Diller versus Evans

Am reading Barry Diller’s excellent memoirs which discuss his time running Paramount in the 1970s which made me decide to compare his regime with the fabled Robert Evans regime that proceeded it. (These lists below attribute films to various regimes as well as I can... it's entirely possible some started development under other regimes)

So films from the Evans regime which film bros (deservedly) always bang on about...  Love Story, The Godfather Part 1 and 2, Harold and Maude, A New Leaf, Willy Wonka, Play It Again Sam, Lady Sings the Blues, Paper Moon, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Serpico, The Conversation, Daisy Miller, The Parallax View, Chinatown, Death Wish, The Longest Yard, Three Days of the Condor, Hustle, Italian Job, Medium Cool, True Grit, Goodbye Columbus, Rosemary’s Baby, The Odd Couple, Romeo and Juliet, Barbrella, if..., Oh what a Lovely War, Downhill Racer. 

Great stuff. 

But films from Evans regime which film bros forget he made (or blame on Charlie Bludhorn)... The Molly Maguires, The Adventurers, Darling Lili, Friends, Little Fauss and Big Haley, Norwood, a weirdly large number of flop Neil Simon adaptations (Plaza Suite, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Star Spangled Bannered Girl), Murphy’s Law, TR Baskin, Such Good Friends, Bad Company, The N***** Charley Films, Save the Children, Sterile Cuckoo, Hello Down There, My Side of the Mountain, Where’s Jack, Blue, No Way to Treat a Lady, 5 Card Stud, Skidoo, The Brotherhood, A Talent for Loving, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Scalawag, The White Dawn, Paint Your Wagon.

Not so great stuff. You just don't hear Peter Bart go one about these as much. 

Films from the Diller regime which film bros go on about: Saturday Night Fever, Bad News Bears, Marthon Man, King Kong, Mikey and Nicky (in its own way), Looking for Mr Goodbar, Saturday Night Fever, Pretty Baby, Grease 1 and 2, Heaven Can Wait, Foul Play, Days of Heaven, Up in Smoke, The Warriors, Escape from Alcatraz, Meatballs, North Dallas Forty, Star Trek 1 and 2, American Gigolo, Friday the 13th series, Urban Cowboy, Flying High 1 and 2, Ordinary People, Popeye, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom, Mommie Dearest, An Officer and.a Gentleman, 48 Hours, White Dog, Flashdance, Trading Places, Terms of Endearment, Uncommon Valor, The Keep, Footloose,  Top Secret, Beverly Hills Cop, Witness.

Again, a great line up of films. 

But there are films from the Diller regime which seem to be forgotten: Won Ton Ton the Dog That Saved Hollywood, Lifeguard, Handle with Care, First Love, The One and Only, Going South, Oliver's Story, An Almost Perfect Affair, Prophecy, Bloodline, Sunburn, French Postcards, Nijinsky, Rough Cut, The Hunter, Coast to Coast, Going Ape, Dragonslayer, First Monday in October, Paternity, Ragtime, I’m Dancing as Far as I Can, Some Kind of Hero, Partners, Jekyll and Hyde Together Again, It Came from Hollywood, Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Racing with the Moon, Best Defence, River Rat, Thief of Hearts, Falling in Love, King David, Rustlers Rhapsody, Compromising Positions. 

Don't forget the flops, that's all I'm saying.