Ask 411 Movies for 10.20.08: The Column Kicking Ass With Peace and Love!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 10.20.2008

Razzies, Battle of the Network Stars, Circus of the Stars, Bobcat Goldthwait and election movies.

This coming weekend I will be at the Chiller Theater Expo in Parsippany, New Jersey. I'll be in the dealers room with the Creepy Classics people most of the time. If I'm not there, I'll be stalking Burt Reynolds. Chad Webb and George Sirois should be stopping in for a visit on Saturday as well.

I'm a bit late, but everyone needs to know that today is the deadline for mailing things to Ringo Starr to be autographed or he will come after you with peace and love.



From the comments last week, Lex wrote that Adam Carolla should know that "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" books pairs from his own experience, because he was on with Dr. Drew. Dirk also mentioned that Penn & Teller were on together before. Looks like the producers were snowing Carolla.

Adam confirmed that the Bobcat Golthwait incident on "The Tonight Show" of him setting the couch on fire did happen. I believe it did, it's just that NBC is sitting on the footage of it.

Q: Last week you wrote that Bill Cosby accepted his Razzies for Leonard Part 6, but I thought I remember reading when Halle Berry accepted her Razzies a few years ago that Paul Verhoeven was the first person to accept his Razzies for Showgirls.
-Martin

A: Verhoeven was the first to person to attend the Razzies ceremony and take awards in person for worst director and worst film for Showgirls. As you mentioned, Berry accepted her worst actress award for Catwoman and Tom Green accepted five trophies for Freddie Got Fingered. Robert Conrad accepted three of the five Razzies won by Wild, Wild West, as he starred in the original series and hated the film.

As mentioned last week, Cosby did not attend the ceremony, but was given his Razzie on "The Fox Late Show." Similarly, Tom Selleck was given his worst supporting actor Razzie for Christopher Columbus: The Discovery on "The Chevy Chase Show" in 1992, predating Verhoeven.

In 1997, screenwriter Brian Helgeland became the first person to win a Razzie (worst screenplay for The Postman) and Oscar (best adapted screenplay for LA Confidential) in the same year. He displays both on the desk in his office.

In 2003 Ben Affleck won worst actor for Daredevil, Paycheck and Gigli and asked for his award. He got it on an episode of "Larry King Live" and promptly broke it. The Razzie officials then auctioned off the broken trophy on eBay and were able to pay for their hall for the following year's ceremony.

Q: Dancing with the stars has had many athletes that are extremely well-known in Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice and still playing Jason Taylor.

American Idol has had many guests who are extremely popular as guest "teachers" like Elton John and Stevie Wonder.

Rosie O'donnell was a "phone-a-friend" on millionaire when she had her talk show.
-John

A: I was focusing on actors and not looking at athletes or singers, because I thought that was what the questioner was shooting for. All fine additions though. Mike also mentioned in the comments last week that "American Idol" gets many big names for their "Idol Gives Back" episode. That's a one off special for charity, so I don't know if I would count that. The stars aren't competing on the program or taking part in a regular episode.

I don't think I would have ever considered Rosie O'Donnell as A-list, but her talk show was popular. O'Donnell also appeared on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" as a celebrity contestant and is the only celebrity contestant to also be a celebrity phone-a-friend. Other celebrity phone a friends were Steven Martin, Sam Simon and Kim Basinger. O'Donnell also appeared on "Celebrity Jepardy!" and is a big game show nut. She was interested in taking over for Bob Barker as the host of the "Price is Right" and Barker endorsed her. Word from O'Donnell's camp is that she turned the gig down because she didn't want to move her family from New York to California.

Q: How about the Battle of the Network Stars? Isn't that one of the first celebreality shows? It had huge stars at the time with Gabe Kaplan, Howard Cosell, Farrah Fawcett, Debby Boone, Dick Van Patton, Tom Selleck, William Shatner, and Tony Danza.
-John

A: I was focusing on current reality shows. Older game shows and specials had a different connotation than they do today.



"Battle of the Network Stars" ran from 1976 to 1988 and pitted TV stars from NBC, ABC and CBS against each other in Olympic style competitions. Howard Cosell served as host or co-host and commentator for most of the episodes. Team captains the first episode were Gabe Kaplan for ABC, Telly Savalas for CBS and Robert Conrad for NBC. Conrad holds the record for being a captain six times, plus one appearance as a guest commentator and one appearance as a regular competitor. Kaplan was a captain five times, including once for NBC. William Shatner was a captain four times for ABC and William Devane helmed CBS three times. NBC brought back the concept in 2003 with only stars from their network taking part.

Also in the same period was "Circus of the Stars" which ran from 1977 to 1994. Various TV stars learned various circus acts and then performed them. Marty Allen had the most appearances with seven and Brooke Shields was on the show six times. Below, enjoy Emma Samms as I like her, on her back and unconscious.



Q: Sophie Hawkins actually had three hits and two platinum albums but yeah she is washed up now and would fit on the show....

Bobcat made fun of the tonight show thing on one of the final Arsenio Hall shows.....can't remember if he burned the couch or just turned it over, but they were making fun of that incident....
-Hairbrush

A: Actually we're both wrong. According to Billboard, Sophie B. Hawkins only had two hits in the top forty, "Damn I Wish I was Your Lover" made it to number five and "As I Lay Me Down" got to number six. She did have some minor hits in the UK and on the adult contemporary charts. Her albums Tongues and Tails and Whaler both went gold, but didn't crack the top fifty of the album charts.

I remember the Bobcast Goldthwait appearance on Arsenio Hall and was looking for footage of it last week, but didn't find it. It was either the last episode of the show or close to it and Bobcat basically tore the set to shreds. I found an interview he did with the Onion, it seems a few years old, where he said the Hall appearance was five days before the "Tonight Show" one and producers wanted him to go out and do something crazy, but not break up any furniture, so he basically said he would set something on fire instead. In the same interview, Goldthwait said he was sentenced to do PSA's from the couch burning incident and he considers them one of the most embarrassing things he's ever done. He said that a fire marshal had to review them and made Bobcat do them again, because he didn't like his performance.

Remember "Bobcat's Big Ass Show," I do!



Q: Whoops...re-read my question... of course when I wrote "Hotel Darjeeling" I meant, "Chevalier Limited" my mistake....I blame Coors
-Lurthor

A: Actually it's Darjeeling Limited and Hotel Chevaliar. Hotel Chevalier was a short that was a precursor to Darjeeling Limited. Limited was written by Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. Owen Wilson was not involved in the writing of either of those. To clarify your question from last week, to date the only scripts produced that Wilson has done has been efforts with Anderson.



Q: With the current presidential election coming up, how about doing a list of the presidential election movies. There's the Chris Rock's Head of State, Robin William's man of the year, Kevin Costner's Swing Vote, "Bill Clinton's" Primary Colors, Wag the Dog, the recent tv movie Recount, and The Manchurian Candidate. I can't think of any others.
-David



A: Head of State (2003): When the Democratic frontrunner for president dies during the election the party picks a Washington DC alderman as a dark horse candidate, literally as Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) would be the first black president. His older brother (Bernie Mac) weasels into being his running mate, while Mays' old girlfriend (Robin Givens) tries to get back with him to be first lady. Rock got the idea for the film from the Democrats choosing Geraldine Ferraro as a vice presidential candidate in 1984, because they thought to make a historic first since Reagan was going to destroy whoever it was running.



Man of the Year (2006): Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) is a political satirist who runs for president as an independent as a stunt. He remarkably wins and has to figure out how to actually run the country. However, his win was due to a glitch in a new computer voting system that the company that made it is trying to cover up. Programmer Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) knows the truth and tells Dobbs. The film also features Christopher Walken, Lewis Black and Jeff Goldblum. Howard Stern was offered the lead, but couldn't do the movie due to his satellite radio contract.



Swing Vote (2008): Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) is a hopeless redneck slacker with the only redeeming thing in his life being his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll). She doesn't ask much of him, but does want him to vote. When he can't even do that right, Bud is thrown in the middle of a firestorm where his recast vote will decide the presidential election between characters played by Kelsey Grammar and Dennis Hopper. Nathan Lane and Stanley Tucci play campaign managers, while Paula Patton is a local newscaster who breaks Bud's story nationwide. The film focuses more on the relationship between Bud and Molly instead of political satire that, along with a lackluster ending, leads the movie to be very unsatisfying.



Primary Colors (1998): The film is based on a book that is a thinly veiled takeoff of the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Henry Burton (Adrian Lester) joins the presidential campaign of Governor Jack Stanton (John Travolta) and has to deal with more scandal and controversies than actual issues. The campaign is sent into a tailspin when Governor Fred Picker (Larry Hagman in a fantastic supporting performance) throws his hat in the ring at the last minute. Others on Stanton's staff include Billy Bob Thorton, Kathy Bates and Maura Tierney. Emma Thompson plays Stanton's wife. Tom Hanks was offered the role, but turned it down because he was friends with Bill Clinton. He had nothing to fear as Clinton reportedly liked the movie and invited Travolta to a party at the White House if he would come in character as Jack Stanton. Travolta refused. Allison Janney has a small part in the movie as a press secretary, which led to hear landing a role on "The West Wing."



Wag the Dog (1997): Two weeks before the presidential election the incumbent is caught in a sex scandal. To cover it up his top aide (Robert DiNero) contacts a top Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) in order to concoct a fake war in Albania all through the magic of movies. The film includes Anne Heche, David Koechner, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Kirsten Dunst, William H. Mac and Woody Harrelson.



Recount (2008): The TV movie is a recount of the recount that occurred after the 2000 presidential election in Florida between George Bush and Al Gore with the winner becoming president. The all star cast features Kevin Spacey, Ed Begley Jr., Laura Dern, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bruce McGill, Tom Wilkinson and Bob Balaban. Sydney Pollack was attached to direct until he became ill and was replaced by Jay Roach. Writer Danny Strong attempted to talk with everyone involved while writing, while the cast also tried to meet with their real life counterparts. The only exception was Katherine Harris, played by Dern, who refused anything to do with the project.



The Manchurian Candidate (1962): The movie was remade in 2004, but the original is the best. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving his platoon from a POW camp in the Korean War. Oddly, none of the platoon members can really remember what happened and when Major Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) starts having odd dreams he begins to investigate Shaw to discover that he was brainwashed to be a political assassin, as his mother (Angela Lansbury) is married to a US Senator. Lansbury was only three years older than Harvey. Sinatra wanted Lucille Ball for the part.

And here's a few other random politically centered movies.



Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): When a senator of an unnamed state dies the governor (Guy Kibbee) is pressed by corrupt political boss Jim Taylor (Edward Albert) to select his stooge to replace him. Others in the state want him to go with a reform candidate. His children want him to choose Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), head of the Boy Scouts like Boy Rangers. Smith gets the job because his clean-cut image will please some and his naiveté should prove him malleable to Taylor. Senator Paine (Claude Rains) takes Smith under his wing, but he is secretly in cahoots with Taylor and sets Smith up to take the fall on a crooked land deal. Aide Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur) urges Smith to stage a filibuster to clear himself. Taylor's control keeps Smith's statements from getting out while Paine mounts false evidence against him. However, fellow senators begin to feel for Smith and side with him. Smith finally collapses from exhaustion, but Paine is overcome with guilt and confesses the whole deal. The film was turned into a television series that ran one season in 1962-1963 starring Fess Parker and served as the inspiration for the film Billy Jack Goes to Washington in the Billy Jack film series by Tom Laughlin.



The Candidate (1972): Political consultant Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) has been on a losing trend and needs to make some money and improve his image. He goes to Bill McKay (Robert Redford) and asks him to run for Senate based on him being the son of a former popular governor (Melvyn Douglas). McKay assumes he's going to lose, so he starts out speaking his mind on issues, then concedes to Lucas' handling when the race pulls tight. McKay is shocked to win and at the end of the film and confesses that he has no idea how to be a Senator or what he will do in the office. The film examines and satirizes the then growing trend in American politics for image and catchy slogans to trump hard work and actual issue views.



The Distinguished Gentleman(1992): Conman Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) uses his similar name to dead Congressman Jeff Johnson (James Garner) to get elected to Congress. Johnson sees it as the promised land where he and his gang of cons can take bribes and live off the fat of lobbyists. However, he finds himself getting played by Congressman Dick Dodge (Lane Smith) and oil company big wig Olaf Anderson (Joe Don Baker) while falling for Celia Kirby (Victoria Rowell) and her environmentalist causes.



Bulworth (1998): California Senator Bulworth (Warren Beatty) is running for re-election, but suddenly realizes that he has betrayed his liberal beliefs to court big money lobbyists. Bulworth takes out a major insurance policy on himself and orders a mafia hit. With his death looming, Bulworth decides to go out in a blaze of glory by finally saying what he really believes, no matter how blasphemous. He even takes up with a young African American woman (Halle Berry) and delivers a speech in rap. With renewed life, Bulworth decides he doesn't want to die and now races to save his life and not just his Senate seat. Beatty and Jeremy Pikser were nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. They did receive uncredited help from Aaron Sorkin and James Toback.



Silver City (2004): Dickie Pilager (Chris Cooper) is the dimwitted son of Senator Judson Pilager (Michael Murphy) in Colorado and is put up for governor. While filming a commercial supporting the environment he hooks a dead body in a river while fishing. Campaign manager Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss) tries to keep matters quiet and hires Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston) to investigate. He tries to link the body to Pilager family enemies and finds himself deep into a web of intrigue and scandal.


Don't die.

"Life sucks. Shit Happens. I'm a student of t-shirts."