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Saturday, June 10, 2006

The 25 Most Controversial Movies of all Time

This week's issue of Entertainment Weekly has a wonderful list of the 25 most controversial films of all time. These are movies which
"...get someone's goat without any studio goosing, whose incendiary elements can inspire an offended party to picket, call for a boycott, even pray for divine intervention. These can be important, progressive, taboo-shattering films -- or merely films that feature a lot of randy humping. They can also be films that are truly, objectively despicable. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all reflected in [this list]." (issue #882, 6/16/06, p 32)
Passion of the Christ came in at #1, with A Clockwork Orange a close second. Two films now in theaters -- Da Vinci Code and United 93 -- also find a place on the list. It's worth reading the article for concise explanations of the controversy behind each film.

I put Tomatometer ratings next to the films (red = fresh, green = rotten), and as you can see, most were actually well received by the critics. Only six are rotten tomatoes -- The Da Vinci Code the most rotten of all, not suprisingly.

1. The Passion of the Christ. 51%
2. A Clockwork Orange. 93%
3. Farenheit 9/11. 83%
4. Deep Throat. ?
5. JFK. 85%
6. The Last Temptation of Christ. 78%
7. The Birth of a Nation. 100%
8. Natural Born Killers. 53%
9. Last Tango in Paris. 84%
10. Baby Doll. 100%
11. The Message. ?
12. The Deer Hunter. 90%
13. The Da Vinci Code. 23%
14. The Warriors. 92%
15. Triumph of the Will. 100%
16. United 93. 90%
17. Freaks. 97%
18. I Am Curious (Yellow). 59%
19. Basic Instinct. 63%
20. Cannibal Holocaust. ?
21. Bonnie and Clyde. 96%
22. Do the Right Thing. 100%
23. Kids. 56%
24. Caligula. 35%
25. Aladdin. 88%
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6 comments:

  1. Stephen C. Carlson6/10/2006

    Thanks for this list, Loren. With The Da Vinci Code, I think we're too in the moment to be objective about its controversiality. I suspect that the movie isn't good enough or transgressive enough to be on a similar list five years from now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loren Rosson III6/10/2006

    I was suprised to see Natural Born Killers ranked so high; I don't think it was that controversial. But in the case of Da Vinci, I don't think the film can be easily considered apart from the book -- and the latter has been controversial with a vengeance.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rick Sumner6/11/2006

    No Eyes Wide Shut?! Certainly not Kubrick's best work, but, I'd suggest, decidedly more controversial than A Clockwork Orange!

    And where's Lolita? Either Kubrick's or the '97 remake?

    I am aghast! Aghast!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Andrew Criddle6/11/2006

    I'm surprised that Salo by the deceased controversial author and film-maker Pasolini is not on the list

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8/28/2006

    I'm surprised Cannibal Holocaust wasn't in the top 3 with the Passion and clockwork orange.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12/29/2006

    American History X???

    ReplyDelete