Entertainment Weekly recently released a list of the 25 most controversial films of all time. Here they are. Do you agree or disagree?

25. Aladdin (1992) - There was a controversial song lyric which had Arab groups in an uproar. On the Arabian landscape, the lyrics stated, "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face.''

24. Caligula (1980) -Depicts orgies, murders, etc. Described as a "moral holocaust" by Variety.

23. Kids (1995) -A raw look at kids in search of sex, drugs, alcohol, and anything else they can get their hands on.

22. Do the Right Thing (1989) -Spike Lee explores the subject of racial tensions.

21. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) -The slo-mo deaths of the lead characters sparked an outcry for its graphic nature. Remember, this was 2 years before the Wild Bunch.

20. Cannibal Holocaust (1980) - Four documentarians head into the jungle. They encounter cannibals, rape, violence, and death. Many believed this was an actual snuff film when it was released.

19. Basic Instinct (1992) - We see Sharon Stone's private parts, and gay rights groups protested throughout at the portrayal of a man-hating lesbian.

18. I Am Curious (Yellow) (1969) - A Swedish film about the swinging 60s. Need I say more?

17. Freaks (1932) -Featuring real sideshow performers, Freaks freaked out audience members, even causing them to flee screenings in panic. Banned in the U.K. until the 60s.

16. United 93 (2006) - A recreation of 9/11 events. Sure to ignite controversy.

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This one should be higher. Here are my chief reasons why:

1. This movie was banned for twenty years in certain countries, including the UK.

2. For his work on the film, the director was arrested by Italian authorities on suspicion of murder charges.

The relative obscurity of this movie probably kept it out of the top ten. I guess it's hard to be controversial when many contemporary film watchers have never heard of it.

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"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us." - King Lear

I certainly agree with you, but these lists that magazines put out are always highly subjective.

Frankly, I imagine there's a better candidate out there for #25 than Aladdin. And I honestly don't remember any big controversy stemming from United 93. Just because a few New Yorkers found the preview objectionable doesn't mean that it was some big deal. Besides, the list is for most controversial film, not most controversial trailer.

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15. Triumph of the Will (1935) -Documentary on the 1934 Nazi rally in Nuremberg. Anything where Hitler comes of well is obviously going to piss people off (and rightfully so).

14. The Warriors (1979) - This film about gangs and gang warfare was accused of encouraging violence in the youth. TV and print advertising were pulled for a while. It seems positively tame when viewed with today's standards.

13. The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Yeah, some people were mad about the religious angle, but by no means were protestors marching in the streets. These lists always have to include a few movies from the last year or two. Or maybe people were just angered by Tom Hanks' wig.

12. The Deer Hunter (1978) - Sparked controversy over its depiction of American POWs forced to play Russian Roulette by their Vietcong captors.

11. The Message (1977) - A story about the origins of Islam, this was another movie that got the international Arab community hopping mad. Acts of terrorism followed, and over 100 people were held captive for a time.

10. Baby Doll (1956) - One man sets out to seduce another man's young, still-virgin, wife. A Catholic priest labeled the movie "lewd," and it was pulled from some theaters (although it went on to receive 4 Oscar nominations).

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They showed this on TMC late one night a few years ago. I watched part of it. There is one scene where Hitler begins to speak and the camera cuts to the Nazi brass tilting their heads in the direction of their master. The shot was from below, so the men seemed to be larger than life themselves, panning down the line of them...Hess...Goering...Goebbels...I remember thinking it looked like a gallery of demons let loose from Hell.

This movie was shot to convey a sense of power about the Nazi regime. I can't imagine the dread it caused at the time among potentional enemies of the Third Reich.

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"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us." - King Lear

The Davinci Code??? Holy crud, can't these editors of some of these lists get a frieken life. It wasn't nearly as bad as the Passion of Christ. I liked it and didn't have any problem with it at all. It was fiction.

9.Last Tango in Paris (1972) - An American (Marlon Brando) travels to Paris and engages in a lustful romp with a young Frenchwoman. Very frank depictions of sexuality. The actors and director even ended up in an Italian court on obscenity charges. Brando is naked. The horror! The horror!

8. Natural Born Killers (1994) - Copycat killers tried to re-live the escapades of Mickey and Mallory Knox. Over 12 murders in the U.S. and abroad have been linked to the film.

7. The Birth of a Nation (1915) - Blacks were portrayed as childlike and evil, while the Ku Klux Klan was depicted as the saviors of the white race. Needless to say, this upset a few people.

6. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - While he's hanging on the cross, the Devil tempts Jesus with images of the life he could have had (including sex, and children, with Mary Magdalene). Catholics went wild, and boycotts and protests were staged around the globe. Blockbuster Video even refused to carry the title.

5. JFK (1991) - Another entry from Oliver Stone, this film stirred up the most popular conspiracy theory in U.S. history.

4. Deep Throat (1972) - It was a porno which gained some mainstream attention. Of course it as going to be controversial. Linda Lovelace (the female lead) later claimed to have been forced into participation. Harry Reemes (the male lead) was put on trial on obscenity charges.

3. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2005) - Michael Moore's hatchet job on President Bush. Supporters of the President were not pleased, while the opposition found it both amusing and terrifying.

2. A Clockwork Orange (1971) - A gang of thugs gang rape a woman, beat another man to death, and generally go on a lawless rampage. This sparked copycat behavior in Britain, forcing the director to pull it from the theaters, and the film wasn't available there again until 2000 (a year after Kubrick's death).

1. The Passion of the Christ (2004) - The movie offers a painful and unflinching depiction of the torture and crucifixion of Jesus. Many questioned the accuracy of the film, and others went so far as to accuse Mel Gibson of being anti-Semitic. Love it or hate it, you can't deny it's impact. Churches held private screenings and took their congregations to theaters by bus. In the end, the film grossed $370 million.

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I know this is supposed to be a contemporary classic, but I thought it was simple shockjockism.

Oliver Stone supposedly filmed this to criticize the glorification of violence by the media. Then he has Mickey and Mallory escape in the end, therefore completely "Hollywooding up" their killing spree. You would think Stone might want show that mad killers get caught and live the rest of their lives in a gray prison cell, but he's too much of a showman to have that happen. He had to play it as a farce, which in my mind obscured the message he was trying to convey. One would think he was just trying to get a rise out of the public, instead of making a point.

I liked a lot of his early work, but Oliver Stone is clearly out of his mind.

Besides, the woman that played Mallory Knox has long put on one of the most annoying shows in Hollywood. Has she ever played anything but the dumb bimbo?

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"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
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This was a very entertaining film with an outstanding cast, though the conspiracy itself is laughable. It seemed to involve everyone from the Mob to the Pentagon to the CIA to Castro.

For anyone interested in a refutation of the conspiracy theories, read Case Closed by Gerald Posner. It not only dissects how the JFK conspiracy myth was constructed, but I found it to gives (unintentional) insight into how many modern legends (like the U.F.O. stories) come to be.

As an example, of the several hundred people in the Plaza that day who gave statements about the shooting, about 95% said the gunshots came from the Book Depository. But the conspiracy books only mention the 5% who claim it came from the Grassy Knoll. By focusing only on the facts that support the theory, the impression is given that an avalanche of information points to a conspiracy.

Combine this with people giving one story at the time, then changing their story years later (either to get attention, or sell a book, or because they were bribed by Jim Garrison), and it starts to look like the only reasonable explanation was that Oswald did not act alone.

Jim Garrison wasn't a hero, but an unethical publicity seeker. The way he hounded Clay Shaw was a travesty of American justice.

Oswald acted alone. What most people who listen only to the conspiracy theories don't know is that Oswald had tried to assassinate someone earlier that year. The F.B.I. had no clue until they interviewed Oswald's wife several days after Oswald was dead. (It was some racist ex-general who went on speaking tours around America at the time, but who lived in Dallas. Oswald shot at him in his study, but missed because the bullet apparently hit a branch on a tree overhanging the window. The F.B.I. matched the bullet in the general's house to Oswald's gun, but only after the wife connected the dots for them.)

Oswald's brother is convinced that Oswald did it. Ruby's friends thought it was perfectly in keeping with Ruby that he would shoot Oswald to avenge the president and become a hero. Ruby was unhinged, and his nickname going back to Chicago was "Sparky", because he was liable to blow a fuse in a moment's notice, and had taken shots at people before.

Stone's movie has made a lasting impression on America. Some polls show that around 80% of Americans believe that the JFK assassination happened somewhere closely to Stone's depiction.

But I enjoyed the movie nevertheless. I also consider Platoon one of the all-time great films.

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"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us." - King Lear

I wonder how controversial this was at the time. Here's hoping that people did speak out against it. I remember hearing that Woodrow Wilson, U.S. president at the time, had a private screening at the White House. He apparently loved it. His statement was (and I'm paraphrasing) "...if only it weren't so true." Eesh.

__________________
"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us." - King Lear