1. Bringing Kong To New York – King Kong
This particular dumb decision has been made many times, and always for the same reason: greed. Of course, upon discovering a colossal, powerful ape hidden away on the remote and not-at-all-ominously-named Skull Island, mankind’s most natural course of action would be to exploit it. And Carl Denham does just that, capturing Kong and bringing him back to the “civilized” world in order to make a quick buck.
Just how stupid this decision is can be judged by how many more reasonable courses of action Denham could have taken. The most sensible would be understanding that exploiting a creature far larger, stronger, and more powerful than yourself is not a good idea, and never ends well. Less sensible would be taking groups of curious and wealthy visitors to see Kong on Skull Island. Less sensible still, Denham could have taken Kong to America, but kept him in a less populous area as to minimize any potential collateral damage.
Instead, Denham decides that the busiest city on Earth is clearly the best place to maximize his profits, and doesn’t consider even briefly that it might not be a good idea. His face sure is red when Kong escapes and lays waste to a portion of the city before being killed. Then, some poor people are undoubtedly tasked with moving Kong’s massive, lifeless corpse out of the city – all because of Carl Denham’s singularly stupid decision.
And that’s our list. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to follow Corner of Film on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @corneroffilm to keep up to date with all our excellent content!