The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
Encyclopedia
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They Got That Way) is a 1978
book by Harry Medved, with Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved
. This book represents choices for the 50 worst sound films ever made, in alphabetical order. The book features a story synopsis for each film, the authors' opinion of its quality, and reprints a selection of contemporary reviews of the films.
The book intentionally excludes silent film
s because the authors consider them to be "a separate and unique art form and that judging them alongside talkies would be like weighing apples together with oranges". In compiling their list, the authors used egregious examples to represent less reputable film genres, such as blaxploitation
films (Trouble Man
). The book limits the foreign films considered to only those distributed in the United States, judging it unfair to evaluate local obscurities denied an international release alongside mainstream Hollywood products, while realizing that it would not only be difficult for the authors to view the films, but unlikely that any readers would ever come across them.
The Medveds later continued this theme of "celebrating" bad cinema with The Golden Turkey Awards
which again showcased bad and obscure films, and The Hollywood Hall of Shame
which examined in some detail several major Hollywood financial disasters, focusing on both the artistic treatments coupled with the technical and organizational ineptitude in the mounting of these films. It has been noted that book marked the beginning of an explosion of worst in cinema prizes nearly resulting in "a state of redundancy almost approaching that of ordinary prizes."
1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
book by Harry Medved, with Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved
Michael Medved
Michael Medved is an American radio host, author, political commentator and film critic. His Seattle, Washington-based nationally syndicated talk show, The Michael Medved Show, airs throughout the U.S...
. This book represents choices for the 50 worst sound films ever made, in alphabetical order. The book features a story synopsis for each film, the authors' opinion of its quality, and reprints a selection of contemporary reviews of the films.
The book intentionally excludes silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s because the authors consider them to be "a separate and unique art form and that judging them alongside talkies would be like weighing apples together with oranges". In compiling their list, the authors used egregious examples to represent less reputable film genres, such as blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
films (Trouble Man
Trouble Man
Trouble Man is a 1972 blaxploitation film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Robert Hooks as "Mr. T.", a hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands...
). The book limits the foreign films considered to only those distributed in the United States, judging it unfair to evaluate local obscurities denied an international release alongside mainstream Hollywood products, while realizing that it would not only be difficult for the authors to view the films, but unlikely that any readers would ever come across them.
The Medveds later continued this theme of "celebrating" bad cinema with The Golden Turkey Awards
The Golden Turkey Awards
The Golden Turkey Awards is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry Medved.The book awards the fictional "Golden Turkey Awards" to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and actors judged to have created a chronically inept body of work...
which again showcased bad and obscure films, and The Hollywood Hall of Shame
The Hollywood Hall of Shame
The Hollywood Hall of Shame is a 1984 book by brothers Harry Medved and Michael Medved. 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, and The Golden Turkey Awards.While those...
which examined in some detail several major Hollywood financial disasters, focusing on both the artistic treatments coupled with the technical and organizational ineptitude in the mounting of these films. It has been noted that book marked the beginning of an explosion of worst in cinema prizes nearly resulting in "a state of redundancy almost approaching that of ordinary prizes."