Some great films have easy titles. Film titles like Spielberg's Jaws, Warren Beatty's Reds, Oliver Stone's Platoon, and more recently Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us were easy to say and easy to remember, especially when your friend asks you what movie you saw last night. Short film titles fit on a movie poster nicely and stick in the public's consciousness a lot more readily than a long, convoluted movie title.
Title changes happen all the time. However, there have been many great films with longer titles. Nothing will ever compare to the length of some Fiona Apple's album titles, but these films are some strong contenders.
Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
Ulu Grosbard directed this hidden gem starring Dustin Hoffman as a successful songwriter. Hoffman's character writes hit love songs that touch the hearts of his listeners, but he is not able to navigate his own love life, searching for a love he can only attain in his music.
The film is rarely shown or spoken about these days, but it is an interesting little character piece with great performances from Hoffman, Barbara Harris, and Jack Warden.
The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain (1995)
Christopher Monger's whimsical film sees Hugh Grant as a British cartographer who informs a small village that their previously regarded mountain is only a hill. The film follows how the town does everything it can to prove it is, indeed, a mountain.
The film is a love story and a fairytale that is wrapped in an infectious aura.
Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood (1996)
The Wayans Brothers took aim at the successful and popular series of films set in "The Hood" that swept the 90s. Marlon Wayans missed out on the role of "Robin" in two different Batman films, becoming a comedy superstar with his hilarious performance as "Loc Dog," a crazy-eyed take-off of Larenz Tate's character from The Hughes Brothers' Menace II Society.
The film is a full parody in every moment and has gone down as one of the funniest comedies of its decade and caused a ratings spike in Shawn and Marlon Wayans' television show, "The Wayans Bros."
The Positively True Adventures Of The Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom (1993)
In 1993, Holly Hunter was about to win the hearts of critics (and eventually the Academy) with her role in Jane Campion's The Piano. Before her Oscar gold, she starred in this HBO "dramedy" based on a true incident - a Texas mom wanted her daughter to be the head cheerleader at her high school, so she hired a hitman to kill her competition.
Making it comical yet tinged with drama and social commentary was the way to go, as the story itself was rather crazy. Hunter was nominated for a Golden Globe and won an Emmy for Best Actress for her performance.
Buffalo Bill And The Indians, Or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
Robert Altman was already considered one of the great filmmakers of the 1970s after his string of well-regarded and unique films such as M.A.S.H., McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and Nashville. His films had a unique sound design in which Altman would mic every actor and, in the editing process, he would use overlapping dialogue.
Altman's style didn't change for his second Western, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson. Paul Newman starred as Buffalo Bill and played him as a grumpy egomaniac who was a bigot toward the Indians, as he used to be an Indian fighter for the U.S. Army. The film has a large ensemble that included Harvey Keitel, Geraldine Chaplin, and Joel Grey. Altman's piece is a sometimes funny, sometimes potent look at the hypocrisy of the men who helped to build The Old West and of America itself.
What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love (2013)
The first Indonesian film to be nominated for awards at the Sundance Film Festival, Mouly Surya's tender film follows teenage students at a school for the blind who navigate life and fall in love.
Critics agreed that the film was sweet and honest and realistic in its depiction of young people finding themselves as they near the precipice of adulthood.
Swept Away ... By An Unusual Destiny In The Blue Sea Of August (1974)
Lina Wertmuller's seriocomical examination of class structure and male/female dominance starred Mariangela Melato and Giancarlo Giannini as a contentious rich woman and a sailor who, after a boating accident, become stranded together on an island.
The back and forth between the two is colored with important dialogues on communism, sexual power, and how the rich see the lower classes. Most critics agree this is Wertmuller's best work and the National Board of Review named it Best Foreign Film of its year.
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex *But Were Afraid To Ask (1972)
Woody Allen's comedy classic took its name from the popular book but turned the film into a wild but smart comedy separated into seven segments, all of which told humorous tales of sex in various ways.
Gene Wilder, Burt Reynolds, and Woody himself were among a strong cast that populated each original segment. Critics were kind and the film became a big hit for Woody Allen and it is considered one of the funniest of the 70s.
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)
In Andrew Dominik's ambient Terence Malick-Esque Western, the director took a philosophical look at the legend of Jesse James and the controversy surrounding his murder and the man who killed him.
Brad Pitt reached a new level of maturity as an actor, as he played Jesse James as a vicious and internally angry villain, ridding the outlaw's hero mythology. The cast included such heavy-hitters as Sam Shepard, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, and Mary-Louise Parker, who all lend fine support. Affleck and cinematographer Roger Deakins were both nominated for Academy Awards
Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)
Widely considered a masterpiece and one of the best comedies ever made, Stanley Kubrick's viciously funny adaptation of the 1962 novel Fail-Safe took the book's deadly serious tone and turned it into biting comedy while keeping the serious undertone of the threat of Nuclear War.
Peter Sellers masterful three-character performance, George C. Scott's first comedic role, and Sterling Hayden's maniacal General Jack D. Ripper led the film that was, at once hilarious and frightening, to become of the best films of the 60s.