Topic: Films with honkingly-bad titles

[Bad Ambassador]

While we're talking about Joe Cornish's poorly titled film, here he is taking the piss out of another poorly titled film -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CoNUE5Zho

In fairness, it's a title lifted straight from a Fleming short story, which has no connection to the film other than James Bond is in it.

[popcorn]

While we're talking about Joe Cornish's poorly titled film, here he is taking the piss out of another poorly titled film -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CoNUE5Zho

Every time I hear this I'm disappointed again that he doesn't sing "the Gromit of Wallace” as one variation.

[Famous Mortimer]

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies?

Ray Dennis Steckler also made Rat Pfink A-Boo-Boo, which....no, I got nothing.

[McChesney Duntz]

Ray Dennis Steckler also made Rat Pfink A-Boo-Boo, which....no, I got nothing.

The genius of that title is that it was supposed to be Rat Pfink and Boo-Boo, as it was basically a Batman parody (at least after the halfway mark - look it up, this thing is just insane), but the company (or, let's be honest, impetigo'd recluse) who did the titles got it wrong, and Steckler had neither the money nor the inclination to get it fixed.

[NoSleep]

Isn't China the master of this? Various western films have had unwieldy and sometimes spoilery titles thrust upon them when translated for Chinese audiences.

Currently there's a Chinese TV series on Netflix with the enticing title Rookie Historian.

[non capisco]

Isn't China the master of this? Various western films have had unwieldy and sometimes spoilery titles thrust upon them when translated for Chinese audiences.

I remember reading that in some Asian countries 'Wayne's World' was called 'Disregard Them, For They Are Fools!' which is pretty mint.

[Famous Mortimer]

The genius of that title is that it was supposed to be Rat Pfink and Boo-Boo, as it was basically a Batman parody (at least after the halfway mark - look it up, this thing is just insane), but the company (or, let's be honest, impetigo'd recluse) who did the titles got it wrong, and Steckler had neither the money nor the inclination to get it fixed.

I guessed something similar to this, down the years, but...why Rat Pfink? I assumed it was some demented take on "Batfink", but they both came out in the same year. Then there was a "Rat Fink" character created in a hot-rod magazine in the late 50s, but he was just a weird rat. I bought it on VHS back in the 90s (same video label as "Plan Nine From Outer Space" - Mondo Movies) and even then, when I had unlimited time for any old shite, I thought it was awful.

[McChesney Duntz]

"Rat fink" was a pretty popular US slang term in the early/mid-60s, probably derived from the Big Daddy Roth cartoon character you referenced. (Allan Sherman, the "Weird Al" Yankovich of his day and thus attuned to the trends of his cultural moment, did a song by that name which was later covered by the Misfits, of all people - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkUcqNnotLQ .) "Batfink" almost certainly came from the same punning/parodic impulse that Steckler aimed for, but I'm sure he was unaware of it, because - well, look at his movies; this is not a man who seems too aware of anything.

[NoSleep]

I have childhood memories of learning to draw Roth's Ratfink whilst listening to Alan Sherman's song.

"R-A-T-T-F-I-N-K, RATFINK!"

[NoSleep]

I guessed something similar to this, down the years, but...why Rat Pfink?

The Pf is German, like "pfeiffer" (piper). Silent "p".

[Bennett Brauer]

Hobbs & Shaw

Plunkett & Macleane?

This sequel's title is horribly flat:

[thecuriousorange]

.

[popcorn]

I am sorry but this thread has a honkingly bad title. That is not how hyphens work. Don't expect me to click again.

[BritishHobo]

Plunkett & Macleane?

This sequel's title is horribly flat:

Shit tagline as well

[icehaven]

Shit tagline as well

Quite, you could put it on literally any film poster featuring a person who plays a character in the film. TERMINATOR; That's funny, he looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, IRON-MAN; That's funny, he looks like Robert Downey Jnr.. JOBS; That's not funny and he looks nothing like Steve Jobs

[thecuriousorange]

Terminator Genisys Dreadful title.

[phantom_power]

Quite, you could put it on literally any film poster featuring a person who plays a character in the film. TERMINATOR; That's funny, he looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, IRON-MAN; That's funny, he looks like Robert Downey Jnr.. JOBS; That's not funny and he looks nothing like Steve Jobs

Not really. The point is that both god and the devil look like George Burns. It doesn't make it not shit (for one thing that would be better as a full stop and not a comma) but it is slightly less shit than you give it credit for.

[Famous Mortimer]

"Rat fink" was a pretty popular US slang term in the early/mid-60s, probably derived from the Big Daddy Roth cartoon character you referenced. (Allan Sherman, the "Weird Al" Yankovich of his day and thus attuned to the trends of his cultural moment, did a song by that name which was later covered by the Misfits, of all people - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkUcqNnotLQ .) "Batfink" almost certainly came from the same punning/parodic impulse that Steckler aimed for, but I'm sure he was unaware of it, because - well, look at his movies; this is not a man who seems too aware of anything.

The weird thing is, if you ever watch the Jonathan Ross series "The Incredibly Strange Film Show", the episode on Steckler shows him to be a funny, self-aware guy who you'd think would be making better movies.

[McChesney Duntz]

The weird thing is, if you ever watch the Jonathan Ross series "The Incredibly Strange Film Show", the episode on Steckler shows him to be a funny, self-aware guy who you'd think would be making better movies.

Yes, you're quite right - I was unexpectedly charmed by the guy (if I recall, there was a shot in there featuring him directing a scene with his infant [grand?]child in his arms) when I first saw that episode, lord, some three decades ago. I do need to rewatch that show again - it was rather excellent, really...

(And, in a surely uninteresting aside, I just dropped a few bucks in a thrift store last week on a used DVD of his Wild Guitar, so my fascination with the man remains...)

[McChesney Duntz]

Gah. Edit bug fix. (Which would be a good bad title for some kind of Naked Lunch ripoff, eh?)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I remember reading that in some Asian countries 'Wayne's World' was called 'Disregard Them, For They Are Fools!' which is pretty mint.

Haha! That's an amazing title.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Yes, you're quite right - I was unexpectedly charmed by the guy (if I recall, there was a shot in there featuring him directing a scene with his infant [grand?]child in his arms) when I first saw that episode, lord, some three decades ago. I do need to rewatch that show again - it was rather excellent, really...

It was, an absolutely brilliant series. Seminal, too, as it introduced the likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis, George Romero, Ed Wood et al to a whole new audience. The Incredibly Strange Film Show and Alex Cox's Moviedrome had a profound influence on pretty much everyone who watched them.

It's also worth bringing up whenever anyone outright dismisses Jonathan Ross as a twat of no discernible value. That may be true these days, but he did some good stuff way back when. That's right, younger readers, there was once a time when Jonathan Ross was a geekily cool purveyor of 'edgy' television steeped in cult pop culture references.

[Famous Mortimer]

Looks like most / all of the Incredibly Strange Film Shows are on Youtube, too.

God, I miss Moviedrome.

[Mister Six]

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies?

I love that one though.

And The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

This is bananas! "The boy" and "the child" are identical but without the alliteration. Without it it'd be a terribly portentous title and it wouldn't capture the film's sense of fun.

Of course it's a terrible film but that's incidental.

The Boy Who Would Be King at least sounds like The Man Who Would Be King. Bit more definitive than "kid" too.

But yes, Child is shit. Sounds like it was written by a disapproving Victorian headmaster.

I remember reading that in some Asian countries 'Wayne's World' was called 'Disregard Them, For They Are Fools!' which is pretty mint.

Did you read that in Empire or Total Film or something in the 90s? That's where I came across that info and it's stayed with me since (although I recall it being some Eastern European country).

I always assumed that in whatever language it was translated to, it sounded really good, or was just a common saying (like Queer As Folk or whatever) and had been brutally and bluntly translated back into English.

[thecuriousorange]

[popcorn]

Yet more hyphen horror. I read that as self-correction, like the title was changing its mind ("no, good ..."), but actually it's meant to be "no-good", isn't it?

[Dex Sawash]

Seen worse posters though

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

It was, an absolutely brilliant series. Seminal, too, as it introduced the likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis, George Romero, Ed Wood et al to a whole new audience. The Incredibly Strange Film Show and Alex Cox's Moviedrome had a profound influence on pretty much everyone who watched them.

It's also worth bringing up whenever anyone outright dismisses Jonathan Ross as a twat of no discernible value. That may be true these days, but he did some good stuff way back when. That's right, younger readers, there was once a time when Jonathan Ross was a geekily cool purveyor of 'edgy' television steeped in cult pop culture references.

Is there a definitive episode list for The Incredibly Strange Film Show somewhere? Because I just watched an episode about David Lynch that is not mentioned on Wikipedia or IMDB. (Contextually it must have aired 1990 or 1991)

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Is there a definitive episode list for The Incredibly Strange Film Show somewhere? Because I just watched an episode about David Lynch that is not mentioned on Wikipedia or IMDB. (Contextually it must have aired 1990 or 1991)

Nevermind, it appears this is mislabeled and was instead an episode of For One Week Only

[non capisco]

Did you read that in Empire or Total Film or something in the 90s? That's where I came across that info and it's stayed with me since (although I recall it being some Eastern European country).
I always assumed that in whatever language it was translated to, it sounded really good, or was just a common saying (like Queer As Folk or whatever) and had been brutally and bluntly translated back into English.

Yeah it was almost certainly in an Empire article. Might be a false memory from the same feature but I think it said that the title of Basic Instinct somewhere was 'They Came And Then They Went' ie. they ejaculated and then they died.