This must have seemed like a sure-fire hit: Peter Bogdanovich, making a commercial genre (a comedy) about a fascinating subject matter (the patent wars in early Hollywood) dear to his heart (he'd written books on the subject). He also cast two hot stars, Ryan O'Neal and Burt Reynolds, added in another star, Tatum O'Neal, whom Bogdanovich had made a star in Paper Moon. He was forbidden to cast his girlfriend Cybil Shepherd, who starred in his last two flops. Few people would have seen the old silent films so he could pinch the gags. But the film was a big flop. What went wrong?
A few things: the film's story covers a significant number of years, which is OK for an epic but not really for a comedy - shooting one film would have kept the story tighter. Also the film strains and seems to try too hard - too consciously zany (NB this was also a problem in the hit What's Up Doc? but that took place over a short period of time) Also old Hollywood had been done a lot around this time, with Hearts of the West and Won Ton Ton the Dog Who Saved Hollywood and Bogdanovich was very much on the nose in Hollywood after At Long Last Love and the critics slaughtered the film. Occasionally the film clicks and it is wonderful - Tatum O'Neal is in fine form and I loved the bit where Reynolds accidentally finds himself playing a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
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