10 Most Controversial Films Of The Classical Hollywood Era

2. Citizen Kane (1941)

Citizen Kane will forever be known as one of the greatest films of all-time due to its ground-breaking innovations in storytelling, narrative structure, cinematography, and music. With all that going for the film, you must be thinking 'how can one of the greatest films ever also be one of the most controversial?' For Citizen Kane, the controversy came upon its release when someone of great power felt a bit slighted by the film. William Randolph Hearst, head of a massive newspaper empire at the time, caught wind of the film just before its release. Despite never seeing Citizen Kane and only relying on word-of-mouth, Hearst was enraged at the idea of the film being a thinly veiled and unflattering portrait of him. Using his wealth of resources and influence, Hearst made every effort he could to slander the film, halt its release, and to basically make life miserable for the studios, Orson Welles, and whoever was involved with making the film. The studios resisted Hearst's pressure and Citizen Kane was a modest success but the film was booed and hurt by Hearst's smear campaign. Welles had the last laugh though as all the booing soon turned away from the film and onto anyone talking smack about Citizen Kane.