All filmmakers have their magnum opus – a production that’s deeply personal to them, and one that they’re immensely proud of. Francis Ford Coppola had The Godfather, George Lucas had Star Wars, Martin Scorsese had Taxi Driver. The list goes on and on.
But how good that magnum opus may turn out to be depends on various factors, one of which is the person behind it not being a self-indulgent jackass who puts their ego ahead of everything else. These films are examples of when that didn’t happen…
5. The Conqueror (1956, Dir. Dick Powell)
Actors playing characters of different races to themselves can have varying degrees of success. It can be amazing like Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List, it can be pretty unconvincing like Anne Hathaway in One Day, or in the case of John Wayne in The Conqueror, it can be astoundingly bad and monumentally stupid. Why? Because he was playing Genghis Khan.
A man who is an enduring American icon, mostly starred in westerns, and who Wikipedia describes as being famous for his calm voice played Genghis Khan, a Mongol warrior who is regarded as one of the most pitiless and bloodthirsty warlords in the history of mankind. Take a moment to fully appreciate how mind-bogglingly idiotic that is.
And it wasn’t a random notion by some overpaid film executive either. This was all John Wayne’s idea. The story goes that the film’s director Dick Powell briefly left Wayne alone in his office and Wayne found a script for The Conqueror that Powell had been about to throw away. Wayne insisted that he wanted to make the film with him in the role of Genghis Khan and Powell, despite initially trying to talk him out of it, agreed and production began. Powell later said about the matter “Who am I to turn down John Wayne?”
Wayne later came to deeply regret this ego attack, claiming that the message to take from it was “not to make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you’re not suited for.” An interesting side note is that the film was apparently written with Marlon Brando in mind for the role. Which is equally stupid.
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19 Comments
Good article – agree with most, but Francis Ford Coppola’s personal was not The Godfather; it was The Conversation, more so. George Lucas had American Graffiti, and Martin Scorsese had Mean Streets and Raging Bull ahead of Taxi Driver.
I’m not very familiar with Ford Coppola and Scorsese’s works but I definitely consider Star Wars to be Lucas’s magnum opus. Nothing else he’s done has matched the expanse of his vision for Star Wars and he put an enormous amount of effort into it.
I don’t know if it necessarily made it a bad movie or not, but the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea was a complete ego trip for star, writer and director Kevin Spacey. He sang all of Darin’s songs and released an album of the recordings. There were reports of him dressing and acting like Darin during the recordings of the songs. And to top it all off, he even commissioned four large painting of himself as Bobby Darin to hang in his home. I might be wrong, but I think he was a Darin fan.
I personally believe that something can be good even if the makers are being a bit self-indulgent. You could say that anybody who makes a film based on their favourite book or TV programme is being self-indulgent to an extent but it’s how you manage your self-indulgence that matters. I haven’t seen Beyond The Sea but if I decide to a do a follow-up to this piece at some point, I’ll definitely check it out.
Django Unchained. Not even close. Also Natural Born Killers.
I concede the point on Moonwalker.
There is no film that can top the self-indulgence of Rudy Ray Moore in the movie Dolemite. Dolemite is the name of an urban hero that Moore decided to adopt as an alter-ego in his standup comedy act. In 1975, Moore decided to create the film about Dolemite using many of his friends and fellow comedians as cast and crew. The movie on its face is so patently absurd it has become one of the seminal urban classic Blaxploitation films. Given that Rudy Ray Moore adopted the persona, the film is an exploration into how he sees himself. In the movie Dolemite is an expert martial artist; an irresistible man to women (so much so they aspire to be one of his prostitutes and literally some even fight to the death for him). He is also “wrongly imprisoned by the police” but as we later learn he is such a positive influence on his African American community, no less than the Governor decides that he be put back on the street – he is that important. Once let out of prison he kills – suggested as self-defense – dozens of people. In the end the FBI turns to him to bring down the corruption of a racist police force and Mayor all the while ignoring the murder and mayhem he was responsible for throughout the film. During two separate points in the film, the movie basically comes to a halt while Rudy Ray Moore (still in character) delivers two comedy routines that are obviously put in the film to highlight his nonexistent comedy talent. This film redefines self-indulgence to depths I never thought would be allowed on film – and I loved every minute of it. The charm of the movie is that it is that the self-indulgence is so blatant that what Rudy Ray Moore likely thought was a narcissistic homage to the individual he believed he was or wanted to be, turned into a unintended comedy in which Moore himself is the joke.
Fun and interesting read and like you say, leaves room for sequels. Wasn’t The Conqueror also the role that actually eventually killed John wayne, as well as several other cast and crew due to radiation poisoning from filming on location at a nuclear bomb testing area? i remember reading that somewhere…
It was indeed. I considered mentioning that but it wasn’t to do with John Wayne’s egotism and was more of a tragic oversight so I felt it was irrelevant. Plus I thought it would be in poor taste to poke fun at it as I have with the films on this list.
Though I felt that Melvin Van Peebles’ gonorrhoea was fair game because 1) He’s still alive and has continued to make films since contracting the disease. 2) It was his own stupidity and self-indulgence that caused it. 3) He decided to use it to his advantage so he obviously isn’t that bothered by it.
He gets a pass because though self-indulgent his movies are still excellent… Tarantino is the KING of patting himself on the back during his films though… I swear the guy probably falls victem to more self-induced blowers cramps than Daunte from Clerks….
I agree with Lady in the Water, sheesh that was wretched.
I would also say Kevin Costner deserves a few movies on this list, Waterworld, The Postman.
I agree with JD above. In fact many of his post movie post Pulp Fiction seem self indulgent, especially Planet Terror.
How bout Battlefield Earth, sure that was supposed to be John Travolta’s pet project, yet it damn near destroyed his film career for the 2nd time.
It was number five on the list at one point but then I remembered The Conqueror and thought it was more deserving of the place than Battlefield Earth. Though John Travolta’s narcissism surrounding was pretty amazing with him saying that it would be “like Star Wars, only beter” and signing copies of the oirginal book even though he had nothing to do with it bar wanting to make a film of it.
I agree with the tarantino idea. He has become incredibly narcissistic since Jackie Brown. The last shot and dialogue of Inglorious Basterds? Not exactly subtle indulgence either!
Although Travis, Planet Terror was not really his – Rodriguez Directed that half of Grindhouse, Tarantino Directed Death Proof.
The first date i ever went on was to take a girl when i was 11 to watch Moonwalker on the pictures. I didnt get a second date. :(
Way harsh on Moonwalker, seems like more of an attack on Michael Jackson. I’ll concede that the film is bonkers and a complete mess, but its no more self-indulgent than ANY concert film or documentary about a particular person. So comparing it to regular narrative films isn’t really fair.
Agree with everyone that’s mentioned Tarantino, enjoy the guy’s films but his head couldn’t get much bigger.
To be fair, this article is an attack on the makers of all these films and not just Jackson. Also, Moonwalker did attempt to have a narrative thus I think it’s totally fair to compare it to other narrative films. And yes concert films do tend to be quite self-indulgent (though only if the people they are covering is part of the creative team e.g. they are director or producer) but I highly doubt any of them have scenes where the person they focus on turns into a spaceship that saves a group of children from a drug dealer. Moonwalker is way more narcissitic than almost all concert films.
Did you guys ever see that t.v. special shamy did. It was an awful documentary proclaiming that all of his movies were based on true events, that happened to him as a child. That should be numder one on this list.
As mental and egotistical as that sounds, it sadly wouldn’t be eligble for this list as it’s not a film.