November Staff Selections: Literary Turkeys

Eastman Johnson, Feeding the Turkey, c.1872-1880

Posted by Staff.

In honor of November, this month's staff selections are "turkeys we all love."   In this sense, a turkey is something dumb, silly, or a dud, not a holiday food item.  We can't say these movies will provide any mental nourishment, but they will guarantee some good laughs.

Alana T.: Battlefield Earth (DVD, 2000)  Forest Whitaker and John Travolta play ugly, cruel and not too clever aliens trying to take over Earth.  Amazingly, hypnotically bad!

Evan E.:  The Room (DVD 2003)  This movie is so bad it's good!  Santa's Slay (DVD 2005, not available through the IHLS)  So it turns out that Santa is really the son of the devil....

Pam O.: Ishtar (VHS, 1987; not available through IHLS).  Warren Beatey and Dustin Hoffman in the desert - what's not to love?  Hint, this movie was only released on DVD in Europe, it was assumed no-one in the U.S. wanted to see it again.

Zach H.: Starship Troopers (DVD 1997)  A serious novel turned into a political satire, it is hard not to watch this movie and enjoy it even at it's cheesiest moments.

Staff member who chooses  not to admit publicly she paid for and watched this (entire) movie in a theater:  Death Race (DVD 2008)  Prisoners race each other to the death in order to win their freedom.