Movies inevitably become a product of their time. For the most part this is due to the rapid nature of technology’s development. Different techniques are used during different time periods to bring artists’ stories to life. Then there are the things that don’t have anything to do with effects, things that are often at the heart of the narrative. What follows are movies that have aged especially poorly because of those deeper reasons, be they a single character or a plot line that now plays as the diametric opposite of political correctness. As one might expect, these reasons typically have to do with racial insensitivities and or sexism.
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To be included, though, the movie had to have been genuinely lauded at some point. Perhaps it still is with critics nonetheless being quick to point out that there are things that simply do not work today. Let’s unpack what makes these films such hard watches now.
10) The Birth of a Nation (1915)
While there was plenty of backlash to The Birth of a Nation even in 1915, it was also a critical and commercial success. In fact, it has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes to this day. But make no mistake, while it was important to cinema in terms of its construction, it’s a notoriously vile work that puts the Ku Klux Klan on a pedestal.
Exact figures aren’t available regarding just how much The Birth of a Nation made in 1915, but the low side is $50 million. The high side is twice that. If $50 million is adjusted to reflect modern day prices the film would have made at least $1.6 billion. That’s how many people saw it and let that three hours of hate into their hearts and minds.
9) Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is still a lot better than Kevin Smith’s later works and to this day it remains arguably his deepest film, but it nonetheless has an extremely problematic plot at its core. Namely, Joey Lauren Adams’ Alyssa Jones, a gay woman, dates Ben Affleck’s Holden McNeil.
Many people have interpreted the narrative as saying a gay woman can turn straight as soon as she meets a man she feels is right for her. On Chasing Amy‘s 20th anniversary, Smith said that “anyone who watches the movie now and goes, like, ‘Ew, these sexual politics are…not very subtle’, you’ve gotta remember: It was made by a 26-year-old, 27-year-old guy, who really didn’t know anything and was learning in that moment.” That does show, and what was once considered a major step forward for Smith is now infinitely less rewatched than Clerks or Dogma.
Stream Chasing Amy on Kanopy.
8) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was and remains lauded for its choreography, most notably the dance that accompanies a scene of raising a barn. It even won an Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and was nominated for Best Picture.
However, the plot still involves a man marrying a woman who he then expects to cook and clean for him and his six brothers. Worse yet, those six brothers then go out and just flat-out kidnap women they want to marry. The movie plays it all for comedy, like how the “seven brides” then prank the brothers, but the fact it’s playing it all so lightly actually makes it worse.
7) Sixteen Candles
One of the more iconic 1980s teen movies and certainly a work with immense charm, John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles is nonetheless plagued by poorly aged elements, just like most of his output from the decade. But this one is probably the worst of the bunch.
First there is the character of Long Duk Dong who, as the name implies, is nothing more than a walking, talking stereotype played for laughs instead of being a fleshed-out human being. Then there’s the part where Michael Schoeffling’s jock character, Jake, essentially gifts his girlfriend, Haviland Morris’ Caroline, to Anthony Michael Hall’s dweeb character, Ted. She is passed out at the time and it is heavily implied that Ted then proceeds to sleep with her without consent. So much for being a light, feel-good comedy.
6) Grease
To this day Grease is a widely beloved film, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s extremely well cast (including John Travolta, the late Olivia Newton-John, and Stockard Channing), it oozes with charm, and it does a terrific job of emulating late 1950s United States life. But the male characters don’t treat the female characters well at all. For instance, there’s the drive-in movie theater scene, where Travolta’s Danny tries to force himself on Newton-John’s Sandy. She rebuffs him and runs away, and we’re supposed to feel sorry for him because he’s all mopey.
Then there is some of the stuff in the songs, almost all of which are admittedly quite catchy. Even still, “Summer Nights” has Danny’s friends asking him “Tell me more, tell me more / Did she put up a fight?” Then there’s “Greased Lightning,” which has the icky lyric “You are supreme, the chicks’ll cream for grease lightning,” which is certainly an odd way to describe women’s reaction to the sight of a used Ford.
Stream Grease on Kanopy.
5)Manhattan
In Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Allen plays 42-year-old TV comedy writer Isaac, who is dating Mariel Hemingway’s Tracy, who is 17. Considering how 13 years later Allen was accused by Mia Farrow of sexually molesting their adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, it is an already very gross plotline that is cringeworthy now. Allen has always denied the accusation, but he did still start a sexual relationship with their other adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, when she was 19 or 20 and he was 56.
It’s nice that Hemingway received an Academy Award nomination for her work, because her performance is impressive and layered, but it’s a narrative thread that nonetheless makes one of Allen’s otherwise best films incredibly difficult to stomach. In short, it was never a good idea and in time has rightly led to viewers speculating as to whether it was a fictional foreshadowing of non-fictional things to come.
Stream Manhattan fuboTV.
4) Animal House
Featuring the definitive John Belushi big screen performance, even over The Blues Brothers, a handful of gut-busting scenes, and the earliest Kevin Bacon villain role, Animal House is certainly a classic. However, like most of the most important early days college movies it has moments that are rough these days. Fortunately, there’s nothing as heinous as what is seen in Porky’s or Revenge of the Nerds, but they were never critically loved and thus wouldn’t apply for this list to begin with.
This is a movie chock full of young men acting like, well, animals. And considering it has youthful actors playing youths in 1962, there is a lot of language that is racist, homophobic, and blatantly sexist. Not to mention, there is quite a bit of John Belushi engaging in voyeurism that once played as one of the film’s funnier moments. Not so much these days.
Stream Animal House on Netflix.
3) Holiday Inn
While Holiday Inn is a lauded and beloved Christmas movie it still features a scene where a few of the main characters put on a minstrel show. In other words, they wear blackface.
Most of Holiday Inn still plays fine, but naturally it’s jarring once the “Abraham” musical number pops up. Fortunately, most cable TV airings of the film now edit this sequence out, which is for the best and doesn’t ding the narrative flow but so much.
2) Breakfast at Tiffany’s
For the most part Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn, is lovely and has aged just fine. Unfortunately, Mickey Rooney’s performance as I. Y. Yunioshi is horrendously racist. It yanks you right out of the movie like a lasso connected to both you and an eighteen-wheeler going downhill.
The deeply problematic character even extended to the film’s marketing. Instead of listing Rooney in the cast list, Paramount put out a press release saying an unknown Japanese comedian would be playing the character. His name was listed as Ohayo Arigatou, or “hello” and “thank you” in Japanese. Producer Richard Shepherd wanted to do the right thing when it came to casting but director Blake Edwards knew Rooney quite well, wanted him to do it, and overruled Shepherd.
Stream Breakfast at Tiffany’s on Kanopy.
1) American Beauty
Sam Mendes is a fantastic director and at the time (and even still, do a degree), American Beauty was a very impressive directorial debut. But it is extremely difficult to watch these days.
On top of none of the characters being particularly likable and the whole “what a lovely floating bag” thing being a bit of an eye-roller, it has a major throughline involving Kevin Spacey’s Lester Burnham fantasizing about sleeping with his daughter’s teenage friend. It’s not a small part of the movie and is creepy to the max. The sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey (for which he was found not liable in a 2022 civil lawsuit) only compound the discomfort of these scenes.
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