Ask 411 Movies for 01.04.09: Good Whiskey Never Lets You Lose Your Place

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 01.04.2010

Husdon Hawk, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Mr. Destiny, All in the Family, movie pitches and Fred Astaire vs. Gene Kelly

From YouTube this week in honor of the King's birthday coming up, we have Elvis Presley singing "My Way" from his last concert. He would have been 75 on Jan. 8. My birthday is Jan. 9. I don't want to say how old I will be.



I was surprised by the Hudson Hawk love in last week's column I honestly think it's a movie that has gone from being bad, to so bad it's good, to being actually good by people who get it. As Earl said in the comments last week, it's a train wreck, but it's kind of meant to be. It's certainly over the top in a winking and knowing way.



Q: 12 (foreign remake of 12 angry men) and Coupling (British version of friends) are a couple of adaptations of American tv shows and movies. 12 is actually a pretty good movie if you don't mind reading subtitles. However, i've never watched Coupling due to the fact that I HATED Friends.
-Richard Stamos

A: I knew about both of those, I just didn't think of them.

"Coupling" ran for four seasons from 2000 to 2004 on BBC. While some critics called it nothing more than a UK version of "Friends," creator Steven Moffat said it was based on his relationship with producer Sue Vertue. The main characters are named Steve and Sue with two of the other characters being their best friends and the other two being their former significant others. The funny thing is that NBC picked up the show for an American adaptation in 2003 in order to replace "Friends." The series only lasted 11 episodes. The show took the British series and adapted teleplays verbatim, just with some clipping to accommodate a shorter running time.



12 is a Russian version of 12 Angry Men released in 2007. A boy is accused of killing his stepfather. The case appears open and close, but one of the jurors believes he's innocent and slowly turns the others to his way of thinking. Different from the original film, the movie does not take place all in one room and flashbacks are shown of what could have happened. In the end, the jury foreman reveals himself to be a former intelligence officer and he pledges to find the real killers.



Q: In terms of foreign countries adapting American films, I believe I read somewhere (maybe even here) that many Bollywood films are musical adaptations of American films.

What goes into a movie pitch? Is it done by a potential director or writer or producer? Do you just need an idea or do you need interest from particular actors or concept art or test footage? Are you just pitching to a studio exec or is there a committee of some sort?
-Andrew B

A: Bollywood doesn't do so much literal translations of American works to my knowledge, but general take offs and movies heavily influenced by American culture. I can't claim to be completely literate on Bollywood, however.

A movie pitch can be done by anyone to anyone. It's basically the outline of the plot and characters and can be as simple as one sentence. A journalist looks into the past of a dead newspaper tycoon in order to find the meaning of his last words, would be the basic pitch for Citizen Kane. Although untrue, the famous story behind "Miami Vice" was that it came about from a note scribbled on a napkin by NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff that read "MTV cops."

Although a movie project doesn't need to start with a pitch, a pitch can be the first step in getting the ball rolling. In Hollywood, usually a filmmaker or producer would go to a studio executive with the basic pitch. If they like what they hear, they would charge the person with getting a script put together, money lined up and possibly a star or director in place. If this came together, then full pre-production would start following. A pitch can include a rough outline of the script, actual script portions or some test footage. Rob Reiner, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean were given $100,000 to write a script for This is Spinal Tap, but instead did a 20 minute demo tape to show what they had in mind with the characters, situations and dialogue.

Q: Re: Rambo II. I think they wanted to know who played Pedovsky's bodyguard; the one who cuts Rambo with his knife and the one who Pedovsky tells "Put it in his eye!"

And what exactly was good about There Will be Blood?
-Ryan W.

A: I thought that Steven Berkoff and Vinnie Jones looked a little bit alike. The guy you're talking about is Tony Munafo. He's been in a bunch of Sylvester Stallone movies and was associate producer on a couple. He's been in The Specialist, Daylight, Oscar, Rocky V, Lock Up, Over the Top, Rhinestone, Staying Alive, Nighthawks and Rocky II. He usually plays a guy named Tony. According to imdb, as of 2003 he was living in Forked River, N.J., and owned Tony's General Merchandise.



As for what's good about There Will Be Blood?, I would ask you what's bad about it. I'll let Spaghett answer for me from the comments last week, "How about one of the best performances by an actor in this or any other decade. How about great direction and cinematography. How about an underrated performance by Paul Dano in dual roles. Does that do anything for ya'?"

Q: While not a direct take on "It's a Wonderful Life", a 1990 film called "Mr. Destiny" covered a similar theme. It starred James Belushi as a depressed average guy who wished he had hit the homerun to win his HS baseball game. Along comes a figure to show him what would have happened if he had won the game. Of course, it turns out that the character would have been wealthy, but very unhappy with his life.
-Michael L

A: I was going to mention that last week and forgot. From 1990, Larry Burrows (Jim Belushi) is having a terrible day and wishes that his life had been different. He traces everything back to his high school baseball team where he struck out at a pivotal at bat. An angel named Mike (Michael Caine) shows up and grants Larry his wish. In his new life, Larry is rich and powerful and married to his boss' daughter (Rene Russo). However, he becomes lonely for his former wife (Linda Hamilton) and best friend (Jon Lovitz). He tries to reconcile with them while fending off the many enemies Larry in his new reality had made (such as Courtney Cox).



Q: Didn't Mickey Rooney turn down the role of Archie Bunker on All in the Family? If so being in a direct to dvd sequel to Silent Night Deadly Night wasn't his worst career choice.
-Guest 1234

A: As we have recently been talking about U.S. versions of foreign products, "All in the Family" was based on the British series "Till Death Do Us Part." According to imdb, Mickey Rooney was producer Norman Lear's original choice for Archie Bunker. Also, Harrison Ford was up for Michael "Meathead" Stivic, but he turned down the part thinking that the show was too offensive to get over. Scott Brady was also offered the Archie role and later appeared in four episodes as Joe Foley. Tom Bosely, Jackie Gleason and Jack Warden were also up for the role. CBS wanted Gleason, because he was under long term contract to the network. Also of interest to mention, Carroll O'Connor once sat out four episodes under a contract dispute. If he had not returned, producers would have killed Archie off and made his friend Stretch Cunningham, played by James Cromwell, the new main character as he helped out the Bunker family to cope without Archie. After O'Connor's return Stretch was killed off.



Q: I just watched the "Night Gallery" episode "The Tune in Dan's Cafe." So my questions is simple, what's the tune because it's really good? Was it an old song they used, or was it done simply for that episode?
-JLAJRC

A: The song in question is "If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry" by Jerry Wallace. It hit number one on the country charts twice, for Aug. 26 and Sept. 9 1972. Its run at the top was interrupted by "Woman (Sensuous Woman)" by Don Gibson. It was the only number one single of Wallace's career.



Q: Sometime during the mid/late 90s or early 2000s, HBO did a one time comedy special where a comedian that had HIV/AIDS told comedic and poignant stories about living with it (like how Bill Cosby does his comedy). I don't remember his name and HBO hasn't replayed it in years (not even on their HBO Comedy Channel). But it was incredibly funny. Any idea what this was?
-JLAJRC

A: Thanks to the imdb I Need to Know Boards, your comedian has been identified as Steve Moore whose 1997 HBO special "Drop Dead Gorgeous: The Power of HIV Positive Thinking" won a Cable Ace Award. Moore declared that he was gay and HIV positive during the 1993 Comedy Central special "Out There." Moore then began to center his comedy around HIV education and positive humor about his disease. He is writing a book called "I Never Knew Oz Was in Color."



Q: As a good American adaptation of a foreign film, I really liked Insomnia starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams.

Leonard, who was a better dancer/performer, Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? I am constantly wowed by what I've seen Gene Kelly do in movies like Singin' in the Rain and Anchors Aweigh and On the Town, but I've never seen a Fred Astaire movie to compare. Or were their styles so different that you can't fairly compare the two?

Also, what Astaire movies would you consider essential viewing?

Happy New Year
-Vince

A: Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire were very different in their acting and dancing styles. Kelly was more athletic and into modern influences. Astaire was more of your classic vaudeville hoofer and tap dancer who was more influenced by ballroom. Astaire did better with a partner, Kelly alone. Both were innovative in how they brought dance to the big screen and were inventive in doing numbers with inanimate objects. Technically, I would say Kelly was the better dancer and singer and Astaire the better actor. Both are really great and probably under appreciated today.

Both danced on screen together only once, in Ziegfeld Follies in 1945 in a number called "The Babbit and the Bromide." In what I remember from a Kelly biography I read, Kelly had developed a number for the two of them for the movie, but Astaire used his sway to get it changed to an old standard that he and his sister, Ada, used to do on stage. Kelly felt that Astaire was threatened by him and didn't trust him to make him look good. Kelly viewed "The Babbitt and the Bromide" as a hokey number that didn't expose Astaire while shackling him.



Of Astaire's best films I would list:

Top Hat (1935): Jerry Travers (Astaire) is a dancer working for Horace Hardwicke (Edward Everett Horton) in London. Travers demonstrates some new steps one night in Horace's apartment and wakes up Dale (Ginger Rogers) sleeping in the apartment below. She comes up to complain, but falls for Jerry who she mistakes for Horace. Features the famous "Cheek to Cheek" number in which Rogers insisted in wearing a blue dress adorned with ostrich feathers that fell off while the couple danced. This led to Astaire giving Rogers the nickname "Feathers." Astaire also met Irving Berlin during the shoot and they became lifelong friends.

Swing Time (1936): Lucky (Astaire) is tricked into missing his wedding to Margaret (Betty Furness) and must now raise $25,000 before her father will permit Lucky to marry her. Lucky goes off to New York to earn some money and joins forces with dancing instructor Penny (Rogers). Naturally, they eventually fall in love. This was Rogers favorite movie of her with Astaire. Top numbers include "The Way You Look Tonight," "Pick Yourself Up" and "Never Gonna Dance."

Holiday Inn (1942): Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) opens a country inn that is only open on holidays and has spectacular entertainment shows based on those holidays. He falls for an up and coming dancer he hires (Marjorie Reynolds) and tries to keep her away from his friend Ted Hanover (Astaire) who needs a new dance partner after his old one (Virginia Dale) left him. Ted first meets Linda on New Year's Eve and dances with her drunk. For the scene Astaire had nine bourbons. For the Fourth of July firecracker dance the shoes worn by Astaire were auctioned off for the war effort for $116,000. "White Christmas" was written for the movie and Berlin won an Oscar for best song. Both "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade" were spun off into their own movies.

Royal Wedding (1951): Tom (Astaire) and Ellen Bowen (Jane Powell) are a brother and sister dance act from New York booked to play London at the same time as a royal wedding. Ellen falls for British nobleman (Peter Lawford), while Tom meets dancer Anne (Sarah Churchill) during auditions. June Allyson was originally cast as Ellen, but got pregnant. Judy Garland then got the part, but she was a real handful at this time and MGM nixed her contract. Upon hearing the news, Garland locked herself in a bathroom and scratched her throat with broken glass in a suicide attempt. Garland would later recover and make light of her firing on Bing Crosby's radio show where they sang "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life" from the movie. The film is known for several inventive dance sequences, such as the one on a rolling cruise ship, Astaire's duet with a coat rack and his dancing on the ceiling.



Finian's Rainbow (1968): Astaire's last film musical was one of the early feature directing efforts from Francis Ford Coppola. At the age of 68, Astaire was said to dance rings around performers young enough to be his grandchildren. In the movie, Astaire plays Finian, who travels from Ireland to a small village near Fort Knox, Ky., with his daughter Sharon (Petula Clark). Finian has stolen the leprechaun's pot of gold and plans to plant it in the ground near Fort Knox, thinking it will multiply. Og the Leprechaun (Tommy Steele) follows to get the gold back and falls in love with a mute girl (Barbara Hancock). Meanwhile, Sharon falls for Woody (Don Francks) who is trying to save the village from a bigoted senator (Keenan Wynn).

Here are clips from The Band Wagon and Daddy Long Legs re-edited to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal." You can tell how the numbers influenced Jackson's actual video for the song.



Q: Leonard, what are your favorite movies to watch that make you feel better?
-The Great Capt. Smooth

A: Just as there are comfort foods, there are comfort movies. Primarily these would be films that one fondly remembers from their childhood. For me, that would be a lot of seminal eighties stuff like Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Princess Bride and the original Star Wars trilogy (yes, I know the first movie was 1977). An odd one here would be Don Knotts' The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, because I remember watching it with my great-grandmother anytime it would be on TBS and she just howled with laughter at it.

Don't die.

"History, tradition, culture... are not concepts! These are trophies I keep in my den as paperweights!"