- 6 weeks ago
Not the ending they deserved! Join us as we look at actors whose distinguished filmographies most notoriously ended on a critical lowlight. From genre icons to beloved comedians, these stars deserved better swan songs than the cinematic disappointments they received. Talented to the end, these performers gave their all in films that sadly failed to match their legendary status.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Are you telling me the entire country thinks that I'm running for mayor against the man
00:04installing my toilets? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at actors whose
00:08distinguished filmographies most notoriously ended on a critical lowlight. We're focusing
00:13on relatively prominent roles, so cameos get a pass. Kane, I ask you again, where is thy brother
00:19Abel? Gene Kelly, Xanadu. From the beginning of the Hollywood talkies, Gene Kelly was a leader
00:27in musical and dance crazes. It seems fitting that his last film role, 14 years before his
00:38retirement, would swing him into the disco era, but Xanadu was released as the trend was dying
00:43out, and reminded audiences why.
00:45Kelly plays a Jazz Age entertainer who was commissioned by a Greek goddess to create a roller rink with
00:58a modern artist. This tribute to pop culture history was really seen as a surreally cheesy
01:04celebration of vapid fads. Xanadu has since achieved cult status on its camp value and spectacular production. Even now, though, nobody considers the critical and commercial failure to be a worthy last dance for Kelly.
01:32Patrick Swayze, Powder Blue. A low-profile dramatic stint after the 90s yielded mixed results for action and dance star Patrick Swayze.
01:45Unfortunately, he ended his iconic career on the wrong foot with Powder Blue. This twisted love actually follows a miserable ensemble one redemptive Christmas Eve, with Swayze portraying a cruel strip club owner and gangster.
01:59The unfortunate few who saw the dire indie largely panned its cheap melodrama, but found Swayze's intense performance to be a highlight.
02:06The film thus became a bittersweet curiosity following his death from pancreatic cancer just four months after its release. At least Powder Blue managed to showcase his versatile talent, as well as how frustratingly filmmakers wasted it at times.
02:25Let me put it this way. If you were not here on Christmas Eve, you should consider getting a job at Wally's Whack Shack. Are we clear?
02:35Yeah.
02:36Betty Davis, Wicked Stepmother. Nobody in old Hollywood played edgy women as sharply as Betty Davis.
02:44This is my house, not a theater. In my house you're a guest, not a director.
02:50What an insult to turn her complexity into caricature with Wicked Stepmother.
02:54If you want to, give us a wedding present. How about some ashtrays?
02:59Davis plays a witch who terrorizes her stepchildren, until she switches place with her bio-daughter in the body of a cat.
03:05This was not an organic plot rewrite, but it was necessary. Davis left the project during production, saying she couldn't handle the script or overall filmmaking.
03:23Let's just say that nobody questioned this claim when the movie came out, but Davis later revealed that she quit because her cancer returned, and she feared the truth would further strain her career if she recovered.
03:33She instead passed away shortly thereafter, with her many classics as the only compensation for Wicked Stepmother.
03:39You are going to love her.
03:42Joan Crawford, Trog. Speaking of Betty Davis, whatever happened to Joan Crawford?
03:47I remember when it first came out, it had a tremendous reception. The critics described it as brilliant.
03:55Well, the Oscar-winning icon was relegated to B-thrillers through most of the 1960s.
04:00The new decade brought a new low with Trog, in which Crawford plays an anthropologist who studies a revived caveman to better understand human evolution.
04:09Trog?
04:12Here, Trog.
04:13The lead performance was commended for the actress's classic charisma and terror over this dangerous experiment.
04:19Other than that, Trog was panned as no better than laughably low-budget Cam.
04:23He spoke.
04:24Trog spoke.
04:25Fantastic.
04:26Unbelievable.
04:27Yes.
04:28Trog spoke.
04:29The story goes that this convinced Crawford to finally call it quits, and live out her final five years away from the public eye.
04:39It was a Hollywood career ending as archaic as the movie this starlet went out on.
04:43Please, Trog.
04:46Let me have the child.
04:48Bruce Willis.
04:50Assassin.
04:51It was a cinematic tragedy when action superstar Bruce Willis became prolific in cheap, often straight-to-video genre movies.
04:58Mayday!
04:59Mayday!
05:00Anyone copying Channel 9?
05:01Then he announced the real tragedy of serious cognitive disorders that forced him to take this work for his family.
05:06Can I get you?
05:08Grilled cheese with tomato.
05:10You know what they call that?
05:12A happy waitress?
05:13A happy waitress.
05:15The backlog ended on 2023's Assassin, in which Willis plays a handler for a program that transfers soldiers' consciousness to carry out high-risk hits.
05:23The promising premise winds up bogged down by pretentious, inane sci-fi that kills all suspense.
05:36With production values and action this flat, there never could have been much.
05:39There were many bafflingly bad Willis vehicles before his retirement, and about as many great ones.
05:44It's still a shame that Assassin wouldn't let him go out with more dignity.
05:47Come on!
05:48You've always wanted this.
05:52John Candy, Canadian Bacon.
05:55It was hard enough to crack a smile after beloved comedian John Candy died of a heart attack in 1994.
06:00Yeah, you're right.
06:02I talk too much.
06:04I also listen too much.
06:06I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you.
06:10But I don't like to hurt people's feelings.
06:13As unfunny as the western spoof Wagons East was anyway, his second posthumous picture at least tried to be taken seriously.
06:20Directed by political documentarian Michael Moore, Canadian Bacon features Candy as a lowly sheriff who threatens to escalate hostilities between the US and Canada.
06:29All right, people!
06:30Do not panic, I repeat, do not panic.
06:33I'm in complete control.
06:35The satire was itself a battleground between cheap gags and overzealous, over-elaborate commentary.
06:40Okay, what is wrong with this picture?
06:43Um, uh, no snow tires.
06:48No.
06:49It was a critical and commercial catastrophe, and remains Moore's only fiction film.
06:53Although Canadian Bacon still has more taste than Wagons East, both films sadly lack the charm of Candy's earlier work.
06:59Where is everybody?
07:00I don't like this.
07:02Gene Hackman.
07:03Welcome to Mooseport.
07:04After so much renown for his dramatic presence, Gene Hackman ended his acting career on a light, lousy note.
07:11All right, Popeye's here!
07:13Get your hands on your heads!
07:14Get off the bar and get on the wall!
07:16Even then, Welcome to Mooseport aspires to satire with the story of a former US president who runs for mayor of a small town.
07:23So, first off, uh, to the rumor that I'm only here because I lost my Baltimore house and my divorce, absolutely true.
07:33What audiences ended up with is a tedious comedy that offers no bite to its overarching commentary.
07:40It's not like there was much of an audience anyway.
07:42You son of a bitch! You knew I was gonna do that, so you did it first!
07:46I didn't know that! How could I know that?
07:47You bugged me!
07:48Following this disaster, health concerns prompted Hackman to retire to a much less public profession than politics, writing,
07:55He lived another 21 years, and will surely live on through his many classics, though no one could rate his last film among his accomplishments.
08:01Grace, look at me. Swear to God, I'll never have more than one sugar in my coffee for the rest of my life if you'll have me.
08:10Robin Williams, absolutely anything. Comedy fans were devastated by the shocking death of Robin Williams in 2014.
08:17Good morning, Vietnam!
08:21Hey, this is not a test. This is rock and roll! Time to rock it from the Delta to the DMZ!
08:27Is that me or does that sound like an Elvis Presley movie? Viva Da Nang! Oh, Viva Da Nang!
08:33And they got absolutely nothing out of the British production that would punctuate this Hollywood icon's career. Absolutely anything.
08:41Simon Pegg plays an ordinary guy overwhelmed by an extraordinary power to grant all his wishes, including his dog gaining the ability to talk.
08:48Dennis, be able to talk. Biscuits!
08:53What? Biscuits!
08:55Williams voices the pooch with as much hammy commitment as we'd expect.
08:58Otherwise, the sci-fi farce was considered embarrassingly cheap in every way.
09:03Oh no! Don't take away my power of speech now that I can think rationally! That would be so cruel!
09:07This would sadly be the last we heard of Williams' lively voice, and with filmmaker actor Terry Jones retiring with neurodegenerative disease soon after, absolutely anything has gained even more recognition as a tragic comedy that nobody wanted.
09:21Dennis, you're a genius! Not bad, huh? Mwah!
09:25Sean Connery, Sir Billy.
09:27The sterling yet outspoken Sean Connery made a big deal about retiring after the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen disillusioned him with Hollywood.
09:34Then the game is on.
09:36Nine years later, he briefly returned to the screen for a low point in British cinema.
09:40Actually, Connery just voices the title character in Sir Billy, a veterinarian who sets out to rescue a beaver banned by the government.
09:47We need to move fast, people. Bessie Boo's life is hanging on a thread.
09:52Even more baffling than the premise of Scotland's first CGI animated film is the crudeness of its technology, writing, and camp.
09:59Connery only took the project as a favor for a friend and to support Scottish culture.
10:04Gordy, don't move her yet.
10:06Look, I need to check her out first.
10:08But despite these good intentions and a terrible theatrical run, Sir Billy has gained a cult following as one of the worst animated films ever.
10:15Let us celebrate united and be thankful for each other and be thankful for Katamish.
10:22Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
10:28You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
10:32If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
10:37Bela Lugosi, Plan 9 from Outer Space
10:41The seminal horror icon Bela Lugosi was hardly flattered by his later work with Ed Wood.
10:46I don't intend to return home.
10:50Not even this earnestly incompetent filmmaker could salvage the Ghoul Goes West.
10:54After the actor died of a heart attack, the test footage was used to incorporate Lugosi into Plan 9 from Outer Space,
11:00in which alien invaders resurrect the dead to help conquer Earth.
11:04The grief of his wife's death became greater and greater agony.
11:09Wood intended for this to be a loving tribute to his late friend and collaborator.
11:13But without consent, Lugosi became attached to what is universally recognized as one of the worst movies ever made.
11:20The home they had so long shared together became a tomb.
11:25A sweet memory of her joyous living.
11:29Plan 9's only highlight besides its camp is that it poignantly resurrected a screen legend.
11:34Still, let's remember that he became that through films much better than his final one.
11:38What are some other bad movies that rounded out otherwise great acting careers?
11:42Give your rants and raves in the comments.
11:44Your will is strong.
11:57Make sure you dance with those encore as much as possible,
11:59little and brightförings.
12:14That's how we build such a Arsenронénergie.
12:16Many people talk about their gameplay games.
12:18It's strong.
Recommended
1:37:18
|
Up next
1:56:25
1:25:51
0:39
12:29
11:11
13:40
0:58
13:09
2:20
1:56
16:27
11:44
Be the first to comment