- Jerry Springer
- Taco Bell
- Bruce Campbell
- Christopher Walken
- Saw (movie franchise)
- Troma
It's a short list because there aren't that many things that fit this category it seems. Here's why...
Jerry Springer knows exactly what he is. he knows exactly what kind of audience his show pandered to and he was up front and open about it to everyone. Springer never claimed to be on the cutting edge of trying to better domestic bliss, nor was he trying to make the world a better place by helping people expose their problems. Jerry Springer's show, The Jerry Springer Show, existed only to give Americans people to look down upon. While that is not a noble thing necessarily, it is truth and Springer has never lied about his modus.
Taco Bell is on this list because of its brilliant ad campaign that came out a few years ago and has stuck like glue: Fourth Meal. See? Taco Bell itself knows who its target audience is. (FYI: It's drunk college kids out at 3am.) It probably took a lot of cojones to realize that drunk 20-somethings are why you're still in business and that you should advertise straight to them. hey kids, hungry? Drunk? High? Out late? Run for the border!
Bruce Campbell. I love him. He's awesome. He makes every movie better with just his usual five minute cameos. (See Congo, Serving Sarah, The Majestic, Spider-man 1-3, The Hudsucker Proxy, etc.) But his starring roles are even better. (See Evil Dead 1 & 2, Army of Darkness, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Man with the Screaming Brain, etc.) He is also on the circuit doing Old Spice commercials...I use it, so it's really just backing up my lifestyle choices when Bruce Campbell hocks it. But more recently I love him because of this quote:
"Look, let's cut to the chase because you keep dancing around it, " Campbell exclaims, "if you're talking about Ash coming back again., Sam Raimi [the director of Evil Dead] has the best perspective. He says, 'Look, I can go back and do Ash vs. whoever whenever I want. I can do that when I'm 70; I don't have to do that now. Right now I'm on a fast, fat groovy rain in Hollywood.' And he's going to follow that, and he'll come back and to EVIL DEAD stuff when he's unemployed and living at the Old Director's Home."
That's just truth, plain and simple.
Christopher Walken is a breath of fresh air, even if the movies he acts in are the stalest variety of crap Hollywood is churning out these days. Walken does almost ever role that comes his way. he just goes to movie sets for a few days, says a few lines, dances a bit and gets paid. He looks like he's having a ton of fun and it's infectious. (See his performances in Envy, The Rundown, Balls of Fire, Pulp Fiction, Wedding Crashers, Kangaroo Jack and Country Bears. Who the hell would want to appear in Country Bears? Walken, baby.) Also, much like James Cagney before him, he is one of the most talented dancers in Hollywood history that you'd never know about. (See this and this and this.) The bottom line is that Walken likes to act and he likes the goofy roles. He's obviously having too much fun to give a shit about being officially recognized as "great". But he's great anyway.
What can I say about the FIVE Saw movies? Five. There's no way there should ever have been five of these things. I have seen the first three, and they're alright. But five? Really? They get my respect because the tagline for the last couple Saw movies was: "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw". Why is this such a perfectly true-to-self tagline? Because Saw producers know that those movies are designed to be made within a year and be gory. That's it. Once a year we get a Saw movie. Low expectations. If it's just Halloween, it must be Saw. I can't believe that they topped themselves with their blood drive ad.
If you can think of other examples of this kinda of deserving respect, write 'em in the comments section.
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