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Longest Movie Titles?

post #1 of 23
3/9/08 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 
Can anyone come up with a title of a fairly mainstream movie - ie, not some wacky indie flick - that's longer than The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford?
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post #2 of 23
3/9/08 at 10:00am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" is one that I can think of.
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post #3 of 23
3/9/08 at 10:01am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Well, it's not a wacky indie flick: Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)

This could count, too: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
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post #4 of 23
3/9/08 at 10:01am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (1967)

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies! (1964)

And my favorite long movie title -

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1967)

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post #5 of 23
3/9/08 at 10:02am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb.

EDIT: Damn, beat by a minute.
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post #6 of 23
3/9/08 at 10:21am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Maybe not AS long.. but close

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
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post #7 of 23
3/9/08 at 10:28am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D (in 1991)

Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Terror (1991)
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post #8 of 23
3/9/08 at 11:04am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

An old Dustin Hoffman movie:

Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Christou
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1967)
That's the actual title of the play, but I'm not sure it counts as the title of the film, which is generally known as Marat/Sade and is so listed at IMDb. Not an easy question to resolve.

M.
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post #9 of 23
3/9/08 at 11:13am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

I'm surprised no one mentioned:

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, or, How I Flew From London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes

and there was something else that struck me as both more recent and more obvious, but between now and then....

I also had the (mis?)fortune to be involved in a stage production of Marat/Sade a few years ago. Stressful stuff on us in the tech crew, especially ending the show with a liquid accelerated fire in the middle of the riot at the end...

Leo
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post #10 of 23
3/9/08 at 12:39pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966)
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)
Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969)
Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969, Anthony Newley's infamous ego vehicle)
The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World (1970)
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1971)
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)
Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back) (1980)

And don't forget all those movies about those rings and that lord of it.

Also, Fred Astaire sang a song in Royal Wedding called "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?"
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post #11 of 23
3/9/08 at 4:15pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Quote:
That's the actual title of the play, but I'm not sure it counts as the title of the film, which is generally known as Marat/Sade and is so listed at IMDb. Not an easy question to resolve.

It's real easy to resolve...just watch the movie!

The long title is the correct name of the film.

Some other movie titles with 10 words or more:


Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad

The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak

The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger

Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun

The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe

The Blue Collar Worker and the Hairdresser in a Whirl of Sex and Politics

Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love

Summer Night, with Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and Scent of Basil

A Joke of Destiny, Lying in Wait Around the Corner Like a Bandit

The End of the World in Our Usual Bed in a Night Full of Rain

Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August

She Does Not Drink, Smoke or Flirt But... She Talks

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat

Gas! -Or, It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)

How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie

Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie

Carry On... Up the Khyber or The British Position in India

Carry on Abroad or What a Package or It's All in or Swiss Holes in the Snow

Carry on Doctor or Nurse Carries on Again or Death of a Daffodil or Life Is a Four-Letter Ward - A Bedpanorama of Hospital Life

Carry on at Your Convenience or Down the Spout or Ladies Please Be Seated or Up the Workers or Labour Relations Are the People Who Come to You When You're Having a Baby

Carry on Loving or It's Not What You Feel, It's the Way That You Feel It. or Two's Company but Three's Quite Good Fun Too. or Love Is a Four Letter Word or It's Just One Thing on Top of Another

Carry on Matron or from Here to Maternity or Familiarity Breeds or Womb at the Top or the Preggars Opera

Carry on Up the Jungle or the African Queens or Stop Beating About the Bush or Show Me Your Waterhole and I'll Show You Mine

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post #12 of 23
3/13/08 at 10:28am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
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post #13 of 23
3/13/08 at 6:54pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

It!

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post #14 of 23
3/15/08 at 2:52pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

A lot of rather obscure titles have been thrown out, so I'm surprised no-one has mentioned my favourite long movie title:

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

(which I wouldn't think is very obscure - it's a 1990s Hugh Grant film)
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post #15 of 23
3/16/08 at 2:01pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

That was it!

I knew there was another one I was trying to think of, way back in message #9... And I just saw it again, relatively recently (within the last six months, I think.)

Leo
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post #16 of 23
3/16/08 at 4:14pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The Intentional Killing of Mister Gibbons
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post #17 of 23
3/16/08 at 9:59pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Leo - glad I could help.
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post #18 of 23
3/16/08 at 10:11pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley
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post #19 of 23
3/17/08 at 8:02pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Another Demonstration of the Cliff-Guibert Fire Horse Reel, Showing a Young Girl Coming from an Office, Detaching Hose, Running with It 60 Feet, and Playing a Stream, All Inside of 30 Seconds (1900)


It should be noted that it takes longer to read the title than to watch the film.
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post #20 of 23
3/20/08 at 6:21pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Quote:
The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley
That's only if you take an overly literal interpretation of the idea that "the title is as presented onscreen". The other descriptors are clearly not part of the film title, and are presented as the titles attempting to find a single word to describe Ripley. None of the descriptors appear on screen with any of the others, and the only one to stay onscreen for more than a flash was "Talented". The title is clearly The Talented Mr Ripley - it's the title of the original book, and presented as such on the script, on all the posters, the soundtrack album, the VHS and DVDs, etc.
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post #21 of 23
3/20/08 at 7:01pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Well, the imdB lists it as the official title. It's not like I'm taking this thread too seriously with that.
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post #22 of 23
3/20/08 at 8:09pm

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Most of these films are demonstrations of "The Rule of Five", namely that any film or book with more than five words in the title is a stinker. (BTW, I don't think subtitles or series titles should count - thus the Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia designations aren't a part of the title proper of those films.)

The Broadway stage, especially the musical theater, had a vogue for wordy titles in the 1960s, which somehow managed to sidestep the Rule of Five, and a number of the films mentioned above were adapations of these productions. (Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying) are examples.)

But these are all exceptions. (And How to Succeed... was itself an adaptation of a book that parodied both corporate America and the self-help book phenomenon, so the title was deliberately exaggerated to begin with. Borat, with its ludicrous subtitle, is an example of a similar mocking approach to titles.) Generally speaking if you need more than five words to convey what your film is about, you have a pretty lousy film on your hands.

Regards,

Joe
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post #23 of 23
3/21/08 at 4:56am

Re: Longest Movie Titles?

Quote:
Well, the imdB lists it as the official title.
It has it as an "also known as" title, with the comment that it is the "complete title" - but the IMDb is made up of user contributions, and the person who contributed that was clearly also applying an overly literal interpretation of "the title is what is shown onscreen". The whole presentation of the other adjectives is clearly part of the title design rather than being part of the actual title - it considers a lot of options before settling on the one word "talented" as the appropriate way to describe Ripley in the film.
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