Ask 411 Movies for 12.28.09: The Horn Blows at Midnight

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 12.28.2009

It’s a Wonderful Life, Dungeons and Dragons, Dragon’s Lair, Vinnie Jones isn’t Steven Berkoff, lost movies, Blood Simple and my top films of the decade!

I would like to thank everyone for the nice comments, prayers and condolences last week on my stepfather's passing. We're just taking it one day at a time and trying to get back to as normal as possible.

For Christmas I got an mp3 player and a gps system for the car to move me somewhat into the 21st century. For DVDs I got Star Trek, G.I. Joe and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, don't laugh, I love that damn movie.

From YouTube this week a montage of New Year's Eve ball drop sequences over the past 30 years.



Q: Great column as usual,

1. Did Mickey Rooney ever discuss why he did the fifth Silent Night, Deadly Night movie after protesting the first one? I realize the two movies had nothing to do with one another but it still strikes me as odd that he'd protest one and then appear in a sequel. Just wondering.

2. I loved the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon when I was a little kid. I haven't seen it in years and I was curious....did those kids ever make it home? Also, has either that cartoon or the Dragon's Lair cartoon been released on DVD?

3. What are some movies that you dig that everybody else seemingly hates? My choices would be Dr. Giggles, I Love You Beth Cooper, & Silent Night, Deadly Night.
-Nate

A: As imdb and other sites have it, Mickey Rooney wrote a letter of protest against the first film in the Silent Night, Deadly Night series that called the filmmakers "scum" and saying they should be "run out of town" for defacing the sacredness of Christmas. Then seven years later Rooney starred as the toy maker in the fifth film in the series, a direct to video wreck. In the movie, a young boy (William Thorne) sees his father killed by a toy dropped off on their front porch and he stops speaking. Eventually the boy and his mother (Jane Higginson) reconcile with the boy's real father (Tracy Fraim) and battle the toy making father and son duo of Joe (Rooney) and Pino Petto (Brian Bremer). As to why Rooney did the film, I could find no statements from him on the matter and probably for good reason. Unless someone can produce the original letter, I would think that bit of trivia was circulated to help market this film. Regardless, it probably comes down to Rooney being in need of work and money and taking the part offered.

"Dungeons and Dragons" was based on the famous role-playing game and ran for three seasons on CBS from 1983 to 1985. A group of teens are taken into the world of Dungeons and Dragons by a dark ride at an amusement park. Most episodes had them trying to find their way home, but being sidetracked by trying to help others. Characters were Hank the Ranger, Eric the Cavalier, Diana the Acrobat, Presto the Magician, Bobby the Barbarian with his unicorn Uni and Sheila the Thief. They were coached by the Dungeon Master with Venger as their main foe. The children never did make it home during the series. Mill Creek Entertainment released the whole series and a best of DVD back in June.



"Dragon's Lair" was based on a 1983 laserdisc video game that was ahead of its time on animation, but was kind of sluggish in game play. The animated series ran for one season on ABC in 1984. A unique twist keeping in spirit with the game was that before commercial breaks, viewers were asked which choice to make based on what Dirk the Daring was facing and then the outcomes were shown after the commercial. Ports of the game have been released for DVD, but the animated series has not.



We have kind of discussed this before in movies that I just plain like while others dislike them or if they do like them, they like them in a so bad their good or guilty pleasure way. Films for me I flat out enjoy that most others do not would probably include Action Jackson, Smokey and the Bandit 3, Beware of the Blob, Harlem Nights, Hudson Hawk and anything involving Billy Jack.

Q: Hey Leonard, since this week is Christmas (but won't be by the time you reply to this), I was wondering if you had a list of films that were similar to It's A Wonderful Life. The only similar one I can really think of is The Family Man (in a way).

Since I brought it up, It's A Wonderful Life is a great film, I'm just wondering something. I read on Wikipedia about how an alternate ending was shot with Mr. Potter getting his comeuppance. Obviously it isn't anywhere online or on any of the DVD's. Was this just lost, or so raw that there wouldn't be any point in tacking it in an as extra?

I've heard about films and television series being lost.. but I'm wondering.. how could these films be lost? I can see it happening back in the 30's-50's, but nowadays? I read about some films and TV series shot in the 80's and 90's that were lost.

Have there been any examples of popular films or shows that have been lost?
-Zero

A: It's a Wonderful Life has been parodied or taken off from many times. There were several radio adaptations in the late forties and early fifties that stars James Stewart and Donna Reed took part in. It Happened One Christmas was a gender flipped TV version from 1977 starring Marlo Thomas and Wayne Rogers. A musical version was written in 1986 and has been performed a few times. A live radio version, staged and done like an old time radio broadcast, has also been adapted. In 1990, the spin-off TV movie Clarence aired starring Robert Carradine as the angel that helped George see what a great life he had.

Mario mentioned in the comments last week that there was the "Saturday Night Live" skit where Phil Hartman as Uncle Billy remembered having the money in the newspaper that Mr. Potter, played by Jon Lovitz, took. George, played by Dana Carvey, his brother Harry, played by Dennis Miller, Mary, played by Jan Hooks, and the rest of the townspeople go to Mr. Potter and beat the crap out of him while also discovering he's not really crippled. You can't trust everything you read on Wikipedia, but the article apparently sites a legitimate source of "It's a Wonderful a Life: A Memory Book" by Stephen Cox as reference on the filmed but not used alternate ending. Snooping around the internet finds similar references, but if the ending did exist at one point it's never been discovered for inclusion on DVD or any sort of documentary.



When a film is dubbed ‘lost' it means that they either don't have a copy of the film anywhere or the known film has eroded and decayed to the point that it can no longer be shown. There are plenty of famous stories of film negatives and stock being dumped into the ocean because studios didn't have space to keep everything. In fact, it's not uncommon for even recent footage to be lost because local television affiliates throw it away or destroy it. Of course, sometimes film is also lost due to fire, water damage or other natural disasters.

It's estimated that about 80 percent of movies made during the silent era are lost. Among notable films from this era are The Life of General Villa starring Pancho Villa as himself, The Fall of a Nation which was the sequel to Birth of a Nation, Raoul Walsh's first movie The Honor System, Lon Chaney's debut in The Honor of the Family, F.W. Murnau's debut The Boy in Blue, A Woman of the Sea which Charlie Chaplin destroyed himself as a tax write-off, The Way of All Flesh featuring the only lost Academy Award winning performance from Emil Jannings and, probably the most famous of lost films, Lon Chaney in London After Midnight.

Of notable lost television broadcasts are the debut of "The Ed Sullivan Show" that was originally called "Toast of the Town," many shows from the defunct DuMont network, which Edie Adams stated were dumped into the Upper New York Bay in the seventies, BBC's "The Madhouse on Castle Street" featuring Bob Dylan, most of Johnny Carson's first ten years on "The Tonight Show" and most of Jack Parr's run, the first two Super Bowls although NFL Films has copies of what they shot and a lot of soap opera episodes before 1980. The different with television and film is that videotape can be reused so often times shows were wiped and the tape reused to cut costs.

Q: Leonard, sorry about he late question but was Vinnie Jones the dude torturing Sly in Rambo First Blood Part 2? Can't find any mention of it but the dude sure looks like him.
-BFF

A: Vinnie Jones didn't make his acting debut until Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998. Prior to that he was a soccer star in England, making his debut in 1984 with Wealdstone. Jones was known as a ‘hard man' being sent off 12 times in his career and being the person to receive a yellow card the fastest ever, just three seconds into a game. Jones has also appeared in Gone in Sixty Seconds, X-Men: The Last Stand, Year One, the Midnight Meat Train, The Condemned, Eurotrip, Swordfish and Snatch.



In Rambo: First Blood Part II I think you might be referring to British actor Steven Berkoff who plays Lt. Col. Podovsky. Berkoff really made his name in the eighties playing bad guys not only in that movie, but Octopussy and Beverly Hills Cop. He was also in the Stanley Kubrick movies Barry Lyndon and A Clockwork Orange.



Q: Thanks for the response this week, Leonard. I have a couple more questions this week if you don't mind.

1. Who are some of your favorite character actors/actresses.

2. What do you consider to be the best American adaptation of a foreign tv show/movie? The Office and The Departed are two examples that surpass the original imo. Are there any notable foreign remakes of american tv shows/movies?
-Dr. Mickhead

A: For favorite character actor I certainly have to list my good, close personal friend Kevin McCarthy. That's a joke, but I've mentioned McCarthy in the column several times and how I've met him and drove him to the airport after he was a guest at the Monster Bash. You've got to give it up to anybody who is still working steady at the age of 95. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was one of his rare leading roles. Other films include UHF, Innerspace, The Misfits, A Big Hand for the Little Lady, Mirage, The Best Man and an Oscar nominated performance in Death of a Salesman.



Usually when character actors come up I mention Ward Bond, who holds the record for being in more Hollywood films than anyone else with 260 movies to his credit between 1929 and his death of a heart attack in 1960 while starring on the T.V. series "Wagon Train." Bond also appeared in more films on the AFI top 100 list than any other performer. Those classics being It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby, Gone With the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, The Maltese Falcon, It's a Wonderful Life (one of his most notable roles as Bert the cop) and The Searchers with longtime friend John Wayne. Bond was a bear of a man who would catch your eye with his rough voice and sheer screen presence even in the smallest roles.

A couple weeks ago for the podcast, Chad Webb did a pat on the back to longtime character actor Allan Graf and I said my equivalent to him would probably be Branscombe Richmond. Basically, both guys started out as stuntmen and because they could read lines got bit parts in B-movies. Why pay for an actor and a stuntman when you can pay one fee for both in the same person? Both then kind of slowly built careers. Richmond particularly has had some major roles like playing the Rock's brother in The Scorpion King and as Bobby Sixkiller on "Renegade" with Lorenzo Lamas.

For women, I usually mention Thelma Ritter. She has six Oscar nominations for best supporting actress without a win. If that doesn't say one of the best unsung character actresses ever, I don't know what does. Those film she was nominated for are All About Eve, The Mating Season, With a Song in My Heart, Pickup on South Street, Pillow Talk and Birdman of Alcatraz. She was also in Miracle on 34th Street, Rear Window, The Misfits, How the West was Won and A Letter to Three Wives.

I would definitely pick The Departed as one of the best American adaptations of a foreign film. Scent of a Woman is an adaptation from an Italian film whose title translates to about the same, The Magnificent Seven is from the Seven Samurai and A Fistful of Dollars is from Yojimbo; both Japanese movies from Akira Kurosawa.

As far as the other way around with American movies being adapted as foreign films I couldn't think of any nor could I find a list of any. Maybe some people out there might know of some. In general, American movies and TV shows always do well in foreign countries as compared to foreign products here in the states. It just seems that foreign audiences will gladly accept material from another country much more than American audiences will.

Q: The Stand mini-series is like Family Guy in that I see a lot of people give it flack on THIS site, but not really anywhere else.

Here's a question: what other movies/tv shows out there have you noticed that seem to only have a bad rep on 411?
-Guest 6311

A: I honestly don't read the forums or other comment threads much. Am I too busy, too lazy or too elitist to do so; you decide? In picking the brains of my fellow writers here Jeremy Thomas marks The Incredibles as a movie that constantly gets labeled on 411 as overrated, especially when compared to other Pixar flicks. From my end, I think 411 can tend to over-hype or overrate movies more than play them down. When we did the top 100 a few years ago, both Fight Club and Almost Famous were in the top ten, maybe top five if I remember right, and I thought this was way too high for two fairly recent films.

Q: 1. I have a late addition to the best songs used in movies, what about "It's the Same Old Song" used throughout the movie Blood Simple.

2. Speaking of Blood Simple, where do you think it ranks among the best directorial debuts of all time? I may be a biased Coen brothers fan but I have it up there with Reservoir Dogs and Memento as one of my favorite debuts in the last 25 years or so.

3. I remember reading the list of your 100 favorite films several years ago. Has your list seen any major changes in the years since then?
-Spaghett

A: Blood Simple was not only the directing debut of the Coen Brothers, but the debut of Barry Sonnenfeld as the film's cinematographer. In the 1984 film, Ray (John Getz) and Abby (Frances McDormand) are having an affair. Abby's husband Marty (Dan Hedaya), also Ray's boss, finds out about the affair from a private detective named Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) he hired. Marty hires Visser to kill the couple, but instead he doctors photos to make it look like he's killed them. He shoots Marty with Abby's gun after collecting his pay and everything just goes to hell in a hand basket from there.



The movie is a great example of modern noir, suspenseful and watchable, but at the same time a bit rough around the edges. The Coens were still learning how to communicate their quirky sensibilities to a mainstream audience, which I don't think they really got a knack for until around Fargo and O, Brother Where Art Thou? which are more polished and smooth in layout and execution than here, but it's still a great debut that shows the potential they would later live up to.

Top directing debuts for me would be Orson Welles with Citizen Kane, John Huston with The Maltese Falcon, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly with On the Town, Charles Laughton with Night of the Hunter, Sidney Lumet with 12 Angry Men, Mike Nichols with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Frank Darbont with The Shawshank Redemption. Memento was not Christopher Nolan's first feature as a director, it was 1998's Following. The neo-noir film with a non-linear structure stars Jeremy Theobald as a young man who follows strangers in the London subways and is eventually drawn into a life of crime.

I would need to revisit the list of my top 100 films and look over it, rearrange it, see what has stuck with me and what hasn't. It's all my own opinions and can change over time due to various influences. For me the best movies I've seen this past decade are The Dark Knight, The Departed, Up, No Country For Old Men, The Wrestler, There Will Be Blood and Million Dollar Baby.

Don't die.

"Now listen to me, my tough little friend. I don't know from under what stone you crawled, or where you get these ridiculous ideas about me, but it seems painfully obvious you haven't the slightest fucking idea who you're dealing with. Now, my advice to you is crawl back to your little stone in Detroit before you get squashed."