Every adult must acknowledge at some point in their lives that not every classic film is a good film. Some are actually horribly awful. On the other hand, many films that were not well received when they first came out went on to become timeless favorites. A mixture of both can be found among the 23 classic films with the worst Rotten Tomatoes scores. Unfortunately, some are just plain awful. Others are only despised by critics. However, they all share the same trait: they are all classics with rotten ratings, which are defined as having a 50% or lower on Rotten Tomatoes.
At the risk of stating the obvious, Rotten Tomatoes is a relatively recent invention and wasn’t available when the greatest old Hollywood films were first released. Additionally, there were far fewer critics out there willing to voice their opinions to the world before the development of the Internet. As a result, many classic films lack official Rotten Tomatoes ratings, and those that do have ratings aren’t always stellar. It turns out that critics were just as harsh and unforgiving then as they are now. There are some pretty negative reviews of both classic and contemporary Hollywood films. As evidenced by these 23 classic films with dismal reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it turns out that a film requires more from audiences than just big names and significant cultural impact.
1953’s “The Long, Long Trailer.”.
The comedy The Long, Long Trailer, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, received unfavorable reviews from critics, earning a dismal 38 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
1978’s “The Wiz.”.
Surprisingly, only 36% of people like The Wiz. It’s tragic that Michael Jackson and Diana Ross have low approval ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
‘Hook’ (1991).
The audience seems to agree that Hook is a delightful classic. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics, however, only gave the film a 30% rating. It’s better for Rufio.
2003’s “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.”.
I guess I have to doubt everything I’ve ever known about love because How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days only has a 42 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
From 1963, “Cleopatra.”.
Cleopatra, arguably Elizabeth Taylor’s most well-known movie, has a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 55%. Even though it may seem good at first, this is still completely unacceptable.
From 1959, “Gidget.”.
Gidget may have contributed to Sandra Dee becoming a benchmark for youthful beauty and purity, but the critics weren’t impressed, and the film only received a 44 percent rating.
Space Jam was released in 1996.
It makes sense that Space Jam has a 37 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes given that it is considered to be so very bad, which is one of the reasons it is such a classic.
“Yours, Mine, and Ours” was released in 1968.
Yours, Mine, and Ours is a film about two large families coming together that, despite having a 50% Rotten Tomatoes rating, sparked a remake in the early 2000s.
