Ask 411 Movies for 2.11.08: The Column That’s Better the Second Time Around

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 02.11.2008

More on TGIF and Step by Step, Rising Sun, 3:10 to Yuma, King Kong, Shaft and Hitler roots for the Cowboys



Roy Scheider passed away yesterday. He was 75. Cause of death has not been released, but he had been treated for the past two years for multiple myeloma. Scheider appeared in Jaws, The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, 2010, Klute, Marathon Man, All That Jazz, Blue Thunder and "Seaquest DSV" among many other films. He was twice nominated for Oscars for Connection as best supporting actor and Jazz as best actor.



Currently being posted is 411's 100 greatest TV and movie characters. A big tip of the top hat to Scott Rutherford for piecing that one together. Reading some of the comments posted by readers, I think they need to see the whole list before flipping out. It's ok to disagree and express your opinion, just don't do so with your head up your ass. No list is going to please everyone and the very nature of such a feature is to get people talking and arguing. Just do so in civil manner is what I ask.

The latest podcast deals with classic horror films. This is a cross promotion with Creepy Classics and the Monster Bash. The classic horror film convention I work staff at every year will be the weekend of June 20th in Butler, Pa. 1 a.m. on Friday I will be hosting The Giant Gila Monster with the film's star Don Sullivan.

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From YouTube this week we have a clip of Hitler bemoaning the loss of the Dallas Cowboys to the Giants. It's taken from the 2004 film Downfall with new subtitles. There's a lot of subtext there.



Q: Leonard,

A great column as always. Perhaps the film that Kragar is thinking about with Harvey Keitel is Rising Sun with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. He plays a cop who lives in Hong Kong who shows our heroes around while they try to solve a murder at a big asian company.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107969/

Hope this helps,
-Mark



A: I've seen Rising Sun, but that didn't seem like the movie to me. It has been a few years since I've watched it though.

From 1993, a woman is found dead at a Japanese corporation after some rough sex. Web Smith (Wesley Snipes) is called in to investigate. He's teamed up with retired police captain John Connor (Sean Connery) who is an expert in Japanese affairs. Smith believes the case is cut and dry, but Connor knows that there is more going on. Michael Crichton wrote the source novel and script with Sean Connery in mind for Connor. However, he and Michael Backes left the project in a disagreement with director Phillip Kauffman over making the other lead an African-American.

Q: This is delving into spoiler country, but I was wondering your opinion on the end of 3:10 to Yuma when Ben Wade decides to 'help' Dan Evans get him to the train. Wade has Evans around the throat and Evans says something like, "I'm doing this so my kids don't think I'm a wimp." This prompts Wade to go along and 'become a good guy' so to speak and he goes to the train.

I pretty much loved everything about this movie, but this turn seemed a little too sudden for a guy who didn't really show all that many good qualities up until this point. Any thoughts?
-Matt

A: Wade wanted to know how Dan lost his foot throughout the movie. The assumption can be made that Wade believed that it was in a heroic act. When Wade finds out that it's not it changes his opinion of Dan and his quest for redemption is now something he can sympathize with. Wade himself was an orphan and Dan trying to be the father he wished he had was something that just clicked with him. Dan eventually earned Wade's respect and trust. Plus, Wade mentions that he escaped from the prison he's going to twice, so it's no big deal for him to go again. It's not like he's going away for the rest of his life, he'll probably get away before he sets one foot into the prison. This is just me filling in between the lines. I did really like the movie, but if you think about it too hard you can come up with some distracting plot holes.

Q: Hello Mr. Hayhurst,

Your brief history of TGIF brought back many a fond memory, and also brought to mind several questions about Step By Step, hopefully you can provide the answers. I wikipediaed these, but got no help, so I figured I'd try you.

1) Why did Cody leave before the last season? I heard a rumour that he was involved in a scandal (child-porn related), but could find no mention of it, so I'm assuming it's false?

2) There was a slew of episodes where the youngest boy, Brendan, appeared very seldom and whenever he did, his head was caught in something like a hockey duffle bag or a helmet on backwards. My guess is this was done to cover up the fact that he was going through puberty and growing faster than the nerdy Mark?

3) This is kind of related to question 1. Do you have any information on the Lambert/Foster's hyperactive cousin (whose name escapes me) who, together with Dana's boyfriend/husband (whose name also escapes me) took over for the absence of Cody? I remember him being introduced in one episode as having a sugar problem (like Mike Myers' hyper/hypo SNL character), and then later on in the one where they go to Disney World he visits every kiosk and ride to beat the record held by a Russian. I guess my main question would be: What were they thinking???

I posted this at the bottom of last week's column, but please don't forget Richard Roundtree appearing as Shaft's uncle in Samuel L. Jackson's remake. Also, Fay Wray was set to appear in Peter Jackson's King Kong saying the line "'Twas beauty killed the beast" before her death.

Thanks, keep up the excellent work, and good luck with your new job,
-Vince

A: Thanks for the additions to the list of actors from original films that appeared in remakes. The caveat I would put on Shaft is that it wasn't so much a remake as a loose continuation of the series. Samuel L. Jackson was playing the nephew of the original character still portrayed in this installment by Richard Roundtree. So it would stand to reason that the first three films and the short lived television series is part of the timeline of the new film.

On King Kong, Fay Wray was in talks to make a cameo and deliver the line you mention, but she died. The line went to Jack Black. Wray is referenced in the film when Black's character asks about "Fay" replacing the actress in his film. He's told that she's making a movie for RKO. Black then states "Cooper, I should known" in reference to original Kong director Merian C. Cooper. There are items in the film from the original movie as director Peter Jackson is a huge Kong fan and collector of memorabilia. Some original items include a brightly pained shield seen on the Venture and spears and drums used in the sacrifice sequence.

Cody Lambert on "Step by Step" was played by Sasha Mitchell. Mitchell played J.R. Ewing's illegitimate son on the last few seasons of "Dallas." As mentioned last week, Patrick Duffy went straight from that soap to "Step." Mitchell called Duffy up and asked if there would possibly be a role for him on his new show. Duffy had writers create the character of dim witted, surfer dude Cody specifically for him. It was supposed to be an occasional guest spot, but the character proved so popular that he was added permanently. Strangely, this story is similar to how Don Knotts wound up on "The Andy Griffith Show."

During the last season of "Step by Step," Mitchell was suffering personal problems and forced out. He was undergoing a messy divorce with his wife Jeannette who leveled several abuse charges against him to get custody of their children. Mitchell confessed to "Entertainment Tonight" in 2002 that his wife was addicted to drugs throughout their marriage and was often physically abusive to their children. The abuse that he supposedly delivered to his wife was out of him trying to protect the kids from her. She then sold these stories of him being abusive to tabloids. At that time, Mitchell had soul custody of their four children with Jeannette only having five supervised visits with them per year. Mitchell did appear on the next to last episode of "Step" and probably would have returned full time if the series had continued on.

Dana's boyfriend was Rich Halke as played by Jason Marsden. He started out as a friend of J.T.'s and eventually moved into the house. Before you ask, he is no relation to James Marsden, but oddly enough their wives have been friends since childhood. He does a lot of voice over work including Firefly on "The Batman," Danger Duck on "Loonatics Unleashed" and Chase Young on "Xiaolin Showdown." He played a boyfriend of DJ's on "Full House" and a friend of Eric's on "Boy Meets World." Marsden has also directed several short film, videos and episodes of "The Journey of Allen Strange." The other character you remember is Jake "Flash" Gordon played by Jeff Juday, who hasn't done much since. Bronson Pinchot also played a flamboyant hairdresser at Carol's shop the last couple seasons as a replacement for Mitchell.

Josh Byrne played youngest son Brendan. He was dropped from the show in the last season, but wasn't really doing much for the few seasons leading up to that. Basically, the writers didn't have anything for him to do and new daughter Lilly was aged to be the ‘cute' one as puberty hit Byrne.

People were very interested by my TGIF rundown last week. We finish this week with the real dregs of the line up as the concept lost momentum heading into the current decade.

"Clueless" (1996-1999): This series was based on the successful film that oddly enough was originally conceived as a television series. Bill Kirchenbauer had a recurring role as Coach Graham Bullock in homage to his character of Graham Lubbock from "Just the Ten of Us" that was discussed last week. Some of the supporting characters from the film transferred over with Stacey Dash as Dee, Donald Faison as Murray, Elisa Donovan as Amber, Twink Caplan as Miss Geist and Wallace Shawn as Mr. Hall. Rachel Blanchard stepped into the lead role of Cher.

"You Wish" (1997): Gillian Apple (Harley Jane Kozak) and her two children Mickey (Alex McKenna) and Travis (Nathan Lawrence) discovered a genie in a rug they bought. The genie (John Ales) had been imprisoned for over 2000 years for the crime of falling in love with his last female master. The genie made life fun for the kids, while no nonsense Gillian tried to keep the reigns in. After "Coach" ended, Jerry Van Dyke was moved into this show as Grandpa Max in a last ditch effort to save it.

"Teen Angel" (1997): This made "You Wish" look like "The Andy Griffith Show" in comparison. Marty (Mike Damus) ate a six month old cheeseburger and died. God's cousin Rod (Ron Glass) sends Marty back to earth to serve as the guardian angel to his former best friend Steve (Corbin Allred). Marty used his angel powers to manipulate bullies and bring Abraham Lincoln out of the ether to help with a history paper. Maureen McCormick of "The Brady Bunch" played Steve's mom.

"Two of a Kind" (1998-1999): The Olsen twins landed back in TGIF land as daughters to widowed Steve (Christopher Sieber). Instead of two hip uncles, they had a hip nanny named Carrie (Sally Wheeler). Carrie was a student of Steve's at a nearby university. The family lived across from Wrigley Field in Chicago. I wonder if they knew Uncle Buck? I also have to question if Mary Kate and Ashley were killing off their mothers on all these shows.

"Brother's Keeper" (1998-1999): It's "Two and a Half Men" without Charlie Sheen. Porter Waide (William Ragsdale) and his son Oscar (Justin Cooper) live in San Francisco. Porter's brother Bobby (Sean O'Bryan) was an NFL kicker traded to the 49'ers. A stipulation of his contract was that he find a "responsible adult" to monitor his behavior. Naturally we went to live with his brother. First of all, no team would put a stipulation like that into a contract. Second of all, they sure as hell wouldn't care enough to put in a stipulation like that for a kicker.

"The Hughley's" (1998-2002): Darrel Hughley (D.L. Hughley) made his fortune in vending machines. Instead of moving on up like the Jeffersons he moved his family on out to the suburbs. Darrel's employee Milsap (John Henton) played on his fears that such a move would make him lose his ‘blackness' and ‘whiten' up his family. It was often up to wife Yvonne (Elsie Neal) to keep Darrel in check as he flipped out on his children Sydney (Ashley Monique Clark) and Michael (Dee Jay Daniels). Dave (Eric Allen Kramer) and Sally (Marietta DePrima) were their lily-white neighbors.

"Odd Man Out" (1999-2000): Andrew (Erik von Detten) lived in a house with his mother (Markie Post), aunt (Jessica Capshaw) and three sisters (Natalia Cigliuti, Vicki Davis, Marina Malota). Andrew would either grow up gay or with a serious Oedipus complex. This show was passed on six times by NBC and ABC until several tweaks finally got it picked up. I guess they should have tweaked it some more.

"Two Guys and a Girl" (1998-2001): The original title was "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place," but the pizza place wanted too much for a contract extension. Peter (Richard Ruccolo) and Berg (Ryan Reynolds) were roommates working their way through college as pizza delivery guys. Above the shop they worked at lived Sharon (Traylor Howard) who they became friends with. The end of the fourth season allowed viewers to vote online the cliffhanger ending of who would be pregnant among Sharon, Berg's girlfriend Ashley (Suzanne Cryer), Pete's girlfriend Irene (Jillian Bach) or nobody at all. Ashley won the vote, but the series was immediately canceled.

"Trouble with Normal" (2000-2001): Bob (David Krumholtz), Zack (Jon Cryer), Max (Brad Raider) and Stansfield (Larry Joe Campbell) were four men united by their fears of "urban conspiracy." They sought help in a therapy group ran by Claire (Paget Brewster).

"Norm" (1999-2001): Norm MacDonald starred as an ex hockey player banned for life from the game for gambling and tax evasion. He was sentenced to five years of community service as a social worker or go to jail. Laurie (Laurie Metcalf) was about his only competent coworker and would often have to bail Norm out of trouble. Rumors have it that initial ratings were good because viewers thought the series was a spin-off of "Cheers" featuring George Wendt's Norm.

"The George Lopez Show" (2002-2007): Comedian George Lopez stretched to play George Lopez. Despite a careless mother (Belita Moreno) and no father, George grew up to be a fairly productive member of society. He was a manager at an airplane factory and was married to Angie (Constance Marie) with two kids (Masiela Lusha, Luis Armand Garcia). George's daughter went to college in the last season and was replaced in the cast with his niece Veronica (Aimee Garcia).

"Married to the Kellys" (2003-2004): Tom (Breckin Meyer) was an only child and a loner in New York. He marries Susan (Keile Sanchez) who convinces Tom to move back to Kansas so they can be with her large family. While being weird, they were also close knit and that unsettled Tom.

"The Big House" (2004): Comedian Kevin Hart played a character of the same name. His father was indicted for embezzlement, so he had to leave his spoiled life in Malibu to live with his aunt and her family in grungy Philadelphia. It's like a reverse "Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire."

"Hope & Faith" (2003-2006): Hope (Faith Ford, who should be the one named Faith don't you think?) lived in Cleveland, Ohio with her husband (pimpmaster Ted McGinley) and three children (Megan Fox, Paulie Litt, Macy Cruthird). Their lives were turned upside down when Hope's sister Faith (Kelly Ripa) came to live with them. Faith was a soap opera actress who was killed off unexpectedly from her series. Faith continued to live like she was a diva and a scheming soap siren.

"Life with Bonnie" (2002-2004): Bonnie Molloy (Bonnie Hunt) was a local television show host. This gave her a small modicum of fame, but most people still didn't know who she was. Still, her husband (Mark Derwin) and children (Samantha Browne Walters, Charlie Stewart) often didn't like it when she talked about her personal like on the air. Most of the talk show segments with Bonnie and her true life guests were improvised.

"8 Simple Rules" (2002-2005): Paul Hennessey (John Ritter) was a newspaper writer who was particular about who could date his teenage daughters (Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson). He also had a son in Rory (Martin Spanjers). After Ritter died, his character died on the show. This left his wife Cate (Katey Segal) to pick up the pieces of their family. Moving in with the Hennessey's were Cate's father (James Garner) and her nephew CJ (David Spade). Cate eventually began dating again and went out with the principal of the kids' school (Adam Arkin).

"Complete Savages" (2004-2005): Nick Savage (Keith Carradine) had his wife run out on him ten years before. Since that time he's worked as a fireman while trying to raise five unruly boys (Andrew Eiden, Shaun Sipos, Erik von Detten, Evan Ellingson, Jason Dolley). Keith is the half brother of David and Robert Carradine and the son of John.

"Less Than Perfect" (2002-2006): Claudia Casey (Sara Rue) worked her way up the corporate ladder at a television station. From starting out as a temp in the mailroom she is now the executive secretary to anchor Will Butler (Eric Roberts). Andy Dick and Will Sasso were among her co-workers and friends. The title referred to the full figured Rue. Rue was a size 10 to 12, which is average for an American woman, but is often not shown in television or movies. Rue wound up losing 30 pounds during the course of the series and it was eventually dumped like a fat chick. I'm not sure what size Rue is below, but I could live with that.



Don't die.

"I know cats who'd take out whole zipcodes for that kind of cheese."