Ask 411 Movies for 1.8.07: The King and I

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 01.08.2007

Elvis Presley, SNL movies, short lived series, another Rocky sequel, Superman II and more deadness

It's the anniversary of Elvis Presley's birthday. He would have been 72. Or he might be 72 and still working as a truck driver out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. On a semi-related note Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires is in pre-production with Bruce Campbell returning as Elvis/Elvis impersonator Sebastian Half and Paul Giamatti as manager Colonel Tom Parker. For your viewing pleasure we have Elvis in the studio around 1970 cutting a medley of "Little Sister" and the Beatles "Get Back."



My birthday is tomorrow. I just thought I would throw that out there. Let's toot the horn and throw the confetti.



Country singer Del Reeves died New Year's Day after an extended illness. He was 74. Reeves scored a number one hit in 1965 with "Girl on the Billboard." His other humor themed singles included "The Belles of Southern Bell," "Women do Funny Things to Me," "Looking at the World Through a Windshield," "Good Time Charlie's," "Be Glad" and "The Philadelphia Fillies." Reeves frequently performed at the Grand Ole Opry and was also known for his impressions of famous people like Johnny Cash. He briefly had his own syndicated program in "The Del Reeves Country Carnival" and appeared in a few films with great titles including Sam Whiskey, Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar, Forty Acre Feud, The Las Vegas Hillbillies and Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers.

RANDOM MOVIE I JUST HAPPENED TO WATCH ON TCM: CROSSPLOT



The British mod spy genre of the sixties gets crossed with Alfred Hitchcock's favorite average man falsely accused scenario in this film from 1967. Post Saint and pre James Bond Roger Moore plays a swinging ad executive. He gets the pictures of a striking Hungarian redhead (Martha Hyer) slipped into his files and the client (Bernard Lee who played M in the Bond series) of a huge account wants her for his ad campaign. Moore has to track her down and discovers that she's mixed up in an international terrorist plot that she's totally ignorant of. She overhead her aunt discussing matters with some men, but isn't sure really what she heard. Only a cryptic crossword puzzle in a newspaper from a dead counteragent can unlock the mystery. A lot of cast and crew from "The Saint" was involved and it almost feels like a discarded script for that series. The ending is rousing as is a chase across the countryside with a helicopter after Hyer and Moore in an antique car.

I picked up a couple DVDs from a local dollar store. Two films starring Dean Stockwell in Paper Man that also features Stephanie Powers and Born to be Sold with Lynda Carter. The other DVD has two films with Burgess Meredith in The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go with Jeff Bridges and his big screen debut in Winterset.

Q: Cool to see your dead pool picks. I've been in one for the last couple of years. Is there a point system for yours? In mine, you take the age of the person when they die and subtract it from 100. I've won two years running thanks to Richard Pryor and Steve Irwin. Sick I know.

Oh, and I'll give you a few free pics. Mohammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Steve-O from Jackass.
-Scotty Flamingo

A: One thing is you can say about us 411 writers is that we have class and couth. Irwin was a great pick by you. Rotten.com did not give me credit for Saddam Hussein because I did not read in their rules that state executed criminals do not count. I totally think they should, but I can see why it would not. Rotten.com gives one point for each death and then settles any ties based on elements like age and way of death. The one my friend Brad told me about was going with an age system like yours. Picks I was looking at for that was Lindsay Lohan as a car crash victim, Dustin Diamond as a suicide risk and Dakota Fanning through wishful thinking.

Q: You mentioned seeing Rocky Balboa. Adrian is dead in the movie, but Talia Shire is still listed in the end credits as Adrian. Was she supposed to be in it, or is this just a nod to her by Stallone? Also, do you think he'll do another sequel?
-Jay

A: We've covered this situation before. Crispin Glover refused to return for Back to the Future II so footage from the first film of him was used along with a new actor serving as his double for other parts. Glover sued Universal stating that his contract did not allow for further uses of his work past the original movie. Universal settled out of court. The Screen Actors Guild then changed their rules that an actor featured extensively in archive footage had to receive proper credit and compensation. Talia Shire as Adrian appears in old footage when Rocky is reminiscing leading to her getting on screen credit. Other actors, such as Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren also appear in archive footage but do not have lines and/or are not extensively shown so they do not receive on screen credit.

Stallone in interviews for the film said that he did not see another sequel in the future, but he never wants to say no. I think a sequel from this point would be very easy to do. Here's my idea. If you use it Sly just slip me $50,000 and a story credit and we're jake.

If we can take any plot element from Rocky V it's that Rocky, Jr. was left Mickey's gym in his will. Rocky, Jr. takes over running the gym and managing fighters with Duke and Paulie training them. Steps trains at the gym. Rocky grows closer to Marie, but won't let himself have a relationship with her because of his loyalty to Adrian. Meanwhile, every washed up fighter is coming out of the woodwork begging for a fight with Mason Dixon. His people now tell him that he has to goad Balboa into a rematch and destroy him to regain his credibility. Rocky refuses the fight. Dixon goes to see Rocky, Jr. about talking to his father, but he refuses. Dixon and Steps have words and they get into the ring. Steps bloodies Dixon's nose with a lucky shot and Dixon mauls him in anger. Steps is in the hospital. Rocky blames himself, but Marie doesn't. Rocky, Jr. tells his dad that it's ok for him to have a relationship with Marie and that his mother would want him to be with someone and be happy. Rocky gives Dixon a rematch on several stipulations. He doesn't want anyone making money on the fight. All proceeds go to charity. There can be television coverage, but no audience and no huge entourages. Rocky knows he's screwed because he doesn't have anymore stuff left in the basement. Dixon destroys Rocky round after round, but he refuses to stay down. In the last round Rocky is out on his feet, but still hanging on. Dixon doesn't want to beat on Rocky anymore and throws in the towel. Rocky wins the fight, but Dixon is shown to be compassionate and human as his people hoped the Rocky fight would do for him in the first movie. See in the last movie Rocky loses, but wins and here Dixon would lose, but win.

Q: Ok, couple Superman questions...

1) I can't remember...which original Superman does the Superman Returns storyline follow? II or III?

2) Which version is considered better...Richard Lester's version of Superman II, or Richard Donner's version? I want to buy one, but I dunno which one is more worth it.
-NovemberRainz

A: Superman Returns is intended to loosely follow the events of Superman II and discarding the events of parts three and four. This leads to heavy rumors that the three Kryptonian criminals will return for the next sequel.

I have recently purchased Richard Donner's cut of Superman II, but have yet to watch it. Most critics and fans side with Donner's version as the better one and I would recommend you buy that, especially if you haven't seen it. This page on Wikipedia will rundown the story for you and highlight all the differences in the two versions. Bryan Krispowitz also reviewed the DVD recently for us here on 411.

To briefly go over the history, Richard Donner was charged by producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind to make Superman I and II together at the same time. Donner did about 75% of the second film when production was halted so he could ready the first movie for release. During this period Marlon Brando sued for more money and increased royalties for his work in the sequel. Due to this the Salkinds ordered that the Brando footage not be used. Donner balked at this because he wanted to make the movie he wanted to make creatively. According to Ilya Salkind Donner made several other creative demands and also wanted co-producer Pierre Spengler removed from the project. They let Donner go and made Richard Lester the director. Lester had been serving as a go between on the film between Donner and the Salkinds. In order for Lester to get sole director credit for the film at least 51% of the footage had to be his. Lester filmed segments that were not shot by Donner in the script, he redid parts of some Donner shot material and added new material of his own such as the opening sequence in Paris. When Margot Kidder in a 2004 interview stated that there was enough Donner footage to do his definitive cut of the film fans protested Warner Brothers and they eventually gave in. The new Richard Donner cut of the film on DVD restores much of the footage Donner had done that was cut by Lester and only uses Lester footage for script sequences that were in Donner's shooting script that he hadn't filmed yet, but edited to Donner's specifications.

Q: Hello Friend. Hope 2007 is treating you well so far. I was looking up Eric Close on IMDB for something I was writing in this week's Two Tivos (I was suggesting him for the lead in the new Mr & Mrs. Smith TV spin off) and found a show listed on his bio called Dark Skies. It's rare that I have not heard of a show, but what little I could find made it seem like it had a cult following as well as interesting tale about the way it was pitched to the networks. Any idea what the story behind this show was and if it was any better than a X-Files rip off? Since Close also starred in Now and Again, it got me wondering about the record for most leads on cult shows, as in who are the James Garners and Michael Landons of the short lived series world? Also, Now And Again ranks just ahead of EZ Streets on my list of Best One Season shows ever. What's your list like? Looking forward to another year of my favorite 411Mania column!
-Al

A: I vaguely remember "Dark Skies." It ran one season on NBC in the '96-'97 season for twenty episodes and aired on Saturday nights at 8 pm est. The interesting pitch you mention is that ABC, CBS and NBC were sent confidential briefing books in a plain brown wrapper all the same day that profiled the series in a mock government classified way. The premise of the series is that the US has been in a secret war with alien invaders since the landing at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 and these aliens can be directly related to most of the major events and historical figures since then. John Loengard (Eric Close) gets a job as an aide to a Congressman in the early sixties and is given the task of investigating a cost cutting government project that leads him to the secretive Majestic 12 ran by Navy Captain Frank Bach (JT Walsh). Majestic 12 is charged with counteracting the alien force known as the Hive who take over humans and use them as slaves. John hooks up with Kim (Megan Ward) who works for Jackie Kennedy and they go on the lam being chased by Majestic 12 and the Hive. Kim gets pregnant by John, but is taken by the aliens. John goes to Vietnam because it's a funding front for Majestic 12 and teams up with Soviet alien specialist Juliet (Jeri Ryan). They infiltrate the Hive ship and get John's baby. Bach is removed from the head of Majestic 12 and killed by his aide Phil Albano (Conor O'Farrell) who was a Hive plant. The show was defeated by a bad time slot, comparisons to "The X-Files" and NBC giving up on the series when early ratings weren't as good as hoped.

Best television show to last one season was "Frank's Place" from 1987 starring Tim Reid as a Boston lawyer who is forced to take over a New Orleans restaurant left to him by his estranged father when a curse is placed on him by an old voodoo woman. A sharp, classically written sitcom with well defined characters.

Another would be "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." After two successful made for TV movies the story of Carl Kolchak as played by Darren McGavin was turned into a regular series that ran for a year in 1974. Kolchak was an intense, investigative reporter who somehow always found himself embroiled in cases revolving around the strange and supernatural. Usually his proof was circumstantial and his editor was hard pressed to run his stories. The series had a cult following and has been cited as a main inspiration for "The X-Files." Producer Frank Spotnitz of "The X-Files" was charged by ABC to revamp the series last season and it failed miserably.

"Shannon's Deal" was created by John Sayles and featured a great jazzy theme song by Winton Marsalis. It aired on NBC in 1990. Jack Shannon (Jamey Sheridan) is a lawyer who has finally hit rock bottom after getting fed up with corporate litigation and losing his wife to a gambling addiction. He now has a small office where he takes on all the cases that no one else wants or from those who can't afford a hotshot lawyer. It had worlds of potential.

A personal favorite of mine was "Hard Time on Planet Earth" from 1989 starring Martin Kove as an alien warrior exiled to earth to do "hard time" in order to learn compassion and tenderness for his too violent behavior. He's put into a human body and given the name Jesse. A flying robot that looked like an eye named Control that served as his parole officer accompanied him. It was like "The Incredible Hulk" with a quirkier sense of humor. One memorable episode had Jesse going to Disneyland thinking that it was so joyous that it de-aged adults back to children.

Another personal favorite is "Outlaws" from 1986. Rod Taylor plays an old west sheriff who corners the gang he used to belong to in a canyon. A dust storm sweeps them to present day Houston where they use the gang's loot to buy a ranch and open a detective agency. Now doesn't that just sound like the best show ever? Richard Roundtree and Charles Napier were also in the cast.

Scott Bakula has done a lot of cult series. "Quantum Leap" and "Enterprise" were never mainstream hits, nor even brought in the cult audiences hoped for. "Quantum Leap" is one of the best written and acted shows ever on television for the first few seasons. Oddly enough, from what you mentioned above, he starred on the short-lived spy series "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" long before the movie with Maria Bello. He was also seedy lawyer Bud Lutz with a hot tub in his waiting room in "Eisenhower and Lutz" and took over Michael Keaton's role for the television adaptation of "Gung-Ho." Most of the pictures I found of Baklua was him sans shirt. Thankfully I found one with just the hint of macho chest hair.



However, the king of short lived television series is without a doubt Robert Urich. The man had 14 shows over 28 years with the most successful only going three seasons.



"Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (1973): Based on the film of the same name, Urich took over the film role of Robert Culp as Bob. The series was less racy than it's movie counterpart and only lasted three months.

"S.W.A.T" (1975): From the great Aaron Spelling. Urich is a young police officer assigned to a military-esque Special Weapons and Tactical unit whose duty was to take on situations that regular cops could not handle. It lasted a year and a half.

"Tabitha" (1977): A spin-off of "Bewitched." Darrin and Samantha's little girl is all grown up and working at a television station as a production assistant on "The Paul Thurston Show," Thurston being Urich. It was a clone of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" oddly enough and lasted one season.

"Soap" (1977): The highly controversial spoof of soap operas lasted four years, but Urich was only on the first season. He was a handsome tennis pro and son of main character Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan). Urich's character was killed off as part of a main storyline. Which freed him up to do…

"Vega$" (1978): Urich was hip private investigator Dan Tanna. Tanna drove around Las Vegas in his pimp red Thunderbird working on retainer for a big casino, but taking extra work on the side. It was a big hit to start, but flamed out after three seasons.

"Gavilan" (1982): Since being a private investigator was Urich's most successful venture thus far, why not give it another try, yet with a twist. Urich's Gavilan was a former CIA operative who worked for a California oceanography institute as an inventor, consultant and special troubleshooter for problems on the high seas. It survived one season.

"Spenser: For Hire" (1985): Urich played Robert Parker's former boxer, turned private eye Boston native. Spenser was often helped on cases by pimp master supreme Hawk (Avery Brooks). A moderate success, it was on for three years and sponsored a handful of T.V. movies.

"American Dreamer" (1990): Urich was a globetrotting reporter who received a wake up call when his wife died. He packed up his two kids and moved to the country where he wrote a column on "real people" and pursued his own take on the "American dream" and other topics you have to put quote marks around. Urich would often directly address the viewer and let them privy to his daydreams. It made half a season.

"Crossroads" (1992): Urich was a lawyer who took a bit of a different tactic than the character of his last series did when his wife died. He dumped off his young son to his parents in Atlanta and continued working as a high-powered attorney in New York. Embarking on a life of crime at 16, Urich sought to now save his son by tossing him on the back of his vintage motorcycle and tooling about the country helping the less fortunate. It limped through one season.

"It Had to be You: (1993): Television was all abuzz about Faye Dunaway starring in a network series. Although, she probably shouldn't have hitched her wagon to Urich. Dunaway was a powerful book publisher who fell for a carpenter she hired to build her a bookcase. The couple was on opposite ends of the spectrum, but their love could not be broken apart, except by cancellation after less than a month.

"The Lazarus Man" (1996): Urich wakes up in a shallow grave in 1865 Texas. He has amnesia and takes on the name Lazarus as he seeks to restore his memory. It's slowly revealed that Lazarus was one of Abraham Lincoln's bodyguards and knew of the conspiracy to kill him. A very creative show, it lasted one year in syndication and on TNT. There were plans to do a second season, but Urich contracted cancer and the show was cancelled. Urich would go on to make a recovery and return to acting. Unfortunately, Urich's cancer would return and end his life in 2002.

"Love Boat: The Next Wave" (1998): Who didn't want to see an updating of the old seventies series? Well, most people, but that didn't stop fledgling UPN from bringing it back. Urich was the captain of the new ship and they sailed for a season and a half. One memorable episode saw WCW wrestlers like Kevin Nash and Goldberg guest starring. Or I should say unmemorable as anyone who saw the show underwent extensive therapy to forget it.

"Emeril" (2001): What do you do when you have a novice rookie? Go out and get a crafty vet to show him the ropes. Chef Emeril Lagasse was given his own sitcom with little acting experience. In a real groundbreaking role (sarcasm), Lagasse played the host of a cooking show with Urich as his producer. It was one of the first casualties of the fall season.

"Late Boomers" (2001): This was a pilot for a midseason replacement that never sold. Urich was a former football player who was married to Markie Post and relived the glory days with his two buddies. A first pilot was actually filmed starring Scott Bakula, but he signed on to do "Enterprise" before the show sold.

Q: Can you think of any Saturday Night Live cast members that have never appeared in a movie with a fellow cast member?
-Justin

A: There have been dozens and dozens of "Saturday Night Live" cast members over the years. Many have never done anything significant in films or television outside the show. Some have appeared together, but with little connection to the show itself. For example National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation features Chevy Chase, Julia Louise Dreyfus and Randy Quaid who were all SNL cast members several years apart. The two significant cast members I could find that have not appeared in a film with any other SNL cast members are Gilda Radner and Joe Piscipo. A sort of maybe is Jimmy Fallon who only had Siobhan Fallon in Fever Pitch. They are not related. Siobhan was only a featured player for her one season on SNL. Jimmy and Chevy Chase also did voices for the animated Doogal.

To fill column space let's look at films directly based on "Saturday Night Live" sketches and characters.



The Blues Brothers (1980): John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd play orphaned brothers Jacob and Elwood Blues. Jake getting out of prison prompts the boys to get their band back together in an effort to save the orphanage where they were raised. Several musical greats appear in the film including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown and Cab Calloway. The Blues Brothers released a couple of albums with their band. The character came out of Aykroyd and Belushi's love for blues music and originally came from them doing a performance of "King Bee" in order to recycle killer bee costumes from a previous sketch on SNL. Blues Brothers 2000 followed after the death of Belushi and was a huge flop.



Wayne's World (1992): Wayne (Mike Meyers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) host a public access show in their basement. It's seen by television executive Ben Kane (Rob Lowe) who moves them up to a major network owned by Noah Vanderhoff (Brian Doyle-Murray). Wayne falls for the lead singer of a heavy metal band (Tia Carrere), but their relationship gets rocky as their careers take off and Ben's ultimate plan of putting "Wayne's World" on the air comes to light. A sequel followed the next year.



The Coneheads (1993): The Coneheads were an alien family living on earth that claimed to be from France. Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain reprised their roles as Beldar and Prymatt for the film. The movie detailed their coming to earth, adjusting to life, having a daughter and being hounded by INS agents played by Michael McKean and David Spade.



It's Pat (1994): Julia Sweeney plays a character of undetermined sex named Pat. It is in a relationship with Chris (Dave Foley) whose sex is also hard to figure out. Pat's neighbor Kyle (Charles Rocket) goes insane trying to figure out if Pat is a boy or a girl and capturing some evidence to prove it.



Stuart Saves His Family (1995): Longtime SNL writer and occasional cast member Al Franken plays a self help talk show host named Stuart Smalley. Stuart loses his cable show and returns to his former job while helping his family overcome their alcoholism and obesity.



A Night at the Roxbury (1998): Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan originated two characters on SNL that would bob their heads and dance to "What is Love" by Haddaway and that was about it. In this film matters are fleshed out to make them brothers who dream of opening their own hip nightclub while working in their father's fake plant store. They have a falling out when Ferrell's Steve is forced into an engagement with Emily Sanderson played by Molly Shannon. The brothers also have a memorable fender bender with low-level actor Richard Grieco.



Superstar (1999): This film was directed by Bruce McCullough of "Kids in the Hall." Molly Shannon stars as Mary Katherine Gallagher, a very strange Catholic schoolgirl who wants to achieve superstardom in an effort to be soulfully kissed. The object of her desire is Sky Corrigan played by Will Ferrell, but he has eyes for Evian played by Elaine Hendrix and enters the school talent contest with her.



The Ladies Man (2000): Tim Meadows spent years on SNL before getting a recurring character in a lisping pimp dispensing dating advice named Leon Phelps. In the film Leon loses his cable show due to his foul language. He gets a letter from a former lover that promises to take care of him, but he doesn't know who it might be. Meanwhile a group of angry husbands led by Will Ferrell whose wives Leon slept with trail him.

Don't die.

"The only kind of respect that matters is self respect."