Mental Floss

The Quick 10: 10 Amazing Actresses in 10 Awful Movies

By Stacy Conradt

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This whole post started a couple of weeks ago when I was researching terrible movie moms. I came across the #1 spot on our list and was stunned that Bette Davis had stooped to such a movie. I guess it just goes to show how fickle Hollywood can be. Watch out, Julia Roberts!

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2. Joan Crawford in Trog. An ape-like creature is discovered in a cave and an anthropologist "“ Mommie Dearest, of course "“ wants to study him. She gets him back to her lab and starts her research, but some locals think Trog is a menace and break into the lab to kill the poor thing. Of course, Trog is the one who ends up killing the murderous mob and then goes on a misunderstood killing spree throughout town, but mostly it's self defense. Trog ends up getting gunned down and Joan Crawford is supremely saddened. As am I. As was Joan, actually. According to IMDB, she once joked that if it hadn't been against her religion, she would have committed suicide after seeing how awful the film was.

3. Myrna Loy in Ants, AKA It Happened at Lakewood Manor. Oddly, I think I've seen this film. Hopped up on insecticide, a bunch of rampaging ants attack. This 1977 made-for-TV movie is a long cry from The Thin Man series that made Loy a star.

4. Ann Margret in The Santa Clause 3. Maybe this one isn't so bad, but I have a personal distaste for the second and third Santa Clause movies.

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9. Teresa Wright in Flood! You might not know the name, but Teresa Wright won an Oscar for Mrs. Miniver and was nominated for The Pride of the Yankees. But for 1976's Flood!, another Irwin Allen movie, she wasn't nominated for anything.

10. Tippi Hedren in Satan's Harvest. As one of Hitchcock's favorite blondes, Melanie Griffith's mom could do no wrong for a few years "“ she won a Golden Globe for "best newcomer" for her role in The Birds and got rave reviews for Marnie. But starring in Satan's Harvest in 1970 didn't really continue her streak. One of the movie's tagline was "She's a good girl "“ until she smokes R-E-E-F-E-R!" if that tells you anything. It's about a man who inherits his uncle's ranch in South Africa and has to deal with attempts on his life all of the time; he can't figure out why until he discovers that the ranch is actually a marijuana goldmine. And to be fair to Tippi, I think it's not her fault that she had to stoop so low "“ when she declined to work with Alfred Hitchcock again after they had some personal problems, he told her that he would ruin her career. "And he did," Tippi has said.

Also, pretty much every actress from the "˜30s and "˜40s who was still alive in the "˜80s appeared on either The Love Boat, Falcon Crest or both.

I'm positive you guys have more to add "“ and why limit it to older actresses? If you want to talk about the flops that present-day movie stars have been in, feel free to throw those in as well. I mean, seriously, Jamie Foxx went from Ray to Stealth? Meh.