ONE RED FLOWER memories

In my article about movie musicals making a comeback, I mentioned a musical called ONE RED FLOWER. For those of you who may not recall, this musical is taken from the book LETTERS FROM ‘NAM, in which you can read actual letters written to and from the soldiers who fought in that terrible war. The musical focuses on a mother and six soldiers whose stories are told in song through these letters and poems. I find myself thinking a lot about this musical lately. Not necessarily because of the tensions in the Middle east, or anything political like that. No. I’ve just been thinking about how much this musical moved me even more than the commercial successes of LES MISERABLES, MISS SAIGON or RAGTIME (and those are three heavy hitters in the deeply moving department).

Let me explain. I learned about ONE RED FLOWER from a friend of mine who is a member of ALL THAT CHAT over at talkinbroadway.com. She saw it in Washington D.C> in either 1999 or 2000, and couldn’t say enough about it. Next thing I know, the North Shore Music Theatre announced ONE RED FLOWER as part of the 2001/2002 season, beginning in September of 2001. Even better news: a bus tour company i was familiar with announced a day trip to see FLOWER. Talk about opportunity knocking. It was pounding on the door.
Well, I don’t need to remind you about what happened at the beginning of September of 2001. I still have raw memories of that day. Those memories were still fresh about two weeks later, when i boarded the bus to Beverly, MA. After our lunch stop at a very good steakhouse, we were at North Shore.

Nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared me for what I would see or how I would feel. Like every great musical, the opening number, “I Was There”, engaged me with it’s simple, yet driving rock melody, and straightforward lyrics. I was with them, and I began to follow the structure of the piece quite well, learning a lot about the soldiers’ experiences along the way. All the time, the emotional intensity of FLOWER was building and building. Then came the boiling point in a protest song called “I Don’t Understand This War”. Just as that song reachedits climax, the soundtrack of the lunar landing broke in over the sound system, and were back with three of the soldiers in the jungle, staring up into a starry sky, listening. The local time was “4:16 A.M.” The soldiers, arms on each others’ shoulders, sang about how in that moment, they knew who they were, what they were doing, and where they belonged. This is the Act 1 closer, and by the time it was done, I was unable to speak. I honestly expected that if I dared to open my mouth, I would be crying so uncontrollably that they’d have to ask me to leave the theatre.
Act 2 wasn’t about to let me off the hook either. Sure it opened with a lighter song called “Saigon Tea”, but that was about as light-hearted as it would get. The unforgettable title song shows up in Act 2, as does a heart-breaker caled “There Will Still Be Christmas”, and the gut wrenching finale “If You Are Able”. The theatre was on its feet, roaring its approval at the end. I rode home, thinking that I had to find a way to tell Paris Barclay how much his show moved me. I found his e-mail address, and did just that. He wrote back with a quick note, thanking me for my support.
It’s been eight years since I first had the experience, and I find myself wishing I could experience it in some way again. I find it sadly interesting that despite the praise from audiences and press reviews, there’s STILL NO cast album! I’ve made inquiries, and done searches, but no luck. So I’m putting the word out to the recording companies, get in touch with Paris Barclay, and get him and his cast into the studio, PLEASE! I can’t afford to fly out to wherever it’s playing, I can’t even afford to go to see a play in Providence, right now, but that’s beside the point. A cast album would be great for me and other fans who can’t get out to see it. I’d even settle for a few clips on YouTube, but that’s not my call to make.
In closing, I am so grateful that I had the chance to see ONE RED FLOWER, and I hope many more of you get the chance to see it, too. Just be sure to have enough Kleenex.

ALL TIME FAVORITES: The Holiday Edition

I know it’s been too long since you heard from me.  The economy has really socked it to me over the past few months, and going to the movies has been low on my list of priorities.  But that isn’t what this post is about.  So, here are some thoughts on my favorite Christmas movies of all time:

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1994version)  I know, I know, it’s NOT the Maureen O’Hara version, but I like it.  Sir Richard Attenborough is a great Saint Nicholas in this adaptation, and Mara Wilson kept great pace with her experienced co-stars.  I usually start my Holiday movie watching with this one after spending Thanksgiving Day with my family.

THE NATIVITY STORY.  I would be GROSSLY remiss if I didn’t include this movie.  After all, THIS is the reason we have Christmas in the first place.  Don’t look for any famous faces, though.  The actors are all very talented newcomers who paint a very realistic portrait of what happened that first Christmas.  I particularlyenjoyed the chemistry between the three actors who played the Magi.  They inject the needed comic relief into this dramatic story, and at the climax, a real emotional and spiritual payoff for the most doubtful of the three.

HOME ALONE and HOME ALONE 2:  It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit to the McAllisters suburban Chicago home.  Even after almost 20 years (can you believe this movie and the sequel are almost THAT old?), these movies deliver some of the best-and most painful-physical comedy ever filmed as young Kevin thwarts the clumsy Wet Bandits both at home and in the Big Apple.

THE SANTA CLAUSE and THE SANTA CLAUSE 2:  If Sir Richard Attenborough’s Kris Kringle is the kindest Santa, then, Tim Allen’s anta is definitely the most fun.  I admit I wasn’t too keen on the idea of seeing this when it came out on video (I had missed it in the theaters), but my Mom bought a copy the following year, and I was hooked on it within the first 20 minutes.  Portraying the elves as eternal chidren is inspired, as was the idea of having the effects of becoming Santa wear off as Allen’s character returns to the real world to find his bride.

MRS. SANTA CLAUS:  This is a great original musical that was filmed for CBS in 1996.  The story is very simple .  Mrs. C. wants desperately to help her husband Nicky with his workload.  She’s even come up with a flight plan for the reindeer that is, in her opinion, even better than her husband’s.  But, as you may have guessed, Nicky is not interested in the slightest.  So, Mrs. C. takes the sleigh, and the reindeer and tries it out for herself, only to wind up lost in turn of the Century Alphabet City in New York.  There, she comes to the aid of the residents there, including children being forced to work as slaves for an unscrupulous toymaker.  Jerry Herman provides a great score for this musical, and even pays homage to one of his own Christmas songs.

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA’S GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS EVE:  You may be wondering what a 60 minute music video is doing on my list.  Well, it may be only 60 minutes, but the storyline behind GHOSTS has all the disciplines of a cinematic story as a young runaway trying to get home takes refuge in an abandoned theater.  There she, and the rest of us are treated to the incredible music of the ORCHESTRA.  And, I’ll be the first to say that I can barely get through this without choking up at the end.  See for yourself, if you haven’t already.

THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL.  There are so many variations of Dickens’ classic story, that it can be difficult sometimes to pick a favorite.  Some like the modern spin of SCROOGED (I do, too).  Some like the Alistair Sim version, others the Albert Finney musical version, and still others would gladly watch Mr. Magoo play the part of Ebenezer Scrooge.  For me, though, the hands-down winner is the Muppet version.  I love the fact that Michael Caine’s Scrooge is more sad and lonely than mean and petty.  This movie still had much of the Henson charm despite the loss of Jim Henson two years earlier.  This version also has my all-time favorite Ghost of Christmas Present.  He’s just so much fun, and would be a welcome guest in my house any day.

A CHRISTMAS STORY.  Well, you didn’t think I’d leave THIS one out, did you?  25 years later, and it still delivers the laughs it did when it first hit the theaters.  All I have to do is picture the younger brother bundled up in the snowsuit (”I CAN’T PUT MY ARMS DOWN!!!”), or the father holding the remains of his prized leg lamp, accusing his wife of deliberately running out of glue (”You used all the glue ON PURPOSE!”), and I start laughing.  This movie has a fierce and loyal fan base, of which I am a member.

THE POLAR EXPRESS:  Take the imagination of author Chris van Allsburg.  Add Tom Hanks leading a talented group of actors.  Mix in some of the most amazing motion capture technology ever seen.  Finally, throw in a beautiful music score by Alan Silvestri with performances by Steven Tyler and Josh Groban, and you have what is a modern Christmas classic.  I just watched this again last night, and the music, the story, and the attention to detail blew me away once again.  This story of a young boy’s journey from doubt to belief in the magic of Christmas is fun, exciting, a little frightening, and very moving.  This is a must see!

Well, this is my list anyway.  To paraphrase a credit card commercial:  What’s on YOUR list?

SEE WHAT YOU MISSED: Stay Tuned (Warner Brothers, 1992 Rated PG)

One of my friends will tell you that it can be hell working in TV.  Some people believe that the quality of programming has gone in that direction with the advent of “reality” programming.  In STAY TUNED, when you go to that awful place, you wind up being the newest star on “Hellvision”:  the Underworld’s TV Network which caters to one viewer in particular, and I’m not talking about the president of the Nielsen Company, either.

How do you wind up there?  Simple:  all you need to do is be so dissatisfied with your life that you use the TV as an escape.  Once that happens, Satan’s representative, and the demon in charge of programming, Spike (Jeffrey Jones) shows up at your house to offer you the free-trial use of a monster satellite dish that can receive 600 and 66 channels of programming on a big screen setup with Dolby surround.  And it’s all controlled by a simple remote.  All you have to do is sign the contract (cue evil organ music).  One other thing, when the reception goes on the fritz (and it WILL very quickly), you have to go out to the dish and adjust it manually.  And THAT’s when they’ve got you.  You see, the dish seems to KNOW when someone’s gotten to close.  It adjusts itself, extends the probe, and ZAP, you’re on Hellvision.

That’s where the Knables come in.  Roy (the late great John Ritter) is an unsuccessful plumbing salesman, who dreams of great adventure, and lives out his unfulfilled fantasies by watching TV.  His wife, Helen (Pam Dawber), on the other hand is a very successful executive for a vitamin company.  Helen loves Roy, but she’s afraid she’s losing him to the tube, and when Spike shows up with his system, Helen gets ready to walk out on him.

Roy, on the other hand, is totally absorbed in his new TV.  He doesn’t even seem the least bit suspicious that every show he turns to, and every commercial he’s seeing has a real mean streak to it.  The titles and the products seem familiar, but there’s just something odd about them.  Sure enough, the reception goes, just as Helen is walking out.  She finds Roy working on the dish, when ZAP!  They’re on Hellvision.

Their first stop is an appearance on YOU CAN’T WIN.  Hellvision’s top rated daytime game show in which couples learn the awful truth about each other, by answering multiple choice questions.  Winning the game means they don’t get killed and are sent to their next program.  You see, the idea behind Hellvision programming is to kill the souls that enter the system within 24 hours.  If the souls survive, they get sent back to reality, a little bit wiser for the wear.  Soon, Roy and Helen find themselves in a wrestling match with gorgons, wind up on Hell’s version of NORTHERN EXPOSURE, and in my favorite segment, as mice in a Chuck Jones cartoon battling the evil Robocat.  This segment features some of Jones’ funniest work in animation.

Meanwhile, Spike is getting worried.  Nobody has survived the system as long as the Knables.  It’s also not helping Spike that his assistant played by Eugene Levy has become an unexpected ally to the Knables.  Well, Spike DID send his assistant into the field as a punishment for an ill-timed joke.  Now the assistant wants revenge.  It’s also not helping Spike that back in the real world, the Knable kids, Darryl and Diane have figured out what’s happened, and are working to rescue their parents.  it’s actually Darryl who narrates the story, and does so very well.

The Knables do hit redemtion point, but there’s a hitch.  Only Roy signed the contract, therefore, only Roy gets to go back.  Spike, meanwhile, has tied Helen to a cart full of dynamite on the middle of a railroad track (the legendary 3:10 to Yuma is supposed to pass by-I can’t tell you how often I missed that joke until watching this movie last night).  Roy is taunted into returning to the system to find and rescue Helen.  This time, no matter where Roy goes, Spike goes too.  This turns into a chase around the dial with a visual joke involving Roy on the set of a VERY familiar looking sitcom, with the theme music playing in the background.

Well, as is often the case with these twists on the Faust story, Roy does learn his lesson, reconnects with Helen and his kids, and winds up going into a new line of work, in which he’s very successful.

What I like about this movie are the parodies.  They hit the mark more than they miss.  I also like the fact that legendary voiceover announcers Ernie Anderson (from ABC) and Don Pardo offer their services.  Then there’s Bruce Broughton’s background score.  The music styles match the programming and commercials perfectly, especially in the Chuck Jones segment.

All I can say is that if I’m ever offered a system that features 600 and 66 channels, I’m gonna think twice.  As it is, i don’t even watch all of the 199 channels I get NOW.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ghost Town (Dreamworks, PG-13) ****

I’m still here, everyone, I just haven’t been able to get out to the movies much lately.  Anyway, I’m glad people out there are still checking my blog out.

GHOST TOWN is the kind of intelligent human and heartfelt comedy that Hollywood knows how to make, but all too often passes over in favor of dreck like DUDE WHERE”S MY CAR?  Ricky Gervais is Dr. Bernard Pincus, a dentist that nightmares are made of.  He’s selfish, egotistical, boorish, tactless, and uninterested in his patients.  He won’t even attend a small gathering in honor of his partner becoming a father.

Dr. Pincus, however is not just a doctor, he’s also a patient.  As the movie begins, Dr. Pincus has to go through the awful preparations for a colonoscopy.  I can tell you, from having watched my parents prepare for these, that it’s not pretty.  It’s also the kind of funny situation that makes GHOST TOWN a pleasure to watch.  I think every adult over the age of 50 was laughing with recognition at how Dr. Pincus tried to down the prep meds, and wait for them to kick in.

Happily, the procedure is successful.  At least that’s what Dr. pincus believes, anyway.  He leaves the hospital, and talks to a nurse that he believes works there.  Only thing is, this nurse doesn’t work at that hospital or any other hospital, for that matter.  She’s a ghost.  And she’s not the only one walking the streets of NYC.  Soon, Pincus is being followed by construction workers, elderly couples, police officers killed in the line of duty, a nude man, and a gentleman in a tuxedo named Frank (Greg Kinnear), who wants Pincus to help him with his widow, Gwen (Tea Leone).

It seems that Frank doesn’t want his wife to get remarried to her boyfriend Richard (Billy Campbell).  Frank is convinced that Richard is up to no good.  Pincus, however doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with Frank, or any of the other ghosts that now follow, pester, and generally make Pincus look insane.  But Frank and the other ghosts aren’t about to give up.  Soon, Pincus finds himself wooing Gwen, and trying to drive a wedge between Gwen and Richard.  What Pincus soon discovers, however, is that he loves Gwen.  Frank, however, tries to discourage the relationship, because he sees the worst parts of himself in Pincus.  Things get even worse when Pincus tries to tell Gwen that everything he’s learned about her and Frank is coming directly from Frank.  Pincus soon learns that he needs to start being less self-absorbed, and more in tune with the needs of others.  It’s a hard lesson for anyone like Pincus to learn, but luckily for the audience, it’s a lesson taught with a lot of laughs and heart, and Gervais pulls off a very funny and believable performance, and it’s a great touch that Pincus has a sensitive gag reflex which becomes a funny running joke (notice I didn’t say running “gag”?).

I was reminded of HEART AND SOULS while watching this.  In my mind GHOST TOWN is the perfect companion piece.  It’s like HEART AND SOULS multiplied by two.  I just hope that Hollywood realizes that there is STILL an audience out there for this kind of intelligent  fun-filled comedy.  I, for one, hope the DVD will come with a blooper reel, because I swear there were scenes that had to be hard to get through without breaking up.

ALL TIME FAVORITES: Yellow Submarine (Rated G, Available through MGM DVD)

YELLOW SUBMARINE isn’t just a movie full of great Beatles songs, nor is it merely one of the cleverest and funniest animated musicals around.  It’s a study in artistic styles, and a riot of bright and vibrant colors.  I clearly remember the first time I had the pleasure of seeing this movie.  It was my junior year in high school, the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.  At that time, the only station in my area that had airing rights to SUBMARINE was WLVI, Channel 56 in Boston.  And, as you probably guessed this was the 2 PM movie they were airing that Saturday.  I had seen ads for it a lot over the years, I had classmates in school who could quote lines from it, one classmate in particular decided to use the line of dialogue that leads into “Nowhere Man” to tease me for an entire day, but until that Saturday in 1986, I hadn’t seen this movie.

I decided to give it a shot.  The style was the first thing that caught my attention.  This movie would be my introduction to the pop art styles of Heinz Eidelmann:  very 1960’s (of course), but with plenty of attention to detail, and a patchwork style for some of the clothes that the characters wore.  I also noticed right away that this movie would probably make extensive use of running bits of movement in forward and reverse to simulate movement, and probably to save money on animation.  I knew right away this was no Disney cartoon.

The next thing I noticed about this movie was George Martin’s lush music, particularly in the scenes preceding the Blue Meanies’ attack.  Even though we didn’t have a stereo TV at the time, it sounded full and rich, with the right amount of playfulness to hold your attention.  Of course the style and themes would change throughout the movie as the Fab Four and Young Fred begin their adventures, and to this day I find the music in the Sea of Holes some of the best movie music ever written.

Then came the dialog.  The writing was absolutely great.  For me the first big laugh came when Fred was trying to avoid the Dreadful Flying Glove, and he nervously admonishes the glove that it’s not polite to point.  Just as I recover from that clever bit, Fred is trying to get the Lord Mayor’s attention about the Blue Meanies, demanding to know what the Mayor’s plan is.  Lord Mayor:  “Finish the quartet”, which quickly becomes a solo, as the other three players get zapped with blue rockets.  And those moments are just in the first 5 or 10 minutes before the title song and credits.

I have to say that I think it was the script and the dialog that really sold me on this movie, as the puns and wordplay never seemed to stop coming.  I later learned that clever dialog was indeed a trademark of the Beatles movies, but this one has the overall best.  Honestly, when our heroes enter the Sea of Monsters, I’m on the floor every time, even though I know almost every pun in that scene by heart.  My favorite remains the school of whales bit.  I should point out that some of the jokes did go over my head the first time, as these jokes were references to the SERGEANT PEPPER album, an album I would not receive until the following Christmas.  If you’re not familiar with that classic album, I recommend you listen to it before watching the movie.  Everything will click if you do.

I don’t think I need mention the brilliance of the Beatles’ music for this movie.  Here’s a surprise for you uninitiated:  not all of the music performed by the Beatles in this movie is traditional rock and roll.  Three songs in the early part of the movie follow three very different styles:  “Eleanor Rigby” uses only string instruments (yes, I know, it wasn’t written for the movie, and neither was one of the other songs in the short list), “All Together Now” is a song that sounds like the kind of song British street entertainers used to do.  There’s even an old-fashioned burp horn in the song for sound effects, and then there’s the Ragtime sound of “When I’m 64″ from the SERGEANT PEPPER album.  It’s a nice variety, if you ask me.

There were only two problems that I had with this movie in my first viewings, and they were problems that were beyond anyone’s control at that point.  Problem one was that the color palette had faded over 20 years.  So, even though I could make out the color scheme, it wasn’t as bright and sharp as it could be.  Second problem, there were drops and scratches and skips in the soundtrack.  Again, nobody could be blamed for that.  That was just time taking its toll.

I remember recording this movie during a late night playing, because my sister expressed interest in seeing it.  Turned out she enjoyed it even more than I, and got some of the jokes I had missed.  Because the movie was impossible to find in stores, at the time, we held onto it for many years.  You can imagine how thrilled I was when MGM announced about 10 years ago that they were going to restore this movie, and enhance it for the new DVD technology that had begun to surface.  I bought both the VHS and the DVD (as my first computer had a DVD drive), and the movie was brand new to me all over again, and even better, as now I would not have to hear drops in the soundtrack or see smudges on the edge of the film stock.  So, if you’re an art student, if you love classic rock and roll, if you love movies with clever dialog and likeable characters, or if you fit all four categories, then I highly recommend this movie to you.  I promise you’ll feel great afterwards.

Oh, before I forget, the Beatles themselves did not perform the dialog in the movie.  This was done by a small handful of actors, one of whom went on to star in one of England’s most successful sitcoms.  The sitcom is KEEPING UP APPEARANCES.  The actor is Geoffrey Hughes, who did Paul’s speaking voice.  There’s another bit of watercooler trivia for you.

EDIT:  According to the Internet Movie Database, the movie is supposedly out of circulation except through amazon.com, and it might not come cheap either.  Hopefully MGM will see fit to put it back out there again soon.

Some DVD recommendations for you

I know it’s been a few days since you have heard from me.  Life has a way of requiring you to take care of business.  While I haven’t been out to the theaters much since MAMMA MIA!, I have been scouting out movies now on DVD and available through your On Demand service that are worth a look.

For the kids and family, Warner Brothers has recently released a two disc set including QUEST FOR CAMELOT and CATS DON’T DANCE.  These are two very different movies, but both worth watching.  QUEST is the story of a young lady whose father is killed while defending King Arthur and his sword Excalibur.  When Excalibur gets lost in a dangerous forest where just about everything comes to life, the young lady decides to go after it, in the hopes of returning the sword to Arthur and becoming a knight herself.  She enlists the assistance of a blind hermit who, himself would have been a knight had he not lost his sight in a terrible accident.  Don Rickles and Eric Idle provide great comic relief as a two-headed dragon that seems at odds with itself at every turn.  There’s also a terrific score by Stephen Foster and Carole Bayer-Sager, that features a couple of songs that managed to get some radio airplay while the movie was in theaters

CATS DON’T DANCE, on the other hand is a joke-filled fast-paced musical comedy that is one of my all-time favorites.  Danny (Scott Bakula) is a cat from Kokomo Indiana who wants to make it big as a movie star in Hollywood.  There’s just one problem:  The powers that be in Hollywood believes that animals should do nothing more in movies than behave like animals.  That means dogs only bark, cats only meow, elephants only trumpet, etc.  But that doesn’t stop Danny.  He lands a meowing part in child star Darla Dimple’s latest sugar-coated epic:  “Little Ark Angel”, and totally upstages the pint-sized diva.  What I love about darla is that she’s a mean little cuss, and everyone knows it, but she still gets her way, because of her Empire State Building-sized butler Max.  Darla hatches a plan to rid Hollywood of animal actors once and for all, with Danny as her unwitting stooge, but winds up with more than just egg on her face.  There are a TON of references to the golden age of Hollywood that older audiences will appreciate, and Randy Newman is at the top of his game with the songs he wrote.

For older audiences, and for those of you with a hankering for action and drama, my first recommendation is WARGAMES:  THE DEAD CODE.  I’ll admit that as a rule, I’m no fan of direct-to-DVD sequels, they tend to fall very short of the original.  Disney has finally learned this lesson, but they had to have some very disappointing sales hit them before they learned this.  But I am thrilled to say that THE DEAD CODE delivers some great action.  In the sequel to the classic WARGAMES, we are once again introduced to a computer that can supposedly corner and eliminate our worst enemies.  In this case, it is suspected terror cells that would launch a biochemical attack on the US.  Just as in the original, there’s a back-door gaming program that triggers the computer’s programming.  In this case, it’s an online wager-based war game in which a player who reaches the fifth level will receive his or her winnings, and a nasty missile attack when located.  Unfortunately, the hero, Will Farmer (Matt Lanter) doesn’t know this, and reaches the fatal level five.  Soon he’s on the run from the government, and the computer system starts taking over the government agency that is supposed to control it.  Farmer learns that this computer was a follow-up to the “Joshua” project started by Stephen Falken, and that Falken had real concerns about this new system, and once again staged his own death.  And yes, we do catch up with Falken and Joshua.  I just wish John Wood had been available to reprise his role for this follow up, but you can’t have everything, I guess.

Finally, I recommend STOP-LOSS, but with a strongly worded caution to parents and guardians.  This is NOT, I repeat NOT a movie for children to see.  It is horrific, gruesome, too-realistic at times, and full of strong language.  So why am I recommending it?  It is one of the most fearless, honest, and passionately anti-war movies I have ever seen.  Imagine having done a few tours of duty in the most dangerous part of the world, but doing so knowing that after the last one is done, it IS the last one and you’re coming out of the service.  That’s what Ryan Philippe’s character Staff Sergeant Brandon King believes anyway.  King is welcomed home with a parade, two medals and a party.  But when he goes to the base on the following Monday, he learns that he’s been “stop-loss”ed, which means that he has to go BACK to the Middle East for another tour.  King has seen his friends either badly hurt to the point of losing limbs or killed.  He’s had enough of this and doesn’t want to go.  Unfortunately, his commanding officers, and even his closest friend don’t care that King is essentially burned out from the violence.  King goes on the run, and the movie comes to a climax that refuses to offer an easy answer or a tidy solution.  Truthfully I wish MTV Films would make more honest dramas like this than their desire for soundtrack dance movies or movies featuring people acting like total idiots.  In their defense, they did give us the very enjoyable FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS a few years back, so you know they can do it when they try.  With any luck, next weekend I’ll be able to review FLY ME TO THE MOON, a 3-D computer animated comedy.

One last bit of housekeeping regarding comments.  As always, I’m grateful to those of you who write.  But understand that each e-mail I receive from WordPress involving a comment has a means for me to visit any website you might include in your information.  If I visit the site and find inappropriate content, I will NOT approve the comment for posting.  I say this because I did receive a comment about a recent article, and there was a URL link in the e-mail.  When I clicked on the link, I was directed to a site that linked to VERY inappropriate videos that I will not describe here.  This is a family-friendly blog site and it will continue to be so, and that includes links posted in your comments.  I appreciate your understanding.

All Time Favorites : THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER (Rated G, 1981)

THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER was the follow up to the highly successful MUPPET MOVIE .  Instead of being a “biographical” movie about the Muppets, this was a comedy crime caper bar none.  The story opens with Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo leading a rousing musical number about the fact that they’re going to be a movie starring “everybody and me”.  While this is going on, a rich Englishwoman (Diana Rigg) has her jewelry ripped out of her hands by a group of masked robbers.  But Kermit and Fozzie thought that the fact that they just joined their local newspaper as reporters would be a better cover story than the robbery of Lady Holliday (Rigg).  Their editor (Jack Warden) is not surprisingly displeased, and threatens to fire the two, and Gonzo, but reconsiders when the three volunteer to go to London to interview Holliday, and catch the thieves.

Landing in England (actaully thrown out of the plane OVER England), Our furry heroes decide to take up residence in London’s cheapest hotel (it’s actually free):  The Happiness Hotel.  The mere fact that someone wants to check in is cause for celebration at the Hotel, and we’re treated to what is in my opinion, one of the funniest songs genius composer Joe Raposo ever wrote (see my MOVIE MUSIC column for a sample of the lyrics).

Next morning, we find ourselves at Lady Holliday’s London headquarters.  She’s not happy with the clothes from her latest lines, saying that all her dresses make the models look like barnyard animals.  Cue Miss Piggy.  She wants to join the firm as a model, but is ecstatic just to be a receptionist.  This leads to a case of mistaken identity when Kermit walks in on Piggy pretending to be accepting the award for Model of the Year.  Kermit thinks Piggy’s Lady Holliday, and Piggy does nothing to discourage the illusion.  In fact, she ENcourages it by setting up a dinner date in which Kermit has to pick her up at her place.

That evening, as Kermit prepares for his date, he has to tell Fozzie that Fozzie can’t go.  To cheer up Fozzie, Kermit finishes dressing for his date paying tribute to Fred Astaire, in another great Raposo tune.  Piggy meanwhile has to do a little breaking and entering to help her deception be complete.  Luckily she picked the address of the most boring couple in London:  Neville and Dorcas (Neville played by John Cleese).  They’re so dull they don’t even care that a pig has just broken into their home and is answering their door, because neither Neville nor Dorcas can decide who should answer.

It turns out that the whole Muppet gang is going to dinner with Kermit and Piggy after all.  At the club, Gonzo decides to put his photography skills to good use to help pay for dinner (watch for a Jim Henson cameo in this scene).  Meanwhile, Kermit and Piggy are on the dance floor, but Piggy doesn’t want to discuss the robbery.  Also in the restaurant (actually it’s more of a supper club), are Lady Holliday, her brother Nicky (Charles Grodin), an irresponsible parasite of a brother, and Holliday’s top three models Marla, Carla, and Darla.  Holliday is worried about the safety of her jewels, but Nicky convinces Holliday to relax.  Meanwhile, on the dance floor, a huge production number takes place.  This is “The First Time it Happens” and it earned Joe Raposo an Academy Award nomination.  It’s a number that outshines HELLO DOLLY’s “Waiter’s Gallop”, thanks to Joe’s music and Anita Mann’s choreography.

Unfortunately, the magic is short-lived.  As the number finishes, the lights go out, and Holliday is robbed AGAIN!  Kermit realizes that Miss Piggy is NOT the real Lady Holliday, and is understandably upset.  The good news is that Gonzo managed to get a picture of the thieves.  The bad news is the picture gets over-exposed at the Hotel, but that’s OK, as they now know who’s been targeting Lady Holliday.  Kermit confronts Piggy in a classic character breaking argument.  Of course they make up.  But trouble has just begun.

Piggy manages to keep her job with Lady Holliday, and manages to get work helping out backstage at Holliday’s latest fashion show.  The thieves are also backstage, and decide to plant the goods on Miss Piggy.  Piggy is summarily arrested, and now it’s up to the gang to clear Miss Piggy, catch the jewel thieves, and save Lady Holliday’s most precious jewel The Fabulous Baseball Diamond.  You’ll have to see the climactic rescue for yourself.

This movie works very well because the jokes are fast and funny, and even surreal.  My favorite running gag involves the fictionalized family relationship between Kermit and Fozzie.  It just keeps the pacing fresh.  You also have a fantastic multi-faceted score by my favorite Fall River resident.  Joe Raposo is thoroughly in his element writing a musical score that is by turns exciting, hilarious, gentle, and hopelessly romantic (in a good way), with a mix of styles that service the scenes very well.  I personally enjoy the driving beat of “Night Life”, which features into the climactic scene very well.  I recently showed MUPPET MOVIE to my young nieces, and they loved that movie.  I can’t wait to show them this one.

Thank You for Being A Friend: Remembering Estelle Getty

Picture it:  Fall, 1985, Saturday night 9PM.  We (my family and I, that is) were greatly anticipating a new NBC sitcom centered around 4 Senior Citizen ladies sharing a house in Miami.  The talent behind three of the leads was incredible.  There was Bea Arthur, playing Dorothy Zbornak, a recently divorced substitute teacher.  Rue McLanahan was Blanche Devereauz, the man-hungry widow who refused to acknowledge her advancing years.  And there was Betty White, in the role of Rose Nylund, a kind, but not-too-bright widow from St. Olaf Minnesota.  My family knew and loved these actresses, and we had a feeling that THE GOLDEN GIRLS was going to be good.

What we didn’t count on was what the fourth cast member would bring to the mix.  We had no idea who Estelle Getty was.  But by the first commercial break of that first episode, we KNEW that Estelle would be a force to be reckoned with.  Her timing as Sophia Petrillo in that first episode was perfect, and it never flagged for seven seasons.  I don’t know what was funnier, Sophia’s snappy answers to the dumb questions she had to put up with, or her stories which usually wound up being outrageous lies involving famous people.  I remember one scene in particular during the first season which put me away.  Sophia and Dorothy are playing Scrabble, and Dorothy has challenged the word that Sophia had just played, “Ma, there is no such word as ‘disdam’, ” claims Dorothy.  “There is so!” replies Sophia.  “Use it in a sentence then,” challenges Dorothy.  “Fine.  You’re no good at disdam game” Sophia replies.  From that moment on, THE GOLDEN GIRLS could do no wrong with me.

But Sophia was more than just a quick one-liner or outrageous story.  Every once in a while, Getty would show Sophia’s kind and caring side.  This happened more often in the later seasons.  One episode had Sophia encouraging a young cancer patient while doing volunteer work at the hospital, then she prevented her best friend from taking her own life.  And in an episode voted by Lifetime viewers as their favorite Sophia episode, she befriends an Alzheimer’s patient played beautifully by Joe Seneca.

Well, faithful readers, today I say good-bye to Estelle Getty and Sophia Petrillo.  They helped make a social outcast’s Saturday nights worth staying home for.  I’m grateful, though, that Getty’s work on THE GOLDEN GIRLS will not be forgotten easily, thanks to the series availability on DVD and the twice daily airings on Lifetime.  More importantly, I’m grateful for the hours of laughter that Sophia Petrillo gave us all.  Sophia would often talk about her late husband Sal.  I like to think that Sophia and Sal are now really together again in Heaven, and that Heaven has become an even more interesting, colorful, and fun place now that she’s there.  I just know that when I get there, I want to try Sophia’s Italian cuisine.

You Can’t Stop the Dob!

Yes, readers, it’s time for another profile.  To my friends at golden-road.net, he’s affectionately known as “The Dob”.  To everyone who works at THE PRICE IS RIGHT, he is Executive Producer Roger Dobkowitz.  Roger recently left THE PRICE IS RIGHT after 36 years of dedicated service.  This column, though, is not a rant or rave about how and why this came about.  I’ve read enough about that to last a while, and I DON’T want comments here about that either. Rather, this is my little thank you to Mr. Dobkowitz for taking the time to accept my invitation to visit my blog, and write back to me about it.

With 36 years on THE PRICE IS RIGHT, I can safely say that I have been familiar with Roger’s work on that show since the get-go.  Before he became the Executive Producer, Roger would quite often be working behind the scenes on the mechanics of the many games that PRICE offers on a daily basis.  Every once in a while, even back then, Bob would have Roger step out from behind a game to say hello.  Occasionally, these hellos were the result of a mechanical malfunction.  I believe YouTube has a playing of “Cliffhangers” in which Roger is supposedly operating Hans the mountain climber, and steps out from behind the game due to a boo-boo.  Over the years, Roger moved up in the PRICE ranks to become more involved in the creative process.  This included everything from contestant interviews to game creations (his final new pricing game will debut in September).  Yet it was Bob Barker’s frequent questions to Roger about game statistics that gave America the chance to see one of the creative forces behind one of America’s best-loved TV shows.  It didn’t seem to matter what the question was either, when the camera was on Roger, he had an answer and a smile (I think a devilish smile sometimes).  Sometimes you’d even see him at the opening of an episode, whipping an already hyper audience up into an even bigger frenzy.

But Roger’s talents were not limited to PRICE.  During PRICE’S early years, CBS was also producing a revival of MATCH GAME.  Roger was a production assistant on that show, effectively giving him double duties.  Needless to say, in the early days of these classic game shows, Roger was spending A LOT of time at The Bob Barker Studio (which was called Studio 33, at that time).  It would not surprise me if Roger had more than a few stories to tell about what went on with Gene Rayburn and the regular and semi-regular cast of characters that played MATCH GAME over the years.

So, Roger, I want to say thank you. Thank you for first of all for taking the time to read my blog.  It really demonstrates what a class act and true gentleman you are.  I also want to thank you for your creative genius that helped me be a loyal fan and true of two of the best-loved and classic game shows that ever aired on CBS.  Whatever the future may hold for you, Mr. Dobkowitz, you will always be a welcome visitor to the MovieZone.

Movie Review: MAMMA MIA! (Universal, Rated PG-13 ****)

Let me take you back in time to some of my earlier childhood memories.  I can recall how my Saturday mornings used to start when I was growing up in the 1970s.  My parents’ radio would go off, and we’d be hearing the popular music of the day carrying through the upstairs bedrooms.  Without fail, they’d play one of ABBA’s many hit songs.  You could almost set your watch by it.  If it wasn’t HONEY HONEY, it was DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW, or, if I was REALLY lucky it was MAMMA MIA.  And that was just Saturday morning.  Every once in a while, we’d get in the car and visit some friends of my parents in Rehoboth MA.  Either on the way to Rehoboth or on the way back, I’d be treated to DANCING QUEEN.  ABBA’s music quickly became an essential part of my childhood soundtrack.  And I loved it then as I love it now.  I’ve yet to hear ANY group that can even come close to Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’s technique.

25 years later these great songs were put into a stage musical with MAMMA MIA as the title.  I bought the cast album when it became available, and liked what I heard.  Benny and Bjorn managed to get this cast of musical theater actors to match the original sound almost perfectly.  About a year later, I found myself in the front row of the Winter Garden theater to see this megahit musical for myself.  I had a blast!  I laughed all the way through, when I wasn’t laughing, I found myself thoroughly engaged in the story, and even emotionally involved.  In short, it was a perfect theater-going experience for me, especially since this was about 6 or 7 weeks after the tragedy of 9/11.  To top it off, Karen Mason, who played the role of Tanya posed for a picture with me for Broadway Cares.  I still have this picture 7 years later, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Now it’s a movie with Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.  And I will say right here and now that I left the movie theater with the same high and big smile on my face that I left the Winter Garden with.  Let me also say this, I get that the marketing strategy is being geared towards the female market, after all, the two lead characters are a mother and daughter.  But guys, do NOT let that stop YOU from buying a ticket.  This movie really is about family, and discovering and accepting and knowing who you are and where you come from.  What’s more, the male characters are well-defined and are not portrayed as negative stereotypes that some TV commercials can’t seem to let go of.

For those of you who do not know the story, here it is.  Sophie (Amanda Seyfried is about to be married to her fiancé Sky (Dominic Cooper) at the inn her mother owns on an island off of Greece.  There’s only one small problem:  Sophie wants her dad to give her away, but she doesn’t know who her dad is.  That is, she doesn’t know until she starts reading Mom’s diary, and discovers that her dad is one of three men:  Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard excuse the lack of proper punctuation over the final “a”), Sam Carmichael (Brosnan), and Harry Bright (Colin Firth).  Sophie reasons that if she sees these men, she’ll know her real dad right away, so, unbeknownst to her mother, Sophie invites all three to the island for the wedding.  Also arriving on the island are the two best friends of Sophie’s mother Donna (Streep).  Tanya (Christine Barabnski) is on the rebound from her fourth marriage, and Rosie (Julie Walters) is just looking for a fun time and a possible companion.  The sparks begin to fly when Donna discovers the men on the island despite Sophie’s efforts to keep the whole plan a secret, even from Sky.  Donna wants them gone, but Sophie insists that they remain.  Things get even more complicated when all three men put two and two together, almost at the same time.  But fear not, readers, i can safely tell you without giving anything away that it does come out right in the end.

I can always tell when a cast is having a good time with the movie they’re making.  The cast of MAMMA MIA is not just having a good time, they’re having a non-stop party!  Getting to sing ABBA’s music is fun enough, for us fans anyway, but getting to sing this music on an absolutely stunning Mediterranean island is nothing short of a dream come true.  The shots of the island and surrounding waters were enough to keep me cool in the middle of the current heat wave here in the Northeast.  And I’m sure there were outtakes a plenty where the cast broke each other up on camera, can’t wait to see those on the DVD.  Also on the plus side was the fact that practically the entire creative staff from the stage version was involved in the movie.  When that happens, you know they’re going to do their darndest to stay true to the stage version, and they do a very good job.  Yes, songs from the stage version have been lost or moved, or used only as underscoring, but again, that’s what DVD’s can do, give you those missing moments that you might be missing.  So, if you’re feeling down in the dumps, here’s Dr. Andy’s prescription:  Buy a ticket to MAMMA MIA, sit back with your snacks and drinks, and just let yourself go for two hours, you’ll feel so much better.  And be sure to stick around-it doesn’t necessarily end when you think it does!