The Great Controversy: 10 Banned Films You Have To Watch

Movie: Ben-Hur
Year: 1959

The epic classic historical drama which starred Charlton Heston in the titular role was banned in China for containing "propaganda of superstitious beliefs, namely Christianity." Our guess is that that guy named Jesus was just a figment of our imagination. The film went on to win an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards. As of 2012, only Titanic (1998) and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King have matched the film's wins.

The chariot scene alone is worth the price of admission. Don't believe us, check out the theatrical trailer below:

Movie: The Departed
Year: 2006

If you thought watching Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained was enough to offend, then you haven't truly watched Jack Nicholson act. But while the usage of the dreaded N-word made Americans think twice about seeing director Martin Scorsese's latest picture, China, once again, had more political minded issues with the picture. The crime thriller remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs was banned for a line suggesting that the Chinese government intended to use nuclear weapons on Taiwan. While in the U.S., the picture won four Oscar awards, in China the movie was never even given permission to screen.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't see this stellar picture, which you can get a taste for below:

Movie: The Bohemian Girl
Year: 1936

Comedian legends Laurel & Hardy starred alongside the late Thelma Todd in The Bohemian Girl, which was her last role before her death. The film version of Michael William Balfe's opera found the dynamic duo as a pair of hen-pecked Gypsies in 18th Century Austria. Something that would go on to anger Nazi Germany's Führer and instantly ban the picture from ever being released to the public.

The Allies managed to liberate the people within the country, but only you can check out this clip from the film below:

Movie: Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Year: 1974

Director Tobe Hooper's classic American horror picture was so outrageous, so ahead of its time that has since gained a reputation as one of the best horror films in cinema history. The controversial picture was banned outright in several countries. Places like West Germany, Iceland, Norway, Singapore, and Sweden all believed that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was extremely violent and theaters in the U.S. even stopped showing the film in response to complaints about the film.

That didn't stop it from grossing over $30 million at the box office, and countless remakes, with the most recent film comming in at #1. Watch the retro in action with the trailer below:

Movie: The Outlaw
Year: 1943

Directed by American pioneer Howard Hughes, The Outlaw starred the very vivacious Jane Russell. The film was notable as her breakthrough role, turning the young actress into a sex symbol, a Hollywood icon and the fantasy of every young boy in the 1950s. But in the eyes of the Irish, Jane and her voluptuous curves were found to be too strong of a sexual inference to allow the motion picture to screen in Ireland.

Hughes, the resourceful businessman, schemed to create a public outcry in the U.S. for his film to be banned. The angst turned into publicity, which turned into a box office bankroll for the Jane Russell-starring picture.

You can watch this "controversial" picture and its trailer below:

Movie: A Clockwork Orange
Year: 1971

Legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick wrote, directed and produced this 1971 crime film adapted from Anthony Burgess' 1962 novella of the same name. The book, much like the picture, saw star Malcolm McDowell in a disturbing and violent light. The term "ultra-violence" was coined upon the film's initial screening. The film was banned in Ireland, Singapore, and South Korea due to its extreme depictions of violence and rape.

The ban didn't take away from the film's classic standing for too long, as Ireland lifted its ban in 2000, and Singapore in 2011. A must see for any cinephile, you can check out A Clockwork Orange's trippy trailer below:

Movie: Monty Python's Life Of Brian
Year: 1979

The Monty Python comedy troupe is considered a thing of pure gold inside and outside of the U.S. Their brand of surreal comedy and satire have been compared to The Beatles' influence on music. Life Of Brian tells the tale of Brian Cohen (played by Graham Chapman), a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as, and next door to, Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.

Countries such as Norway and Ireland banned the religious satire picture due to jokes deemed offensive to religious people. Both subsequently lifted the ban.

You can see what all the fuss was about by checking out the trailer below:

Movie: Goldfinger
Year: 1965

The third film in the James Bond series, which was also the third to star Sean Connery as the dashing secret agent, was a critical success. Superbly engineered, the picture was the first out of the Ian Fleming series to win an Academy Award (for Best Sound Effects Editing). So, why was this classic film banned in Israel? Could it be because the Bond girl was named "P***y Galore"...? No, the hate brewed deep for the title character, Auric Goldfinger, who was played by former Nazi Party member Gert Fröbe.

Goldfinger played for six weeks in Israel before Fröbe's Nazi past was disclosed. It's understandable that hat someone who supported a war criminal such as Adolf Hitler would have their work banned. But it was quickly unbanned after a few months when a man went to the Israeli Embassy in Vienna and told staff that Fröbe hid him and his mother from the Nazis (which may have saved their lives).

The classy and classic motion picture is one to see, especially if you're enjoying Daniel Craig's version in Skyfall. Watch the original (Sean Connery) do his thing in the trailer below:

Movie: Zoolander
Year: 2001

You're probably reading this wondering what could have Ben Stiller done to have his cult classic comedy banned, right? The film Zoolander was directed and starring the Frat Pack member, which found him playing a dimwitted male model named Derek Zoolander who becomes a pawn in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia by corrupt fashion executives. As a result, the film was never shown in Malaysia, as it is depicted as impoverished and dependent on sweatshops in the movie.

Deemed "definitely unsuitable" by the Malaysian goverment,, the comedy picture was also banned in neighboring Singapore due to the bilateral sensitivities and the movie's incessant drug use. While Stiller and co-star Owen Wilson never dueled it out on the catwalk in Malaysia, it was subsequently made available in Singapore in 2006, with the R rating.

You can watch the trailer for this comedy cult classic below:

Movie: Apocalypse Now
Year: 1979

The Vietnam War was an epic dark time for the world, as the Cold War-era military conflict placed a spotlight on the growing contrast between the American government and its citizens. The 1979 film, directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, starred Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen. The film followed U.S. Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen), of MACV-SOG. His mission: to kill the renegade and presumed insane U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Brando).

While the film was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the National Film Registry, President Park Chung-hee (South Korea's third Commander-in-Chief) too particular umbrage with the film. During his regime, the importation of the film was on hold because of Coppola's strong anti-war theme that reigned throughout the picture.

The National Film Registry didn't lie though, Apocalypse Now! is one of the most must-watch movies you should watch. Just take a look at the trailer and see what we mean!

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