''The Hollywood Hall of Shame'' is a 1984
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this phys ...
by brothers Harry and
Michael Medved
Michael Saul Medved (born October 3, 1948) is an American radio show host, author, political commentator, and film critic. His talk show, ''The Michael Medved Show'', is syndicated from his home station KTTH in Seattle. It is syndicated via Gene ...
. The authors had previously written or been involved in the creation of similar books exploring "bad movies" or "cinematic mistakes": ''
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
'', and ''
The Golden Turkey Awards
''The Golden Turkey Awards'' is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry.
About
The book awards "Golden Turkey Awards" to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and actors judged to have created a ...
''.
While those earlier books listed films judged by the authors as bad and ridiculous and featured many film oddities, exploitation films and low-budget obscurities, ''The Hollywood Hall of Shame'' examines
expensive financial disasters; big budget mainstream films that failed miserably at the box office, or had other disastrous consequences.
The main section of ''The Hollywood Hall of Shame'' explores in detail a small selection of celebrated failures, describing the financial and production problems that led to the big budget and in many cases cost overruns, while contemplating why the film failed to gain public acceptance. A basement compendium aims to give a comprehensive overview of other big money losers not examined in the main section of the book.
Open Library
/ref>
List of main contents
*Silent But Deadly
**''Intolerance
Intolerance may refer to:
* Hypersensitivity or intolerance, undesirable reactions produced by the immune system
* ''Intolerance'' (film), a 1916 film by D. W. Griffith
* ''Intolerance'' (album), the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly o ...
'' (1916)
**''Quo Vadis?
''Quō vādis?'' (, ) is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you marching?". It is also commonly translated as "Where are you going?" or, poetically, "Whither goest thou?"
The phrase originates from the Christian tradition regarding Saint Pet ...
'' (1924)
**''Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...
'' (1928)
*The Titans and Their Toys
**''Cain and Mabel
''Cain and Mabel'' is a 1936 romantic comedy film designed as a vehicle for Marion Davies in which she co-stars with Clark Gable. The story had been filmed before, in 1924, by William Randolph Hearst's production company, Cosmopolitan, as a sile ...
'' (1936)
**''Underwater!
''Underwater!'' is a 1955 adventure film directed by John Sturges and starring Jane Russell and Richard Egan.
Plot synopsis
Johnny and his wife Theresa, along with mercenary Dominic Quesada, priest Father Cannon and Gloria, the boat owner, s ...
'' (1955)
**'' The Conqueror'' (1956)
*Fascist Follies
**''Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–183 BC) was a Roman general and statesman, most notable as one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the best military com ...
'' (1937)
**'' Kolberg'' (1945)
*Disastrous Debuts
**'' Hello, Everybody!'' (1933)
**''Sincerely Yours Sincerely Yours may refer to:
Film
* ''Sincerely Yours'' (film), a 1955 American romantic music comedy featuring Liberace
* '' Sincerely Yours...'', a 1985 Soviet comedy
Music
* Sincerely Yours (record label), a Swedish record label
Albums
* ' ...
'' (1955)
*Star-crossed Lovers
**''Hotel Imperial
The Hotel Imperial, also known as The Imperial, is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located on the Vienna Ring Road (''Ringstraße'') at Kärntner Ring 16, in the Innere Stadt district.
Description
The Hotel Imperial's façade ...
'' (1939)
**''Darling Lili
''Darling Lili'' is a 1970 American romantic-musical spy film, written by William Peter Blatty and Blake Edwards, the latter also directing the film. It stars Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, and Jeremy Kemp, with music by Henry Mancini and lyri ...
'' (1970)
*The Elizabeth Taylor Wing
**''Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. ...
'' (1963)
**'' Boom!'' (1968)
**'' The Only Game in Town'' (1970)
*Child Abuse
**''Doctor Dolittle
Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in the ...
'' (1967)
**'' The Blue Bird'' (1976)
*Prophets and Losses
**''The Greatest Story Ever Told
''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens. It is a retelling of the Biblical account about Jesus of Nazareth, from the Nativity through to the Ascension. Along with the ensemble cast ...
'' (1965)
**'' Mohammad: Messenger of God'' (1977)
*Musical Extravaganzas
**'' Paint Your Wagon'' (1969)
**''Can't Stop the Music
''Can't Stop the Music'' is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker. Written by Allan Carr and Bronté Woodard, the film is a pseudo-biography of the 1970s disco group the Village People loosely based on the actual story ...
'' (1980)
*Delusions of Grandeur
**'' Heaven's Gate'' (1980)
**''Inchon
Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...
'' (1982)
The Basement Collection
While the main section of the book examines in detail those films that the authors felt had interesting production histories and circumstances, ''The Basement Collection'' is an objective catalogue covering Hollywood's most expensive failures. The book was published in 1984 and with the hugely inflated film budgets since that time it provides a glimpse of an era when expensive failures were considered notable and unusual.
The Basement Collection includes:
*''Annie
Annie may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress
* Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer
The ...
'' (1982)
*''At Long Last Love
''At Long Last Love'' is a 1975 American jukebox musical comedy film written, produced, and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. It stars Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn, and Duilio Del Prete as two couples who each switch partners durin ...
'' (1975)
*'' The Bible: In the Beginning'' (1966)
*''Big Wednesday
''Big Wednesday'' is a 1978 American coming of age film directed by John Milius. Written by Milius and Dennis Aaberg, it is loosely based on their own experiences at Malibu, California. The picture stars Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt, and Ga ...
'' (1978)
*'' Casino Royale'' (1967)
*'' Circus World'' (1964)
*''Dragonslayer
A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classific ...
'' (1981)
*'' Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977)
*''The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsb ...
'' (1974)
*''Honky Tonk Freeway
''Honky Tonk Freeway'' is a 1981 American-British comedy film directed by John Schlesinger. The film, conceived and co-produced by Don Boyd, was one of the most expensive box office bombs in history, losing its British backers Thorn EMI betwe ...
'' (1981)
*'' Jet Pilot'' (1951–57)
*''The Last Days of Pompeii
''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting ''The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...
'' (1926)
*''Mame
MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserv ...
'' (1974)
*''Man of La Mancha
''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cerva ...
'' (1972)
*''Meteor
A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mic ...
'' (1979)
*''Mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and se ...
'' (1962)
*''1941
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January– August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar E ...
'' (1979)
*''One from the Heart
''One from the Heart'' is a 1982 American musical romantic drama film co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, and Harry Dean Stanton. The story is ...
'' (1982)
*''Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
'' (1981)
*''Raise the Titanic
''Raise the Titanic!'' is a 1976 adventure novel by Clive Cussler, published in the United States by the Viking Press. It tells the story of efforts to bring the remains of the ill-fated ocean liner RMS ''Titanic'' to the surface of the Atlantic ...
'' (1980)
*'' Reds'' (1981)
*''Sorcerer
Sorcerer may refer to:
Magic
* Sorcerer (supernatural), a practitioner of magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources
* Sorcerer (fantasy), a fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sou ...
'' (1977)
*''Star!
The current incarnation of E! is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. Based on the American cable network of the same name, E! is devoted to entertainment programming including news, film, television, celebrities a ...
'' (1968)
*'' The Swarm'' (1978)
*''Tora! Tora! Tora!
''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' ( ja, トラ・トラ・トラ!) is a 1970 epic war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fuk ...
'' (1970)
*''Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
* King George Island ...
'' (1970)
*''When Time Ran Out
''When Time Ran Out...'' is a 1980 American disaster film directed by James Goldstone and starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset and William Holden. The supporting cast features James Franciscus, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Burgess Meredith, ...
'' (1980)
See also
*''The Golden Turkey Awards
''The Golden Turkey Awards'' is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry.
About
The book awards "Golden Turkey Awards" to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and actors judged to have created a ...
''
*''The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
''
* Michael Medved
Michael Saul Medved (born October 3, 1948) is an American radio show host, author, political commentator, and film critic. His talk show, ''The Michael Medved Show'', is syndicated from his home station KTTH in Seattle. It is syndicated via Gene ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollywood Hall of Shame, The
1984 non-fiction books
Books about film
Lists of worsts
Books by Michael Medved
Books of film criticism