Ask 411 Movies for 11.09.09: Happy Little Column!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 11.09.2009

Bob Ross and the Joy of Painting, Munsters vs. Addams Family, best actors under 25, best acting performance by a wrestler, Space: 1999, My Fellow Americans and Peter Fonda dances with a dwarf.

From YouTube this week we have more fun with "Star Trek" and different opening theme music. This time out, the original crew comes together as "The A-Team."



I found another Blockbuster going out of business. Their loss is my gain. For $3.99 each I picked up The French Connection, The Hebrew Hammer, It Happened One Night, Vicky Christina Barcelona and Infernal Affairs.

Top ten possible porno movie titles based on movies released in 2009

Sherlock John Holmes
Jennifer's Booty
Cloudy with a Chance of Balls
The Women Who Stare at Cocks
G.I. Blow: The Rise of Trouser Snake
Terminator: Masturbation
Paul Blart: Pool Boy/Cable Guy/Pizza Delivery Dude
Where the Wild Things Are…In My Pants
G-Spot
Cameron Diaz' Box (wait a minute…)

Q: I just came across an "X" program of mine this weekend. It was "The Joy of Painting". I don't know what it is about the show, but it just hooks me in.
-The Great Capt. Smooth



A: "The Joy of Painting" with Bob Ross originally taped from 1983 to 1995 and still runs today in reruns in some outlets via the Public Broadcasting System. Painting accessories are also still sold under Ross' name. Ross died in 1995 of lymphoma.

Over the course of a half hour, Ross would show viewers how to easily and simply make oil paintings of natural landscapes. Some of Ross' catchphrases were "there are no mistakes, just happy accidents" and instructing viewers to put "happy little trees" wherever the wished. AGFRAG Entertainment Group announced in March 2006 that they were developing a video game based on the show for the Wii and Nintendo DS. The Bob Ross estate dropped the company in December of that year and apparently are still interested in doing the game if they find the right developer.

Q: What about Multiplicity as an underrated movie?
-Rusty Shackleford

A: What makes Multiplicity work is the performance of Michael Keaton. Few actors could have really pulled that off, but at the same time the overall film is slight and gimmicky. From 1996, Doug Kinney (Michael Keaton) is a construction company owner who wishes he had more time for his family. He meets a scientist while working on a new wing of a science facility and is cloned by him. Doug's clone is more aggressive and macho than him. A second clone is made who is more sensitive, pretty much the opposite of the first clone. A last clone is childlike and basically mentally challenged. It's compared to the idea of making a copy of a copy. It's not as sharp as the original. Eventually, Doug gets his act together and the clones move away and open a pizza parlor.



Q: Having just picked up the 30th anniversary 2 season (18 dvds) collection, "Space 1999" also featured snippets of the upcoming episode intermingled with the standardized opening credit sequence.

The opening 10 seconds of that sequence where they show Martin Landau & Barbara Bain rocks, great musical accompaniment also...

The show still holds up well 30 years on, with compelling stories/writing (generally) and some pretty fine special effects for the day... (81 to 83, if I'm not mistaken)

Long live "Space 1999" and Moonbase Alpha! :)
-Brian in Vancouver

A: According to a blurb on Wikipedia, the opening credits style of "Battlestar Galactica" were directly inspired by those of "Space: 1999."



"Space 1999" was a British produced series that ran two seasons from 1975 to 1977. It re-teamed the married couple of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain from "Mission Impossible" in the leads. The premise of the series had nuclear waste stored on the moon causing an explosion, knocking the moon out of its orbit. The moon then hurtled through the cosmos with the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha on it.

Landau played the commander of the base with Bain as the chief of medicine. Nick Tate played the chief pilot. Catherine Schell played alien science officer Maya starting in the season two. Maya was projected to be spun-off into her own series to run concurrent with season three of "Space 1999," but it never occurred. Neither has the talk of a big screen re-launch. A fan produced "Message from Moonbase Alpha" in 1999 was a 20th anniversary tribute that kind of wrapped the show's story up.



Q: The "What a lobby!" line is indeed from a Police Academy. I'm pretty sure that it's #3 (Back in Training) or #4 (Citizens on Patrol).
It's the nerdy guy - Sweetchuck, I think his name was. He was either with Tackleberry or Bobcat Goldwaith's character, I believe.
Random trivia: Pretty sure that that movie was shot in Toronto as I'm pretty sure that they were going into a TD (Toronto Dominion) bank and I don't think that TD had invaded the States by that point.
I probably shouldn't know that but I know that that scene always made me laugh when I was younger - I'll admit that I loved the first few movies. The first 3 were pretty good ... it wasn't until 4 that things really started going downhill, IMHO; then, once Guttenberg left it just stunk. How sad is it that Guttenberg made a movie bareable? HA!
-Elvis Foley

A: Thanks for helping to answer that question more clearly from the last column. Kung Fu Janitor piped in with this as well.

Q: There are only two plot lines for any story (or movie)
Man goes on journey
Stranger comes to town.
Virtually everything fits into one of the two
-Guest

A: I racked my brains for something that doesn't really fit that, but most everything does. Sometimes you have to stretch journey a little to be a mental one and not so much a physical one to make it fit. Even if we just look to the above in the Police Academy series, you can kind of make Mahoney the stranger going to the academy or him going on a journey of self-awareness and maturity, as do many of his fellow cadets. I just made Police Academy sound smart.

Q: Hey, Leonard. I've got a few more questions.
1. What is the best movie to feature a wrestler in a substantial role?

2. Which is the better show Munsters or The Aadams Family?

3. Who do you think is the most talented actor/actress under 25?
-Spaghett

A: These are fun questions and many people answered them for themselves in the comments last week. I won't go over all of those, but thanks for playing.

Best movie to feature a wrestler in a substantial role is a different question than what's the best movie to feature a wrestler or what's the best performance by a wrestler in a movie. For this I'd have to agree with ST3 from the comments and say Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride. Not only is the movie that rare, magical fantasy film that appeals to adults and children, but Andre gives a warm and funny performance that plays on his star text as being this larger than life figure while also painting him in a very human and warm light.



The most talented actor or actress under 25 is a bit hard to answer, because most haven't had real opportunities yet to really showcase their talent, let their talent develop or land that seminal part.

I might catch some flack for this, but for actor I would go with Shia LeBeouf, 23. First off, LeBeouf has shown that he can handle himself well in big time blockbusters like Transformers and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He's also done some smaller thrillers like Eagle Eye and Disturbia and has had minor roles in more ensemble pieces like A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Bobby and New York, I Love You. His role in the upcoming Wall Street sequel could be the part that really sets him as a serious dramatic actor too. Basically, LeBeouf has set himself up like the big time older stars in that he can float back and forth between a variety of movies and come off pretty well.



For actress, I'll go with Evan Rachel Wood, 22. We'll overlook her relationship with Marilyn Manson. Wood gave a great performance last year in The Wrestler as Mickey Rourke's estranged daughter and she has a recurring role on the current ‘It' TV series "True Blood." Wood received great notices and some minor award wins and nominations for her role in 2003's Thirteen. And to show that great minds think alike, she recently placed number one in Venus Zine's 25 under 25 and seventh in Entertainment Weekly's 30 under 30.



As for "The Munsters" versus "The Addams Family," while I personally enjoy "The Munsters" more, I think "The Addams Family is the better show. I think the writing was better and they got into the weirdness of the situation and characters more. "The Munsters" most of the time went for traditional sitcom plots or Herman's freakish abilities or stupidity leading to problems. "The Addams Family" also had the cooler supporting characters in Lurch, Cousin Itt and Thing. Now, I would take Marilyn, Eddie and Grandpa over Wednesday, Pugsly and Uncle Fester every time, but I'd go with Morticia and Gomez over Lilly and Herman any day. Gomez dresses like a pimp, smokes cigars, is a master fencer, cleans up in the stock market and blows up model trains for kicks. I rest my case.





Q: Looking for the title of a movie. 80's era. Starred Peter Fonda and an actress I can't remember. He's a hippie type pilot. They're on some island with monsters, kind of like large gremlins. The movie ends with the actors in a helicopter thinking they got away.
-jbgs2

A: The movie is 1983's Dance of the Dwarfs. Deborah Raffin plays a scientist who hires the down on his luck Fonda to fly her far out into the Amazon jungle where no one else will go. She's looking for a colleague that was investigating a tribe of supposed reptile men, the monsters you remember. John Amos of "Good Times" plays a witch doctor. Also released as Jungle Heat.



Q: Has there ever been a worse sequel than Caddyshack 2? They replace Rodney Dangerfield, one of the greatest comedians of all time with the terribly unfunny Jackie Mason. They also replaced Bill Murray with Dan Ackroyd, I like Ackroyd as much as the next guy but let's face it he's no Bill Murray. Can you think of any sequel that totally bastardizes the original like this steaming pile?
-Det. John Kimbell

A: Well, we just talked about sucky sequels recently on the 411 Mania Movies Zone weekly podcast. You can find it in the archives. Caddyshack 2 was on our list along with Star Trek V, Jaws 4, Superman IV, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Next Karate Kid, Teen Wolf Too and Staying Alive among others. All of those I would say kind of miss the forest for the trees on what made the original or previous sequels work. At the same time, I think you can see a major budget drop off too. It's kind of hard to wow people with Superman IV when it's ten years later and you've got less money than you had to make the first one with.

Q: Hi Mr. H,
When a movie premieres on HBO, SHO, etc on Sat night (atleast I think Sat at 8pm it makes its cable debut) do:

a) the cable channels keep track of the # of viewers and then determine how many airings in a month and when it will receive them?
b) how do they determine movies like The Dark Night (a blockbuster) one week gets the 8pm prime spot on Sat and then something like Nights in Rhodane gets it next week but The Changling or Death Race or the Rocker get odd showings like Sat. 11pm or Monday 9pm? I stumbled on Meet Dave on a Sunday at 3pm, obviously prime football time. At least Changling would seem to be worthy of a great premium airing time.
c) Do the studios negotiate over certain movies being granted to certain premium channels or are there set contracts in place? I.E. anything Warner goes to HBO/Cinemax, anything Sony go SHO/TMC.
Thank you.
-Paul

A: Cable channels keeps track of viewers with the Nielsen Ratings just like major networks do. This doesn't provide instant feedback, so ratings have no real bearing on how often a new film will be shown. Most cable channels buy movies in a package deal where they have access to the film for a certain period of time, usually a month. So, a channel will want to get the most bang for its buck and schedule it as many times as they can on different days in different time slots with out too much over saturation.

As far as scheduling times for the movies to be shown that would be up to the head of scheduling and be based on knowing your audience. Prime time is usually family time, so movies with the broadest appeal would be booked during these times. You also have to think that 8 p.m. on a Saturday would have more older women at home than other demographics and therefore they would be more inclined to watch something like Nights in Rodanthe. Later in the evening is usually when R-rated films are trotted out, especially as the party crowd gets home. I could see The Changeling getting a later time slot because it being more adult in theme and presentation.

As far as if certain networks and studios have deals, I couldn't find anything definitive on that, but I could see where some studios and networks would have good working relationships with each other. Basically, all the channels vie for the biggest hits, but some of the networks will steer away from showing the movies of their competitors as not to butt heads or to differ themselves.

What might be of interest to you is this odd article I found from the New York Times dated July 12, 1981, that goes over the scheduling strategy of the major cable movie networks of that era.

Q: Hey Leonard,
Excellent column as always. I was wondering what you thought of the flick "My Fellow Americans" (James Garner/Jack Lemmon). I realize its not very good, but I have a special little place for that flick since it was the last movie I saw in an old theater here in Baltimore that was shut down to make room for a Wal-Mart. I find it funny and touching, but sometimes a bit cliche, even for a buddy comedy. If you haven't seen it (or its been a while), I recommend watching it. Take note of the bad action sequences towards the end of the movie (at the White House). They are very badly done and it shows with some horrible cgi shots (even though it doesn't really harm the movie). Cheers - Ian from Baltimore

A: I did full, critical analysis of the film in July 2004 for my short-lived Anatomy of a Movie column. Just click the link to read more about my opinion on the film than you probably really wanted to know.

Q: Hey Leonard. Can you please do a part 2 of the best songs in movies? That was a great list.
-The New Guy

A second list would probably pale to the first because I hit my favorites, but I'll offer a few more.

Samuel L. Jackson listening to Johnny Cash's "Tennessee Stud" on the car radio in Jackie Brown



Various characters singing "Wise Up" in Magnolia



Marty McFly with the Starlighters playing "Johnny B. Goode" in Back to the Future



The parade sequence from Ferris Bueller's Day Off featuring the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout"



"Layla" in Goodfellas



That's it for this week. I'm waiting on A Simple Plan and I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer from Netflix to give my opinions of them. Yes, that second title is an actual movie. I was as surprised as you are.

Don't die.

"If mediocrity were fat, you'd all be whales!"