Guess what movie I am thinking of based on my super vague 3 point assessment of it

[Tommy Carcetti]

1. Decently talented cast
2. Absolutely atrocious screenwriting and character development
3. Phenomenal cinematography

Winner gets 10 bucks or a Toyota

[nocoincidences]

1. Lawrence of Arabia

Totally wild guess!

Could also be Dune

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. Nope but thanks for playing. Nt

[displacedvermoter]

2. Heaven's Gate

[Tommy Carcetti]

4. Nope. Nt

[jmowreader]

80. Fun facts about that movie

Some of the movie was shot in Wallace, Idaho. A lot of small towns that have movies shot in them will brag about this. Wallace has completely disowned the movie. There's no "Heaven's Gate Museum" up there, but there sure is a brothel museum.

John Hurt, who has an important role in Heaven's Gate, got so tired of Cimino's screwing around he flew to London, starred in The Elephant Man and flew back to finish Heaven's Gate without anyone noticing.

When he finally showed his 5 hour 25 minute workprint to United Artists' executives he told them the workprint was about 15 minutes longer than the release print would be. They told him it was at least two hours longer than the release print would be.

[displacedvermoter]

81. I went to a Sex Museum in Amsterdam many years ago

I bet the brothel museum in Idaho would be cooler.

[jmowreader]

83. Let me address the brothel situation in Wallace

Wallace is an old-time mining community. The four biggest mines in the Silver Valley are the Lucky Friday, the Galena, the Sunshine and the Bunker Hill. Of the four, only the Bunker Hill Mine, which is in Kellogg, is not close enough to Wallace that you'd live in Wallace if you worked there. Lucky Friday is east of Wallace in Mullan, and the other two are west of Wallace. Before the Hunt Brothers tried cornering the silver market, Wallace was a busy place. (Wallace is also the reason the Idaho High School Activities Association banned high school sports recruiting in the public schools...the mine companies would scout other schools' athletic teams for quality players, and if they found one they'd make their family an offer they can't refuse - we'll buy your house at fair market value, sell you one in Wallace at a good price and give the father a job that pays twice what the one you now have (not out of line - Idaho mines have paid really well for a long time) if you enroll your children in the Wallace school system. Now it's only the religious schools that can do that.)

Where mining goes prostitution is soon to follow. The city tried to get rid of it a lot of times, only to see the houses turned into "rooms." You know, supposedly hotels but you couldn't stay there long. There were five of these businesses before Reagan became president, and one of the things he did that few talk about was send the US Marshals to Wallace to raid the houses.

The one that's now a museum was the Oasis Rooms. Apparently this was the house you wanted to work at because the proprietor paid really well (most houses did a 50-50 split between the woman and the proprietor; the Oasis gave 60 percent to the woman) and protected them against bad actors. When the Marshals kicked in the door, the women working there fled out the back door without any of their stuff. You go in there and, except for the perishables in the grocery sacks they abandoned, everything is just as it was the morning of the raid. All their clothes are where they were, their dressing tables are still laid out, anything you'd need if you were in that line of work is ready for you to get right back to it. In St. Maries we used to joke that their sports teams were so hard to beat because all the sex they got at the houses bulked the players up.

[displacedvermoter]

84. History is cool!

[Dave Bowman]

5. Moulin Rouge?

[Tommy Carcetti]

7. Nope.

[jls4561]

6. Ishtar?

[Tommy Carcetti]

8. Nope.

[3catwoman3]

9. Forrest Gump.

Wicked.

[Tommy Carcetti]

10. Not a terrible guess, but nope. Nt

[dgauss]

11. Sahara?

[Tommy Carcetti]

12. Nope.

[dgauss]

16. Yeah, number 3 was probably a stretch anyways.

[red dog 1]

13. It's too vague. You need to add another clue.

Perhaps about one of the actors?

[Tommy Carcetti]

14. It's got a rather memorable Earworm in its soundtrack

One that is pretty much synonymous in its identity with the movie.

Yes, that’s still vague but at least it’s one more clue.

[hlthe2b]

15. Well, if it is "Dances with Wolves" (good cast, great cinematography, beautiful film score by

John Barry), but I guess some might criticize the screenwriting and character development.

It is a favorite film for me for all the positive features, but that might be the film you reference.

BTW, if it is a old movie, you should give the time period of release.

[Tommy Carcetti]

21. Nope

Although I actually did like Dances with Wolves myself.

I guess some people now might criticize it for being a little too White Savior complex, but still an overall good movie.

Anyways the movie I’m describing the lead actors are still alive and not eligible for Social Security yet.

[oasis]

17. The Big Country

[Tommy Carcetti]

20. Nope

[Norrrm]

18. How the West Was Won.

[Tommy Carcetti]

23. Nope

[Solly Mack]

19. Gravity

[Tommy Carcetti]

22. Nope

[pamela]

24. Days of Heaven n/t

[Tommy Carcetti]

41. Nope

[lastlib]

25. Couldn't POSSIBLY be "2001: A Space Odyssey,"

could it?

[Tommy Carcetti]

42. It is....not.

[Midnight Writer]

26. Invasion USA-1985 - Chuck Norris

[Tommy Carcetti]

43. I said it had atrocious screenwriting. :)

[Tikki]

27. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Tikki

[Tikki]

33. "Top Gun"

Tikkk

[Tommy Carcetti]

44. Nope

[Tommy Carcetti]

45. Nope again

[hedda_foil]

28. The Ten Commandments

I watched about half an hour of it this year and was gobsmacked by how utterly terrible the bogusly biblical dialog was and how little the perfectly decent cast could do with it in terms of character development. But the cinematography was fantastic.

[dweller]

31. That was gonna be my guess too

✌🏻

[Tommy Carcetti]

46. Nice try but no

[dgauss]

29. The Black Dahlia?

[Tommy Carcetti]

48. Nope

[applegrove]

30. Out of Africa?

[Tommy Carcetti]

49. Nope

[dgauss]

32. Ok, last guess here. I'm thinkimg Scifi epics are a good bet.

Likely to hit all three criteria.

Jupiter Rising,

[Tommy Carcetti]

50. I hate to tell you, because you put a lot of effort in that guess, but...no

[Shipwack]

34. Avatar nt

[Tommy Carcetti]

51. Another good guess but no

[Doodley]

35. Dune, The Greatest Showman, La La Land, Tron Legacy, Suicide Squad

[Tommy Carcetti]

52. All swings, but all misses

[Orrex]

36. Porky's

[Tommy Carcetti]

53. Nope, you cheeky bastard

[Orrex]

57. lol

[Dave Bowman]

37. Debbie does Dallas.

[Tommy Carcetti]

54. Ha ha, no.

[MIButterfly]

38. Titanic

[betsuni]

39. I was thinking Titanic, too.

[Tommy Carcetti]

56. CONGRATULATIONS BETSUNI YOU ARE OUR MISS CONGENIALITY!!!

A nice pat on the head is yours.

[ProfessorGAC]

68. We Wholeheartedly Agree

That movie is dreadful!
My wife & I walked out of the theater because we couldn't stop laughing at the treacly script, the egregious overacting, etc.
We knew we were making other patrons mad, so we just left.
We gave it another shot when it came on HBO.
We were right the first time.

[Tommy Carcetti]

72. I mean, it *is* beautifully shot.

When you see Rose getting lowered into the lifeboat while looking up at Jack as flares go off in the background, or when you see Rose looking at the Statue of Liberty after being rescued, it's just aesthetically great to look at.

But good lord, they must have blown all their budget on special effects and camera work because the dialogue is just so forced and wooden, and not even DiCaprio, Winslet, Bates or multiple other skilled actors can save it (unlike, say, Forrest Gump where I think skilled acting did manage to effectively save an otherwise underwhelming script.)

And Billy Zane's Cal has to be one of the most preposterously one-dimensional characters in modern cinema. He might as well have just had a moustache to twirl throughout the movie.

But because it's always on HBO, my wife and I have actually found a good use for the movie. When we go to channel guide and see that it's on HBO, we play this game where we try to pinpoint exactly where in the story the movie is based on how far the guide says is left in the movie. If we're good, we'll get it down to the exact scene.

[ProfessorGAC]

73. We Don't Have That Kind If Patience

I feel the movie has no redeeming qualities, despite it's massive box office success.

[Doodley]

74. You walked out of Titanic!

[ProfessorGAC]

75. We Did

About 40 minutes in. We knew that others near us were getting annoyed by our derisive laughter, which became increasingly uncontrollable.
To this day, I can't believe what a piece of garbage that was.

[Doodley]

78. Oh come on! It is one of the most spectacular movies of all time.

[ProfessorGAC]

79. Not To Us

Treacly, overly long, Romeo & Juliet on a boat.
Wholly uninteresting.

[Doodley]

85. You walked out at 40 minutes, and think the movie is too long, and it is Romeo and Juliet on a boat?

[betsuni]

71. When old Rose throws the jewel into the ocean I turn into Indiana Jones: THAT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

Last edited Thu Apr 16, 2026, 01:02 PM - Edit history (1)

[Tommy Carcetti]

55. CONGRATULATIONS MIBUTTERFLY YOU ARE OUR BIG WINNER!!!

The ten bucks or Toyota is yours!

[MIButterfly]

59. Yahoo!

I was thinking maybe Titanic but the "memorable earworm in the soundtrack" really sealed the deal!

What fun! Thank you, Tommy Carcetti!

[StoolPigeon]

40. Oklahoma

[Tommy Carcetti]

47. Nope

[Doodley]

58. Marty Supreme

[Tommy Carcetti]

62. No but that one is on my list to watch. Nt

[displacedvermoter]

60. So it could have been a significant number of these films?

I believe everyone deserves a participation prize.

[Tommy Carcetti]

63. True

You all win a french fry.

[displacedvermoter]

64. Fair enough.

[marked50]

61. That was Fun!

[Tommy Carcetti]

67. We'll play again in six months.

Spoiler alert: The answer to that will also be Titanic.

[Harker]

69. I'll be ready to jump on it.

I could use ten bucks.

[miyazaki]

77. I walked out of the Titanic cause the guy behind me was drunk

and wouldn't shut up. I got a free pass to come back.

As for the cinematography, it's fake and doesn't count in my book. Though it can look pretty cool.

[boonecreek]

65. Ghostbusters II ?

[Tommy Carcetti]

66. I actually liked Ghostbusters II more than the original.

Does that make me a bad person?

Maybe.

[NNadir]

70. Project Hail Mary

[JT45242]

76. Dances with Wolves (Plays with camera)

Added the alternative name I saw from a critic

[Iggo]

82. Star Wars prequels and sequels.