People describe their favorite movies with adjectives like “perfect” or “flawless.” Personally, I am not sure a “perfect” movie exists. Great movies exist. Classics exist. Perfect movies? I don’t know. How do you define perfection in something as subjective as a work of art?
Plus, even some of the greatest movies of all time contain notable mistakes, continuity errors, or even whole scenes that drag or distract from all of the parts of the film that do work. That brings us to this list of 15 beloved motion pictures with one very bad moment. These films include numerous Oscar winners, several canonical titles that routinely appear on lists of the greatest films in the history of cinema, and some of my own personal choices for the best movies ever.
Do these mistakes diminish these great movies? Not in my eyes. In fact, in a few cases, they almost make me like them more. Imperfections in beloved movies remind us how hard it is to make a truly great work of art, especially in a medium like cinema, where every single element you see onscreen is the result of many decisions made by the director, writer, cast, and crew. For any one element you movie you love, countless choices had to go exactly. For something to go wrong, it just takes one screwup somewhere along the line.
Here are my picks for the worst parts of 15 great films.
The Worst Parts of 15 Great Movies
These movies are terrific. They’re not perfect, though.
READ MORE: 10 Painfully Realistic Movies About Relationships
The Best Performances in Terrible Movies
These actors did good work in otherwise crummy films. Let’s tip our hats to the performers who refused to phone it in.
