hollywood ran out of ideas in the first few years. there will always be shitty movies that aren't creative and there will always be great and innovative movies.
Saw this when it originally aired and it's as great as I remembered. Gene Siskel's line at 6:09 cracked me up then and cracks me up now: "Oh yes, the old groin joke. Boy I'm tired of that." Miss both of these guys.
The closest I've come is Filmspotting on NPR. They get a little to into themsleves, but they will actually have an argument about films sometimes rather than just agreeing.
@@yaywhewclips242 Thing is you need people who can work together and really care about the movies they review. They didn't cry wolf about them and what they talked about was wrong with the industry, like the ratings system.
winter of 88 my school was on lockdown due to a blizzard so back then we would go in the gym and the whole school would watch a movie... the one we got was Leonard 6... we didnt even come close to finishing it, my principal turned it off just after the killer trout scene and called it the biggest piece of crap he ever saw and put on back to the future instead.
Guess the dumbass principal didn't think, "Hey, Back to the Future is a great film. I'll bet most of the students in my school have seen it, but still it's worth watching again." I'm talking about him putting on that classic first.
That's what's entertaining about them. They had to waste their time seeing all this garbage and they wonder why did they have to in the first place? Why were these films given green lights? At least now they no longer watch garbage films in heaven.
It used to be on TV all of the time. I liked it when I was a kid. Towards the end of At the Movies they had the categories: See It, Skip It, Rent It. That's one I'd give a "Rent It" to . . .
10:30 Siskel: "Oh, they're so clever in Hollywood, next thing you know they're gonna make a movie about two guys who trade wallets and decide to change identities." Gene practically gave Hollywood Pictures the idea for Taking Care of Business, the Charles Grodin and Jim Belushi comedy.
I think Gene may have had a couple of stiff drinks to prepare for this episode. He's genuinely angry about these godawful movies, needs to get it off his chest, and I love it. You can disagree with either or both of them about this or that particular film, but Siskel and Ebert were always sincere and they were always on our side. Miss them both.
Have you ever seen when Gene goes off on Roger for giving thumbs up to the dreadful flick Cop and 1/2? The movie began and ended Henry Winkler's career as a film director, it was that bad. It's epic and it's awesome.
Thanks for the observation, after reading this comment I watched the rest on .75 speed and it was even more entertaining, especially the two wallets bit!
@@CaptainSpalding72 I dont think George B was saying Secret Success was a good flick..He was saying it represents the 80's in a nut shell with money being secret of success
And even Travolta's director tells him the same thing in "Stayin' Alive". Sly may not be in the movie, but even only in the director's chair, he has to have that scene where the lead character is down on himself and needs a pep talk from someone that explains to them that in life, if you want it, you gotta take it yourself.
Roger Ebert: "Eddie Murphy's talented is wasted on these awful scripts." Gene Siskel: "In this next one, a man and his son trade brains, so clever. Next thing you know they're gonna make a film about two guys who trade wallets." Roger Ebert: "That's not a bad idea." Eddie Murphy: "Mother****er, ain't you ever seen Trading Places?!"
Also, that was due to those asshole Duke brothers making a one dollar bet. It wasn't what Gene was talking about. However, a few years later there was a film called Taking Care of Business that used that idea, but they didn't see it.
The best indie films from that year were Matewan, Barfly, and Prick up Your Ears. Between '85 and '89, we fell in love with the indie genre. Baghdad Cafe, Sid and Nancy, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, The Bad Lieutenant, Betty Blue, Eddie Murphy's Raw, and My Beautiful are among some of my favorites.
S P not to me. I prefer part iii. It wasn’t boring. It was the first I saw but it’s not my favorite. The original is. There is a reason why they put II on their worst of list
Over the Top is one of the best movies ever made. Everyone was arm wrestling in school when it came out back in the day. Just gotta turn that hat around!
Lol. That movie has a special place in my heart. I guess because i saw it when i was a child. At its core, it's about a father-son relationship and i guess it affected me a lot as a kid with a troubled relationship with my dad.
Over The Top is nowhere near one of the best movies ever. It's cheesy and predictable. Plus it's about arm wrestling, like come on! It's one thing to enjoy it, but one of the best movies ever made? In no universe is that even close to being true.
OMG! Like Father, Like Son! Haha! I haven't seen that movie in 20 years! It used to be one of my childhood favorites. I NEED to go and buy a copy of that one. As well as 'No Holds Barred' and 'Over The Top'!
RU-vid with a rare W! They left these legendary episodes up for all of us to enjoy. But what happens when your man wants to watch some Jake and the Fatman on here? "STOP! THIEF!"
They didn't review the Superman film. As for Jaws the Revenge, they said at the beginning that some of the films they could've mentioned weren't worth a second look. I guess this was one of them.
@@str.77 Jaws the Revenge had Michael Caine, and they utterly (and hilariously) trashed the film when it came out. Ebert gave it zero stars, so it was obviously in the realm of films he might have included among his worst of '87. They just for whatever reason decided not to include it on this list.
@@str.77 Just for the record, I've never seen Jaws: The Revenge. I have seen Superman IV--as a kid, and even at that uncritical age I had some awareness of how awful it was. (I am, though, a fan of the first Jaws and the first two Superman films.)
Totally, I was 7. It’s still in my top 10. I can watch it once a week. And secret of my success is a classic. Territno even put it on his top 5 movies of 1987
This movie is the most bafflingly bad movie I've ever seen in my life. If I was born in 1987 and saw it in theaters, I would have walked out. I caught it on streaming and cut it off midway. Finished it weeks later and I was surprised that it actually got worse. It's personally the worst movie I've ever seen.
It's as wise as a bumper sticker. There's a reason why the Bible is a book, and the people who quote from it really don't understand what it's saying....
It wasn't worth it to discuss. Here are some others they could've put on their worst list: Summer School, Three o"Clock High, Superman 4, Garbage Pail Kids movie, The Lost City of Gold, Disorderlies.
@@petevaldezbc1 Sir Michael Caine made a healthy comeback after a series of unsuccessful flops. Hits like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Muppets Christmas Carol, Little Voice, The Cider House Rules (AA, 2000), Miss Congeniality, The Quiet American (AAN, 2003), Austin Powers 3, Batman Begins, Bewitched, Children of Men among others.
I think about what it takes to get a film made and I'm amazed... someone wrote a script about arm wrestling, it got pitched to somebody who said yes, then he ran it up the flagpole and more people said yes, a budget was committed to it and on it goes...no adult supervisor ever stepped up and said "hey, guys....we're talking about a movie about ARM WRESTLING! WTF is wrong with you people!?"
What helped Stallone get that film made was it was a Cannon release and the guy who ran it (Menahem Golan) was a guy who would green light so much stuff at once because he had no control over himself. Also, he directed Over the Top.
Years ago I tried to watch Ishtar when there was something or a minor critical re-evaluation going on. I tried, I really tried, but I don't think I even made it to the half hour mark. It was painful.
I didn’t think it was as bad as people said back then, but it wasn’t any masterpiece either. It really should just be a forgotten comedy that wasn’t as funny as it thought it was.
Producer-director Herbert Ross and producers Ray Stark, Martin Jurow, executive producers Joseph M. Caracciolo, Mary Kay Powell and associate producer Norman Gay whose notable contributions to help make Focus' The Secret of My Success - 1987's low budget film that still has charm today.
Their _Leonard Part 6_ review is seriously one of the funniest dishings I've ever seen. The only thing that matches it is Mark Twain's _The Literary Offences of James Fenimore Cooper_.
Pryor was suffering from MS, and it was really fucking him up by then. You can see it in his eyes from this movie through Harlem Nights. But a great film he did was Moving, it's insane.
In addition, Mel Brooks' company Brooksfilms who produced lavish comedies that make audiences laugh, cry and think. And the result was "Moving" with Richard Pryor. Released by Warner Bros. in 1988.
I love some of those movies for nostalgic reasons. I was born in 1989 and I know Over the Top since the early 90s, so this one means a lot too me. But even something like Beverly Hills Cop 2 and the Secret of my Success, which I first saw in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
I wouldn't think of calling any of the top ten most grossing movies of 1987 "bombs" or one of the "worst films of the year." Today they advertise to get people into the theater opening weekend. Or a money-making movie might be saved by the overseas market that want to see babes, cars and/or robots. People who saw _Beverly Hills Cop 2_ and _The Secret of My Success_ had a chance to read reviews and hear word-of-mouth to walk away, but they chose not to.
Anyone remember if they reviewed "Flowers in the Attic" that year? I found no print reviews from them either. That usually meant they couldn't find time to review it (which was unlikely due to the film's high profile at the time), or they saw it but hated it so much that they walked out of the theater mid-movie and didn't review it. The movie was widely panned at the time, so the latter was likely. S&E had a policy with the studios that if they walked out on a film, they weren't allowed to review it or talk about it -- sort of like a NDA.
I forgot about that film. It nearly ended Victoria Tennant's career (which honestly was only revived due to her soon-to-be romance with and marriage to Steve Martin, who put her in all of his films in the late-80's - early-90's). It did end Louise Fletcher's film career, and nearly her entire acting career until "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" saved it soon afterwards.
I thought "Flowers in the Attic" was just a TV movie not something that got a theatrical run. I liked the movie and its grim dark tone. I have heard the book was even better. If it was just made for TV S&E would not have reviewed it.
Can't really blame Whoopi, even with the success of The Color Purple it would have been hard for her to get the good top tier roles like Meryl Streep and Kathleen Turner.
Man, I would just LOVE to see these guys reviewing movies from today. Wow. I can only imagine what they would say about the trash like these reboots and these pathetic superhero movies being made today. Some of the worst movies ever made, period.
Ugh... Ishtar. My Dad, who ignored reviews, draggedme to see Ishtar. We left like halfway through the film. We led a mass exodus out of the theatre, all of us wanting our money back. And we got it back. Terrible film. Every so often I meet people who *like* Ishtar and I wonder who hurt them so deeply?
S&E did say that the theme of the show was big stars who bomed big time, in their eyes, in 1987. They must have felt that Jaws The Revenge was already destined to be a bad movie, already flopped big with audiences and critics, and Michael Caine, talented actor he is, was not the big box office name that Michael J. Fox or Whoopi Goldberg were at the time.
@SWill0281 They say it at the top of the show in the review. Helen Brodly was a "trivia question". by that time. Michael Caine's career hadn't reached the pinnacle its at now.
@@orbison Caine actually gave up the opportunity to accept his Oscar for Hannah and Her Sisters because he was filming Jaws 4. I guess he felt that if he had left the set, he couldn't bring himself to come back. So winning an Oscar doesn't make you a big box office name?
10:30 Gene Siskel unknowingly writes the plot of the 1990 Jim Belushi comedy “Taking Care Of Business.” And I bet they didn’t even give him a screenwriting credit. (Note: they didn’t. It’s freakin’ J.J. Abrams. The guy who wrote Regarding Henry.)
Siskel did that a lot, actually, dreamed up joking alternate plots for movies he hated. Hell, half the time his ideas WERE more interesting than the original premise.
They said in the beginning that they were going after the big movies and blockbusters of that year. To quote Roger Ebert @1:12 "Not so much the little bad films, but the big blockbuster bombs." The Garbage Pail Kids Movie only cost 1 million to make and barely made that amount back.
#10 Tough Guys Don't Dance #9 Over The Top #8 Ninja Commandments #7 Howling III #6 Leonard Part 6 #5 Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 #4 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace #3 Teen Wolf 2 #2 The Garbage Pail Kids Movie #1 Jaws: The Revenge
Not having Siskel & Ebert, or any worthy successor since Ebert & Roper (despite many attempts), has been a severe cultural disadvantage in America for the last couple of decades.
Agreed, there really is nobody in the culture anymore with a strong intelligent voice e reviewing movies. There’s the still good writers but they don’t have a big audience, and there are a million podcasts and RU-vid channels that just don’t have the critical or artistic eye to do it well.
@@HkFinn83 BTW, the worst example of this cultural deficit that I personally saw was on Roger's own attempt to provide a successor to S&E (after Gene died, "Ebert & Roper" had run its course, and Roger lost his voice to surgery), when his two young proteges contradicted the absolute lowest review to ever appear on any of the S&E programs: "I Spit on Your Grave." Roger and Gene could not have condemned that "film" for its misogynistic violence any more deeply, both agreeing that it was the worst release of that year. But the two MTV-era reviewers, probably having been desensitized by additional decades of mindlessly portrayed cruelty, felt that it had merit. (They do deserve credit for personal integrity for daring to contradict their boss, even if their conclusion was patently wrong.)
Completely disagree with "Secret of My Success" on this list, although that was a very funny line by Roger. I agree with the rest of their choices. Beverly Hills Cop 2 and 3 were truly awful (although they didn't like the first one either), showing that almost all comedy sequels stink. Never saw "Over the Top", and given the scenes I've seen, and the subject matter, I don't think I'm missing anything. "Burglar" was terrible, and it was during a bad run of flops for Whoopi, ending with "Sister Act" and "Ghost". "Leonard, Part 6" and "Ghost Dad"? Ummm, you make your own opinions about Cosby's career and his off-the-screen problems. And "Ishtar" was voted worst movie by just about all critics.
Saw Secret of My Success in the theatre opening weekend. Audience loved it! Only years-decades later do I discover how wrong I was for enjoying this “gem.” Oh, ignorance is truly bliss!
It’s funny that Jean mentions that over the top could be like rocky 55… In the 2006 Rocky Balboa Stallone gives a very similar speech to his son in that movie, as he gives to his young son in Over The Top
@@patrickshields5251 No essays, but he did do put interviews in there for the first time. Oh, wait, one essay he put in was the whole thing about Angel Heart and the idea for an A rating. Otherwise, they were all interviews.
@@sha11235 It meant that they figuratively swapped wallets, meaning that, as the title tells you, they "trade places." It has been done many times, in various ways, in many movies. Actual wallets don't have to be involved, and they aren't the point of the comment.
Makes you wonder how many great scripts (which we'll never know about) and inspired filmmakers were shooed away by the Hollywood screwheads...just so that they could keep the big movie conveyor belt going.
I don't know what to say, but what I would like to say about watching these movies and seeing which I like the most. For starters, "Beverly Hills Cop 2", "The Secret of My Success", "Like Father Like Son" were doing quite well while "Over the Top", "Burglar", "Critical Condition" were stunning cult favorites and even "Ishtar", "Leonard Part 6" as well as others were not doing better to say the least. Hope you got it, everybody!
