16 Vintage Movies We Wish Time Could Help Us Forget

Looking back at the movies we grew up with can sometimes feel like stepping on a landmine of awful decisions. What passed for entertainment decades ago can leave modern audiences baffled at how these scripts were ever made, let alone approved and developed into film.

This is why we’ve decided to collect just a few of the most questionable movies of the vintage era, going over why they might not sit well with audiences today. It makes us wonder what people in the future might think about the cinema we are producing right now.

The Birth of a Nation

Dave Kehr called this movie “the film you cannot show without apology.” With its deeply offensive message and revisionist history, modern audiences definitely wish we could just erase it entirely from the archives.

Gone with the Wind

Produced by David O. Selznick, this 1939 epic historical romance is a giant of cinema. Still, adapting Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel brought plenty of troubling themes that make modern viewings pretty awkward.

Peter Pan

Based on the classic work by British novelist J. M. Barrie, this animated fantasy definitely shows its age. The character designs and songs contain stereotypes that are incredibly tough to sit through now.

Holiday Inn

While it features some lovely music and classic dancing, the mid-century humor contains a deeply regrettable minstrel routine. It is exactly the kind of dated scene you fast-forward through when visiting relatives.

National Lampoon’s Animal House

Directed by John Landis in 1978, this comedy starring John Belushi practically invented the college party genre. The humor is aggressively dated, featuring plenty of questionable behavior that belongs entirely in the past.

Overboard

The premise of holding someone captive and tricking them into servitude was always incredibly bizarre for a romantic comedy, something the 2018 remake thankfully flips on its head.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Directed by Stanley Donen in 1954, this musical film features an ancient Roman legend about abduction as its core plot. Dancing around holding women hostage is not quite the romance audiences want today.

The Searchers

John Ford directed this 1956 epic Western based on the 1954 novel. While the cinematography is beautiful, the extremely harsh attitudes and cultural depictions make it a deeply uncomfortable ride from start to finish.

Howard the Duck

Ed Gale portrayed the title character in this 1986 self-titled disaster. The movie was commercially and critically unsuccessful, delivering a weird mix of oddball humor that simply never worked for any generation.

Mannequin

Turning a dress dummy into a romantic lead is certainly a creative choice. The bizarre premise feels incredibly creepy by modern standards, leaving us scratching our heads about how it ever got greenlit.

Superman IV The Quest for Peace

This 1987 superhero film received negative reviews for all the right reasons. The boring action sequences and awful special effects led directly to the cancellation of a fifth movie, something we’re all thankful for.

Plan 9 from Outer Space

Directed and produced by Ed Wood in 1957, this independent science fiction movie posthumously bills Bela Lugosi. It is famously cheap and incredibly strange, earning its reputation as a uniquely terrible vintage experience.

The Toy

This comedy leans entirely on a premise that treats a human being like a purchased plaything. It is a wildly uncomfortable setup that makes modern audiences cringe straight out of their seats.

Short Circuit

This robot comedy feels like it came from a totally different planet. Between the clunky mechanical gags and some incredibly poorly aged cultural portrayals, it is a nostalgia trip better left untaken.

Weird Science

John Hughes directed this 1985 teen science fantasy comedy that became a cult classic. Despite its mixed reviews, the idea of kids creating a woman on their computer is incredibly cringeworthy to revisit.

The Blue Lagoon

Brooke Shields won the first Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in this 1980 film. Critics panned the execution and screenplay, proving that a tropical island setting cannot fix a deeply awkward narrative.