Let’s dance! John Travolta’s best and worst

Worst films

“Look Who’s Talking” (1989)
See what happens when Scientologists get together? This brainless, bottom-of-the-barrel comedy unites Travolta with a pre-900-pound Kirstie Alley. Travolta’s future “Pulp Fiction” co-star Bruce Willis provides the voice of their little talkative bambino. And to think, this film was considered a sort of comeback for Travolta, who after some terrible film roles was then residing in the Where Are They Now files.

“The Punisher” (2004)
Leave it to Travolta. When he finally decided to do a comic-book movie, he chose one of the lamest costumed crusaders of them all, Marvel Comics’ “The Punisher.” Basically, Thomas Jane is a vigilante whose wants to avenge the death of his loved ones (stop me if you’ve heard this before) and guess who’s the villainous mastermind he’s out to destroy? Yep, that would be our boy Travolta.  Movies like this give comics (and their film adaptations) a very bad name.

“The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” (1976)
The same year that Travolta starred in “Welcome Back, Kotter,” he appeared in this made-for-TV movie that became a pop-culture punch line (as so much of the 1970s did). Sad to say, I remember when it first aired. I distinctly recall Travolta, as a boy who has to live in a bubble because he has no immune system, trying to show off for the girl he loves by doing push-ups and clapping between each one. When you’re six years old, this is quite dramatic. Unfortunately, Travolta was 22 at the time; that’s old enough to know better.

“Perfect” (1985)
By 1985, when this film was made, Travolta was on his way to bottoming out. “Saturday Night Fever,” “Grease” and “Urban Cowboy” were albatrosses around his neck. He was expected to be a dancing fool in every movie (in that regard, “Perfect” is somewhat of a departure, he doesn’t dance, but he gets to perform a choreographed aerobics workout with Jamie Lee Curtis — in a pair of barely there shorts). Wanna laugh hard? Go to YouTube and look up the dance sequence.

“Battlefield Earth” (2000)
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, there is “Battlefield Earth.” Travolta really, really, REALLY wanted to make a movie of this L. Ron Hubbard sci-fi novel.  Apparently, nobody else did, but he used his movie star clout to get it done. The result? One. Of. The. Worst. Films. Ever. Made. On. Any. Planet. The plot — what plot? It’s something about aliens and the year 3000 and some other nonsense that he and Tom Cruise probably think is really, really cool. However, it is worth watching (don’t rent it — hello, YouTube!) just to see Travolta in all that crappy makeup, delivering those terrible lines with a straight face. Now, that’s acting.

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