the list of 9 for november 5, 2007:
NINE MOVIE TITLES WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS!
A movie title becomes invariably silly when a "!" has been added to it. Few studios will make theattempt today because they know how goofy it is. (Imagine: Good Night and Good Luck! TheMatrix! American Beauty!) But back in the day, I suppose the exclamation point was meant toinform viewers that there was much fun and excitement to be had. Of course, there are many great films that used this punctuation - Help!, Oklahoma!, Them! et al. These are my favorite titles:

  1. BOOM! This 1968 film arrived with a great pedigree: StarsElizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, director Joseph Losey and screenwriter Tennessee Williams(who decided, or was told, that his original play title The Milk Train Doesn't Stop HereAnymore would not be as effective as Boom!). Alas, Boom! bombed.

  2. BURN! Weird Marlon Brando pseudo-western from 1969 isbased on the story of Sir William Walker (which was also made into an Ed Harris picture,Walker, some 20 years later). Its original title, Queimada, is the Italian commandform of "to burn" - only it didn't need the exclamation point. Burn! bombed as well, but it has its fans.

  3. DIE, MONSTER, DIE! It seems as though the 1960's were rifewith exclamatory movie titles - one of them, Oliver!, even won the Best Picture Oscar. Asfar as I know, 1965's Die, Monster, Die! was not nominated for anything.

  4. KILL! KILL! KILL! This 1971 dud came towards the sad endof actress Jean Seberg's life; it was directed by her abusive husband Romain Gary. Still, gottalove the title.

  5. HANGMEN ALSO DIE! This World War II-era drama wasco-written by famed German playwright Bertolt Brecht, during his wartime exile in Santa Monica,and directed by Fritz Lang. It's generally considered a pretty good movie. But why the need forthe corny punctuation in the title?

  6. I WANT TO LIVE! This 1958 death row biographical drama wonSusan Hayward a Best Actress Oscar. I guess the urgency of the title wouldn't quite work withoutthe exclamation point. Still, it's a title that's awfully fun to say aloud in an overly dramaticway.

  7. SCREAM... AND DIE! Again, no Oscars for this 1973 drive-inturkey. But it provides a nice response to I Want to Live!

  8. BERSERK! Joan Crawford's career was a joke by 1967, butshe was still playing the martyred mom - even in this gruesomely awful circus-based suspensepicture, gruesome mainly for its display of a 62-year-old Crawford in fishnets. Former sexpotDiana Dors comes off even worse, if you can believe it. Boring at times, but great camp.

  9. AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS! And with this 1973 Hammerhorror flick, today's list concludes.

Copyright © Mark Tapio Kines 2011