Semiquincentennial Movie Project #9: All That Money Can Buy

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week #9: New Hampshire -

 

 

The state of New Hampshire was established on June 21, 1788.

Details about New Hampshire:

State bird: purple finch

State flower: purple lilac

State tree: white birch

Additional historical trivia:

The man who was the inspiration for the "Uncle Sam" character of history, Sam Wilson, grew up in Mason, NH.

Those famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses from the classic beer commercials were originally from New Hampshire.

Always hated those annoying seat belts you are required to use in your state? Move to NH. They are not required there.

Sarah Hale, the founding proponent for declaring Thanksgiving a holiday in the U.S. was from new Hampshire.

Famous people from New Hampshire;

Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space. Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science. Ronnie James Dio (my favorite vocalist who sang for Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his own solo band, Dio. Maurice and Richard McDonald, original founders of McDonald's fast food franchise. And of course, Daniel Webster, US Senator and the subject of today's film.

 

 

All That Money Can Buy (1941): 

All That Money Can Buy (now often referred to, alternately, as "The Devil and Daniel Webster") was based on a short story written by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1936. The original story seems to have had some background in trying to instill patriotism for the American cause. Remember, in 1936 there was a growing populist movement to keep America isolated, and what with a looming war in Europe raising it's ugly head again, only 25 ears after the last one, much of the populace was of a mind to let Europe fight her own wars. Even by October of 1941, when the film version came out, the basic premise of being a self-supporting entity was the popular viewpoint of the nation.

Maybe all that is hard to see in the actual film by the average person. After all, it's basically just a reworking of the classic German legend of Johann Faust, most popularly remembered as the central character in Goethe's play, titled Faust. Here in the 1941 film, as in the original short story by Benet, the central character is a poor New Hampshire farmer who just can't seem to get an even break and frustratingly says he would "sell his soul to Devil" for just a fair shake.

The patriotism theme comes into play, however, as the protagonist, whose name is Jabez Stone, deals with his neighbors.  He is a self-sufficient soul who resists the unionizing, via the Grange, of the farmers, feeling that such dealings with the government in the form of a union might just smack a little of being underhanded. Also, when after the deal with the Devil produces some wealth, feels an obligation to share the wealth with those same neighbors.

Of course, if it all ended there this would be one short, and decidedly uninteresting story. The wealth eventually turns Jabez into the same kind of person he had previously despised, that of a greedy miser, taking advantage of those same people in their time of need.

 

To begin, we have Jabez (James Craig) who lives with his wife, Mary (Anne Shirley) and his mother (Jane Darwell). He is mostly happy with his lot in life, but one thing after another keep happening that prevents him from getting a step ahead of his creditors. 

 

He owes his banker, Mr. Stephens (John Qualen), a lot of money for his financial help, and every time he thinks things might be looking up, another bad event causes his hopes to be dashed.

 

After a particularly trying day, the frustrated Jabez says that for just two cents he'd sell his soul to the Devil. As luck would have it, the Devil (Walter Huston) overhears him, and presents Jabez with an opportunity, if he only signs a seven year contract for said soul. Immediately after signing the devil reveals a cache of hidden gold under Jabez's barn floor.

 

Ecstatic with his new found wealth, he immediately pays of his banker and starts improving his lot in life. The banker, in a bit of foreshadowing, says he's seen this gold somewhere before (and if you don't get it right away, you probably haven't been paying attention).

Jabez ends up helping his neighbors out too, although he does put a little bit of interest on the loan he gives them, just not the exorbitant rates that Stevens had been charging. Jabez also has money to hire a maid for his wife. His mother, a devout Christian, thinks that Jabez might be going down the wrong path, but he ignores her advice.

 

Eventually things start to look like Jabez really has some outside influence, although no one is quite able to put their finger on it. In order to keep Jabez moving further down his road of destruction, the Devil brings in a new maid that will replace the one that Jabez and Mary hired. The new maid is a very hot and liberated type, Belle (Simone Simon). (Another reviewer I read on this movie intimates she is a succubus, an evil spirit that uses sex to lead victims astray).

 

Jabez gradually becomes someone that the old Jabez would have disdained. When a freak weather storm destroys everyone but Jabez's farm crop, he hires on the farmers to till his own land, but only pays them a pittance for their work. Additionally he is alienating his own wife, who eventually packs up and leaves him.

By the time Jabez comes to his senses, the seven year contract is coming about due. Jabez, having had a change of heart,  wants out, but of course the Devil is going to have none of that. But Mary comes to the rescue. She convinces the great orator and senator Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) to come to help. The end result is that Webster and the Devil agree to a court hearing. But the Devil stacks the jury and judge against Jabez by bringing some of the most disreputable figures in history to sit in on he trial. (And, of course, all those jurors were former clients of the Devil. Admittedly if you aren't well versed in history, you may not recognize many of them by name, but Benedict Arnold is one of the jurors, and the judge was instrumental in the Salem Witch trials...

 

Daniel Webster then has his work cut out for him. but eventually his oratorical skills win the day. The Devil tears up the contract and moves on. There is a fun scene at the end where he is going through his book of potential next conquests and then looks up at the theater audience finally pointing directly at "you' as the viewer...  So beware!

 

The movie did not garner a profit. Wikipedia actually states it made $50,000 less than it's cost at the theater. Reviews at the time a pretty few and far between at this late a date, but  on the other hand it did get notice at the Oscars. Walter Huston lost the Best Actor award to Gary Cooper for Sergeant York, but te film managed to get an Oscar for Best Music, beating out the likes of Citizen Kane and the aforementioned Sergeant York. (It should be noted there were 20 movies up for the award, so take that how you will).

As a morality tale, the film, as well as the story, may be a bit hard to digest for the fundamentalist Christian. It appears to imply that even at the point of death one still has the opportunity to redeem oneself in  his spiritual life, lending to the idea that one can live as one pleases until the final roll call and still make a last minute adjustment. I'm sure most of my fundamentalist friends would argue to the contrary.

Still, all in all, as just a general folk tale, it's not all that bad a movie. Huston does a good job as the ever deceptive Devil, and Simone Simon reminds me a lot of actresses who came along later who managed to exude sexuality without too much effort (Raquel Welch, Ann-Margaret and Brigit Bardot come to mind...) Should you try it out? I think you'd be OK with at least one viewing, although whether it is re-watchable I can't say.  That's up to you.

Until next time, drive safely folks.

Quiggy

 

 

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #8: D.A.R.Y.L.

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week #7: South Carolina -

 

The state of South Carolina was established on May 23, 1788 

Details about South Carolina:

State bird: Carolina wren

State flower: Carolina yellow jessamine

State tree: palmetto tree 

Additional historical trivia:

Concerning the Civil War, Fort Sumpter was the site of the first shots ever fired in it. South Carolina was also the first state to secede from the Union.

The Dock Street Theater is the site of the first venue for theater ever established in the United States.

If you've eaten a peach, it's likely it came from South Carolina. The state produces more peaches than even Georgia...

The first game of golf ever played in the U.S. was played in South Carolina.

South Carolina is the only state in the Union that owns and operates the school bus system for the whole state. 

Famous people from South Carolina: Vanna White (from Wheel of Fortune), "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (of the infamous Chicago Black Sox), "Dizzy" Gillespie, "The Godfather of Soul" James Brown and Andrew Jackson (7th U.S. President). 

 

 

 

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985): 

Yet another of the kids vs. science fiction trope that got kicked off with Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extraterrestrial. This one features Barrett Oliver (and that is his real name, despite the fact that it sounds like it might have been inspired by Ryan O'Neal's character in Love Story, Oliver Barrett.) Oliver had come to prominence the year before after being cast as the lead in the fist The Neverending Story series of films. That role garnered him some attention, as he was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category of Best Starring performance. (He was beat out by his co-star in the film, Noah Hathaway).

Oliver only had a brief career in film. He was in today's film as well as both Cocoon and Cocoon II: The Return, but by 1989, after a brief 8 year run in the industry, he apparently decided to go a different route. He is currently a photographer and his work as such has been seen in museums and even on film, but he quit the in front of the camera before he even reached the age of maturity. (He was only 16 in his last film).

D.A.R.Y.L. open with a car chase. A boy and an older man are on the run from a plethora of chase vehicles (cars, helicopters, etc.). The older man drops off the boy and continues on it's run, ultimately crashing by driving the car off a cliff. The boy, basically on the run in the woods, ends up being discovered by an older couple and ends up being taken to a children's shelter.  

 

The director of this children's shelter is Howie Fox (Steve Ryan) and his wife Elaine (Colleen Camp). They are neighbors and good friends with the Richardsons, Andy (Michael McKean) and Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt). The Richardson's have been looking to adopt a child, and this boy just might be the start. Although they are told from the beginning that the boy is suffering from a form of selective amnesia... he knows his own name, Daryl, but he can't remember anything about his parents. So basically the Richardsons  can only foster care for the boy until he remembers who he really is.

 

While with the Richardsons it becomes apparent that Daryl is rather unique. He exhibits quite a bit more intelligence than the average 10 year old, and he is polite and respectful to everyone. He also shows an uncanny ability to learn and adapt to new studies, such as becoming a phenomenal home run hitter despite not even knowing how to play baseball when first introduced to it.

 

Eventually two adults show up claiming to be Daryl's real parents, although it is not a spoiler to learn that they actually aren't... they are scientists who had developed this advanced robot, whose real designation is D.A.R.Y.L. (That stands for Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form). He is not a real boy, although he probably wants to be. He has developed an affinity for the couple who were raising him, and a friendship with his neighbor, a boy only called "Turtle". In other words, he has exceeded the boundaries of what he was originally developed for: that of a government utility for whatever purposes the government wants him to perform. He was NOT expected to develop a personality or garner any range of human emotions.

 

As a result, the head guy in charge of the government organization (which is never actually named, but is probably the C.I.A., given how that organization operates in these kinds of movies...) orders that the D.A.R.Y.L. program be terminated, and that Daryl be deactivated. The fly in the ointment is that one of the scientists, Dr. Stewaert (Jeffrey Sommer) has let the outsiders of the Fox and Richardson family know of Daryl's true nature. And Dr. Stewart has also gained a conscience, so he plans to fool the government entity that Daryl has been deactivated when in fact he plans on escaping the facility with Daryl.

 

Just how he expected to fool a government entity that has a reputation for knowing when an individual goes to the bathroom despite said individual even realizing there is someone with that knowledge, is anybody's guess. The final reel includes Daryl driving a car like he is in a game of "Pole Position", a video game he has previously become familiar with, and even operating a supersonic jet, which he only learned by being shown how just a bit earlier in the film.

 

If you've watched these kinds of films before you don't need me to tell you how it ends.

The movie was not a big hit at the box office, it didn't even make back it's budget of $10 million. It garnered only a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means half of the reviewers liked it, but half of them didn't. Vincent Camby sums up the good view by saying that "the best thing that can be said about D.A.R.Y.L. is that it's inoffensive... [but] it's pretty silly". Paul Attanasio wrote that "the script is moronic and so riddled with improbabilities that the suspense element never takes root."

My opinion is that it is flawed in some ways, but as a example of 80's children-oriented sci-fi (or fantasy) it fits in as suitable family entertainment. My only real problem is with Michael McKean as the father. I just never could see him in such a straightforward "normal" role, mainly because of characters he had played that I had seen in the past: Lenny on Laverne and Shirley, David St. Hubbins in This is Spinal Tap, Mr. Green in Clue.

Referring back to the starring role actor, Barrett Oliver actually won some acclaim for his performance as Daryl. He won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, beating out, among others, Fairuza Balk in Return to Oz and Jeff Cohen in The Goonies. 

Wee, until next week folks, drive safely.

Quiggy

 

 

A Job For Imbeciles

 

 

This is my entry in the Kenneth Williams Blogathon hosted by The Wonderful World of Cinema.

 

 

The classic Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, first published in 1902 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has been adapted numerous times, both as a feature film and as part of on an ongoing television series. The story is usually adapted to fit in to whatever the current climate or milieu that is part of the presentation. Many of them featured Sherlock in his own time period of the late 19th and early 20th century. 

 

The BBC TV series Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch had an episode, "The Hounds of Baskerville", which had the character investigating the moors of England in the 21st century, and that is one of my favorite depictions of the story. That one includes some mysterious goings on in an Area 51 - like area in the UK, conveniently known as the "Baskerville Research Facility".

 

The original Doyle story has some supernatural aspects to it, but Sherlock, being Sherlock, is dismissive of anything that can't be validated by his logic.  For the most part, those variations present Holmes as the rational logical machine that Doyle presented him as in the canon. The Hound of the Baskervilles, as a novel was originally published as a concession to the overwhelming urging of the public to bring back the character of Holmes to its adoring public. As such, having no desire to resurrect the character from the dead, the story itself, in the context of the canon, takes place in the history between the meeting of Watson and Holmes and Holmes' supposed death at Reichenbach Falls.

Kenneth Williams, one of the comedic minds behind the beloved British comedy series of Carry On... (such as Carry On Cleo, Carry On Sergeant and Carry On Up the Khyber). He was a character in 26 of the 31 Carry On... films. IMDb lists 63 overall credits for Williams, so the Carry On.. films account for a whopping 42% of his output on film.  It is interesting to note that, after his death when his private diaries became public, it was revealed that Williams actually had little regard for the series, although probably some of that had to do with how little money he made off the series.

 

Outside of the Carry On films, Williams had a varied career. He appeared in plays on stage, had roles on BBC radio and television shows, and even wrote several books. People on this side of the pond could be forgiven if they have never heard of any of his output beyond those Carry On films (and there may be quite a number of Americans who would give you a questioning look even if you started taking about THOSE films). But for those who had been around during his heyday in the UK, he was a well known and popular comedian.

In the tradition of comedy films, parody has always been a favorite of mine. And I also have a fairly good collection of movies and TV series featuring Sherlock Holmes. Combining comedy with Sherlock Holmes may seem sacrilege to some aficionados of the Great Detective, but one of my favorite Sherlock films is actually Without a Clue, a parody that postulated that Dr. Watson was the real brains behind the mysteries and that the character of Sherlock was just a figure that Watson created, using an alcoholic actor to pose as Holmes.

This entry falls under that parody genre. It's up to you to determine whether it should be a legitimate Holmes movie, and probably even whether it is a legitimate comedy, for that matter.   

 

 

 The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978):

The opening scene of this film wastes no time in letting you know just how different this Holmes outing is going to be from anything you've ever witnessed before as a pianist (Dudley Moore) comes out on stage to play a chaotic piano intro to our film. This segues into the prologue in which the title card says "French Nuns" as Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cook) wraps up his current case.

 

Only, Holmes hasn't really solved the case. The nuns are concerned about a holy relic that is missing from their church and Holmes helpfully suggests that is is missing because of the "work of thieves." (Thank you, Captain Obvious!) But then, again, maybe he has, because he tells them that, through his extraordinary ability at observation, he knows exactly who stole the relic. It was the member of the congregation that he saw loitering around the place where the relic usually sat, with a bulge that resembled the relic protruding from his pocket. (And why can't Scotland Yard be this "on the ball"...?)

You have to pay attention throughout this movie. Throwaway jokes abound. Like Holmes reading a tome called "Guilt Without Sex". (read that again...)

 

The story proper begins with the arrival of a Dr. Mortimer (Terry-Thomas) from Dartmoor. Mortimer represents the estate of Baskerville. It seems that the estate's prior owner, Sir Charles, had died, of natural causes according to the papers. But Mortimer thinks Sir Charles was murdered. By supernatural means. It turns out that local legend says that every master of the Baskerville estate has had a strange coincidence surrounding their deaths... the appearance of a monstrous hound.

 

Our heroes agree to go to Baskerville Hall and meet the new heir, Sir Henry Baskerville (Kenneth Williams). Sir Henry tells Holmes of  a strange incident recently. Henry had put his boots outside his bedroom door to be shined, but when he went to the door the next morning, one of them was missing... Holmes is aghast. Not at the strange theft, however.

"Do you think I'm going to waste my time combing the streets of London for some old boot? This is a job for an imbecile!" 

 

Holmes declines the case, leaving it in the capable(?) hands of his assistant, Dr. Watson. What follows after this is a discombobulated sequence of seemingly unconnected skits, including a visit to Sherlock's mother (played by Dudley Moore) who is running a scam as a spiritualist leading seances, but it's all fake, with a helper off scene causing tables to rise, etc. 

 

Also, there is a scene that has Sherlock visiting a massage parlor, which may or may not also be operating as brothel (although none of the women are appealing to anyone normal male who would visit a brothel...)

 

There are other scenes that seem to be added to flesh out a 5 minute skit into a full-fledged film, some of which are humorous for about a minute or so, but then become a distraction. For instance, when Sir Henry and Watson show up at the Baskerville estate, they are housed in a room that is ankle deep in water (and with no forthcoming explanation of where the water is coming from, nor with either Sir Henry or Watson commenting on it). 

There is also some very strange parody of The  Exorcist. Why? Who knows. Eventually (after what seems like an interminable time, but is actually only about 90 minutes), the titular hound is revealed to not be some supernatural horror, but an ordinary Irish setter. But getting to that point requires a bit of patience. Which is surprising, since other movies in the Moore / Cook  were actually good and well-made (The Wrong Box, Bedazzled, Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies).

Kenneth Williams, too, might be sub-par, especially when compared to characters he played in the Carry On films. Here Sir Henry is pretty much a stereotypical upper-crust fop, albeit with some not-so-subtle caricatures of gay tendencies. In addition there are a few other cameos that don't always pan out. Denholm Elliot, who shone as Marcus Brody in the early Indiana Jones films and as the butler in Trading Places is seriously overused but not very well drawn out as a guy who has to carry around a chihuahua that has a serious bladder problem. 

 

A lot of blame for the failure of this movie (it was a bomb in every sense of the word) is often placed on the director, Paul Morrisey, a student of Andy Warhol, who although he could do avant-garde films pretty well (Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula), had no idea how to work with Moore and Cook in their preferred comedic milieu.  He rewrote the screenplay that Moore and Cook had originally submitted. I wonder what the original actually looked like.

This one has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating of any movie I have ever reviewed, only 0%. (I guess negative numbers are not available...) Critics of the time can be summed as saying it was pretty terrible. It surely didn't make much money. It was originally released in the UK in 1978, but didn't make it's way across the pond to the U.S. until 1981 (and I think that primarily was because of the success of the Moore film Arthur... otherwise it might have stayed overseas indefinitely...)

As a relic of the past, I would say only completists who want to watch every Dudley Moore and/or Peter Cook performance (or for that matter Kenneth Williams or any of the other featured actors) should bother with this one. It has very few really funny moments, and most of those happen within the first 10 minutes.

Well, until next time, folks, drive safely.

Quiggy

 

 

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #7: Explorers

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

Week #7: Maryland -

 

The state of Maryland was established on April 28, 1788

Details about Maryland:

State bird: Baltimore oriole

State flower: black-eyed Susan

State tree: white oak 

Additional historical trivia:

Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that eventually became the national anthem while observing a battle in the Revolutionary War from a ship in Baltimore harbor.

The official state sport of Maryland is jousting. (Really! Would I lie to you...?)

The state flag of Maryland (pictured above) is the only state flag based on British heraldry.

Elijah Wood, a native, created the ouija board (and thus was peripherally responsible for The Exorcist)

Famous people born in Maryland: John Wilkes Booth (assassin of Abraham Lincoln), Babe Ruth, Robert Duvall, Frank Zappa, Tom Clancy and Spiro T. Agnew (Vice-President under Richard Nixon) 

 

Explorers (1985): 

Children in sci-fi settings became a huge thing in the early 80's. Thanks (or blame, depending on your viewpoint) to Steven Spielberg and his huge E.T. the Extraterrestrial, children focused science fiction movies became a big thing in Hollywood, although to varying success. Trying to mine the gold that Spielberg found with his mother lode proved to be a difficult project. In the space of 8 years after the release of E.T we got several movies featuring pre-teens or teens in sci-fi and fantasy settings,  the likes of which included  Flight of the Navigator,  D.A.R.Y.L., Back to the Future, Wizard, The Last Starfighter,  and SpaceCamp in sci-fi settings, as well as kid-centric fantasies like Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, The Goonies and The Monster Squad.

The movie opens with Ben (Ethan Hawke) fast asleep and dreaming of flying over a circuit board that reminds me of nothing so much as the virtual world in the movie Tron. When he wakes up he hurries to his desk to sketch out a part of his dream, a diagram of the circuit board. Even though it is 3am, he calls his best friend, Wolfgang (River Phoenix), who is some sort of child prodigy... (and if you are having trouble picturing River Phoenix as a nerd, you and I are in the same boat...)

 

The next day at school Ben is getting the crap beat out of him by the school bully, Steve (Bobby Fite).  A fellow classmate, Darren (Jason Presson), jumps in to help Ben and as a result gains an initially unwanted friend. All three are sort of outcasts, and thus in terminology of the day, "nerds". Thus the three naturally develop a friendship.

 

Wolfgang has been hard at work trying to program the stuff that Ben gave him. (Firstly, let me point out what may be a nitpick. Wolfgang is working with a primitive, by today's stands, 128K computer. You have to suspend any disbelief that what he accomplishes here could even be done with that limited capacity of power, but then the whole movie does require some suspension of disbelief in order to watch, so...) Wolfgang creates a self-contained sphere, but then the computer starts working by programming itself.

 

 Eventually the three make the sphere big enough that they can crawl inside of it, but with limited oxygen, they can only stay in it a short while. But dreams to the rescue because Ben has another dream that night which solves the oxygen issue. Now they can actually use the sphere and navigate it around. To which they include making a seating arrangement by building a spaceship out of junkyard parts, which include a left over seat from a carnival Tilt-A-Whirl.

 

Thus seated in the Tilt-A-Whirl and surrounded by the sphere the three take off. among their first encounters is a jet that investigates this "U.F.O." Charlie (played by Dante film regular Dick Miller) gains a particularly strong motivation to investigate. (Charlie essentially becomes the comic relief in a movie that already had comedic elements, but...)

 

Eventually the kids make it into space and then the weird stuff starts to happen. Something takes over the computer controls and the boys are suddenly rocketed into deep space, where it appears aliens have commandeered the fledgling ship. And here's where it really gets weird... For the next 20 or 30 minutes the kids interact with the aliens, whose primary form of communication seems to be using stuff from old TV and radio shows.

 

It turns out that the aliens way of learning about Earth had been from intercepting the broadcasts of American TV and radio. (Just so you know, from a scientific standpoint, those broadcasts continue on indefinitely in a straight line after leaving Earth. But the question that comes to my mind is why only American TV? Didn't they intercept any signals from the other nations?) 

(As a side note: One of my favorite science-fiction authors, Jack L. Chalker, wrote a short story "Adrift Among the Ghosts" which had a similar theme. In that story an alien who was convicted of a crime is sentenced to a life in space collecting some of these old radio and TV signals for posterity in the alien's own society. Check out Dance Band on the Titanic which collects the entire short story output of a prolific novelist, but only rarely short story writer.)  

The comedy of this part is relentless, but at some point the boys are finally able to communicate with the aliens on some level. But you get the idea that these aliens are a couple of rocks short of a riot.

It turns out that these particular two aliens are not the ones in charge. And they aren't exactly supposed to be playing around with the controls of the spaceship they are on.

I'll leave it at that for now. 

Explorers had several unfortunate details in it's history that made it a less than stellar box office bonanza. For one thing, it was released only a week after Back to the Future and we all know what a blockbuster that one was. Secondly, it was also released just the day before the broadcast of the first Live Aid. 

The film ran into several problems during it's production. One of the excuses for it's slapdash finish was that the studio told Dante to wrap it up forthwith because they wanted to release the film much earlier than planned. A director's cut of the film was never released primarily because much of the footage that could have been used was lost or no longer available. It was not the film that the director wanted to release, so much as the movie the studio demanded on a shorter timetable, then.

The hurried release as well as the competition from movies still in the theater as well as those released shortly after (In addition to Back to the Future, Cocoon was still in the theaters, and E.T. The Extraterrestrial had been re-released) served to help sink it. It only managed to make about half of it's budget back while in theatrical release. 

Rotten Tomatoes currently holds the movie as "48% fresh". A blurb on the website claims that "Despite dazzling effects, a terrific young cast, and tons of charm, Explorers fails to soar past its '80s kiddie flick competitors." That cast, by the way, was full of first or early castings. Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix made their feature film debuts here. Both Amanda Peterson and Jason Presson had appeared in a couple of TV movies, but were also first timers in a theatrical release. Robert Picardo, who most people will recognize as The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager got an early role here too, although you won't recognize him... he was the alien Wak and Wak's father. But he was also the character "Starkiller" in the movie playing at the drive-in when the boys fly by, so you might recognize him there...

Explorers  did not have the profound effect that people behind the scenes hoped it would have. It comes off a lot like a knock-off of a classic Spielbergian kids movie, and even the soundtrack has that feel. Jerry Goldsmith, the multi-time nominee for Oscars in the category of music, did the honors, but even that feels like something from a Spielberg movie.

Still, all in all, it's not a bad movie At least, not until they actually meet the aliens... I thought that part was a little ridiculous and a bit too long. I wish I could see the movie that Dante originally wanted to make. I have warm feelings for Gremlins and Matinee, and his segment in The Twilight Zone: The Movie ("It's A Good Life") is not at all bad. 

Well folks, until next time drive safely.

Quiggy 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Ape

 

 

 

 

 

This is my entry in the So Bad It's Good Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room

 

Star Wars people are bonkers. I've heard that quite a number of Star Wars fanatics will buy a ticket to a movie that is going to have a preview of the newest Star Wars  movie during it's opening previews, watch the preview, then leave the movie without watching the movie they paid good money to enter the theater. That's just nuts, if you ask me.

And yet, I paid good money in 2001 to go to see Swordfish, a movie I had no desire to see, in actuality. I paid my admission with the express intent of seeing the preview of Tim Burton's new movie, Planet of the Apes. The difference is I actually stayed to see the movie. (I'm a fanatic, but I'm not insane...) Swordfish, BTW, is a terrible movie, and the only highlight, for me, was seeing Halle Berry topless. Swordfish might be someone's idea of a good entry for the So Bad It's Good blogathon, but definitely not for me.

On the other hand, the preview of Planet of the Apes was a success. that is if it was meant to attract me as a patron. Having been a fan of the older five movies, and having great hopes for the advancement of technology to make the apes look even more realistic than those of the 70's Apes  movies, I have to say I was totally entranced by that brief three or four minute preview.  And, of course, I was first in line to buy a ticket to the first showing when the movie finally hit the theaters... Literally, I was there about 30-40 minutes before the box office even opened.  

The road to this remake was a bit rocky. It had originally been slated to be produced in 1988. The original idea was to produce a sequel to the first 1968 Planet of the Apes, apparently ignoring the four sequels that followed that first movie.  The story would have taken place in a future of that timeline, with a character named Duke, who was a descendant of Charlton Heston's character, Taylor, leading a human revolt.  Thankfully we were saved from having Tom Cruise in the lead role of that pre-production. It was ditched because of a shakeup in the studio executives of 20th Century Fox Studios.

Future tries at creating the movie went through some interesting changes. Both Sam Raimi and Oliver Stone were interested, and one of the more intriguing ideas about a plot involved everything having been predicted, including the rise of the apes to power, through some kind of interpretation of a Bible Code. (Remember the popular 1997 book by Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code? Apparently this plot drew some inspiration from that book...) This version would have had Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role.

Through the various tries at getting the film off the ground, both Roland Emmerlich and James Cameron were in talks to direct. Eventually the director became Tim Burton. The script itself, however, was not completely set in stone. According to wikipedia the script was still being hashed out even as sets for the movie were being built. The good thing is that Rick Baker, makeup genius extraordinaire, had been on board from even the earliest tries at the remake. Having been a fan of Baker ever since An American Werewolf in London, I personally had high hopes for convincing prosthetics.

 

 

 

Planet of the Apes  (2001): 

Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) is the liaison between the experimental chimpanzee trainees for the space program. Basically, he works with one chimpanzee, Pericles, training him how to operate the controls of the scout ship of the space program. He has an affinity with  Pericles, much more than he really has with his co-workers, or even his commanding officers. On the space station Oberon, Leo is the connection with his charge and is Pericles' guide.

When a strange anomaly appears in the vicinity, Leo's superiors tell him to send his chimp out in a space pod to investigate. Leo objects, insisting that he be the one sent out instead of the guinea pig chimp, but is overruled. Pericles disappears. Ostensibly to do some work to try to figure out what happened Leo goes to another pod, but ultimately takes command of the situation and launches the second pod. And he too ends up losing contact with the Oberon.   

When Leo gets out of the space anomaly he has somehow been sent some 3000 years into the future. He crash lands in the jungle on a strange planet. "Strange" is the key word. He finds himself caught up in a chase as native humans are running in terror. What are they running from? Why, militaristic apes of course.

Leo

 

Leo, along with several others, ends up being captured. Limbo (Paul Giamatti), an orangutan who is a slave trader, is the ape in charge. He is not impressed with this new collection, and is especially not impressed with Leo, who doesn't seem to be as fatalistic towards his capture as the others. 

Limbo

 

Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a chimpanzee with a decidedly liberal "all species should be treated equally" attitude, buys both Leo and a native girl, Deanna (Estella Warren), to work in her house. Ari is the daughter of a political bigwig, Senator Sandar (David Warner).

 

Deanna

Ari

 

Sandar

 

 

 

Ari is also the source of attraction for the military bigwig, General Thade (Tim Roth), although she has no love for him. Politically they are on opposite ends of the spectrum as Thade hates all humans, and would be entirely at home with the idea of exterminating every human from the planet. 

Thade

 

Leo. independent soul that he is, works at trying to escape from his captivity. He eventually succeeds, in the process taking Ari and her friend, General Krull (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), as hostages. Leo finds a device from his own time that seems to indicate that a rescue party from his old ship is somewhere nearby. It turns out that that somewhere is also the location of the legendary "Calima", the place where the religious sector of the ape society believe life began.

Chased by Thade and his adjutant, Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan), Leo heads to the remote area. There he does not find the hoped for rescue party; instead he finds the remains of the Oberon which seems to have been there for thousands of years. And the source of the name "Calima"... 

 

Ultimately, it turns out that the Oberon tried to follow Leo into the anomaly, but this anomaly is some kind of unstable wormhole that transports people through time, but cannot be controlled enough to say where the people will end up.

 

In the end, many humans come to follow Leo, whom they think is some kind of hero, and do battle with the entire ape army. That is, until Pericles arrives in his space pod.

This film was disparaged viciously on it's release. Right wing political stooges like Rush Limbaugh got in the fray by claiming the film was anti-American. At least one report I heard made a big deal out of the ending of the film. (Spoiler alert! If you want to watch this film first stop reading and come back after you've seen it.) 

You see, at the end of the movie Leo manages to escape and pilot the space pod back to his own time. Or so it would seem. But when he crash lands on Earth, he ends up near what looks like the Lincoln Memorial. Only instead of Lincoln, it is General Thade.  The ending was made a bit confusing (like how did Thade escape from his "prison" at the end and somehow also travel back in time?) But the big whine that I heard was from those same right wing stooges, like the aforementioned Limbaugh, who howled bloody murder over making their hero, Lincoln, into an ape.

The ending was the only part of the movie that was in tune with the original novel, however. Every one knows the iconic ending of the 1968 movie, but in the Boulle novel the main character also escaped from the planet, only to arrive in his own time to find that the apes were in charge there, too. I think the ending of the film was supposed to be meant as a cliffhanger, and the next film in the series would have explained what happened (as in how Thade escaped from the planet to go hrough his own time portal and create another alternate universe). . However, due to the negative reception of the first one, a follow up movie was trash canned.

There are several callbacks in this film to the original, including a cameo (uncredited, by the way) of Charlton Heston, who plays General Thade's father. He utters a line: "Damn them! Damn them all to Hell!". And Attar gets to be the center of another callback when he tells Leo "Get your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human!"

The film, believe it or not, was actually a success, financially. It made about $250 million more than it's budget. Which means it cracked the top 10 of money makers for 2001. Not bad, considering that this year's output included the first installments of both Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, the top money makers for 2001.

But critical reception sunk the film. Most critics gave it negative reviews, and John Wilson and co, at the Razzies named it the worst sequel or remake of the year. The Rotten Tomatoes rating for the film stands at 43%, but admits "this remake...can't compare to the original...but the striking visuals and B-movie charms may win you over." And that basically is how I feel. The plot leaves a little to be desired, but it was effective as a visual form. Until the CGI enhanced trilogy of recent years came along, it was a fairly good presentation of apes. Thanks to Rick Baker for his work there.  

Well folks, time to fire up the old Plymouth. Hopefully I won't run into some time portal on the way home, but just in case, I think I'll stop at the store and buy some bananas...

Quiggy