History Film / Dune

** Although he did stash stillsuits onto the Harkonnen ship that was standing by to drop Paul and Jessica in the desert to die, ultimately saving their lives, permitting the rest of the plot to unfold, and [[VillainsDyingGrace kind of redeeming himself]]. Then again, how could he have known that was the Harkonnen plan if Piter only told Nefud to do it minutes beforehand? Or which ship would be used? Or that they wouldn't already be dead when loaded up? [[GambitRoulette Or...]]

* BlasphemousBoast: "Usul, we have wormsign the likes of which even God has never seen."

* IWasNeverHere: The Guild Navigator from Lynch's movie, after telling the Emperor to kill Paul Atreides. "I did not say this, I am not here."

* OpeningMonologue: "A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then that it is the year ten-thousand, one-ninety-one..." Narration was used to insane levels, although being ''Dune'', it needed it.

* AStormIsComing: "A storm is coming... our storm."

* AdaptedOut:
** The film leaves out Leto II (Paul's first son, murdered as an infant), the Fenrings and Jamis (who shows up in the Alan Smithee version).
** Poor Virginia Madsen is reduced to one, brief on-screen line in the extended edition.

Due to Lynch's alien style and the sheer scale of the book, the already-complex narrative became nearly incomprehensible to some viewers; many theaters handed out [[AllThereInTheManual printed plot summaries]] to patrons. An altered cut with more exposition to explain the plot was made for television, which ran at almost ''four hours'' with commercials. Incensed at the ExecutiveMeddling, Lynch had his director credit changed to AlanSmithee and his screenwriting credit changed to [[BitingTheHandHumor Judas Booth]] (as in John Wilkes). Subsequent recut and extended versions have inspired [[BrokenBase varying]] degrees of critical reappraisal. It was a complete flop at the box office but has become both a genuine CultClassic since.

Director Creator/DenisVilleneuve is working on a new film adaptation, due to release in 2020.

Due to Lynch's alien style and the sheer scale of the book, the already-complex narrative became nearly incomprehensible to some viewers; many theaters handed out [[AllThereInTheManual printed plot summaries]] to patrons. An altered cut with more exposition to explain the plot was made for television, which ran at almost ''four hours'' with commercials. Incensed at the ExecutiveMeddling, Lynch had his director credit changed to AlanSmithee and his screenwriting credit changed to [[BitingTheHandHumor Judas Booth]] (as in John Wilkes). Subsequent recut and extended versions have inspired [[BrokenBase varying]] degrees of critical reappraisal. It was a complete flop at the box office and has become both a CultClassic.

Director Creator/DenisVilleneuve is working on a new film adaptation.

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* RealIsBrown: One aspect of the film that has regularly been criticized is its rather ugly art direction. Virtually every world other than Arrakis looks gloomy and overcast, which arguably makes sense in the case of Giedi Prime but not so much for the other planets. As for Arrakis itself, the landscape tends to be dominated by dust and smoke, which doesn't exactly convey the kind of grandeur that the filmmakers were aiming for. This was one of Creator/RogerEbert's biggest complaints about the film.

Director Creator/DenisVilleneuve is working on a new film adaptation, likely to be released in 2020.

* SceneryPorn: The deserts of Arrakis and the sets in general are very striking, though they are kind of spoiled by the RealIsBrown aspect.

* SceneryPorn: The deserts of Arrakis and the sets in general are very striking.

The film adaptation of ''Dune'' was originally given to the experimental filmmaker Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky, who planned to very loosely adapt the book while basing most of the film on a dream he'd had. He recruited a rogue's gallery of names for his project, including comic artist Moebius, Creator/HRGiger, Music/PinkFloyd, Creator/SalvadorDali and Creator/OrsonWelles. Jodorowsky burned through his budget before filming a single scene, and the project was ultimately taken away from him. A feature length documentary titled ''Film/JodorowskysDune'' chronicles this project of epic proportions that went nowhere. Jodorowsky later recycled many of his ideas in the epic graphic novel ''[[ComicBook/TheMetabarons The Saga of the Metabarons]]''.

Due to Lynch's alien style and the sheer scale of the book, the already-complex narrative became nearly incomprehensible to some viewers; many theaters handed out [[AllThereInTheManual printed plot summaries]] to patrons. An altered cut with more exposition to explain the plot was made for television, which ran at almost ''four hours'' with commercials. Incensed at the ExecutiveMeddling, Lynch had his director credit changed to AlanSmithee and his screenwriting credit changed to [[BitingTheHandHumor Judas Booth]] (as in John Wilkes). Subsequent recut and extended versions have inspired [[BrokenBase varying]] degrees of critical reappraisal. It was a complete flop at the box office and has become both a CultClassic and an example of how ''not'' to make a blockbuster.

''Dune'' is the 1984 [[TheFilmOfTheBook feature film adaptation]] of the popular Frank Herbert novel ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', directed by Creator/DavidLynch. The film is famous for its unique visual style, obtuse plot and very TroubledProduction.

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[[caption-width-right:248:Yes, that ''is'' Music/{{Sting}}]]

* AdaptaionalAttractiveness: Gurney Halleck, repeatedly described in the book as "an ugly lump of man", is here played by Creator/PatrickStewart.

* EvilRedhead: Almost all of the Harkonnens we see have red or orange hair, Jessica being the sole subversion.

* {{Camp}}: Susan Sontag describes the idea of campiness as an emergent phenomenon that comes from a piece of art or media that takes itself seriously but fails on some level to sell that seriousness, which is ''what makes it good.'' For all the problems this movie has, it has amassed a cult following for a reason. It's over-the-top aesthetic might not be successful, but it's sure as hell entertaining, all because of how much it commits to what it's trying to do.

* {{Camp}}: Susan Sontag describes the idea of campiness as an emergent phenomenon that comes from a piece of art or media that takes itself seriously but fails on some level to sell that seriousness, which is ''what makes it good.'' For all the problems this movie has, it has amassed a cult following for a reason. The over-the-top aesthetic might not be successful, but it's sure as hell entertaining.

** Meanwhile, every Harkonnen is ugly save Sting as Feyd. Heck, one scene has him slathered in ''oil'' (wearing a winged speedo), with his ''uncle'' lusting after him. One unfortunate Harkonnen slave boy is pretty enough to capture the Baron's attention.[[note]]The Baron murders him and uses his blood to soak the lilies.[[/note]]

* PreciousPuppy: In the book, there is no mention of a specific dog, but the film showed several pugs (owned by the Atreides and Corrinos).

* EvilRedhead: Almost all of the Harkonnens we see have red or orange hair.