facts straight. I Spit on Your Grave was released in 1978 and not 1980.
They think it was bad in 1980 their heads would explode if they saw what is going on today!!
The Final Countdown wasn't a masterpiece but still fun nevertheless
it`s in the 2 -2 and 2 and 1/2 star ramge
Though it’s minor, gotta teach Gene that the battleships with airplanes are called aircraft carriers….
@@Pupda You can't. He's dead.
If that guy thinks Ffolkes (called North Sea Hijack this side of the Atlantic) was a WW2 movie where Roger Moore fought Nazis then he obviously didn't watch the movie.
Listening to Siskel & Ebert discuss their problems with these movies, I began to see a real parallel between movies in 1980 and movies today, and a lot of today's movies are made for the same reasons these were made. In the last 42 years, very little has changed; if anything, it's gotten even worse. Maybe those moviemakers back then were onto something about their target audience: If you hype something enough in the right way, the moviegoing public will buy ANYTHING. Today's strategy seems to be "make a blockbuster hit, then churn out sequel after sequel, and other studios will do their thinly veiled copy versions of it, and on and on, ad infinitum, mo money, mo money!"
Oh, I know! Let's make another superhero movie! There have only been three already this week!
Totally agree (and love seeing these Siskel/Eberts again, in a world where you no longer need credentials to be an online critic I miss them, ha ha)...Vito Russo always said Hollywood won't make a thing (a movie--nowdays, a series) unless people will buy it, and that if people want quality stuff they have to support that stuff--the smaller, more thoughtful, independent projects--as happened in the 90s...in other words, you can't blame "Hollywood," it's just a type of machine giving people what they want (will pay for)--if it's successful, there will be more of it, if it isn't, there won't be. Thoughts...?
@@scottclauscreations I think that's true to an extent, but I also think that the studios and producers believe that they can tell us what we want to see; in other words, "when we want your opinion, we'll give it to you." When people want better stuff they will get it, but they also know how easily suggestible we are here in North America. There's still a market in other countries for the better quality stuff, but here they know that if they hype something enough in the right way, that those who regularly attend the blockbusters will buy tickets because they perceive something to be an "event" that they can't afford to miss. They think that we're simpletons being led around like sheep and told we like something (the "Jedi mind trick"?). We cannot resist going to see something if they tell us it's something "everybody" wants to see, and if we hear that we don't want to be left out. As a result, we've been force-fed franchises since they saw how successful they can be. They appeal to the lowest common denominator because we have short attention spans and won't sit still for something that takes a while to develop, so they give us instant gratification with simplistic, familiar characters in familiar situations (like the Tyler Perry movies, in particular, the "Madea" movies), or comic book superheroes, suspenseful spy movies or the "Fast & Furious" series; high-tech special effect laden productions that give us lots of explosions and car chases, but little else of any consequence. It's like that children's show Boobah: they know that we aren't really that far advanced from the 1-3 year old mentality that show was geared for, so these movies are their equivalent; flashing lights, attractively colored sets and sounds to get our attention, but nothing else of any intrinsic value. Sorry for the long explanation, but you asked for thoughts, and these are my thoughts on why we get the same old same old with no real variation.when it comes to movies. I personally haven't been to a movie theater to see a new movie since about 2008, and the modern movie scene is a big part of why.
Bad movies of the past were occasionally fun. Look at 1982's "The Pirate Movie" or "Grease 2". Bad movies today are just unwatchable.
If these two had lived long enough to see what the current cinematic state had become, they would be more charitable to the films being panned here, I have NO doubts!!!
I agree. Paired with the garbage we have nowadays coming out of Hollywood all of the bad movies they listed here were pretty damn good!
@@phayzyre1052these guys used to review 3 or 4 films a week... A WEEK. That's 150+ films a year.
Now if we get 25 a year it's a lot, because 24 will be comic book movies... All with the same plot, and possibly the same script but different costumes.
@@VladimirPutin-p3t I totally agree. Back then when we went to the movies we had a pile of good movies to choose from but nowadays, if you’ve got one good movie out of 15 you’re lucky!
Also, just adding to your comment music today sucks so bad I don’t even know why people in today’s world called themselves musicians. I’ve made that comment on a lot of threads only to get a reply from some young smart aleck saying “there’s good music out there you just have to search for it!“ I immediately fire right back with the reply “but that’s just it, you HAVE to search for it whereas decades ago you just flipped on the radio switch and good music was already playing!” Back then you didn’t have to search for nothing.
I am not a movie buff, probably only watching two or three a year. So why the hell have I seen Caligula, Blue Lagoon and (against my will) I Spit On Your Grave?
Wait, are you me? Although, now that I think of it, seeing those three movies is a good way to become the kind of person who rarely watches a movie. What nightmares!
Your Sick! (Just like I am…..). Lol😂
Siskel’s appraisal of Irwin Allen and the whole disaster film genre of the 70s could easily apply 40 years later to the Marvel and Jurassic Park franchises; which, unlike When Time Ran Out, are sadly rewarded at the box office.
Except the Marvel movies are good!!
Hollywood has always gone through trends.
Also, they turned out to be right. Airplane! did basically kill off the disaster movie until Roland Emmerich revived the genre in the 90s.
@jasonblalock4429 Yes. And where is the 2020s' version of Airplane when we need it!
@@waynej2608 Top Gun Maverick may have done it
As a 50+ year Chicagoan, I can now really appreciate the treasure that was Siskel and Ebert. Their Chemistry with each other was priceless. Self-confident while respecting the others' reputation and expertise. There will never be another film critic duo like them.
Absolutely must see gents. Loved them. Both were tormented by illnesses.
It was James I liked the fact that Gene was more Open to Horor and sci-fi flicks that Roger was R.I.P Guys
This was always such a treat on Sunday evenings. You knew you were in for a thoughtful and complete experience from two seasoned pros who played so well off the other one.
Locally, the show was always on at 6:30 p.m. (Los Angeles time). After that, "60 Minutes" began at 7:00 p.m. It was a combination that worked well for many years. Certainly miss those two gentlemen very much. Countless hours of enlightened information and entertainment. "60 Minutes, of course, continues on.
I hear you, man. There was nothing like growing up in Chicago and being a movie geek as a kid, waiting for their show every week. Watching the old episodes now, it's not only nostalgic and comforting watching them again - but it's ASTONISHING to continually remind oneself of the stunning quality of films that were coming out every single year in the 70's and 80's. I mean, in 1980, which they call a "bad year for movies", here - we had "The Shining", "Superman 2", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Mad Max" (U.S. release), "Raging Bull", "Airplane!", "The Blues Brothers", "Dressed to Kill", "Stir Crazy", "Altered States", "Coal Miner's Daughter", "Private Benjamin", "Atlantic City", "Caddyshack", "The Changeling", "Cruising", "The Elephant Man", "Fame", "The Fog", "Flash Gordon", "Friday the 13th", "Inside Moves", "The Long Riders", "My Bodyguard", "Nine to Five", "The Ninth Configuration", "Ordinary People", "Permanent Vacation", "Popeye", "The Private Eyes", "Stardust Memories", "The Stunt Man", "Where the Buffalo Roam", etc. It's insane.
@redadamearth Wow! I am blown away by this list. And I always say I hated the 80's. The music scene was actually not as bad as I thought as well.
Ffolkes was a bomb, but it played forever and a day on HBO in the '80s. So did The Final Countdown. My sister and her then-fiance went to see that Village People movie in a theater when it was originally released, and including them there were only 7 people in the theater.
Ffolkes was a good film. It had a few different title names. Something to do with whom owned the rights to the film. Roger Moore with funny in the film.
Of course it played on HBO...they had to make bzvk most of the money they lost. That's why so many bad films ended up.there, HBO wanted a 'captive' audience, that wouldn't mind tuning in to a bomb.retrieved
I saw Ffolkes by accident a few months ago. Pretty bad film. Moore was playing Bond without being called Bond.
Luckily all I remember about Can't Stop the Music is Valerie Perrine in the hot tub.
@@Paul-vf2wl Very wise man. Just focus on the good things and ignore the rest of that steaming turd of a movie.
The Final Countdown is a great cult classic type movie. Sure it's rough around the edges, but time-travel concept of the movie is interesting and Sheen and Douglas do a decent job with their characters.
Right? It's an awesome film of its time. Really impressive concept. Yeah, it's a commercial for the US Navy, but so was Top Gun! Just rewatched it again yesterday.
I was impressed enough by The Final Countdown to buy it in deluxe editions on DVD and 4K Blu ray. Never got around to getting the Blu ray version but the DVD had extras that were not ported to the later releases. The 4K Blu ray deluxe also has the CD soundtrack (sadly out of print now) which has that wonderful main theme music on it.
The great thing about the DVD (and what was ported from that to the later home video releases) was that they interviewed the VF-84 Jolly Rogers aircrew who did the stunt flying for the movie. One of these aviators is unfortunately deceased now but he was the guy who did the dive in the F-14 during the dogfight with the Zeros. Word is they nearly had a TF30 (the powerplant of the F-14A) compressor stall in the pullout from that which would have been a MAJOR disaster for that fighter jet! He was an excellent fighter pilot nonetheless.
Given the fact that Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982) debuted 2 years after The Final Countdown (1980), I've always wondered if The Final Countdown influenced the look of the VF-1S Valkyrie Skull One in the anime TV series. I don't know if they showed The Final Countdown in Japan during this timeframe because World War II is still a touchy subject in Japan. Skull One definitely copied the paint scheme from the VF-84 Jolly Rogers F-14 Tomcats.
@@AvengerII OK you intrigued me about buying that DVD lol
In my book, this film is much better than Kirk Douglas's previous venture into sci-fi, "Saturn 3".
Maybe I'm a little biased because I love movies and TV shows that involve time travel, but I enjoyed "The Final Countdown." Good cast too, big Martin Sheen fan especially. I'm glad Siskel and Ebert didn't put 1980's other big time travel film, "Somewhere in Time" which is a fave of mine, on their list.
2:19 When Time Ran Out
5:12 The Mountain Men
8:03 The Blue Lagoon
10:24 Ffolkes
13:25 Can't Stop the Music
15:46 Windows
18:23 Caligula
21:08 The Final Countdown
24:11 I Spit On Your Grave
Thank you very much.
Thanks buddy
Thank
Of all those movies, I only saw Ffolkes and for me it was a good suspenseful movie.
Thank you 😊
16:40 you’d think by the 20th time the door slammed on his hand he’d move it out of the way 😂
lol I hope that stunt guy got extra pay for that.
I thought that scene was hilarious! 😂
As a 12 year old in 1980, Blue Lagoon was NOT a bad movie! 😂😂😂
It wasn't a bad movie it was a BORING movie.
I was about 11 or 12 when I first saw blue lagoon and I was totally freaked out because I thought they were brother and sister lol
Just an illegal one now disowned by Brooke Shields. Underage nude scenes of sex and pure exploitation marketed as wholesome family sex. Unrealistic silly plot, and just an excuse to film nude teenagers. Under US Federal law it was then and still is (in its original not cut form) considered unlawful. Neither actor was 18 or over when filming was done.
@@mikebeesley5458 I think my humor may have been missed here. When I was in 6th grade it was literally all everyone in class could talk about. I wasn’t allowed to see it, but judging by the kids who did, it sounded like an Oscar winner.
@@ronswansonsdog2833 got ya
My mom and I watched these every Saturday evening on PBS. Great chemistry. RIP siskel and ebert.
Eh... entertaining yes but I never agreed with any of there reviews of movies. In fact any movie they said was bad I would purposely go out and find to see it because there movies opinions werent worth a squat!
@@nonyabiz9487 your agreement is not needed for a professional critic to proffer his opinion.
They knew a great deal academically about films, they were trained journalists and published authors. They had what’s called clout. I don’t recall seeing your tv show on PBS?
@@katethegreat2222 LOL professional critics give me a break... theres tons of those too at the drunks bar down the road
@@nonyabiz9487 you reveal your ignorance by your comments. And arrogance.
My mom loved her some "Sisk & Ebe" & so every Sunday night at 6:30 ,she'd have a glass of wine ,turn on the TV & we'd join her on the sofa & watch them go at it: Guys ,it's just a MOVIE! 😅
"'The Blue Lagoon' grossed a ton of money at the box office which goes to prove that twenty milllion people CAN be wrong."
Wonderful.
Nice use of Linda Ronstadt's music, too
Paul Newman used the money from When Time Ran Out to start his Newman's Own business. And Lloyd Kaufman, who later founded Troma Entertainment, produced The Final Countdown but had so much of a bad experience he vowed to work as little as possible on Hollywood studio movies.
Wasn't Lloyd in the film too, in a small role?
@@leec7519 Yes, he has a small role as a Naval officer with Kirk Douglas.
The irony is, The Final Countdown went on to become a cult classic.
Really? I didn't know that. 😯
Thanks for the info.
Final Countdown was OK. They used a real carrier and real sailors doing real stuff. I'd watch Martin Sheen in anything.
He was very good in The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane.
Final Countdown is a cult classic today
I actually tried to watch “Caligula”. When Caligula shoved his arm halfway up a man’s ass, that’s when I knew it wasn’t the movie for me!
Here’s the scene if you haven’t seen it:
😌👊🏻😫
@@jcollins1305, I DID see it! How could describe it if I haven’t?
Man looking back, I still can't believe a movie theater in Times Square let me & my friends in to see Caligula -
We were in Junior High School!!!
Truly different times in NYC back then.
"I Spit on Your Grave" is a 1978 film ... Roger saw it on re-release
No, it was FILMED in 1978 and RELEASED in 80 is what the deal was. Back in THOSE days movies - especially more underground or independently made non-Hollywood ones, like THIS one was - would often get distributed some time after they were made (sometimes even several years afterward). it was quite common.
@@ianfindly3257 It played at Cannes in May 1978 and was released in the U.S. in September 1978. "Day of the Woman" was the original title. It was re-released as "I Spit on Your Grave" in 1980.
@@ianfindly3257 oooh got your booty kicked
@@ianfindly3257 It was released in 1978.
It's wild how they unintentional gave I Spit on your Grave a huge cult following. Almost everyone I knew during the 1980's saw this movie. It was just as popular as Faces of Death in most teenage households as the movie you rent when your parents aren't home but all your friends are.
As of 2023, "I Spit on Your Grave" is readily available online through streaming services, DVDs and bittorrent sites. There's no means to kill off this movie if you wanted to.
I question the appeal such a movie has with people. Everything from incels to the curious are watching the movie. Back when it was first released, people didn't have as many viewing choices as they do today.
I can only imagine how many young boys and girls have watched those rape scenes without any sense of understanding or context. But relative to what kids have access to these days, it's a wonder they aren't all psychologically damaged in some way.
@@n.miller907 what made matters worse is that S&E would mention this movie all the time for many years. I even think they made a 90 minute documentary on why this movie is bad, haha.
@@AngelJohnson-oq8mq Bad publicity is every bit as good as good publicity. The makers of this movie knew the critics would pan it even before the film started rolling.
I've seen worse movies than this one by far though. Just when you think you're scraping the bottom of the barrel another crap movie comes along. And there is different kinds of bad movies too.
Three sequels. Enough said.
Such a gross horror movie, it makes Death Ship look like Forrest Gump. 🤮
Caligula is a fantastic film that gained a bad reputation due to its producer Bob Guccione and director Tinto Brass inserted pornographic scenes, though they fit the story perfectly. Great acting, cheap sets but charming in a theatrical way. Highly recommended.
I love that movie.
It's a unique film
We need a show like this today.
But how can anybody be as witty as Siskel & Ebert? 😕
They don't make nearly as many films as they used to, and besides, how do you review the 56th spiderman vs. captain America reboot?
I miss these guys. Rest in Peace Siskel and Ebert.
The comment about Airplane! ruining the genre (thank God!) is pretty accurate.
As a youth Siskel and Ebert sparked my love of film.
"...and this movie is hardcore all right, but it's not artistically respectable and didn't make millions." --says the man who wrote "Beyond the Valley of The Dolls.
Exactly. Fox treated that movie as a pariah for two decades until they released it on video after Rupert Murdoch about the studio. Not only that, if he were alive today and wrote that exact same screenplay, he would be on the receiving end of cancel culture.
Then again, Rex Reed was in *Myra Breckinridge* the same year for the same studio.
How delightful to see Spot the Wonderdog again! I hope he had a good life.
He still is watching
I really wish you could post these without the TV effect. It'd make it easier to watch
Something that could not be mentioned in this episode was how Casablanca Records was basically destroyed by Can't Stop the Music, because the label was still a going concern (if barely) when this show was taped. Here was a label that had as artists a collection of one-hit wonders (if they were lucky enough to have a hit at all) until KISS and Donna Summer both hit big in 1975. They decided to make a movie starring The Village People, but had no idea whether they would be popular once the movie was released. The release of the movie coincided with the end of the disco era, and the people that invested in it took quite a sizable bath when the shit hit the fan. By the end of 1982 Casablanca had for all intents and purposes ceased to exist. In the end KISS signed with Mercury/Polygram, and Donna Summer went over to Atlantic.
Jenner is also in this, when he/she was Bruce.
Donna signed with Geffen after Casablanca - and didn't sign with Atlantic until the late 80s...
Did they actually release the movie? Wikipedia says the movie was produced by EMI Films and no association to Casablanca is mentioned. I think Casablanca's involvement was the release of the soundtrack, which went platinum in Australia, but peaked at #47 here in the US. You left Parliament/Funkadelic off the list of prominent Casablanca artists, and it's worth mentioning they had tremendous success with the Flashdance soundtrack (20M overall - 6M in the US alone) in 1983. I think Casablanca's undoing was mismanagement and not keeping up with shifting tastes in pop music related to their artist roster. Summer leaving the label for Geffen didn't help either.
@@SweptAway529 Can't Stop the Music was released in theaters but bombed hard. I'm sure it was yanked very quickly from release and BURIED in a film vault for decades. I've never seen or heard of that film until that least 5-7 years. I think it was mentioned on Gilbert Gottfriend's Amazing Colossal Podcast. That's where I probably heard about it.
Shout Factory licensed the movie a few years ago and it's been out on Blu ray for at least 2 years now. I doubt the Blu ray sales have been great! 😂 Out of everything they could have licensed, why did they release a Village People movie?!? I'm looking forward to buying Brain Candy (the KITH motion picture) a lot more!
@@AvengerII I was around for its original release and recall it was a dud. Had they timed the movie's release somewhere between YMCA and In The Navy, they might have had a modest hit on their hands. like Sgt. Peppers . Sometimes it's all in the timing and not the subject matter. Musicals were fading away coming into the 80s.
I am shocked that they could show this much nudity on regular TV like when they showed the scene on "I Spit on Your Grave".
This was on PBS and prior to the Janet Jackson costume mishap at the Super Bowl. Prior to that, non gratuitous nudity was a feature of some PBS offerings, particularly content purchased from the BBC. Post-Jackson, PBS obscures naked body parts. The FCC has everyone scared.
Probably because it was on PBS
@@TheRedScareIsAlive Exactly. Public Television has had a habit of getting away with a little more than what is permissable on major networks.
Yes, you can criticize “The Blue Lagoon” and “The Final Countdown” as ridiculous illogical fluff but at the same time I can understand how these two films could end up on someones guilty pleasure film list.
That's how I feel about Caligula. I love that movie.
@@Revelian1982 I wish I could comment, but I have never seen it. I only know a little of the history of the film.
I actually liked The Final Countdown - not nearly as bad as depicted here IMHO. It was a fun movie
Great soundtrack too.
It was bland
Agreed. Harmless fun-like a big-budget Twilight Zone episode.
I was a kid when it came out. Good movie. 😎
Sure it had its rough patches, but at least it was more credible than The Philadelphia Experiment. 😅
“Airplane” did put an end to disaster movies; however, it heralded the beginning of (increasing awful) satires.
WHAT!!! No Xanadu talking about missing the mark. Lol
A local independently owned television station always play the Blue Lagoon in the 80s. After watching this video, I wish Charlton Heston would have played a downed aviator living on the island for his entire life and he chases after the kids- “GET THE HELL OFF MY ISLAND YOU DAMN KIDS!”
What do critics know? I Spit on Your Grave, Caligula and even The Blue Lagoon are considered great cult movies.
lol, do you know what a cult movie is. It means the movie has a small but devoted following. It doesn't mean the movie is any good.
@@edbears5725 lol...For any movie, what review is most important ? Hint, yours! Many examples of movies that where originally panned by professional "critics" then decades later considered in a positive light by contemporary critics. BTW, professional "critics" often change their minds when it comes to music too as time passes.
@@jeffneptune2922a lot of really bad films become "cult" movies, but they still suck.
Each of the three you mention, I've seen two, and I don't care who's watching them now, they just flat sucked, and always will suck.
The Final Countdown is not a terrible movie and shouldn't be on this list. I am surprised reading Ebert's reviews of Friday the 13th that it didn't make the list.
You know what's interesting? Roger Ebert's print review for The Final Countdown gives it 2 stars out of 4. That doesn't even come close to "worst of" status in any year ever, not least 1980 because that was not a good year at the movies (several movies that S&E gave ZERO stars to did not make the Worst Of list). I think they included it here more as an example of a genre misfire--too much FX and a lame story--than because it was really THAT bad. The movie that they spotlighted as horrible in every way was I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, which did get Zero stars from both critics.
Wow William Holden did not age well. Too much booze.
Man I loved The Final Countdown as a kid.
I usually agree with Roger Ebert but on this one, he just plain missed. Siskel is one of those high-brow guys that wants to fit in with the wine-and-cheese crowd, so him screwing this up is expected.
By the time "Can't Stop the Music" was released in the Summer of 1980, disco was dead.
Any one else watch the intro and miss the hell out of the old style ticket stubs?
It was the process and the atmosphere of the cinema that entranced me as a child.
Couldn’t have been more right about the warning about the anti-independent woman theme…today it’s mainstream, and we even ended up with president Trump, Donald J
God help us!
The Final Countdown seems like a movie where the creators knew they had a great concept and assumed that the concept alone would be enough to carry the film (that, and being a commercial for the navy). There were so many places they could have gone with that premise, but my recollection is that they stand around wondering what happened, discuss the philosophical implications for a bit, and then return to the future before anything can be changed (without having to do anything). I know that is somewhat reductive, but it definitely fell far short of its potential, and could probably benefit from a remake. I don't recall thinking, "This must have been one of the worst movies of 1980" while I was watching it though, .
In college we watched Caligula. I woke up the next day ashamed.
I saw it in my mid-teens. Certain scenes made me feel like I needed to take a shower.
24:30 - No-Such-Thing-As-Bad-Publicity Dept: thanx to this public denouncement and moral outrage "I Spit On Your Grave" became an instant horror classic!
I guess I have bad taste but I thoroughly enjoyed Ffolkes (aka North Sea Hijack) and The Final Countdown. Roger Moore is on record saying that Ffolkes was his favorite role.
Miss these guys. Down to earth yet sophisticated takes. They really knew the business too and didn’t hesitate calling it out. Everything is so dumbed down now. Their analysis was well rounded and smart. RIP.
Now I Spit on Your Grave is a franchise!
We let this happen.
THAT pertains to the REMAKE - not THIS original 1980 film.
They were so right about this film. I had the EXACT same reaction watching the remake with my GF. I was repulsed.
Well, unless I'm wrong, one of the movies in the franchise IS a direct follow-up to the original 1980 film.
@@jjstraka1982 Oddly, Ebert gave an ecstatic 4 star review to Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left eight years earlier, which was almost the exact same movie. He didn't express any of the same moral outrage over that and it was even worse- not only are two girls repeatedly tortured and raped but they're eventually killed, so they don't even get to even the score (one of the girls' parents do though). It was completely pointless exploitation trash but he claimed it was well made and scary so the premise didn't negate that. I'll never understand that conclusion.
The only reason people went to see The Blue Lagoon was just for Brooke Shields and not for Christopher Atkins. And then there was a rip off called Paradise starring Phoebe Cates and Willie Aames. You got the brunette female from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the other guy from Zapped in a bomb of a movie together. And worth mentioning the blue Lagoon would get a sequel called Return to blue Lagoon with Brian Krause and Milla Jovovich. Even with a PG-13 rating the movie still bombed. Luckily for her, it did not derail her career.
Tell that to my ex-boyfriend who called Christopher Atkins his first crush.
I saw Caligula in college. I’ll never see it again. Plus there is the uncensored uncut version that’s even worse with actual pornography thrown in.
Caligula blew my mind it was so bad but i couldn't pull my eyes away😯😯😱👀👀👀🙈🙊
By today's standards "Caligula" would be considered high art.
No doubt.
@@scograham It's OK Scotty. Find an adult to teach you about sarcasm, hyperbole and maybe even a little something people call....opinions.
it makes anyone watching, so uncomfortable that you feel as though you are living each scene. Definitely not a movie you forget about.
Parts of it would. But parts of it would just be considered second-rate porn. There's a big lesbian scene in the middle that was added in by Guccione. It's confusing to watch because it has nothing to do with the rest of the movie save that the characters start in Roman garb before it comes off, and by today's standards, it's not even good lesbian porn.
Then there's the infamous barge scene, which was just straight porn in what was probably the most expensive set ever made for a porn scene, complete with a performance by some guy who was probably the most well-hung porn star in Europe.
Then there was the scene that wasn't inserted, one where McDowell as Caligula crashes a wedding and rapes both the bride AND the groom. Considering what the scene was, it wasn't done too badly, but how could you ever do a scene like that well?
You think ???
I loved the Final Countdown as a kid. That was a cool concept to me back when I was young. I saw it at the local Drive In!! I remember years later in the early 90's going to rent I Spit On Your Grave AND GOT CARDED!!! I think I was able to drink yet they questioned my age to watch that movie!! It was a "gross out" revenge film that had a huge reputation. It was a disturbing film....but it has a cult following. Oh it wasn't good, far from it. But ...yeah I would SKIP. I never heard of Can't Stop The Music among a few others on here.....thankfully.
The Final Countdown was bad ass! Ffolkes was a decent film as well. Sometimes I think Siskel And Ebert were on drugs!
Roger Ebert hit the snack bar a bit Too often.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@davidwesley2525 And possibly some strong narcotics and booze to come to the conclusion that the Final Countdown sucked.
After Gene died, I think Roger admitted to being an alcoholic.
The Final Countdown is one of my favorite movies.
I have to take exception to some of their selections. Ffolkes doesn't deserve to be here. Roger Moore's performance was one of his best, playing an amusingly outré character. And The Final Countdown was entertaining, though it danced around the really provocative question: Do they stop the Pearl Harbor attack, which would delay America's entry into the war and risk giving Hitler the upper hand? (Of course, this might have been too close to the theme of the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever")
As for the others...
I Spit on Your Grave -- as I understand it, Ebert considered this the worst film he had ever seen, which makes his positive review of Last House on the Left genuinely baffling. I thought ISoYG was hard to watch -- but I think that's the point. Do we want a movie about rape to be EASY to watch??
Caligula -- yeah, as far as moviemaking goes, it's pretty much a train wreck. It's also not to be missed. Why? Because it just has this suicidal brilliance to it, and the people involved had real audacity. Very few would have even made the attempt, and none would have done it on the scale (and with the budget) that Guccione, et. al. did. I give it props for that alone.
Can't Stop the Music -- what can I say? There was a time (when I was in 5th grade) that us guys thought the Village People represented the pinnacle of masculinity. Then years later, we saw how camp they were, and were surprised that an Olympic decathlete, a real "man's man", would be in such a movie.
And... well... you know the rest.
Do we want a film about rape? Some of us don’t.
Hey, I was 8 when I saw The Final Countdown and I can assure you that movie was AWESOME.
How do you explain Siskel mistakenly describing ffolkes as set in WW2, with Nazis as the bad guys? And Ebert not correcting him? Makes me wonder if the two actually watched every one of the movies they "reviewed." Did they use assistants for the films they didn't want to see?
The Final Countdown probably is a terrible movie. But I saw it with my dad when it first came out when I was 12. He was in the Navy and had worked on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific (not the Nimitz). We enjoyed it. I think I’ll leave it there in my memory, though, and not revisit!
I saw some truly awful movies with my dad, but those memories are still golden. I don't take offense to smart critics point of view on movies I just stare at and say, pretty good, junk😂
I kind of was angery the final battle didnt take place the destruction of the Japanese fleet so anti climatic.
I saw The Final Countdown for the first time within the last couple of years and thought it was OK, so I was surprised to see it on a "worst" list. I didn't know anything about the movie going into it or that it involved time travel. You as the viewer do figure out that they've gone back in time, but the characters didn't take too long to figure it out. The characters don't know they live in a world where time travel exists, so they don't all immediately jump right to the idea that they've gone back in time. Eventually they do realize what has happened and discuss whether or not they should intervene in the attack on Pearl Harbor. They actually DO try to warn people about the attack, but nobody will believe them because they sound crazy.
I was 10 when I saw it at the theater and it's a big reason why I joined the Navy at 18. When I had a chance to get an assignment to an aircraft carrier, of course I did!
@@ronmailloux8655
That was a letdown. The whole freakin' movie building up to it then, "Just kidding, time-warp is back, you get nothing!"
I haven’t seen this since it aired! Now most of these are on Blu-ray and enjoyed!
Even Can't Stop The Music? 🤮
It’s interesting how the late Roger Ebert would call Caligula trashy, But he originally wrote screen plays for Russ Meyer films which were trashy such as beyond the valley of the dolls and beyond the valley of the supervixens. And for those who are not familiar with Russ Meyer movies, they are the ones where he frequently casted big breasted women usually in the starring roles while the men are complete psychotic creeps who are often obsessed with the female leads with the big breasts. They would be rated X or NC-17 but with Roger Ebert’s writing credits.
Russ Meyer movies were supposed to be stupid, Caligula was just awful. 🤪🤕
@@GarandLuvr But in beyond the valley of the dolls, John Lazar played a trans character who goes on a homicidal rampage, Decapitates a man he has tied up, puts a 1911 pistol in a woman’s mouth and pull the trigger kills her. Then shoots her lover in the face point blank. That’s Roger Ebert’s screenwriting. If that’s not trashy, then Caligula should not be considered trashy. He was still a hypocrite. And in Beyond the valley of the Supervixens, the mere mention of sodomy is referred and depicted.
Your point is well taken, and I agree that trash is trash but if it's meant to be trash instead of coming out as just plain awful, I think that a distinction (small as it may be) can be made. 🆗
I miss these guys I watched them all the time
Same here.
Well obviously these guys forgot about the target audience, the people who read Harlequin Romance novels, it is the escape thing my mother and sister loved so it was not made for two older men who sit in a dark room filled with all their farts.
The way to treat Caligula is to show his descent into madness and cruelty as his personal destruction while he ruins others. One must only suggest his sexual perversions because nobody needs see everything.
The harsh reality about porn is that it gets very boring very fast. The only porn that I can imagine being at all entertaining is for those involved to develop a rapport between the lovers.
So true because in the end it's just another movie scripted and poorly acted or not still a movie.
@@toshiojohnston3732 Yes. Restraint is an essential component of good taste. I contrast A Clockwork Orange, which has a sociopath as the star character, and he does awful things -- but he does not repeat them, and his callow violence culminates in a murder. That is the protagonist's last crime and from there the story takes a huge twist.
Stanley Kubrick (director of A Clockwork Orange) is obviously not available for a re-make, but he knew when to lead the bad character to a culmination of his evil and to not make the bad behavior (the "ultra-violence") attractive. A Clockwork Orange is not my idea of good taste, but even the set design is in bad taste for good reason in establishing the character of someone too dangerous to be a child but too mindless to be fully adult. OK, Alex De Large loves Beethoven, but apparently for all the wrong reasons.
On Can't Stop The Music, a major problem is that disco was dead by 1980.
"Funkytown" spent 4 weeks at #1 the month of June 1980. "Can't Stop the Music" was released in late June. Disco wasn't actually dead, but it was definitely on its way out. At least the movie is a fun time capsule.
And a year later, Studio 54 went out of business.
In the United States, maybe, but in other countries, it seemed to be a different story.
Because Steve Rubell didn’t pay his taxes.
@@richarddixon7855funkytown wasn't disco, it was funk.
I loved Siskel and Ebert! Theyre the only movie critics I trusted.
Surprised "The Final Countdown" made this 'worst of 1980' show. If it being "a war movie without a war" was the problem, the film was a lot more than just that. Very enjoyable movie IMO with a decent cast.
Caligula.
I've seen every frame of that over the top, utterly disgusting filth.
Twice!
YOU might also enjoy Salo, The 120 Days of Sodom, Pink Flamingos, Andy Warhol's Bad, Blood Sucking Freaks, The Human Centipede and A Serbian Film.
"Blah blah blah Yackity yack!" . . I only know that THIS ruclips.net/video/a3zWYzARwq0/видео.html has to be among the most awesome scenes in motion picture history!
Disgusting film! I watch it every week so I can remind myself of what a virtuous up standing person I am because of my moral condemnation of it.
@@jasonkinzie8835 Well, it's supposed to be about a depraved cand psychotic character after all. I think everything in that flick, is just par for the course.
@@ianfindly3257 Everyone who watches this film, except me, should be ashamed of themselves. I'm allowed to watch it, and even enjoy it a bit, because I go to the internet and express my moral outrage about it. And yes I own a mirror. What does that have to do with it?
The one film with nudity that was recommended even by christian organizations as "good for the entire family" was Nicholas Roeg's "Walkabout". It's just one scene of skinny dipping at an Australian oasis, but it's a full-frontal one. This was in 1971.
Jenny Agutter couldn't keep her clothes on in movies.
@@edmund184 True.
@@edmund184 Thank God! ❤️🤣
And I say to these people: It's just a dick. Get over it!
@@edmund184 I remember she was also in Logan's Run and American Werewolf In London.
As far as the Final Countdown goes, the problem with the carrier, not a battleship, communicating with ANYONE in 1941 was that no one would believe them and as well as at least some of the head honchos on board didn't want to pollute the 1941 timeline with news of the future. That was well fleshed out in the script. The real problem was that the movie seemed like a documentary of the actual USN Carrier Nimitz it was shot on.
Just curious... Why would the Nimitz be sending out planes to get aerial shots of Pearl Harbor anyway???
1941 or 1980, they knew what pearl looked like.
I didn’t mind the Mountain Men. Not the greatest western but served its purpose & entertained.
Did William Holden owe a gambling debt to a mobster toward the end of his life?
I remember Ebert saying that "I spit on your grave" he ranked as his all time worst movie. I also think they'd be in the minority with Final Countdown. It wasn't bad at all and had a nice twist at the end. Doesn't belong on this list.
0:52 - "Major Garbage Movies" is hilarious
And Spot, too! 🙂
_The Final Countdown_ is legitimately - meaning actually - one of the coolest ideas I've ever heard for an action / adventure movie.
a single modern carrier finds itself at sea outside Pearl Harbor, the day before the Japanese attacked. how many cool, interesting, thrilling scenes could come from that?
like, how do you HAIL a naval base as an un-registered, unknown, UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) during a world war? American or not, that commander's going to have one HELL of a time trying to explain their situation.
and then there's just the fact that a single modern carrier (even of '70s vintage) up against those zeroes would change things almost unimaginably for the defending force, which brings up the next one ...
the modern carrier KNOWS what's destined to happen at Pearl Harbor the next day, but nobody else on the American side does, so how do they convince them? even better, how do the Japanese react if they spot this bizarre ship floating around? do they still invade the same? do they still invade at all???
and then, of course, you have a big ol' dust up with Zeroes, Mustangs and fighter jets flying around, and in the end everyone's wiser about how terrible war is and how precious perspective can be, particularly blessed with HISTORICAL HINDSIGHT.
what a genius, genius idea for a movie. any screenwriters down there in the comments? anyone care to take a crack at it? I'd love to see that done well. what a great idea.
EDIT: one more thing (after watching the actual footage from the apparently lousy movie MADE out of that brilliant idea) -- make things ACCURATE. don't do what the movie did and have everyone acting all rash and emotional, have the officers act like officers, from both their respective times. how have things changed in the Navy in 40 years? how have they stayed the same? of course the future commander's going to want seniority in the situation, but does he have a claim to it? what if this movie were remade and the carrier commander was FEMALE? would _any_ military offices even respond to a female military commander? in the '40s? no way, right? SO MANY COOL PLACES TO GO IN THIS CONCEPT. SOMEONE REMAKE IT.
My ship and the Nimitz were involved in the failed hostage rescue attempt , a guy transferred over to our ship from the nimitz, we were redshirts, ordinance men, theres a glimpse of him pushing a sidewinder.
I think it's a pretty good movie as filmed, but, yeah, so much potential if you don't have to have an "everything is as it was" ending.
For one thing, the Nimitz is powered by a nuclear reactor, and at that time almost certainly had nuclear weapons on board.
@@suedenim
I served on a Nimitz-class carrier, we had "special weapons" magazines. When I served in the 80s, we had nukes aboard.
Final Countdown came out when I was 10 years old, it's a big reason that I joined the Navy at 18. I love the movie, maybe that's me reminiscing. Really, the F-14 and real footage of carrier operations is the star, I don't care anything about the actors. I don't know why it's in this worst-of compilation but it's all opinion, whatever....
This movie makes about as much sense as it would giving atom bombs to cavemen.
@23:36 Actually, the radio operator on the ship said they tried contacting (among others) the White House.
Wow. Ffolkes was certainly not set in World War II, and they were not Nazis in the film. In the UK, it was called North Sea Hijack, which more aptly describes what the film was about. It had some good performances, was a little off-kilter for an action film, and made for a fun Sunday afternoon movie watch.
why the two Ffs?
@@sahej6939 Because that's how his name is spelled.
Worth remembering than Siskel's major contribution to the film industry was WRITING " Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" for soft porn director Russ Meyers. Around the same time as this show was made these two knuckleheads were praising utter trash like "Reds"; "Cruising"; "Heaven's Gate"; ""Revolution" (a Revolutionary War flick starring, unbelievably, Al Pacino); anything with Warren Beatty; Robert Altman films that are only mildly bearable if you're totally stoned on weed and drink; and lots of utterly forgotten trash that isn't even available on any outlet. As far as I'm concerned they (especially Roger Ebert) are personally responsible for the rapidly declining film industry of today.
Roger Ebert wrote "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". In addition Siskel didn't like "Reds" and both Siskel and Ebert hated "Cruising," "Heavens Gate"(Ebert made it the worst movie of 1981) and "Revolution" (One of the worst of 1986)
i was in high school when all of these films came out, and I still remember the tv ads for them. I didn't go see any of them, thankfully. I did go see Airplane! which was unbelievably funny, and I couldn't believe it when a pair of boobs came bouncing into the scene for two seconds, in a PG film. It was also embarrassing seeing that happen while seated next to my mother.
Irwin Allen was the creator of Lost in Space, Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. He let them all down, and they all got canceled within months of each other. Allen was a caricature of a producer; from his extreme combover, to his extremely arrogant personality, he had an opinion of himself that was much larger than his talent was. Oh, and his writing sucked. (I thought he was the one who wrote the worst Lost in Space episode, called "The Great Vegetable Rebellion", but it was written by a guy named Peter Packer, who Knew it was horrible when he gave the script to Jonathan Harris to read. Don't watch it; it's much worse than you can imagine).
I saw it when i was kid with my mother and sister....we laughed our asses off...mother thought it was a disaster film...
@@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729 that was so corny.they should have been about Vegan eaters.
Dang!
@@Wellch , Now That would have been funny! "He's a vegan! Eat him!!"
I love all of Irwin Allen's Productions including all of his Disaster Films. Irwin Allen did Phenomenol Work on Television with his Science Fiction Genre Shows-Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea, Lost In Space, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants-All Hits. They paved the way for later Sci-Fi Shows like Star Trek. And his Disaster Flicks The Towering Inferno and the Poseidon Adventure were Huge Boxoffice Hits. Certainly Allen Ruffled a few feathers and had a few Contentious Relationships in his Career, But that's a Normal Part of the Business. And that Infamous episode of Lost In Space you Described was actually Written by someone named Peter Packer.