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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsName a movie that should have been a flop but became a hit based on word of mouth
My contribution is "Porky's. It was a teen film that hit high on raunch and seemed to be a release gasket for a generation of young adults. I distinctly remember the surprise at seeing the characters "going there" and getting swept away with the convulsive laughter that erupted in the theater. Probably the only movie that I went to that sustained a high laugh meter throughout the movie. Audience reaction is one of the reasons why I go to see blockbusters.
Porky's is a 1981 Canadian-American sex comedy film, written and directed by Bob Clark about the escapades of teenagers at the fictional Angel Beach High School in Florida in 1954. Released in the United States in 1982 with an R rating, the film spawned three sequels: Porky's II: The Next Day (1983), Porky's Revenge! (1985), and Pimpin' Pee Wee (2009), and influenced many writers in the teen film genre.
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,787 posts)cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)than true word-of-mouth though.
PRB
(139 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,032 posts)It got poor reviews when it was released but soon became popular as a "midnight movie." Before long it was a true cult film. I still love it.
Baitball Blogger
(46,787 posts)And sad to say that I missed the opportunity to be part of that one.
Boomerproud
(7,987 posts)Brainless Friday night fun. Harmless too.
csziggy
(34,141 posts)They highly recommended to my husband and me so we all went to see it in a theater on Market Street and got stoned during the movie. This was before the audience participation era so it was much tamer than it could have been. It was still great fun and I still love to watch it.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)I saw it in August 1979, and it was definitely audience participation by that time.
csziggy
(34,141 posts)The show I saw, a few people were singing along but not a lot and no one dressed up. Mostly we just all got stoned, whether or not we were actively smoking, and we all had a great time. If anyone were going to dress up for movie participation it would have been Dale and Ernie, the couple we had gone to visit and the ones who introduced us to the movie!
A few years later I bought an audio tape of Rocky Horror that was labeled as an "audience participation" version - it had more of the introductory dialogue to some of the songs, the parts people liked to include in their re-enactments. It was perfect to play as driving since it made it easy to remember the context of the songs and to sing along with them.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I believe I also got up on stage and danced as well. Thankfully there are no pictures that I know of.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)No commentary or audience interaction or dressing up. I was kind of young, 15 or 16, and probably a bit naive about what I was seeing but i liked the music. As odd and cultish as it may be it is a well made film with a great cast.
Saw it a dozen or more times after that in its more famous and popular presentations.
betsuni
(25,845 posts)I didn't get it. Seemed pseudo-hip, trying too hard. On the other hand, a few years later I attended more than a few late-night showings of the movie "Flashdance" and repeated the ridiculously bad dialog along with the characters. But that was different, there was dancing.
Baitball Blogger
(46,787 posts)I'll give you two thumbs up for that selection. Along with the music it had some nice moody shots that helped set the scene. And loved, loved that scene when she walks in to audition the first time and she gets intimidated by the long line of doe eyed, anorexic dancers who appraised her with the confidence that comes from years of mastering technique.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)that rotated RHPS, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same at their midnight showings. We probably kept a cartel in business all the weed we smoked and went to the shows. At least one popcorn company too.
I still listen to all their soundtracks regularly.
Coventina
(27,227 posts)It was a quirky little indie-movie that morphed into a cultural phenomenon based on word of mouth.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)One of my favorite movies ever.
Coventina
(27,227 posts)My lips hurt real bad!
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Coventina
(27,227 posts)I also like to tell people to imagine that they are surrounded by seahorses when I take their pictures!
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)I ask lunch companions all the time if they are gonna eat their tots.
Sometimes they don't even have tots.
My friends often stare at me like I'm an alien.
But I'll show them. I'm gonna get me a sweet bike and I'm training to be a cage fighter.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Tina, you fat lard, come get some DINNER!
Coventina
(27,227 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,799 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Ishtar. If you ignore the huge (by the standards of the day) budget, it's not a bad little comedy, but the critics savaged it badly.
progressoid
(50,032 posts)Well, that and Elaine May had some credibility.
SwankyXomb
(2,030 posts)and marketed as a parody of the Hope-Crosby Road pictures, it might have done better.
Capt.Rocky300
(1,005 posts)A real sleeper until word got out. At least in my neighborhood.
Baitball Blogger
(46,787 posts)He was a cyclist who was practicing Italian? And his buddy tried to race a college kid in a quarry and, though he put his whole heart into it, he lost because the other guy had...technique?
I am spotting a theme here.
Orrex
(63,298 posts)avebury
(10,953 posts)in 3D and I seldom spend the money for 3D movies.
Orrex
(63,298 posts)I know tons of people who loved that film, and the word-of-mouth reviews were through the roof.
Not actually my cup of tea, but that's fine.
ailsagirl
(22,912 posts)Though I did appreciate the sentiments of the film, it was rather amateurish. That didn't prevent it from being a popular movie!!
Xipe Totec
(43,893 posts)Saw it in the theater with my girlfriend.
Half way through the movie, they shut it down and asked us to evacuate.
When we left the theater, we saw an angry red sky from horizon to horizon.
A refinery less than a mile away was on fire.
Got to see a cracking tower take off like a rocket, summer-sault in the air, and crash back on top of some tanks... More explosions.
Chaos and confusion.
I remember driving back into the subdivision behind the refinery, where my house was located. Stopped by a cordon of Mexican soldiers in green uniforms and rifles at the ready.
I remember pushing one of them with my truck until he stepped aside and let me through only to be stopped cold several blocks later by a barricade of vehicles.
I raced the last few blocks on foot, feeling the heat coming from the refinery to my right on my face, expecting the whole thing to blow up at any moment.
I made it home, checked that there was nobody there, and ran back out.
I hitched a ride on the way out on a vehicle that was still just leaving the subdivision. My girlfriend still with me.
We got back to my truck and raced as fast as we could to safety.
Cars were crashing into each other every other block, as people ignored traffic signals and ran red lights.
We managed to make it out of the city and to the ranch, about 15 miles outside the city limits.
From there we watched until the fires were brought back under control.
Many dead. Some refinery workers died closing safety valves and draining tanks to reduce the damage.
That was 39 years ago.
I never did get to see the ending of the movie.
Baitball Blogger
(46,787 posts)Xipe Totec
(43,893 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)and all his supporters lined the road.
IrishEyes
(3,275 posts)It was a nice little film but it became a gigantic hit. I still don't know why it was so popular.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,847 posts)IrishEyes
(3,275 posts)I liked the film. It was okay. I even own it but that is because someone gave it to me. I'v had it for years but I haven't watched it.
LonePirate
(13,448 posts)Of course, you need a loose definition of "hit" for it.
Kennah
(14,379 posts)Initech
(100,155 posts)kairos12
(12,906 posts)Initech
(100,155 posts)"That will happen."
"That will happen."
Teamster Jeff
(1,598 posts)mackerel
(4,412 posts)Sancho
(9,072 posts)lame54
(35,360 posts)olddots
(10,237 posts)it was almost shelved because some test audiences said nothing happens .
It created stars and broke new ground .
mackerel
(4,412 posts)CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)It has a run and was almost finished when Siskel and Ebert praised it and it became a minor pop culture reference.
Any movie where two guys sit, eat, and talk for an hour and a half will have a tough time finding an audience.
There is an article on rogerebert.com talking to Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn for the anniversary of the move.
Tikki
(14,565 posts)IcyPeas
(21,957 posts)played at all the midnight movie houses for years:
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Strange, very beautiful and VERY disturbing.
I remember seeing a double bill of Eraserhead and Tod Browning's Freaks back in the late 1970s at a midnight movie place. Nightmare fuel of the purest kind.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,032 posts)It thoroughly creeped me out; I clearly remember (too clearly) the lady in the radiator, and OMG the "baby."
Major Nikon
(36,828 posts)PRB
(139 posts)got some bad reviews, but I don't think the so-called critics understood it. Ebert gave it an insightful review and he was only 25 years old. Not sure how audiences reacted in general, so maybe it does not fit the criteria of the OP. Just threw it in there.
mucifer
(23,634 posts)But, Siskel and Ebert saw it, loved it and promoted it:
Initech
(100,155 posts)"Are these movies any good?"
"I don't watch movies."
"What about these two?"
"Oh they suck."
"These are the same two movies! You weren't paying attention!"
"No I wasn't!"
kairos12
(12,906 posts)kairos12
(12,906 posts)Initech
(100,155 posts)Oh and Sunday too. We lost some people last week and we need to sort of play catch up. So if you could get here around 9:00, that'd be great. K thanks!
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)theater, but several come to mind well after they left the theater. Among those: The Shawshank Redemption, They Live, and Big Trouble in Little China.