Dune producer Raffaella De Laurentiis explains the origins of one of the myths surrounding the film. Dune seemed to generally baffle audiences and critics when it was released. And rightfully so, as the finished version of the film condenses much of the detail in the novel so necessary to understanding the action in the movie. The result is one of the most brilliant failures in motion picture history. Lynch crams in so many visual ideas and gets the feel of the book so well that viewers don't want to admit to themselves that after the halfway point, the film seems to zip through the action so quickly that it's impossible to get all of what is going on. Still, it looks so amazing that it has certainly earned its somewhat fanatical cult following.