Ask 411 Movies for 8.30.10: The Column That Insults Because It Loves!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 08.30.2010

Did Steve Austin really break Sylvester Stallone’s neck? How many times did Scrubs move timeslots? Why was Boston Legal canceled? Get the answers to these questions and more in the latest edition of Ask 411 Movies!

To end our month long salute to movies based on music videos, from YouTube this week we have "Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins, which takes cues from one of the earliest sci-fi movies ever A Trip to the Moon.



Nancy Dolman, 58, died last Tuesday due to cancer. She had been married to comedic actor Martin Short for 30 years. She appeared on "Soap" and did some other work with her husband. She retired from acting in 1985 to raise the family's three kids.

Jack Horkheimer, 73, died Aug. 20 of respiratory failure. He was a self taught astronomer who hosted the PBS syndicated series "Star Gazer" since 1976. The show was originally "Star Hustler," but when the internet age came about and searches for "star hustler" didn't take you to Horkheimer, they changed the name.



Q: To answer a lot of these death questions, just check out Cinemorgue. Just from checking there I can tell you Jim Carrey dies in The Dead Pool and one of those made-for-tv Mike Hammer movies. Danny Glover also died at the end of Switchback, and Bill Murray died in Hamlet and City of Ember.
-SeanAlly

A: Thanks for the link and the additional information. I won't go over any of the other names or films listed in the comments last week so we can move on. So if you have any questions on if someone died in a movie or not, go to www.cinemorgue.com. Finish reading this column first though.

I think I'll also skip all the oddly hot chicks mentioned again too. I've got enough spank material with all of the A.J. Grey posts we have here on 411.

Q: Don't know what version of This Boy's Life you've seen but Deniro does not die in that movie.
-Eric

A: According to cinemorgue, his character dies off screen and it's mentioned in the narration at the end of the film. So far we've been counting people who die even if you don't see the actual death on screen, so it's good.

Q: We need to come up with a name for this inexplicably attractive thing. You know before American Pie (or whoever coined the term), we would've put MILFs in this category
-Guest 8371

A: How about WILFs for weirdoes I'd like to fuck. Or instead of a cougar, what is a weird looking cat. A puma? A lynx?

Q: Talking about spoilers. What do you think are the biggest spoilers in movie history?
-Ted

If you don't know all of these below, you have no business reading this column or actually breathing oxygen on this planet. I'll list the top 10 in the basic order I think they go in of notoriety or importance.

Citizen Kane: Rosebud is a sled.
Empire Strikes Back: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.
Sixth Sense: Bruce Willis' character is dead for the most of the movie.
The Planet of the Apes: The planet is Earth, discovered by Taylor when he finds a smashed up Statue of Liberty.
The Usual Suspects: Verbal Kint is Keyser Soze.
Crying Game: She's a dude.
Pyscho: Mrs. Bates is dead and Norman dresses up like her to kill people.
Chinatown: The young girl is Faye Dunaway's sister and daughter as she was raped by her father.
Soylent Green: The title foodstuff is made of people.
Fight Club: Tyler Durden is a figment of the narrator's imagination and he really is Tyler Durden in essence.

Q: Are my old VHS tapes worth anything?
-Marty

A: Not really. A used media story might give you a quarter a tape or a bit more in store credit. VHS are obsolete, but not yet collectible. It's also questionable if they ever will be since VHS tapes were mass-produced and so many people have them. What makes things collectible is being rare or somehow special. My friend Ron Adams of Creepy Classics has said he's seen a small up-tick in VHS collectors over the past couple of years from the sales he does, but it's not a major market.

Q: Hi Leonard,
Great column as always!
Two quick questions:

1. Watching the Hasselhoff Roast, I noticed that several presenters were reading their remarks, possibly for the first time. Hulk Hogan even turned and asked if he had to say one particular line out loud. My question is, how much of the Roast is scripted? I assume the stand-ups (Giraldo, Lamponelli, Ross) all do their own stuff, but do the non-comedians have their lines all written for them?

2. There was a syndicated show in the mid-eighties called "Carson's Comedy Classics", which ran for half an hour, and consisted of bits like Carnac, Art Fern, Aunt Blabby, etc. My question is, was this show ever put on a VHS/DVD at any point?

Thanks again,
-Steve

A: The stand-ups do their own shtick and then help other writers to come up with gags for the non-comedians. I've got the William Shatner roast on DVD and there's some behind the scenes stuff where they're working on stuff and one segment of Betty White negotiating words she will and won't say. It seemed like they used to hide this, but they either don't care now or think it's funny to be more open with it. On the past few shows it seems like a lot of people are making off camera remarks and reading from paper.



If you like the old Johnny Carson stuff and roasts, I recommend you pick up the old Dean Martin roasts on DVD. More at the time A-listers, but not as raunchy since it was on network television.

"Carson's Comedy Classics" were half hour clip shows of sketches and bits from "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." Announcer Ed McMahon hosted and provided narration. Segments were taken from Carson's first 20 years as host of "The Tonight Show" from 1962-1982. The series went into syndication in 1983 and are still shows on some minor networks here and there still today. The shows were produced by Carson's own production company and distributed by Columbia Television. You notice there are usually no references to NBC or the "The Tonight Show" or anything else NBC might own the rights too. Various Johnny Carson collections are available on DVD, many collecting "Tonight Show" material, but I think what rights issues are left have prevented that show from being put on DVD.



Q: Are you a fan of the Comedy Central Roasts? Who are some celebrities you would like to see roasted?
-Spaghett

A: Comedy Central aired the annual Friars' Club Roasts from 1998-2002. These shows were Drew Carey, Jerry Stiller, Rob Reiner, Hugh Hefner and Chevy Chase. After the contract expired they decided to do their own roasts and have done 10 so far. They are Denis Leary, Jeff Foxworthy, Pamela Anderson, William Shatner, Flavor Flav, Bob Sagat, Larry the Cable Guy, Joan Rivers and David Hasselhoff. They were supposed to do one on Willie Nelson, but the taping was canceled. Not sure why.

If they're on when I'm flipping through channels, I watch them. I think they can be really hit or miss. I don't like when whoever is up spends most of their time dissing everybody else, but the person who they are supposed to be roasting. I also find some of the regulars, like Lisa Lampanelli and Greg Giraldo, to be really unfunny and trying too hard. They're just spouting the most shocking stuff they can think of without being specific to the person being roasted.

As for who I would like to see roasted, I would like to see that Willie Nelson one. I think doing Betty White is a given right now. Looking at the Friars' Club list from recent that weren't televised on Comedy Central I would have liked to see ones on Jerry Lewis and Donald Trump. How about Mel Gibson?

Q: Thanks for answering my questions! Here's some more!

1. Jonathon Frakes directed some of my favorite TNG episodes, but I hear he has a furniture store or something these days. Did he have any big successes behind the camera that weren't involved with Star Trek?

2. I saw a movie on AMC a few years back (when they actually still showed "classics"), and I'm pretty sure Alan Alda was the lead actor. It was about a couple who would meet each other annually for a romantic weekend in a cabin. What was it called, and is it available for purchase on DVD?

3. I am a huge fan of [Scrubs], so the last 4 or 5 years were incredibly frustrating as a viewer of NBC (especially after the whole Coco-Fiasco). I lost count, but at one point I swear I had counted 15 timeslot changes over the course of the series! Is this a record? If not what is the show with the most time changes?

and finally

4.Was Boston Legal canceled due to ratings, or was it just too expensive? Talk about a FANTASTIC show! I'd feel bad if it was ratings, because I picked up Season One on DVD right after it was canceled (I didn't know that at the time).

Thanks in advance!
-Cactus

A: According to imdb, Jonathan Frakes is currently a pretty busy TV director. In the past year, he's helmed episodes of "Dollhouse," Castle," "Leverage," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "V," "The Good Guys," "The Glades," and "Persons Unknown." Also according to imdb, he's been teaching directing classes at Rockport College in Maine since 2005.



As Spanky Hamm listed in the comments last week, your Alan Alda movie is Same Time Next Year from 1978. George (Alan Alda) and Doris (Ellen Burstyn) are strangers who meet at a resort inn in 1951 and have an affair. They're both happily married with children, but decide to meet for a tryst the same weekend every year. The movie then follows them over the next 25 years as they grow, age and change with the only constant being their stolen weekends. It's based on a stage play and that comes across in the static direction and too broad acting, but it's an interesting concept and a real showcase for the two leads. It's worth a look as a social time capsule.



Checking Wikipedia, they have "Scrubs" having moved time slots six times while on NBC. Then you had the move to ABC and them showing back-to-back episodes at times. The Wikipedia guide might also not include summer switches and ‘special' airings to fill holes in the schedule. "Scrubs" highest seasonal ranking was 14 for the second season, but it dropped about half in rankings and viewers the next year and went down from there. In interviews with cast and crew, NBC switching time slots and in general not supporting the show in marketing and merchandising was cited as a primary reason for poor ratings.



Time slot switches have hurt other shows in the past. "Star Trek" going into its third season was going to be given a sweet time slot of Mondays at 8:30 p.m., but got bumped in favor of the break out series "Laugh-In." The only time slot left was 10 p.m. Fridays. As star William Shatner once said in an interview the only people home 10 p.m. Fridays are little old ladies in Iowa and they're not watching "Star Trek."

Time slot moves are also cited as a killer for "WKRP in Cincinnati." In three seasons, CBS moved the show 12 times, including summer time slot moves.

"Boston Legal" was another series that had problems with time slot changes. In five seasons it was on five different nights and times. It never did better than 27 in the ratings for its first season, but usually won its time slot and drew a majority of adults 18-49 with incomes over $100,000 a year, according to Nielsen. In an interview creator David Kelly gave to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazeette during the show's final season, he said ABC chose to end the series citing ratings and production costs, but he said they never really liked the show or supported it. Kelly also said in the interview that "Boston Legal" was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and not in house as other ABC hits "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." So, ABC wasn't getting that extra cut of the profits.



Q: Here are a few difficult questions I googled but couldn't get much info on:

- Chevy Chase is considered an asshole by many. Can you give examples of this?

- The Kids in the Hall had a falling out after Brain Candy. Can you explain info on this (Scott Thompson mentioned something about it in an interview on Suicide Girls website and it perked my interests)

- Sly recently broke his neck fighting Steve Austin in the expendables. Can you share any insight as to what happened?

Some opinion questions for you:
- What is your favorite TV Miniseries?
- What book series would you like to see made into a movie/s?
- Do people hate twilight because it is the cool thing to do or is it really that bad?
-AG Awesome

A: Chevy Chase is known to be a first class jerk, although he has apparently softened some over the years. In general by people who know and work with him, it's been said that Chase is often rude, mean and careless in his comments. He'll say terrible things and just laugh about it. He's selfish and always looking out for himself and cares little for others. He had a heavy cocaine problem at one time. I will say this is all rumor and hearsay.

In 1997, Chase was banned from hosting "Saturday Night Live" due to his behavior even though he was an original cast member and the first break out star of the show. He has made some cameo appearances on the program since that time. Among Chase's objectionable behavior is suggesting a sketch in 1985 where gay cast member Terry Sweeney had AIDS and they would see how much weight he had lost from week to week. When Chase first came back to host the show after he had left, he and replacement Bill Murray got into a fight because Chase apparently treated him poorly all week long. Murray finally said something like "why don't you fuck your wife once in awhile?" and the two came to blows and had to be pulled apart. Both incidents are from the book "Live From New York." According to PageSix.com from a July 2006 interview, Vince Vaughn was compared to Chase in comedic style. Chase said, "I don't know who the fuck he is. He looks like some refrigerator repairman."



I found an Aug. 20 interview from the Boston Globe with Mark McKinney where he said 1996 following Brain Candy was a bad time for them as individuals due to divorces and deaths in families. Even though they had reunited before then, McKinney said they didn't really get back in the groove and enjoy being with each other again until 2008 when they started writing new material.

The group's new miniseries "Death Comes to Town" debuted on IFC Friday, Aug. 20. A death in the small community of Shuckton, Ontario, makes just about everybody a suspect. An Associated Press story I found about the miniseries also had the group commenting on a lot of infighting leading to their original break up and now they're older and calmer.



According to an article in the UK newspaper The Daily Mail, Sylvester Stallone and Steve Austin did the one-on-one fight scene they have in the film without stunt doubles. Apparently the filming just got so intense, they stopped pulling punches, went all out and Austin gave Stallone a hairline fracture in his neck. Stallone finished the film and didn't tell anyone, but had to have surgery after shooting wrapped and now has a metal plate in his neck.

In the same article, Stallone tells a story that during Rocky IV Dolph Lundgren punched him so hard in the chest, he pushed his ribcage into his chest and caused constriction of his heart. Stallone was treated in an emergency room and could have died if his heart had swollen any further from the injury.



My favorite TV miniseries are "Lonesome Dove," original "V," "North and South," "Rich Man, Poor Man" and even though it was pretty terrible, I liked "10th Kingdom." Of course, there are many classic miniseries I haven't seen like "Roots," "Centennial," "Shogun" and "The Thornbirds."



I'm a big fan of the series of detective novels written by country singer and former Texas governor candidate Kinky Friedman. In the books, Friedman writes himself as an amateur detective living in New York City with a host of weird friends. One of the more notable novels, "Roadkill," involves Friedman acting as a bodyguard for his old pal Willie Nelson after he receives a death threat. The stories are funny and quirky and would probably make a better television series.



I only saw the first Twilight movie and thought it was poorly made. The screenplay was filled with clichés and really sloppy. For example, Bella looks for information on the Cullens relating to a local American Indian tribe. She finds numerous entries on the internet, but decides to seek out a book on the tribe's legends. While she could buy this book from somewhere like Amazon and have it the next day, she chooses instead to go to a nearby town to purchase the book from an America Indian bookstore, which is in a bad part of town. When are bookstores in bad parts of town? When she is accosted by some thugs, Edward swoops in and saves the day. Then when she gets home with the book, she picks up on one word only and goes back to searching on the internet. All you really need to do is establish that the tribe's legends are very sacred, but there's this one rare bookstore that might have an old copy of a book with the legends to justify Bella going there because she has no other options. I also found the two leads to be incredibly dull and uninteresting, although the basic concept of the Cullens family and their history was interesting to me.

While the movies might be bad, it's also cool to hate on the films because it's the hip thing for hip people to do. There is always some backlash against uber-popular things, because there are always people who want to be above something like that or get sick of having it shoved down their throats. The incessant whining and screaming of the tweens can also make old cynics like me hate on it out of principle. So, the exact answer to your question is a little from column A and a little from column B.



Q: Here are two questions for you:

1) What are some movies (that are in a genre you enjoy) that people seem to love, but you don't like it for God knows whatever reason? To clarify, I'm not talking about an action movie fan not liking the latest romantic comedy, but that same action movie fan not liking Die Hard. Do you have any of these?

2) If you had to live in a country other than the USA strictly for the availability of movies that country produces, where would it be? For instance, I live in Canada, and can get American or Canadian movies no problem, but finding a way to conveniently watch movies produced in the UK (or any other country, for that matter) is a nightmare. Where would you relocate to?

Keep up the awesome work,
-Vince

A: I like sci-fi movies, but don't really care for 2001: A Space Odyssey. I find it convoluted and too full of itself. While the special effects and presentation were groundbreaking for the time, I just have a hard time getting into it. There's something about the acting that's too flat to me, although I think that's what director Stanley Kubrick was going for. He wanted it to be cold and antiseptic, but that's hard for me to warm up to.



I also like Westerns, but don't like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I prefer the earlier Sergio Leone films with Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More. I think Leone was getting a little too full of himself as an ‘artist' at that point. The movie is too long for what it is and there's all these scenes with long pauses and shots back and forth between eyes and hands and gun belts and it's basically filler.



Now, if you like these movies that's fine. I'm not saying you're stupid for liking them and you don't need to point out what's great about the films. I can understand what people see in them and I certainly wouldn't call either bad. The question was what is a movie in a genre you like where you don't like the movie, but others do. So you don't need to fill the comments telling me what an idiot I am. I know I'm an idiot.

I've been accused of being too American-centered in my film tastes. I like what I can get here just fine. If I would need to go abroad, probably to the United Kingdom, which I've always wanted to visit, they speak English and have access to region two DVDs, which is the region that gets the most stuff region one doesn't. Japan also gets a good selection of stuff and good bootlegs, but I hear it's expensive to live there. You know, Antarctica is regionless. I could build a fortress of solitude there and buy a bunch of DVD players from around the world and watch whatever I want whenever I want. Of course, I don't think Amazon delivers there. I could train some penguins with backpacks to act as curriers though.

Q: What has happened to the cast of That 70's Show outside of Ashton Kutcher? I know Eric had a role in Predator but what about the others?
-Pete

At one point it looked like Ashton Kutcher was going to be the break out star of "That 70's Show," but his last few films haven't done that great. Valentine's Day did ok, but he was part of a large ensemble there, and Killers way under performed. He's next set to appear in No Strings with Natalie Portman, described as your basic story of two people who only want to bone each other, but eventually fall in love. There seems to be a lot of those coming out of Hollywood now. It also may be hard to believe, but he's been married to Demi Moore for five years now. He's 32 and she's 47.

As you commented, Topher Grace was recently in Predators and has had a pretty steady career, appearing as Eddie Brock in Spiderman 3 among other things. He's next set to appear in Kids in America and The Double with him and Richard Gere trying to solve a senator's murder.

Mila Kunis has maybe surprisingly done the most since the series went off the air, having appeared in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Book of Eli, Extract, Date Night and continuing to voice Meg on "Family Guy." Her next movie is also with Natalie Portman, Black Swan.

Danny Masterson owns or co-owns 11 restaurants, often works as a DJ in the L.A. area and plays a lot of poker. He'll next be seen on the big screen as Jerry Rubin in The Chicago 8 about the conspirators who wreaked havoc on the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Laura Prepon has continued to work on TV, most recently on "House," "Medium" and with a recurring role on "How I Met Your Mother." She's apparently doing a sitcom pilot for ABC called "Awkward Situations with Men." I don't think it sold.

Wilmer Valderrama has been the voice of "Handy Manny" on the Disney animated series and voices Max in the animated webseries "Chadam." He has three films slated for next year, Larry Crowne starring Tom Hanks as a middle aged man who goes back to college, The Girl is in Trouble and a modern Latin spin on "Sense and Sensibility" called From Prada to Nada. He's also been rumored to star as Ponch in a film adaptation of "CHiPs."

Kurtwood Smith will be a neighbor in "Neighbors from Hell," which has the Hellman family literally from hell sent to earth to try to keep others from suffering their fate. Debra Jo Rupp was last scene in She's Out of My League and is doing the pilot "Better With You." Don Stark has an upcoming guest spot on "Melissa and Joey" and will play Dix in John Carter of Mars based on the comic book character.



Don't die.

"Keep looking up."