Crappy movies you watched in school

[Jordacar]

Kids always like watching movies. Sometimes school teachers sit their young students down to watch an educational movie, or a venerable film classic. But sometimes it's clear that the teachers just like their students to shut up for 80 or 90 minutes while they go to the playground and smoke weed, so they'll throw on the latest flavor-of-the-week disposable piece of celluloid.

That being said, what less-than-classic movies do you recall enduring while you were attending grade school?

[Toku King]

Surprisingly, the movies they've been showing this year at my school aren't that bad. Just today we got to see the first 15 minutes of "The Crucible", which wasn't too bad(and we're finishing the film next class).
A last year, though, I was forced to watch an awful health film, which was stupid by every sense of the word. Luckily, they let us watch "Super-Size Me" soon after, and that movie rocks.

[the_coldest_sun]

The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore
Romeo & Juliet (1968)


Extremely boring to watch in class. The only good thing about it was the few seconds we got to see of Juliet's bare rack. Not too shabby.

[Rik Levins]

Death On The Highway.

Don't know if they're still showing this in Driver's Ed classes, but it was a gruesome (by the standards of the Sixties) series of closeups of mangled accident victims. It was intended to scare us kids into being more careful when we got our driver's licenses.

Of course, today's teenagers are so inured to horrendous movies and video games that they'd probably laugh at it.

[howyadoin]

Romeo & Juliet (1968)


Extremely boring to watch in class. The only good thing about it was the few seconds we got to see of Juliet's bare rack. Not too shabby.We saw that when I was in 7th grade. People were quite surprised.

[Toku King]

The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore
Romeo & Juliet (1968)


Extremely boring to watch in class. The only good thing about it was the few seconds we got to see of Juliet's bare rack. Not too shabby.

How was "Romeo and Juliet" bad? I liked it.

[Legato]

Sound of Music: Hours of my life I wish I had gotten back.

[DubipR]

I happen to like the Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet. Sure Olivia Hussey's rack is a plus, but's not a bad adaptation.

I also remember watching in grade school Lord of the Flies (1963) and The Great Gatsby (1974).

[Toku King]

Sound of Music: Hours of my life I wish I had gotten back.

Man, that is the movie I have been forced to watch the most in school ever. Still, not awful. Just annoying.

We had to watch "Animal Farm" last year, and that was horrid. The book is one of the greatest novels I have ever read, but that movie was just plain bad.

[Toonimator]

The Land Before Time.

When I was in 10th grade.

In "Modern World History" of all places.

We also saw some good stuff like "Sergeant York" and "Day One" in that class... but "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" as well. I enjoy that flick, but for historical merit it's the very definition of 'crappy'.

But "Land Before Time" tops all.

Same year, for about a month in Honors English, we quit poetry and watched Monty Python sketches and lots of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (back when Drew Carey was only on A&E's Evening at the Improv and nobody had heard of Wayne Brady), and even played Whose Line ourselves, in class. Not crappy by any means, just a fun counter to the worthless History class (oh, we got a lot out of English including that month-long comedy break)

[Legato]

Man, that is the movie I have been forced to watch the most in school ever. Still, not awful. Just annoying.

We had to watch "Animal Farm" last year, and that was horrid. The book is one of the greatest novels I have ever read, but that movie was just plain bad.

If you mean the one with Patrick Stewart in it I didn't think it was that bad. It wasn't great but I consider it decent enough to watch whenever you feel bored.

[Black Atom]

While discussing the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century, our teacher made us watch the movie Smoke Signals.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120321/

It was awful and only tangetially connected to the subject we were discussing in class because it was about modern-day Native Americans. Still, I guess it beat a lecture/homework.

[The Xenos]

Freshman year of high school we had to read and then watch A Separate Peace. I agree with Lisa and her grandma. I hate John Knowles.

The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore
Romeo & Juliet (1968)

Extremely boring to watch in class. The only good thing about it was the few seconds we got to see of Juliet's bare rack. Not too shabby.

Okay, your teacher needs to be fired if they showed Dimwit Moore's horrible version of The Scarlet Letter. I don't care if Gary Oldman was in it. I remember my teacher commenting how horrible it was and how it fundamentally altered the story. Unless it was to show how different it was, I don't see why your teacher showed it. Even then it's a waste of time. Well, unless it was a test to see if you actually read the book. One of the few good things the movie is good for, I guess.

Meanwhile, yeah, totally underage Juliet's backside and maybe a little side boob. That was nice to see in class.

[Jared]

It seems like we all saw the same version of Romeo and Juliette. I guess the teachers knew what it's take to get our attention.

In 9th grade we had to watch Ethan Frome, after having read the book. It was like pouring salt on a wound.

[Toku King]

If you mean the one with Patrick Stewart in it I didn't think it was that bad. It wasn't great but I consider it decent enough to watch whenever you feel bored.

There's only one Animal Farm, and I cannot see how anyone can like it. I wanted to knock over the television.

And for whoever said "Land Before Time" sucked: You have no soul.

[DrewTheXenocide]

We watched The Patriot in seventh grade. It's weird, because even though I know it's a crap movie, all I'll ever be able to think about when watching it was how cool it was seeing it in class at age twelve. Which means it's awesome.

[Code Ten]

There's only one Animal Farm, and I cannot see how anyone can like it. I wanted to knock over the television.
Actually there's two versions. One is the version with Patrick Stewart. The other is a crappy animation version which (by coincidence) I had to sit through in high school.

[Kirayoshi]

If you mean the one with Patrick Stewart in it I didn't think it was that bad. It wasn't great but I consider it decent enough to watch whenever you feel bored.
There is the animated version. In my Current Affairs final, we saw the movie and wrote a detailed essay comparing the story to Soviet Russian history, using what we learned in our class as the basis of our argument. I got extra credit for identifying The Old Major as Marx/Lenin, Snowball as Trotsky and Napoleon as Stalin.

Anyone remember Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land? The Jiminy Cricket "I'm No Fool" safety films? Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom?

[Sean Whitmore]

Koyaanisqatsi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi).

I can't in all fairness call it a bad movie. I can say that as I watched it I kept hoping the projector would break and the teacher would go back to lecturing about Dziga Vertov.


SEAN

[Matt K]

Pre-College all I watched were pretty good movies: Amastad, Amadeus, Glory, the beginning of Last of the Mohicans (never saw the rest in school). I guess the only bad one was Yentil.

College was a different story. I took a class on films and we watched Hiroshimo Mi Amor, La Dolche Vida, Reds (the only decent movie and I slept through part of the middle) and a bunch of others. Hiroshima was the worst of the bunch (and the worst movie I've ever seen) but I didn't care for any of them.

[Toonimator]

Oh, I never said Land Before Time was crappy itself. I really wanted to see it as a kid, but never did until that day in high school... the 'crappy' part was that it was shown in high school, in a class called Modern World History.

To the person who saw The Patriot in class... which one? Gibson, or Segal?

My cable company regularly mixes the two up when it's shown on premium, on the guide feature's info blurb. Any movies that have the same name are a toss-up as to which is actually shown.

...or was it the '80s one which I'd never heard of until just now, checking IMDb, and is described as a 'truly awful 80s action movie'?

[Doodle Bob]

We watched The Patriot in seventh grade. It's weird, because even though I know it's a crap movie, all I'll ever be able to think about when watching it was how cool it was seeing it in class at age twelve. Which means it's awesome.

Well, the Gibson movie is not only crap as a movie, but it's crap as history. I am *really* crap, as in complete fabrication. It is depressing to think that someone would actually use this as a pedagogical tool other than a "Once again Hollywood gets history completely wrong" lesson.

[Guy1]

Anyone ever watch the modernized version of Romeo&Juliet with Dicaprio?
I thought it was dumb the first time, but the second time I had to watch it I was able to get a laugh from it.

[Your Imaginary Pal]

wouldn't say crappy, but inappropriate.
There was an assembly for an after school center for the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday.
I was asked to give a speech as martin luther king (http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h125/Baqula/kingme2.jpg)
and one of the teachers thought it would be a good idea to play the Dr. King Episode of the Boondocks.
From the uncensored DVD.

I can't make this Sh!t up.

[xnef1025]

The Red Balloon. For some reason I hate that fricking movie. Could be because we watched it ever single goddamn year(sometimes 2 or 3 times) from 1st through 6th grade.

[Jared]

wouldn't say crappy, but inappropriate.
There was an assembly for an after school center for the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday.
I was asked to give a speech as martin luther king (http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h125/Baqula/kingme2.jpg)
and one of the teachers thought it would be a good idea to play the Dr. King Episode of the Boondocks.
From the uncensored DVD.



Well, if you already had the 'stache, you were asking for it. :)

The Boondocks is what kills me. I haven't seen that episode, but I've seen enough that I can just imagine...

[Toku King]

Actually there's two versions. One is the version with Patrick Stewart. The other is a crappy animation version which (by coincidence) I had to sit through in high school.

The live action one is the one I saw, and it was horrid.

[oanswat]

The Wave!!! Fascism is a slippery slope!!!

[oanswat]

The Red Balloon. For some reason I hate that fricking movie. Could be because we watched it ever single goddamn year(sometimes 2 or 3 times) from 1st through 6th grade.

Seriously, Why the hell do they show foreign movies to gradeschoolers. It just makes them hate them.... and for good reason.

[SnowTrooper]

I've watched more good movies in school than crappy ones. Since my freshman year, I've watched Shrek, Forrest Gump, Pay It Forward, and Hotel Rwanda all in school.

The Wave!!! Fascism is a slippery slope!!!

I'm pretty sure I watched that movie too. Was it almost like an afterschool special movie with the guy who played Sen. Kelley in the X-Men movies?

[Your Imaginary Pal]

Well, if you already had the 'stache, you were asking for it. :)

The Boondocks is what kills me. I haven't seen that episode, but I've seen enough that I can just imagine...

grew out the stache, just to play the part, I usually sport the gotie.

[JDogindy]

Surprisingly, the movies they've been showing this year at my school aren't that bad. Just today we got to see the first 15 minutes of "The Crucible", which wasn't too bad(and we're finishing the film next class).
A last year, though, I was forced to watch an awful health film, which was stupid by every sense of the word. Luckily, they let us watch "Super-Size Me" soon after, and that movie rocks.

I got to enjoy "Super-Size Me" as well, although it's the "educational" one that throws in all those questions and edits out the cussing and vomiting.

Usually, we would've gotten to see a movie just for the fact that we needed to kill time before the Vacation.

Then there was the time where we LEFT school to see a movie: Beowulf. I have to say, that movie does NOT stay true with the tale, no matter how tedious it was.

[Michael P]

wouldn't say crappy, but inappropriate.
There was an assembly for an after school center for the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday.
I was asked to give a speech as martin luther king (http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h125/Baqula/kingme2.jpg)
and one of the teachers thought it would be a good idea to play the Dr. King Episode of the Boondocks.
From the uncensored DVD.

I can't make this Sh!t up.

That sounds like a great idea to me.

[Damiean Dark]

The Never Ending Story and Labirynth:biggrin: they dont make childrens films like they used too the 80s wil always rule in that aspect for me.

[The Xenos]

The Wave!!! Fascism is a slippery slope!!!
I'm pretty sure I watched that movie too. Was it almost like an afterschool special movie with the guy who played Sen. Kelley in the X-Men movies?
That's the name of it! I remember seeing that in middle school.

Also, I remember watching Bridge to Terabithia after reading the book. That is, the made for TV movie. It wasn't bad. The new version wasn't either, but the added fantasy elements were pretty damn odd. Making it worse was that the marketing for the film focused on the fantasy and I barely recognized it from the ads.

[Toonimator]

Then there was the time where we LEFT school to see a movie: Beowulf. I have to say, that movie does NOT stay true with the tale, no matter how tedious it was.
Oh we had a few of those in high school, not necessarily crappy. Field trips to see Schindler's List & Forrest Gump (one was after school hours, I think), a 2nd-to-last-day after school field trip (since it was a half-day) to see Jurassic Park, but the strangest was an Honor Roll field trip to see... Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. "Congrats on being studious! Here's an incredibly dumb movie where you can give your brains a well-earned rest while a funny man talks out of his ass." We had a blast!

[Athena Bast]

I can't remember what it was called but Gene Hackman and the chick who played Maid Marion in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" as his daughter. They were both lawyers. I think it was called In Contempt or something like that. We watched in for Law Class on a tour bus on our way back from visiting Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick I think.

[Jordacar]

Also, I remember watching Bridge to Terabithia after reading the book. That is, the made for TV movie. It wasn't bad. The new version wasn't either, but the added fantasy elements were pretty damn odd. Making it worse was that the marketing for the film focused on the fantasy and I barely recognized it from the ads.Just want to get this off my chest.
I really liked the new version, but the ad campaign was confusing to me too. So before the movie came out, I read the book, which was even more confusing, because when you read the book, you don’t automatically think, “I hope the filmmakers get some Weta digital in here, because Terabithia’s gotta look awesome!” All those scenes in the book are really simple kids-goofing-around-stuff. Normally the creative decision to add state-of-the-art special effects to an otherwise low-key story would be a horrible decision. It would be like saying, “This romance novel is sweet and all, but you know what it really needs? Ninjas! That’ll get asses in seats!” But, against all odds, I thought the effects sequences really worked great and served the story. That and the non-effects scenes stick extremely close to the book. Conversely, if you were to watch the film before reading the book, you would never guess that those effects sequences aren’t in the book, because they fit and work so well onscreen.

There, I've covered myself.

[Jordacar]

I remember watching SECRET OF NIMH in 1st or 2nd grade, but I don't remember anything past the title
http://edukfun.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/02-title-screen.jpg

which blew me away right there. I probably blacked out from the awesomeness of the glowing fiery title.

[Damiean Dark]

I remember watching SECRET OF NIMH in 1st or 2nd grade, but I don't remember anything past the title
http://edukfun.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/02-title-screen.jpg

which blew me away right there. I probably blacked out from the awesomeness of the glowing fiery title.

The book is a million times better though.

[tangentman]

While discussing the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century, our teacher made us watch the movie Smoke Signals.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120321/

It was awful and only tangetially connected to the subject we were discussing in class because it was about modern-day Native Americans. Still, I guess it beat a lecture/homework.

Huh. I actually liked Smoke Signals. I thought it was charming, quirky, and poignant at the right moments. Yeah, the guy in the glasses got annoying at times, but that wasn't enough to kill the movie for me. Sure, it has jack-all to do w/19th Century history, but it's a far cry from "awful".

Gothos, I'm in complete agreement about A Separate Peace. I never cared for that story or the movie. In 10th grade, the English teacher showed us a truly wretched PBS version of Julius Caesar. Bad enough that the teacher was the most boring I'd ever had and Caesar was my least favorite of the dramas. She saw fit to throw in a boring movie shot on a stage.

Personal pet peeve: I LOATHE watching "movies" that are essentially videotaped stage productions. I'd rather see a play live at the theater, not filmed.

[K'Nort]

I had really good luck with movies in school.

I didn't particularly enjoy Grapes of Wrath or Olivier's Hamlet (both of which we watched after reading the book, not instead of) but we were also shown Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, so that was pretty cool.

The best part of Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet was that the teacher was going to fast forward past the nudity but accidentally hit freeze instead and then couldn't get it off.


The coolest film thing, however, was high school biology. He showed The Hellstrom Chronicle but presented it as an actual science documentary rather than as satire. Basically, it's about insects. But the scientist presenting it slowly reveals himself to be raving mad. Believes the bugs are superior to humanity and will soon take over the planet. Our teacher knew it was fake and was messing with us.

[Jordacar]

The best part of Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet was that the teacher was going to fast forward past the nudity but accidentally hit freeze instead and then couldn't get it off.I always got the distinct sense that the teachers never knew how to operate the VCRs.

[wayshway]

I had a science teacher that used to drink a lot so he would bring in a TV and VCR and let us watch movies like Commando and Terminator. lol

[Sabrina_Fried]

I watched Ladyhawke (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089457/)in one of my (mandatory) history/social studies classes in high school. We were supposed to learn some really important lesson from it I am sure....mostly I spent the time honing a skill that would serve me well when I got to University: Sleeping with my eyes open.

In grade school we also had an anti-racism day where the whole school watched an episode of Star Trek TOS. I can't remember its name right now, but it was the one with the alien race where one side of their face is white and the other is black, and then there is a race they consider subservient because the face colours are reversed.

Sabrina

[Michael P]

I watched Ladyhawke (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089457/)in one of my (mandatory) history/social studies classes in high school. We were supposed to learn some really important lesson from it I am sure....mostly I spent the time honing a skill that would serve me well when I got to University: Sleeping with my eyes open.

In grade school we also had an anti-racism day where the whole school watched an episode of Star Trek TOS. I can't remember its name right now, but it was the one with the alien race where one side of their face is white and the other is black, and then there is a race they consider subservient because the face colours are reversed.

Sabrina

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."

Nerd trap sprung.

[Jordacar]

I watched The Power of One in 7th grade. Not only is it extremely violent and depressing, not only is it poor history (and also apparently strays wildly from the book), but it's really not good a film (which could've made up for everything else). For ex, after an action-packed and death-filled climax, the protagonist walks off into the sunset in at a point in history that is essentially the beginning of Apartheid and the Afrikaner takeover.

[Expletive Deleted]

We had a field trip to see "Fern Gulley: The Last Rainforest" while it was in theaters. It was quite edutaining.

[Ontir]

Casino

God I LOATHED this film! By the time Sharon Stone got offed I wanted to clap, and when the crapfest finally ended, it did so by blowing their narrative structure. I don't care that the claim was plausible, you can't have a double-omniscience and then alter the rules of how it works.

[ultramandingo]

.......im 5th grade for halloween ( circa 74 ) mrs rodman made us watch FW Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) on a 16 mm projector

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3529/nosferatu.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nosferatu.jpg)


and yes it did f@ck me up for the rest of my life

[Totoro Man]

While discussing the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century, our teacher made us watch the movie Smoke Signals.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120321/

It was awful and only tangetially connected to the subject we were discussing in class because it was about modern-day Native Americans. Still, I guess it beat a lecture/homework.

what? that's not a terrible movie-- but it's not something I'd waste on a classroom. it's obviously a film designed for adults who feel crappy about themselves and how they relate to their parents.

but I'm half Native American--so I could actually, sad to say, relate to a lot of the stuff shown in that movie.

but damn! that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Native American Wars-- I certainly wouldn't make people watch that as a substitute for doing the hard work of research and explaining things to my students. nah, I'd make people do a crapload of homework on that junk. look out kids, here come the topographical maps and order of battle! if I can, I'll bring in some replicas of the weapons! :p

heheheh, I guess you'll be glad I wasn't your history teacher then. I'd have given a lecture and made you do homework! :rolleyes:

[Gaastra]

We watched--

Romeo and juliet--same one.
animal farm--animated
mickey's christmas carel
legend of sleepy hollow--both the disney one and the black and white one.
treasure island--disney one
ernest goes to camp---It had just come out on vhs.
hamlet--hated it to.
the hobbit--animated
donald and the wheel
sergent york
space jam
cartoon all-stars to the rescue
it's a wonderful life
to kill a mockingbird
the outsiders
in high school the teachers snuck in speed and the 1989 batman movie for us to watch!

My sister had to watch lord of the flies but not me.

[Darth Joker]

Kids always like watching movies. Sometimes school teachers sit their young students down to watch an educational movie, or a venerable film classic. But sometimes it's clear that the teachers just like their students to shut up for 80 or 90 minutes while they go to the playground and smoke weed, so they'll throw on the latest flavor-of-the-week disposable piece of celluloid.

That being said, what less-than-classic movies do you recall enduring while you were attending grade school?

Not necessarily crappy, but... I watched the Sounds of Music, Annie, and a movie about Shakespeare, while in music class.

For one English class, we watched a really low production mid-50s/60s (I think) adaptation of Shakespeare's MacBeth. The final fight against MacDuff was done well, but the rest of the movie was pretty forgettable.

For Environmental Science, we watched Biodome. Ah... the glories of Pauly Shore. :wink:

[Mike Pothier]

Some horribly acted modern update of the classic short story "The Lottery". We were making fun of it the rest of the day.