Crash! Landen’s Worst 10 Movies of 1978
Here’s the best that I could come up with for the worst of 1978. Several of these are competently done. It speaks more of my lack of having seen bad films from this year. Generally I only seek out the best, most critically acclaimed films from the past so I don’t have fewer bad ones to choose from the further I go back chronologically. But here’s the list I managed for 1978.
10 Battlestar Galactica (A step above Buck Rogers? Or below? It barely makes my list and probably doesn’t belong here. Sure there are many shortcomings, but for a 1970s TV movie pilot, it’s really not that bad.)
9 Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (Intentionally funny no budget effort. I laughed, but that doesn’t make it good.)
8 The Wiz (The wacky inner-city version of the Wizard Of Oz. I’ll watch it though. It can’t be all bad with the comic force that was Nipsey Russell as the chocolate Tin Man.)
7 The Incredible Hulk (Technically just another pilot for a TV show. I think this was the best effort in the entire run The first appearance of the Lou Ferrigno Hulk was impressive given that this was a 1970s superhero TV series.)
6 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (Should have stopped with the first. Tony Curtis is no Walter Matthau.)
5 Spider-Man Strikes Back (Another TV movie, but I loved it. It’s not good, but I loved it.)
4 Dr. Strange (I actually watched this to get a tenth film on my list instead of Jaws 2 or The Omen 2, both of which don’t deserve to be on a ‘Worst’ list. I actually liked this… No, I’m not drunk. I just liked it.)
3 The Swarm (A B movie with some great actors about killer bees with terrible direction. Well deserving of the Top 3.)
2 KISS Meets The Phantom of The Park (The proof that KISS was incapable of experiencing the emotion called shame.)
1 Grease (This is probably the only movie in any of my lists or reviews where I let emotion get in the way of my judgement. I’ll admit that. However there are very few films that I would prefer watching this over. Off hand I can’t think of any. Olivia Newton John is the only thing tolerable in this. I can’t watch this movie without getting nauseous and/or contemplating serious injury to myself.)
Whew! That was difficult. I guess when I get to the 60s, I’m going to have to list my ‘Worst 3 Lists’ or something. Lucky for me 1977 lists will be much easier.
