Although a great number of the most beloved films of all time – from Mary Poppins to Jaws – have been adored by fans and critics right from the off, many other iconic movies have had a rather different route to classic status.
Whether it be the case of critics misunderstanding them upon release or audiences neglecting them in favour of more overtly commercially-minded fare, some films now regarded as firmly part of the canon were once considered major duds.
We’ve taken a look at some of those examples below, covering everything from game-changing 1930s musicals to re-appraised cult classics from the 2000s.
Scroll down for our list of 11 classic films that Hollywood initially got wrong.
1. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
A film that is considered by many to be a must-watch every Christmas (and with good reason!), it’s hard to comprehend that Frank Capra’s marvellous, life-affirming masterwork was ever considered anything other than one of the finest films ever made.
But not only did the film perform relatively poorly at the box office upon its release, it also received a decidedly mixed response from contemporary critics, many of whom were unimpressed by what they perceived as cheap sentimentality (though it did nonetheless land five Oscar nomination, including for best picture.)
It wasn’t until some decades later – when the copyright elapsed in the 1970s – that the film truly became known as the festive favourite it is today, with frequent showings on TV helping to build it’s reputation as the Christmas classic of all Christmas classics.
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This masterpiece from Frank Capra is a film with much more to it than festive feel-good sentimentality and still has a lot to say about community spirit.
As the suicidal man who is shown the value of his life by his guardian angel, central character George Bailey is Mr Deeds, John Doe and Mr Smith rolled into one and only James Stewart could have so successfully lent him the self-doubt that gnaws away at his essential decency.
As with all good morality tales, the villain has to be exceptional, too, and Lionel Barrymore is at the peak of his powers as the evil Potter. The term Capra-esque is too often misapplied: forget the imitations and revel in the genuine article. – David Parkinson
2. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Wizard of Oz provides further evidence that several films now regarded as among the best – and most popular – ever made didn’t actually get off to the best of starts.
Though now universally hailed as a bonafide masterpiece – with more iconic moments, characters and songs than most other films put together – the film struggled a little upon it’s original release when it came to box office takings (although even then, the reviews were glowing).
While it wasn’t quite a fully fledged box office disaster, it’s modest takings combined with high costs meant that the film did not manage to break even in it’s initial run. Indeed, it was only after a re-release a decade on from its 1939 premiere that the film first turned a profit – with a number of further re-releases in the decades since having swelled those totals.
It also became a regular fixture on TV – especially around the festive season – from 1956 onwards, helping it earn its now unimpeachable status as one of the true landmarks of cinema. You need only look at the monumental recent success of Wicked for proof of it’s continued appeal and legacy.
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There are Hollywood classics, and then there’s this. In adapting L Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s novel, producer Mervyn LeRoy crafted an innovative, eye-popping Technicolor musical that set a new standard for film fantasy.
Judy Garland is all innocent charm as Dorothy, who just wants to get back home after a tornado carries her (and her dog, Toto) out of sepia-toned Kansas and into the colourful land of Oz. Garland’s wide-eyed performance keeps things grounded, even as Dorothy’s skip down the Yellow Brick Road grows ever stranger.
From Munchkinland to the Emerald City, Cedric Gibbons’s art direction provides a perfect playground for the cast, and a backdrop for the film’s remarkable succession of iconic images. Ruby slippers, flying monkeys and Margaret Hamilton’s cackling Wicked Witch of the West are among the highlights of a magical, creepy adventure that remains hugely influential – and popular – to this day. – Calum Baker
3. Vertigo (1958)
It’s often been remarked upon that Alfred Hitchcock never won a competitive Oscar – but for the most part his most famous films did perform well with both audiences and the majority of critics.
But Vertigo – now regarded by many as his finest and perhaps most influential film – wasn’t especially well received on its initial release, both in terms of the box office totals and critical response.
Although it did manage to break even, its takings paled in comparison with some of the Master of Suspense’s other titles, while many reviewers at the time seemed somewhat baffled by what one writer referred to as the “farfetched nonsense” of the film.
Clearly, that verdict didn’t stand the test of time. The film would go on to be named the best film ever made by Sight & Sound in it’s 2012 critics poll (although it was later unseated by Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles in the 2022 iteration of the poll, falling to the still impressive second place.)
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In one of the truly great later Hitchcocks, James Stewart plays a retired cop with a terror of heights who’s hired by Tom Helmore to follow his suicidal wife, Kim Novak. Stewart falls in love with the enigmatic blonde, but can’t prevent tragedy from occurring. Some months later he spots a woman (also played by Novak) who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman, and is drawn into a web of deceit and obsession.
Novak gives her greatest performance in a demanding dual role, while Stewart shatters his all-American Mr Nice Guy persona with a disturbingly dark and complex characterisation. A hallucinatory movie – the glistening San Francisco locations give both place and events a dreamlike quality – this remains one of the most painful depictions of romantic fatalism in all of cinema. – Tom Hutchinson
4. Sorcerer (1977)
Coming after he had scored consecutive hits with The French Connection and The Exorcist, legendary director William Friedkin must have thought he was on to a sure-fire winner with this 1977 action thriller, especially given it was an adaptation of an acclaimed French film (The Wages of Fear).
There were just a couple of little problems: first, the film suffered from a gruelling production which saw Friedkin embroiled in feuds with various members of his crew, with costs consequently soaring to $22 million .
Secondly, it’s release coincided with that of a certain film by the name of Star Wars, which somewhat overshadowed it in the imaginations of the cinema going public at the time. Its lacklustre box office performance also can’t have been helped by mixed and sometimes very negative reviews which seem pretty harsh when looked at with the benefit of hindsight.
Although it never managed to make back that aforementioned budget, it has since been reclaimed by critics, with many now believing it to be of a similarly high standard to the director’s other ’70s classics – and among the best by any filmmaker from that storied decade in American cinema.
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Georges Arnaud’s The Wages of Fear was brilliantly brought to the screen by Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1953, but William Friedkin’s audacious, hands-on 1977 adaptation proved a notoriously expensive critical and commercial flop. An already generous $15m budget rose to $22m due to arduous location filming and unforeseen mishaps, but the end product has been re-evaluated in subsequent years.
The film almost merits “lost masterpiece” status: a dialogue-light, international thriller shot over three continents that takes a full hour to get going, then roars into perilous (and pre-CGI) automotive action as four mercenaries drive two lorries carrying nitroglycerine 200 miles through a bandit-filled Latin American jungle.
In Friedkin and screenwriter Walon Green’s re-imagining, it’s an allegory for our increasingly fractured, self-interested world, with a Mexican hitman (Francisco Rabal), crooked Parisian banker (Bruno Cremer), Palestinian terrorist (Amidou) and New York Mob driver (Roy Scheider) united in exile by greed in a country controlled and exploited by American oil interests.
The pivotal scene across a precarious wooden bridge remains awe-inspiring and nerve-shredding, but it’s the more reflective human moments that elevate this thriller beyond the generic. Not quite a match for Clouzot’s scintillating original but unfairly maligned, nevertheless. – Andrew Collins
5. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
When asked to name a “cult film” off the top of your head, it’s very possible that this bizarro ’70s musical might be the first that comes to mind.
Adapted from Richard O’Brien’s stage show, the film was instantly successful during it’s release at London’s Rialto Cinema and at the UA Westwood in LA, but failed to replicate that success elsewhere – with audiences so small that it was withdrawn from several cities.
As for reviews, it wasn’t so much a case of a bad critical reception as barely any critical reception at all – with most critics paying it virtually no notice on its original release.
The turning point came when it became a sensation on the midnight movie circuit, soon attracting a fiercely devoted following that has seen it become the longest-running theatrical release in film history, with weekly interactive screenings continuing to this day.
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This surprisingly witty and wickedly naughty Queen Mother of cult movies is a campy, vampy, kinky musical send-up of old horror flicks.
Revealing what happens when strait-laced Brad and Janet get stranded at the weird castle of Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry, wringing every ounce of deranged humour from his glam-rock role in a landmark performance), it cleverly satirises Frankenstein, haunted-house mysteries, science-fiction clichés and Carry On sexual identity confusion.
The score is justifiably famous – stand-out songs are Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me and Sweet Transvestite – so if you’ve never seen it, give yourself a treat. If you have, then let’s do The Time Warp again! – Alan Jones
6. The Thing (1982)
Much like Sorcerer above, this is a masterpiece remake that was undone by unfortunately releasing at the same time as one of the biggest box office success stories of all time – in this case, Steven Spielberg’s ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.
The success of that film – with audiences embracing its far more optimistic take on the sci-fi genre – has long been considered one of the chief reasons for the failure of John Carpenter’s cosmic horror film at the box office.
But it wasn’t only financially that The Thing was initially a dud. Despite praising its special effects, contemporary critics were unimpressed by other aspects of the film – with some of them descending into outright hostility (Vincent Canby of the New York Times went so far as to call it “the quintessential moron movie of the 80’s.”)
The reappraisal came after the film found a strong fanbase following its release on home video and television, and it is now held up as one of the landmark works in the history of sci-fi cinema.
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John Carpenter’s remake of Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby’s influential 1951 creature feature is a special-effects extravaganza of the highest order.
In fact, the updated screenplay by Bill Lancaster (son of Burt) sticks more closely to the plot of the classic John W Campbell short story that inspired the original movie, as the occupants of a polar research station (which include Kurt Russell and A Wilford Brimley) are menaced by an alien with the ability to change its shape and impersonate its enemies.
Carpenter stresses the slimy ET at the expense of characterisation, mood and practically everything else, yet it’s precisely this one grisly facet that makes it such compelling science fiction. Even Alien can’t hold a candle to the nightmarish images on offer here, so be warned. – Alan Jones
7. Blade Runner (1982)
The Thing wasn’t the only landmark sci-fi film in 1982 to be initially overshadowed by the success of ET. Ridley Scott’s noir-inflected masterwork Blade Runner is now regarded as one of the most influential films ever made in the genre, but was initially greeted with a similarly tepid reception.
While not every critic disliked it – and some instantly praised the film’s visuals and adventurous thematic content – it failed to particularly strike a chord with either audiences or reviewers, at least not relative to its eventual reputation.
Of course, in this case, part of the reason for its reevaluation was the release of several alternate cuts – including a Director’s Cut and a Final Cut – with many still debating which is the superior version. Either way, it’s now correctly regarded as one of the finest achievements in film history.
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A super Philip K Dick story about a superdick searching for rebellious replicants translates here into a violent visual eye-popper, based in a futuristic Los Angeles, which set the acid rain/neon-drenched metropolis design standard for 1980s sci-fi.
As influential as 2001: a Space Odyssey and Star Wars, and as thought-provoking as the former Kubrick classic, Ridley Scott’s atmospheric downer is a compelling noir thriller that pleads for harmony between man and machine.
Harrison Ford stars as the former cop assigned to track down android Rutger Hauer and his three associates. Hauer gives an exceptional performance as the blond humanoid who, like the others, has been implanted with memories of a nonexistent youth.
The Director’s Cut drops Ford’s voiceover and actually adds more depth to the 1982 original, so the full masterpiece can shine through. – Alan Jones
8. The Shawshank Redemption
If you’re familiar with IMDb’s list of the Top 250 films of all time – as rated by the site’s large user-base – you’ll know that for a very long time The Shawshank Redemption has held on to its place at the very top of the rankings.
Given that reputation, it’s hard to believe the Stephen King adaptation was once considered something of a failure. But despite generally strong reviews from critics – and an Oscar nomination for best picture – the film was a virtual non-event in its theatrical run, opening in 9th position in the box office charts and failing to make back its budgets.
Various reasons were given for that failure – from the general preference for action fare among cinemagoers at the time to what some considered to be a confusing title.
But with its Oscar nomination came a re-release – diverting more eyes to the incredibly moving story. And, like many other films on this list, it gained a further boost when it became available to watch at home, eventually reaching its status as an unassailable classic.
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This deeply moving version of Stephen King’s story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from first-time director Frank Darabont is one of the best adaptations of the novelist’s work. Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, a Maine banker sent to Shawshank State Prison for murdering his wife and her lover.
He is regularly brutalised by the inmates and the penal system in general, but his existence improves when he befriends fellow lifer and prison fixer Red, played by Morgan Freeman.
Under Darabont’s inspired direction, Robbins and Freeman both rise to the challenge of portraying world-weary dignity against the odds, while the severity of the prison system is underlined in the poignant performance of James Whitmore as a veteran convict trying to make it on parole, but ill-equipped to do so. – Alan Jones
9. The King of Comedy
While Martin Scorsese is now regarded by many as the greatest living American filmmaker, the legendary director hasn’t always had it easy – and he suffered an especially difficult period during the 1980s.
Although the film – and the central performance of Robert De Niro – was broadly well-received by critics, it was a complete commercial failure, making just $2.5 million against a production budget of $19 million.
While it perhaps still isn’t quite as famous as many of Scorsese’s other works – including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas – that terrible box office performance hasn’t affected it’s reputation in the long run, with many experts naming it as the most-underrated gem in the director’s esteemed filmography.
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Though a box-office failure, this black comedy is now considered by many to be Martin Scorsese’s unsung masterpiece.
Of all the director’s outings with sparring partner Robert De Niro, it’s the strangest. De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring stand-up comedian and stalker-in-waiting who dreams of fronting his own TV show, rehearses for this moment of glory in his mother’s basement and spends half his life waiting, symbolically, in reception.
It’s a powerful, complex performance, one that carries the story from farce into tragedy with ease, and keeps us on his side. Jerry Lewis is magnificent as the chilly old pro and chat-show king Jerry Langford, and Scorsese gives us another New York, the cruel but bewitching network TV capital of America. Pupkin’s catchphrase remains immortal: “Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime.” – Andrew Collins
10. Jennifer’s Body
A more recent film to have received a reappraisal, this Diablo Cody-scripted comedy horror was largely dismissed by critics at the time of it’s 2009 release – with its Rotten Tomatoes score still sitting at just 46%.
It didn’t fare much better at the box office, either – comfortably making back it’s production budget but nonetheless being considered by analysts to have severely underperformed relative to expectations.
In the late 2010s, the consensus amongst most critics seemed to shift and many pieces have been written about how the initial wave of critics misunderstood the film – with Constance Grady writing in Vox that it was a “forgotten feminist classic”.
It has also built a cult fan following, and there’s even been some suggestions that a sequel could materialise in the future.
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Hell is a teenage girl in this subversive and insightful slasher film from writer Diablo Cody. Best friends Jennifer (Megan Fox) and Needy (Amanda Seyfried) are pushed to the brink when the former is possessed by a demon after she is assaulted at a gig.
Massively misunderstood on its release during the height of Twilight-mania, Karyn Kusama’s funny, sharp study of teenage girl-dom is less a titillating Fox-fest for boys, and more a horribly recognisable picture of co-dependency among adolescent girls.
Fox is at her best as the objectified and abused Jennifer, whose body becomes a conduit for fear rather than desire, while Seyfried is heart-wrenching as her reliable pseudo-sister who fights for her while trying to forge her own path.
It’s vicious and spiky in all the best ways, and neatly ticks genre boxes with its excellent gore scenes. Thank goodness this has been re-evaluated since its release: it’s a firebrand of a film that is way more than the sum of its body parts. – Rosie Fletcher
11. The Iron Giant
Finally, an animated film that – though instantly declared a winner by critics – failed to find an audience during its theatrical run, grossing $31.3 million globally against a reported $50 million budget.
The commercial failure was believed by some to have been a result of a poor marketing campaign on the part of Warner Brothers, but once again the lack of financial success hasn’t stopped the film being regarded as a beloved, influential classic in subsequent years.
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It might not have the Disney stamp, but this wonderful Warner Bros version of Ted Hughes’s The Iron Man is a first-class achievement in cartoon virtuosity that liberally borrows images from 1950s comic-book art and science-fiction movies to stunning effect.
To a soundtrack of American Graffiti-style hits, this heavy metal ET tells the riveting tale of nine-year-old Hogarth, the giant alien robot he saves from electrical overload, and the fiercely protective relationship that develops between them.
But the real thrills begin when a Communist-hating FBI agent arrives who is convinced that the walking Meccano set poses a Cold War threat. With political allegory and clever nostalgia for the adults, and dazzling visuals and excitement galore for the children, this poignant fairy tale is outstanding on every artistic level. – Alan Jones
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