Was Jon Voight THAT bad?

Well, he was "bad good". Whether he was being intentionally nutso or not, I do not know. But the performance he gave was hysterical, at any rate. You should check it out for yourself.

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"Why spend your life making someone else's dreams come true?"

-- Ed Wood, the movie

This was the funniest/worst movie I'd ever seen. Jon Voight was that bad. And Eric Stoltz unconcious for the whole movie! God, you must see this.

I personally feel this movie is a testament to Jon Voight's excellent acting ability. Only a true actor can take a script made of pure *beep* and stand there in front of the camera and work it as if it were gold. Everything about this movie was horrible in my opinion except his performance. He knew this part was crap, but he put as much into it as any of his roles. That's the mark of a professional as far as I'm concerned.

On another note, I just saw the sequel. Frighteningly enough it was actually a better movie than this (not that that's difficult to achieve; it was still pretty bad). But there were no standout performances like Voight's in this one.

What is so mind-numbing is how Voight was singled out by critics—I'm talking mainly about Siskel and Ebert here—as being *great* in this film. They both gave the movie thumbs up, and I've choked on my rancor ever since. The movie was stupid from beginning to end, not scary, and not funny. Voight's performance just makes a bad film bizarre. But it could have worked. Look at *Holes*, a movie where Voight does something similar with his character and it works... but it's also in a much better film that is actually supposed to be funny.

I don't think it was bad acting - I think it was camp acting - he knew this movie was what it was - a "B" movie and he played his role for all its worth. Think of all the cheesy 50's and 60's sci-fi and horror movies and he perfectly played his role with tongue firmly in cheek. He was a true scene stealer and I think you need to watch it to appreciate it

Voight's performance is the only reason to watch this crappy movie. I think he knew that the movie sucked, but he took it with humour and had some very funny scenes.

I think it was the "I'm evil" sneer he wore for every shot of the entire movie that kicked it to another level.

Guy hops on your boat in a rain storm and comes up with an "I'm evil" sneer before he delivers his first line, just throw him back overboard.

He plays a bad guy who is soooooo bad that he scowls during the entire movie. I can't figure out if he was just trying to be over the top big time or he thought that he had to change his look to be mean and nasty.