- 6/20/2025
Some films age like fine wine, others curdle with time. Join us as we explore movies whose legacies have been forever altered by real-world revelations, scandals, and controversies. From beloved classics to cult favorites, these films hit differently when you know the full story behind them.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the movie
00:09Legacies most tarnished by scandal or controversy.
00:19Number 20. The Birth of a Nation
00:21A technical marvel that ushered in many of the filmmaking techniques used today,
00:26this movie's impact on the future of the medium cannot be understated.
00:30And yet, there's more than a few reasons why they don't teach the Birth of a Nation in film class.
00:40The big one is it's often considered one of the most racist movies ever made.
00:44Every single African-American character is portrayed as a mindless, damaging caricature,
00:49which is made all the worse since most of the performances are by white actors in blackface.
00:54Under a modern social lens, the truly abhorrent depiction of race relations
00:57overshadows any of the film's cinematic merit.
01:06Number 19. It Ends With Us
01:08Forget the on-screen fireworks.
01:10The juiciest drama here happened behind the scenes.
01:12Director and star Justin Baldoni had a seriously rocky relationship with leading woman Blake Lively,
01:18and by the time the film released, it had soured into a full-on publicity war zone.
01:22It actually gets worse. Yeah.
01:24No way. Not possible.
01:25Yeah, no. It does.
01:25On one hand, you had fans calling out Lively for her cavalier treatment of the film's sensitive themes.
01:30On the other, there was Baldoni, who fielded allegations of on-set harassment and intimidation.
01:36This wasn't just mudslinging, though.
01:37Things got so bad, lawyers had to get involved,
01:40burying the film's box office success underneath a mountain of legal gossip.
01:43I thought we were friends.
01:45We are friends.
01:46Something tells us when people think of this movie, it won't be because of the storytelling.
01:50Number 18. Better Off Dead.
01:52Ricky Smith is an awkward deconstruction of the guy-next-door trope.
01:56He's rightfully called out for his very uncomfortable obsession with Monique,
01:59and spends most of Better Off Dead as the butt of a joke.
02:02Monique, this is Ricky.
02:07Ricky, this is Monique, the French foreign exchange student who'll be staying with us.
02:16It's all fine and dandy, until you realize Ricky is played by Dan Schneider.
02:21Yeah, Nickelodeon's Dan Schneider.
02:23For those who don't know, he was the creator behind several iconic kid shows,
02:27like iCarly, Victorious, and Zoey 101.
02:30But his work has since been heavily scrutinized for putting young,
02:33female performers into highly inappropriate situations.
02:36Given that Ricky Smith is the exact kind of creep Schneider is accused of being,
02:40Better Off Dead is nigh unwatchable anymore.
02:43Monique.
02:44Monique.
02:46I had no idea where you'd gotten off to.
02:48You shouldn't make me worry.
02:52Lane.
02:53Ricky.
02:54I see you've made Monique's acquaintance.
02:58Number 17.
02:59The Blind Side.
03:00A captivating true story of community, passion, and football,
03:032009's The Blind Side is an Oscar-winning crowd-pleaser for all ages.
03:07Tell me everything I need to know about you.
03:10Who takes care of you?
03:11A mother?
03:11Do you have a mother?
03:13A grandmother, maybe?
03:21Tell you what, Big Mike, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.
03:26Or at least, it was until 2023.
03:28The film version of events see down on his luck Michael Orr, adopted by the Tui family, who helped propel him into a mainstream football star.
03:3614 years later, Orr revealed the Tui's hadn't adopted him at all, but rather invoked a conservatorship, which allowed them to profit off his likeness.
03:43He entered a conservatorship with the Tui's, which is wildly different than an adoption.
03:51Kind of makes you question their motives, doesn't it?
03:53Even without touching on the white savior part of it all, the allegations alone are enough to change how you see the blind side forever.
04:00Number 16.
04:01A Beautiful Mind.
04:01All it takes is a little digging to see that this biography isn't really based on a true story at all.
04:06The truth is that I, I don't like people much.
04:11And they don't much like me.
04:13But why?
04:14With all your obvious wit and charm.
04:16While John Nash was a gifted mathematician, and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, that's about as accurate as A Beautiful Mind gets.
04:22It conveniently leaves out Nash's complicated history with women, his alleged anti-Semitism, and how serious his schizophrenic behavior really was.
04:30A Beautiful Mind is definitely a well-made film, but it tries so hard to make you root for its main character, it becomes glorified fanfiction.
04:37Our conviction, it turns out, is the luxury of those on the sidelines, Mr. Nash.
04:45I'll try and keep that in mind.
04:46The truth doesn't always make for a good story, but trying to conceal it is a surefire way to destroy your movie's reputation.
04:53Number 15.
04:54Last Tango in Paris.
04:55In this erotic drama, a young Marlon Brando begins a risque relationship with a young Parisian girl.
05:01So you're here?
05:02What did you answer?
05:04Go get the butter.
05:05I have to hurry, I have a cap dancer waiting.
05:08Go get the butter.
05:09When she rejects him, he takes what he wants with force.
05:12It's a harrowing scene in what is already one of the most explicit films ever made.
05:16But, to make matters worse, actress Maria Schneider had no idea just how far it would go when she showed up to set that day.
05:23In order to elicit a more natural reaction, both Brando and the movie's director withheld the specifics of Schneider's role.
05:29Let's talk about us.
05:32Okay.
05:34This place is so pitiful.
05:36It's a choice that left the 19-year-old utterly traumatized.
05:39Nowadays, the most famous scene in Last Tango in Paris is also the one we recommend fast-forwarding through.
05:45Number 14.
05:46The Adventures of Milo and Otis.
05:47How controversial could a children's film about cats and dogs get?
05:50You're in the pipe, Milo. Try again.
05:55How does he do that? Milo wondered.
05:58Well, the answer is pretty darn controversial, especially when the production is accused of numerous counts of animal neglect.
06:04Since Milo and Otis were both played by real animals, many international humane societies launched investigations into whether the pets were properly cared for during the long shoot.
06:13No hard evidence was found either way.
06:15However, rumors of its eerily realistic stunt work has followed the adventures of Milo and Otis ever since.
06:21A dream about Otis and how they used to play together when they were young.
06:26Oh, would it ever be like this again?
06:28Would he ever see Otis again?
06:31We get why.
06:32These two furballs are so adorable.
06:34The mere thought of them being harmed in the making of this movie is completely unforgivable.
06:39Number 13.
06:40Heathers.
06:41These days, a high school drama with murder, sexual harassment, and bomb threats would be yanked out of theaters faster than you could say,
06:47sorry, Heather.
06:48Hello, Jason Dean.
06:50Greetings and salutations.
06:54Are you a Heather?
06:56No.
06:57I'm a Veronica.
06:59Sawyer.
07:00But in the 80s, it was just good popcorn entertainment.
07:03Heathers was a teen thriller so divorced from reality, it could cut right to its razor-sharp social commentary.
07:09However, as the years go by, Veronica and JD's ultra-violent love story becomes closer and closer to everyday high school life.
07:16In an age where schools are common targets for acts of terror, Heather strikes a much darker chord.
07:21What are you talking about?
07:22You hated her.
07:23She hated you.
07:24If you want proof, just look at the ill-fated TV adaptation, which had to be pushed back again and again due to rising gun violence.
07:31Number 12.
07:32Poltergeist and Poltergeist 2 The Other Side.
07:35While some might find the movie too scary to sit through, in reality, Poltergeist is tough to revisit for reasons outside its narrative.
07:42Her name is Heather O'Rourke.
07:46The acclaimed child actor was the heart of the movie as Carol Ann, a young girl who's trying desperately to evade a ghostly trip to the other world.
08:04But, the scary movie became an eerie prophecy of sorts when O'Rourke passed away in 1988 at the age of 12.
08:10Given the real-life circumstances, seeing her character nearly die in Poltergeist 2 is extremely hard to stomach.
08:17Baby, baby, baby.
08:20In a way, it's a testament to O'Rourke's work.
08:23She's simply too convincing.
08:25Number 11.
08:26Kramer vs. Kramer.
08:27No judge or jury needed here.
08:29Dustin Hoffman is 100% in the wrong.
08:31Just tell me what I did. That's all.
08:33Just tell me what I did. That's so terrible.
08:35His commitment to method acting is commendable, but it crosses a lot of lines when he can't separate his castmates from their characters, such as in Kramer vs. Kramer.
08:42In the name of invoking a better performance from her, Hoffman repeatedly harassed co-star Meryl Streep.
08:47It ranged from insults, to slaps, to even throwing a real glass at a wall without her knowledge.
08:52You can literally see the tension between them on screen.
09:06Knowing the extent of Hoffman's behavior reframes these top-tier performances into a case study of an extremely toxic work environment.
09:13Number 10.
09:14American Beauty.
09:15In 1999, Kevin Spacey found Oscar gold for playing Lester Burnham, a man who pursues a scandalous relationship with his daughter's best friend.
09:22You've been working out, haven't you?
09:25I can tell.
09:28I was hoping you'd give me a bath.
09:32Very, very dirty.
09:34For years, it was the Kevin Spacey role.
09:37Then, in 2017, the hashtag MeToo movement revealed that Spacey and Burnham had more in common than previously thought.
09:43Multiple men stepped forward, accusing Spacey of unwanted sexual advances over the years.
09:48Immediately, American Beauty's Oscar gold dimmed, with many finding the parallels too close for comfort.
09:54Don't interrupt me.
09:56Even though Spacey has since been acquitted of liability, the damage to his image means there's no way to watch American Beauty without thinking of the scandal.
10:03Number 9.
10:04The Shining.
10:05The scariest part of this classic horror flick is what happened to Shelley Duvall.
10:08What are you doing down here?
10:13I just wanted to talk to you.
10:24Okay.
10:26Let's talk.
10:27As Jack Nicholson's character falls deeper into madness, director Stanley Kubrick knew Duvall had to serve as the audience surrogate,
10:34aka, her job was to freak out in the final act.
10:36Kubrick, however, was unsatisfied with her work, and he made sure she knew it.
10:40Duvall was verbally berated, kept for long hours, and allegedly made to do takes over a hundred times before the film was finished.
10:47Clumps of Duvall's own hair were falling out from the stress.
10:53We can't argue with the results.
10:55The Shining is a true genre-defining staple, but it came at way too high a cost.
11:00Number 8.
11:01The Crow.
11:01If you watch The Crow, with no prior knowledge, you'd probably be enthralled by its unapologetic style and edginess.
11:07But sometimes, something so bad happens, that a terrible sadness is carried with it, and the soul can't rest.
11:16Then sometimes, just sometimes, The Crow can bring that soul back, to put the wrong things right.
11:23Unfortunately, the film takes on a whole new meaning, when you learn leading man Brandon Lee died on set.
11:29With only three days of shooting left, the negligent handling of a prop gun put the entirety of The Crow into question.
11:35Eventually, producers decided to go forward with the theatrical release.
11:38But, considering The Crow features Lee's character rising from the dead to exact vengeance on those who wronged him,
11:44the actor's death isn't exactly easy to forget.
11:46I'm not gonna kill you.
11:48Your job would be to tell the rest of them that death is coming for them.
11:53Tonight.
11:54All things considered, though, it's a feat The Crow ever saw the light of day in the first place.
11:58Number 7.
11:59The Wizard of Oz.
12:00Dorothy's trip to Oz was made with a Herculean effort from the cast, many of whom have actual scars to prove it.
12:06You stay out of this, Glenda, or I'll fix you as well!
12:09Oh, rubbish!
12:10You have no power here!
12:11Dig on, before somebody drops a house on YouTube!
12:13For example, the original actor for The Tin Man had a severe reaction to the aluminum makeup, and was hastily replaced.
12:20Then, there's Margaret Hamilton, who suffered third-degree burns during a botched stunt.
12:24Oh, and there's also the original director, who was fired partway through production for creative reasons.
12:29Most of all, we can't forget Judy Garland, who endured non-stop ridicule and harassment during shooting.
12:34Please, sir, I've got to see the wizard.
12:37The Good Witch of the North sent me.
12:39Suffice it to say, if you follow the Yellow Brick Road, you're going to stumble on a lot of classic Hollywood scandals.
12:45Number 6.
12:46In Cold Blood.
12:47After Robert Blake stepped into the shoes of murderer Perry Smith back in 1967.
12:51Later in 2001, Blake experienced another murder trial, only this time, he wasn't acting.
13:13When the body of Blake's second wife turned up in his vehicle, he became the prime suspect in the news story of the year.
13:18Even though Blake was acquitted of murder charges, the court of public opinion was slow to forgive and forget.
13:24It's especially hard given his performance in In Cold Blood, where Blake convincingly placed someone charged with the very same crime.
13:30Please, try to control yourself.
13:33No matter your opinion, it's easy to see why many opt out of seeing this movie.
13:37Number 5.
13:38Contagion.
13:38Years before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into quarantine, a sci-fi thriller hits screens with an uncomfortably similar premise.
13:46You wait a few days, this will be tweeted and YouTube all over the planet.
13:51Based on the name, it's obvious what Contagion is about, but it went viral in 2020 for more than its plot.
13:58No.
13:58The movie also features several small details about pandemic life that feel incredibly apropos.
14:03The masking, the social distancing, the bevy of conspiracies and social unrest.
14:08Contagion basically predicted exactly how the world would respond to a mass outbreak.
14:12You really think this Dr. Hextall's CDC person is Jesus in a lab coat?
14:16The government rushed the trials.
14:19The lawyers indemnified the drug companies.
14:22It's quite a storytelling feat, all things considered.
14:24Although, that's also why many think it hits too close to home.
14:27Number 4.
14:28Powder.
14:29A solid but unspectacular installment in Disney's live-action catalog, the only time anyone mentions Powder anymore is to bring up the movie's director, Victor Salva.
14:37I'm also the writer-director of Powder and Peaceful Warrior and Rites of Passage.
14:41I love drama, and I do drama very well, too.
14:45In 1988, he was convicted of gross acts towards the underage star of his film, Clown House.
14:50To reiterate, Powder is a Disney movie.
14:52A convicted felon not only got another directing gig, but this time for one of the most family-friendly companies on Earth.
14:58You're not here to ask me questions.
15:02You're here to find out how I cheated.
15:05It's the only way you can make sense of it.
15:08It's what you need to believe.
15:10Let that sink in.
15:11Despite some concerted protests, this wasn't the end of Salva's career, either.
15:15He'd go on to helm the cult hit Jeepers Creepers, too.
15:18Some of those scenes will definitely make you shudder, and not just because of the Creeper.
15:21Number 3.
15:22The Fearless Vampire Killers.
15:24Spoiler alert, Sharon Tate dies in the movie.
15:26Dearly beloved brethren, come closer.
15:40This isn't all.
15:42This isn't all.
15:43Roman Polanski tries to save her character, but she falls victim to the vampires, and the credits roll.
15:48That wasn't the end of their story, though.
15:50The performers fell in love and got married, only for Tate to meet the same fate as her character two years later.
15:55You might know it better by the name The Manson Murders.
15:58It's one of the most notorious acts of violence in American history.
16:01So seeing Polanski and Tate unknowingly act out their future makes Fearless Vampire Killers an incredibly disturbing watch.
16:07I'm not disturbing you, am I?
16:10Not at all, not at all.
16:12Vampires or not, this movie felt way too real.
16:15Number 2.
16:15Manhattan.
16:16In 1979, Woody Allen dated a young girl, while also exploring feelings for two other women in his life.
16:22Not a good thing.
16:23You should think of me sort of as a detour on the highway of life.
16:26Oh, sorry, that's not Allen.
16:28That's the plot of Manhattan, a movie he coincidentally wrote, directed, and starred in.
16:33If some of those details seem familiar, it's because Allen himself has faced serious accusations of uncouth behavior towards his daughter, Dylan Farrow.
16:40While nothing's ever been proven, the substantial media attention has stained much of Allen's cinematic legacy.
16:46Jesus, I'm shocked.
16:48I'm shocked.
16:50I'm surprised.
16:53Particularly the movie where he literally dates a teenager.
16:56For all its positive buzz, Manhattan might just be too far gone to ever recover in the eyes of the public.
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17:17Number 1. Every Harvey Weinstein film.
17:20If your favorite movie came out in the 90s or early 2000s, there's a good chance it's forever ruined thanks to the actions of one man.
17:27Stage love will never be true love while the law of the land has our heroines being played by pipsqueak boys in petticoats.
17:33Bonus points if it has a female lead.
17:35Harvey Weinstein's stink infected Hollywood for generations, to the point it's not fair to single out one film.
17:41He harassed so many women that his grubby legacy is over comedies, horrors, dramas, and everything in between.
17:48It's a real shame that such a large corner of the industry is forever tainted by such a despicable man.
17:53I was sitting there eating my muffin and drinking my coffee and replaying the incident in my head when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity.
18:02Then again, the real question is how his behavior went unchecked for so long.
18:05Which of these movies would you pay to watch again with fresh eyes?
18:08Let us know in the comments below.
18:09He was already dead.
18:12He died a year ago.
18:13The moment he touched her.
18:14They're all dead.
18:18They just don't know it yet.
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