Biggest star in worst movie?

Mark Tinta got me thinking about this on the horror board where everyone was discussing just what in the hell Henry Fonda was doing in TENTACLES. Research for ON GOLDEN POND, perhaps? A Tinta quote:

So what is the all-time worst case of an A-lister who has gone down the tubes? Richard Harris in STRIKE COMMANDO 2 is a great example. Here is a guy who is a multi-nominated leading man and respected stage actor working with a director who gave us HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980) and VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON (1982).

Has anyone sunk lower than that? Oliver Reed perhaps? I guess I should narrow it down to former A-list leads because, honestly, we could talk Madsen and Sizemore all day (although I don't think any of them could top veteran sidekick Donald Pleasance popping up in FATAL FRAMES). And no cameos. I'm talking full on lead roles.

PS: And, no, Stephen Geoffreys doesn't count!

Were these people A-list in the sense that Julia Roberts and George Clooney are A-list? Not always, but they were respected, often award-nominated actors who definitely hit a rough patch.

Treat Williams was a promising young actor in classic films by Sidney Lumet and Sergio Leone, and just a few years later, was in Tonino Ricci's NIGHT OF THE SHARKS (1987, released in the US in 1990).

After WALL STREET, DA, and JUDGMENT IN BERLIN, Martin Sheen was in a whole slew of bad, mostly straight-to-DVD movies from 1989 to around the premiere of THE WEST WING. I mean, BEVERLY HILLS BRATS? TOUCH AND DIE? GUNS OF HONOR? DILLINGER AND CAPONE for New Horizons, with F. Murray Abraham?

Harvey Keitel and Klaus Kinski in the wretched Spanish sci-fi atrocity STAR KNIGHT (1986). Maybe doesn't count for Kinski, since he made no secret of going where the money is, even turning down RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK because VENOM paid more.

Telly Savalas, in one of his last roles, in Fred Olen Ray's mid-1990s Skinemax fixture MIND TWISTER (1994).

Arthur Kennedy in EMANUELLE ON TABOO ISLAND (1977).

Richard Conte's final role came in the vulgar Italian EXORCIST ripoff NAKED EXORCISM aka THE POSSESSOR (1977)

This post has been edited by Mark Tinta on Oct 30 2009, 06:23 PM

I was almost tempted to mention John Carradine and his Olen Ray expeditions, but by the time his career was winding down he had done tons of those kinda flicks.

This post has been edited by William S. Wilson on Oct 30 2009, 06:36 PM

Yeah, but most of Carradine's appearances in these things Fred Olen Ray and/or Jim Wynorski outings were cameos (or, in the case of JACK-O, unused footage appearing in a film seven years after his death). Savalas had the lead role in MIND TWISTER, playing a detective investigating a murder in between gratuitous scenes of ROAD HOUSE's Gary Hudson getting it on with Suzanne Slater and Erika Nann (and, presumably, giving the viewer a chance to re-energize). I'm sure Savalas shot it in a couple of days, but from what I recall, he's in the whole movie.

This one just popped into my head:

Rossano Brazzi going from SOUTH PACIFIC to co-starring with "Boris Lugosi" in the Dick Randall-produced FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE OF FREAKS.

And these weren't leading roles, but more extended cameos, but how can we forget Mel Ferrer, going from RANCHO NOTORIOUS, LILI, WAR AND PEACE, and the cover of Life with ex-wife Audrey Hepburn, to Umberto Lenzi's EATEN ALIVE and NIGHTMARE CITY?

Oh! And Glenn Ford turning up in 1991's RAW NERVE, with Traci Lords, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ted Prior, Sandahl Bergman, and Randall "Tex" Cobb!

Orson Welles?

Joan Crawford in TROG is the classic one, right?

My vote goes to Veronica Lake in FLESH FEAST. Has anyone else who was once a star been in anything worse than that flick?

Roy Scheider appeared in a really slipshod horror flick in the early 90s, THE DOORWAY, which seemed quite a bit worse than even the other DTV stuff he did a lot.

Burt Reynolds has been in some embarassments in recent years, CRAZY SIX (also with Rob Lowe) being one of the worst and most incoherent....

I don't think I've ever seen WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH but it doesn't sound like the highlight of Laurence Harvey's career. Same goes for Basil Rathbone in HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE. Well, why don't I throw a third one in here: CUBAN REBEL GIRLS with Errol Flynn (and his 16 year old girlfriend). Note to myself: get a copy of this one. I've got more books about Flynn than any other actor.

All great suggestions!

Gah, I can't believe I didn't think of Bela Lugosi and his foray into Ed Wood's world. Bela was no Richard Harris, but he was quite a big star back in the day.

I'd put Aldo Ray (SWEET SAVAGE) and Cameron Mitchell (DIXIE RAY, HOLLYWOOD STAR) appearing in hardcore porn movies near the top of this list.

I think those might be the best examples. I ruled Stephen Geoffreys out because he made a choice to participate in porn. But to be in a porn film only to act? That is, pardon the pun, hardcore.

Well, it's not Ray's or Mitchell's non-active participation in hardcore porn, but more along the lines of Fonda in TENTACLES: Van Johnson landing on the Italian D-list in the the late '80s/early '90s with TAXI KILLER, KILLER CROCODILE, and DELTA FORCE COMMANDO 2.

Boris Karloff didn't fare all that much better with dreck like Fear Chamber.

My thoughts run to...
Myrna Loy and Gloria Swanson in AIRPORT '75
Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray, Olivia de Havilland and Richard Widmark in THE SWARM
Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Joseph Cotten and Olivia de Havilland in AIRPORT '77

And let's not forget the lead, Michael Caine!

Not the highlight, but not an embarrassment either. He directed this movie, and in the press defended it to the end -- literally, since he was overseeing the editing from his deathbed.

Val Kilmer is entering this sad fraternity. Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. has been there for a while. Anyone who had an A-list career that suddenly dives into DTV is treading heavy water. But perhaps like Martin Landau in his D-list years (THE BEING, etc.) they can swim against the tide, as I extend this metaphor...

Wait, is THE SWARM worse than JAWS THE REVENGE?