If you could destroy one movie... (1 Viewer)

[SteveGon]

If you could wipe one film off the face of the earth, which one would you pick?

Also, if you could save one film for posterity, which one would you choose?

I think I could destroy Batman & Robin and live guilt-free for the rest of my life.

I'd save The Third Man.

 

[Ches Campbell]

I would destroy The Pledge and save The Shawshank Redemption.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

I would destroy The Messenger: Story of Joan of Arc. Offensively bad.
Please people spare us any potential future rants or moralizing on how it would be wrong right to destroy any film.
I would save Empire Strikes Back While it's not number #1 on my list, It's the one film in my top ten that most other people would also enjoy watching.

 

[Brian Kissinger]

Bye, bye Sleeping with the Enemy.
Saved forever, The Princess Bride. A truly wonderful movie that is fun for everyone.

 

[Chad Isaacs]

Toss up between Battlefield Earth and Screwed....oh,and John Carpenters Vampiers

And I would save......Fight Club

 

[LisaH]

Destroy Forrest Gump
Save The Godfather

 

[Evan Case]

Hit the road Birth of a Nation. Your innovations aren't worth it, not with the superior (and far less nasty) Intolerance waiting in the wings.
As for what to keep... while The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite film, the one I'd choose isn't even in my top 10: Citizen Kane. With the exception of color photography, Kane provides unending examples of what cinema is and what it is capable of. It can show you what great writing, acting, editing, lighting, cinematography, flashbacks, mise-en-scene, symbolism, music, direction, and almost anything else film-related is all about. Save a copy of Ebert's commentary for added impact.
Evan

 

[Al Fischer]

i would nuke Lost Highway

and save Tapeheads

 

[Patrick McCart]

I would destroy nothing. I'm pro-film preservation and I believe that films should be preserved regardless of what is the content. Although A Birth of a Nation has many racial stereotypes of African-Americans (blackface Anglos, in fact...) you can't look past at the innovation. Intolerance is a good exercise in EDITING, but Nation is still a fantastic piece of filmmaking, warts and all. Of course, I'd put Birth of a Nation way before a movie like Screwed or The Mummy Returns.
Now...if I could preserve a movie myself, it would be Georges Melies' 1902 (100 years old this year, BTW.) masterpiece...
A Trip to the Moon.
Every movie made after this was inspired by this film in one way or another. The Great Train Robbery would be a close second, but it's being preserved right now. In fact, the camera negative still exists and is in near-perfect shape.
Ok...if I were to kill a film (Which I'm very tempted to!) I would incinerate...
American Pie 2.
I hate that movie.

 

[John Berggren]

I have destroyed many films in my mind.

Carnosaur and Breakfast of Aliens have ceased to exist as far as I'm concerned.

I don't think I can pick one film to save. Rather than being overjoyed about saving "To Kill A Mockingbird" "Schindler's List" "Contact" or one of the other hundreds of films that spring to mind when I think of my top ten, I'd be crying over those lost.

 

[Travis Olson]

Obliterate: Moulin Rouge
Save: A.I. Artificial Intelligence

 

[SteveGon]

Quite an interesting selection of films we've got here!
Patrick, in all seriousness, I wouldn't really destroy any film. It's just that I often dream of frisbeeing (did I just invent a word?) the negative of Batman & Robin into an active volcano and was curious to see if anyone else indulged in such fantasies...

 

[Rain]

Of course I would never really destroy any film, but since this is just an HTF poll, I'll pick the atrociously bad Hannibal. This one in particularly irks me not only because it's so bad, but because so many people seem to think it's actually good. As a way of assuring that I will never have to see it again, and to help those poor souls who think it's good, into the hypothetical dumpster it goes.
As for preserving, of course I have to choose my favourite film: 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

[Ricky Hustle]

I would destroy I Spit on Your Grave. The movie is a disgusting piece of shit that makes me want to puke whenever I think about it. (and I didn't even watch the whole thing). A friend actually tried to 'turn me on' to this film.
I would preserve many, many films. The first film that comes to mind is .... um, er.... Vertigo

 

[Rob Lutter]

There are so many films that I would like to destroy... but I have to agree on Hannibal... sigh, I think people liked Silence of the Lambs so much that they really hate this film on the inside... but tell each other that they like it to become one of the crowd. Hannibal isn't even in the same ballpark as SOTL... sigh. Batman and Robin is a close second.
The one film that I would preserve is Stanley Kubrick's epic 2001: A Space Odyssey... it tells so much with simplicity and is the most amazing piece of film I have ever seen. If someone one-thousand years from now found a copy of 2001, it would still make sense [somewhat]. Empire Strikes Back is a close second
EDIT: Hey Rain, we agree on something!

 

[Evan Case]

Patrick, of course I would never destroy BOAN now. But if, in some alternate reality, Intolerance had been the first Griffith epic, I think film history would be the better for it. As for an aesthetic comparison of the two, let's just say I disagree with you about Intolerance's relative merits.
Also, while BOAN (obviously) destroys Screwed and Mummy Returns from an artistic standpoint, I've yet to see a Danny DeVito crapfest serve as a veritable KKK recruitment source while being simultaneously praised for its historical veracity by the President of the United States.
Evan

 

[rhett]

Destroy: Gladiator, for the same reasons Rain would chuck Hannibal.
Save: Dawn of the Dead. It embodies the paranoia and changing ideologies of the revolutionary 1970's, and its epic political statements elevate it from the standard horror film cliches into a landmark motion picture.
BTW, nice call on A Trip to the Moon Patrick, definitely one of the defining films of cinema.

 

[Rob P S]

Destroy The Blair Witch Project

Save The Shawshank Redemption

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

I'd burn the original negative to Resident Evil and then I would piss all over the ashes. One of the worst and most un-original movie I have seen in ages. How people are giving it more than three stars on the HTF's 2002 Film List is beyond me. If you liked Resident Evil, you really need to see more zombie movies (or more movies in general, but if I said that, then Jason_Whyte would yell at me, and that wouldn't be good ).
If I could save one movie: Donnie Darko.

 

[Bill J]

Destroy: Rush Hour
Save: Apocalypse Now