Worst movie, film, short, video, etc. you had to watch in school or for school?

[pstokely]

I'm talking about preschool through grad school (or your furthest completed educational level) I was forced to watch The Buttercream Gang and other stuff produced by "Feature Films for Families"

[Jokerman]

1. "Animal Farm"

Not that it was a bad movie, just that my shit-for-brains second grade teacher (Mrs. Reagan) thought that anything animated was made for children.

She started the film and left the room, thereby warping my fragile little mind.

[Pool Hall Ace]

2. I've never hard of The Buttercream Gang, so I looked it up

on imdb. It sounds really snooze-worthy.

I can't recall any atrocious videos myself; maybe another poster will jar my memory.

[skygazer]

3. "Go Ask Alice"

Mandatory viewing in health classes during the 70's along with several other "horrors of doing drugs" movies that were popular at the time. :eyes:

[mitchum]

7. I have always wanted to organize a film festival of that genre...

"Go Ask Alice"
"The People Next Door"
"Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring"
"The Death of Ritchie"
and many more

[XemaSab]

18. Reefer Madness

:P

[Oeditpus Rex]

38. Seriously?

I thought that was a pretty good movie, especially the performace by a very young MacKenzie Phillips — certainly light-years better than the "Not MY Kid!"-type of teevee movie that swamped us in the late '70s and '80s.

I didn't see it in school, though, and it was like 30 years ago.

[devilgrrl]

43. Did you ever read anything about that joke of a book?

http://www.shutitdown.net/text/askalice.html

[ChickMagic]

4. Whatever the sex film was called

I left not knowing anything really about sex, but
I could identify a chancre an 500 yards.

[begin_within]

5. "Signal 30" and "Red Asphalt" (driver safety scare-gore films)

[ThoughtCriminal]

35. Yep, those were the worst

And the anti-drug films in the 60's.

And we didn't have the MST3K bots to add comentary. God help you if you were caught snickering during the film.

[Rhythm]

37. First thing i thought of was "Signal 30" as well...

Gawd-awful thing...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. The English Patient

Had to watch it in college. Sorry, but I'm with Elaine Benes on that one. That movie sucked.

I did have to watch "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and His Lover" in college as well. The ending of that movie literally killed my appetite for a least a couple of days.

[pstokely]

14. What class was this for?

a film class

[Tommy_Carcetti]

20. English Patient was for War and Literature

"The Thief, The Cook...." was for a class called "The Unspeakable." As in topics in literature that are difficult to describe in words.

[Wetzelbill]

33. same here, I had to watch it for a college screenwriting class

I fell asleep. Of course, it was at like 7:30 am and I was short on sleep anyway, but the film didn't help.

[IndianaJones]

8. Free to be you and me. nt.

[MAGICBULLET]

9. believe it or not

I took a psychology class in high school and they made us watch "Can't Buy Me Love" with Patrick Dempsey. What a nightmare! I think they wanted to teach us not to pick on each other. I'd rather learn the hard way and after that movie I think matters got worse at school.

[pstokely]

15. How long ago was this?

Did the teacher like that movie?

[MAGICBULLET]

25. circa 1993

I think he actually never saw it and he felt like he had to. I wish I knew

[datasuspect]

10. these

* 60 Minutes of Car Crash Victims
* Adjusting Your Self-O-Stat (with Brad Goodman)
* Alice's Adventure through the Windshield Glass
* Alice Doesn't Live Any More
* Birds: Our Fine Feathered Colleagues
* The Decapitation of Larry Leadfoot
* Designated Drivers: The Lifesaving Nerds
* Dig Your Own Grave and Save
* Earwigs, Ew!
* Firecrackers: The Silent Killer
* Fuzzy Bunny's Guide to You-Know-What
* Get Confident, Stupid!
* The Half-Assed Approach to Foundation Repair
* Here Comes the Metric System
* Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly
* Locker Room Towel Fights: The Blinding of Larry Driscoll
* Man Versus Nature: The Road To Victory
* Meat and You – Partners in Freedom (a Meat Council film, part of the "Resistance is Useless" series)
* Mommy, What's Wrong With That Man's Face?
* Mothballing Your Battleship
* Phony Tornado Alerts Reduce Readiness
* Shoplifters BEWARE
* Smoke Yourself Thin
* Someone's in the Kitchen with DNA!
* Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun
* Young Jebediah Springfield (A Watch-and-Learn Production)
* Welcome to Springfield Airport (an information kiosk film)
* Where's Nordstrom? (an information kiosk film)

[orleans]

45. where the hell did you go to school? and why'd you keep a list? n/t

[pstokely]

48. He must have gone to Springfield elementary

[Mad_Dem_X]

61. You went to Springfield Elementary? Cool, man!

[swimmernsecretsea]

11. Josie

It was this film shown in my "Faith and Jesus Christ" class at Loyola Marymount University, about 1983.

It opened with a group of people, all from the same apartment building, holding an informal wake at one of the group member's apartments, talking about a former tenant who died recently. They each talked about how Josie had been nice to them, flashing back to, for instance, when an effeminate male (who now dressed conservatively) brought home another man when Josie stopped them in the hall to talk to them, causing the person he was bringing home to flee the scene.

As their conversation progresses, it becomes clear that "Josie" is a metaphor for Jesus. Now, the description sounds a bit less heavyhanded than the film, and there are some good moments in it, but it embarrassed me then, as I had just come out. The teacher of this course never liked anything subtle in any case, so you can tell how maudlin this film got as it went on.

[mitchum]

12. I had to watch Kazan's film of "A Streetcar Named Desire"...

in a Southern Lit grad class.
By my calculations, based on tuition fees, I paid 47 dollars to watch a movie (that I had already seen several times)

[TrogL]

13. some of the early science education films

Shot in grainy black and white, horrible sound with a narrator who shouted, absolutely no camera motion.

[CreekDog]

16. any school film adaptation of a Shakespeare play

my awake reaction :wtf:
my other reaction :boring:

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. "My Mom's Having a Baby"

:yawn:

[ghostsofgiants]

19. Armageddon.

x(

[Critters2]

21. "It's Wonderful Being a Girl"

All about the special joys of having your monthly visit. The most important thing I learned is that I should be sure to wear makeup during that time, or *gasp* people will know!! Very helpful indeed.

Here's a taste:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3__DUte2hI&feature=related

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. We were shown a film of the same name in 5th grade, but it must have been

an earlier version: the girls wore shirtwaist dresses, and when the main girl got her period, she walked into the kitchen with her hand over her abdomen, looking vaguely queasy, and saying, "Mom, I think I'm menstruating."

You THINK you're menstruating? Go take a look and make sure. :eyes:

Now see the Disney version from 1946. (I'm not making this up!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kWR-rIKRe4

[Critters2]

39. I may never stop laughing!!

The music alone was enough to send me into convulsions!! :rofl:

[kath]

42. Walt. Disney's. "The. Story. Of. Menstruation." - oh my goodness! Who'da thunk it??!

[pstokely]

44. Is it in the public domain?

Maybe the guys behind MST3K at rifftrax could riff it?

[FloridaJudy]

22. This one comes close

"Body Care and Grooming"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKcgB68h2M4

"Expressing individualism is just plain wrong!"

:rofl:

[kath]

41. Oh. My. God.

[orleans]

46. "and so...the end to a perfect day.

"an entire day spent grooming."

that's hysterical! i watched the whole damn thing! thanks for the amusing show.

[LeftyMom]

23. The childbirth video in health class

Where some hairy seventies woman pops out a kid in about fifteen minutes, makes almost no noise, and delivers in the lithotomy position. It was both really unrealistic (birth is generally a slow process,) and a really dated view of obstetric care.

Ladies, if anybody suggests that you deliver lying on your back, you owe it to yourself, your child and your sisters to immediately kick that person, very hard.

[kath]

24. "The Innocent Party" - bad, but friggin' hilarious. Still discussed with old classmates (with hoots

and guffaws) more than 30 years later. Here is the plot summary from imdb:

Don and Nicky journey to the big city one night, and pick up two trashy girls who smoke cigarettes and--even worse--wear eye makeup, so naturally they have sex. The next night Don, newly un-virginized, persuades his girlfriend Betty to have sex with him, too. Soon Don and Nicky discover that they have sores and itching "down there", and Don goes to see the school doctor. He is told that he has syphilis, and to tell Betty and have her get examined. It turns out she has syphilis, too. Can their disease, caused by Don's outrageous behavior--which, as the doctor sternly notes, "is condemned by society"--be successfully treated in time?

Also watched a hilarious anti-marijuana movie featuring Sonny Bono (!)
Various other health-type films whose titles have been forgotten.

[kath]

26. Woo-hoo - turns out this one is available online:

http://www.archive.org/details/innocent_party "I've got some kind of sore -- down there" BWAH! :rofl:

Turns out a guy who calls himself A/V Geek has collected a ton of these old school films, advertising films, other weird stuff: http://www.archive.org/details/avgeeks

INcludes "The Innocent Party" and one called "Keep Off the Grass" about evil marijuana, which I think we also saw in health class.

Here's a great article about the Sonny Bono movie:
http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?articleid=22906&pagename=article
excerpt:
...Sonny Bono’s voice assures us that he will examine each of the points they bring up. And when the camera cuts to him, we see that he’s going to be doing so while dressed in gold lamé pajamas. The film loses a little credibility at this point because, as you know, the only people that wear gold lamé pajamas are either very much on drugs or ancient kung fu warriors. And judging by how there is no pile of foiled ninja crime behind him, we can conclude the following about Sonny: totally high.

[Orrex]

27. Johnny Tremaine

We watched it at least once a year from 4th through 9th grade, and each year it was presented to us as if it were a great treat.

Drek!


Of course, the hand-in-mercury scene was a crowd-pleaser, but that still leaves about 90 minutes of unwatchable film to get through.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Some gory car accident film they showed us before prom night.

I think it was called "Signal 30." Eww.

[kath]

30. That one's available online:

in two parts, both here (I just ate, so I'm not going to watch it now. We saw some gory films in drivers' ed in the 70s, not sure if I've seen this one):
http://www.open-video.org/results.php?keyword_search=true&terms=Safety%3A+Automotive&PHPSESSID=9b754e3d616d77920f6e223425598b9a

Found this blog that mentioned "Signal 30"
http://trulybadfilms.blogspot.com/2006/01/signal-30.html

Ite ended with this:

"I'm so glad I documented the title of the film we watched in my diary that day. It led me to discover this movie, released in 2002, that I have GOT to see:

Hell's Highway - The True Story of Highway Safety Films

It covers the history of the Highway Safety Foundation, which was the oddly well-intentioned producer of the bloodiest of this genre's pictures. In the years since I saw Signal 30, I've wondered how the filmmakers ever got permission from the families of the deceased and injured to use such graphic footage in their Edu-Sploitation films. Maybe, back in those days, it wasn't something people thought to sue about. Or maybe permission was granted in a burst of "If this prevents somebody else's teen from becoming hamburger . . ." generosity.

However they came to be, I am fascinated by the Cold War era Scare-em Straight films that were made to solve all of society's ills. There were "your pecker's gonna fall off if you rub it on a French girl" films, and "you'll go crazy like a Mexican if you smoke dope" films, and "you already need glasses from touching yourself" films, and "the Home for Unwed Mothers has no malted shakes and no Prom Night, Missy!" films. All of this anxiety and admonition was delivered in hectoring style with a light dusting of fallout and I love them all".

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

32. Yikes. Think I'll pass.

That film grossed me out completely back in 1965 or thereabouts. We were herded into the gym and required to watch it, so when it got totally grotesque (I think the worst part involved some people in a car that got hit by a train) I took off my glasses so at least the gore was blurry.

Ick.

[TrogL]

60. We never saw them - we were so upset

[BlueIris]

29. "A Separate Peace." Worst. Movie. Ever.

In 10th grade AP Lit, our class could not help laughing like, every other scene. I don't even think our teacher made us finish it.

[graywarrior]

31. The My First Period films

Christ Almighty.

[GRLMGC]

36. This 1949 Great Gatsby adaptation

Actually, I want to track this one down because the scene where Myrtle gets hit by a car is amazing.

[philosophie_en_rose]

40. "The Miracle of Life"

I don't remember much about it, except for the horrific depiction of childbirth at the end. Childbirth is a miracle, but that video was a nightmare.

[Pool Hall Ace]

50. Oh, was that narrated by Eddie Albert?

I remember a "miracle of life" type film edited by him. I just tried to get a nap in. :)

[JCMach1]

47. The Amazing Dobermans

:puke:

Thank God the film melted 3/4 through.

[Tabasco_Dave]

49. Here's a good LSD film

The lsd film i saw in jr high had a scene where this hippie girl touches a flower but it's actually a lit stove burner. I can't find it on youtube but i found this little gem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5TJApnJ8X8 remember folks, hot dogs and acid don't mix :hippie: :rofl:

[hedgehog]

58. Pink capris and a brown and green blouse! The horror! LSD made it

sound like a good idea! That scares me straight!

[joneschick]

51. Night in Fog

I think that was it. Newreels of death camps. I have no idea what class it was for.

[Sentath]

52. All I remember is that it had something to do with direct dialing

and featured a claymation charaster that kept turning into things instead of dialing the phone... Very hallucinatory.

[noonwitch]

53. The Red Balloon

I hate that movie. I never understood it, and kindergarten is too young to be exposed to french existentialism.

The sex-ed movie we watched in fifth grade that showed a cow giving birth was gross, but kind of cool, too.

[End Of The Road]

54. I think it was called "The Last Prom"

A real heartbreaker about the inevitable fatal car crash for the inebriated on that oh-so-magical night.

[unpossibles]

55. LSD: Trip or Trap

although I must have looked at it as a "how to" instead of a "don't do"

[mochajava666]

56. Bartleby the Scrivener

"I would prefer not to" have ever seen that movie in my literature class in High School.

I also remember a French version of "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" that was pretty weird.

The Driver's Ed films were pretty traumatizing, when they weren't downright funny. High School...so few years, so many scars...

[Dr. Strange]

57. "Things that should not be coming out of your anus."

It wasn't as fun as it sounds, let me tell you.

[Miss Carly]

59. anything that was in the "film strip" media......BEEP

It scarred me for life....I never got to hold the clicker that would change the picture, only the preps and class pets got to do it........:(

[Broken_Hero]

62. A toss up,

Quest for Fire, my Junior year of high school, or The Merchant of Venice(play with John Rhys-Davis) my Junior year of college...

BTW, I've seen the Butter Cream Gang...and all I gotta say is...

"Is that a threat, or a promise?"

"Its a promise!!!!!!!!"