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. 

Book review - "John McTiernan" by Larry Taylor

 I enjoyed this I just wish it was better, had more research done. Felt like an extended magazine article. Needed less skim analysis of the films, more of a deep dive.

Movie review - "Predator 2" (1990) ***

 Dismissed at the time, rather unfairly, but it ages well in part because it exemplifies a film no longer made: the noisy Joel Silver actioner. There's drug wars, hamfisted satire of the media, tough cops giving sass to their lieutenants, strong supporting actors. It gives Danny Glover a great starring part (maybe he can't quite carry it off but I love he's got the chance), throws in Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Bill Paxton, Maria Conhcita Alonzo and Morton Downey Jnr (who counted at the time).

The script cheats a lot - the Predator is forever attacking segments of LA where the cops happen to be (eg a train where Alonzo and Paxton are on board along with a Bill Goetz style mugger shooter). It's disparate geographically.

It's silly but it takes its own path instead of remarking the first so good on it. Directed by Stephen Hopkins.

Movie review - "Predator" (1987) ****

I remember with this film you really felt Arnie was going to be different from any old action movie star - this was "elevated genre" despite John McTiernan not having much of a track record. It starts excellently, with its beautiful photography and rousing music and star entrance, a bunch of macho tough guys on a mission.

The cast is a hilarious combo - Arnie, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham and whimpy old Black. Everyone looks like a body builder rather than a regular soldier - apart from Black But the machismo is hilarious (such as Arnie and Carl shaking hands) and most have actual characters to play: Black's is limited to making jokes about big vaginas, but Bill Duke gets to be in love with Ventura, Richard Chavez has mor rat cunning, Weathers gets to redeem himself, Landham goes crazy, . Oh there is a hot native girl who acts as an audience surrogate.

The film has a big benefit from the others in that this one they got to show the monster for the first time.

It switches into a higher plane for the last act when Arnie goes solo against the monster.

Script review - "The Nice Guys" by Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi

Jaunty shaggy dog buddy detective flick from Shane Black, very much in the vein of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. There's two down and out blokes who can nonetheless punch around - one of them's got a young teen daughter which is reminiscent of The Last Boy Scout.

There's clever reversals, a decent mystery, some charm, well done outbursts of action. This draft is set in the present day, has a role for Michael Sarrazin as himself, and ends with a political assassination - I understand it was changed. Enjoyable romp.

Script review - "48 Hours" by Walter Hill and Larry Gross

I consider myself a fan of Walter Hill and Eddie Murphy but I ever actually never really liked this film much - some good action but it was too heavy, too serious.

I didn't like the script much either. It's got a great high concept and the story is structured well enough but there's all this tiresome and unpleasant race baiting - Cates calling Reggie "n*gger" and "spearchucker".

The big print is written in tight Walter Hill style but there's a lot - a lot - of chat. There's dreadfully long scenes that go on forever - was this Gross? In particular there's an early agonizingly dull chat between Cates and his girlfriend, who could be entirely removed from the script and it wouldn't affect the story. Why wasn't she threatened or killed or something?

The two villains are good - Ganz and Billy. There's some more racism though about how Billy is an idiot who just follows people.

The story is a collection of scenes really rather than a complex narrative. Few memorable support characters - a whingeing police captain, a few hookers. I really didn't like it.

Movie review - "Streets of Fire" (1984) **** (re-watching)

Final saw this movie on the big screen. At the end I felt this warm glow and I thought "I have such unconditional love for this film".

I've seen it so many times. I know the flaws, I know the flaws better than anyone - not just stuff that I think was simply not mainstream taste (mixing JD films and musicals and action movies and setting it in a never-never land) which to me is part of the film's charm... but things like the fact momentum drops out once Lane is rescued, the purpose of the Baby Doll character.

I get annoyed that the filmmakers blame Michael Pare for the film's failure instead of the structural flaws and over-mixing genres. Diane Lane's role should've been played by a real singer.

And the film doesn't work with a crowd. I saw it in Santa Monica at a theatre - they weren't getting into it. They weren't rising to it. Basic scenes worked - Pare's intro, the abduction and rescue of Lane, Moranis doing stuff... but that was about it.

Movie review - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (2005) ***1/2 (reviewing)

Saw this in LA with a Q and A from Shane Black, who was in great form, talking about his love for crappy thrillers, his career up and downs, his battle with alcohol, his work to get this film made - he said the crucial thing was Robert Downey Jr was dating Joel Silver's assistant which helped make Silver want to fund the film.

It's a bright, energetic modern day noir with lots of funny narration and detail, a decent plot, and plenty of good actors. Downey Jr is in fine form, as is Val Kilmer, though he seems a little overweight. Michelle Monaghan is warm and funny and lovely as I guess the femme fetale only she isn't.

Sometimes the pacing didn't feel right and it felt like Downey turned into too much of a super hero at the end. I loved the look of LA and the different sort of photography that's used.

Movie review - "Brewster's Millions" (1985) **

48 Hours made Eddie Murphy a star which is presumably the main reason why Universal thought that Walter Hill, of all people, would be an appropriate choice to direct Richard Pryor in this umpteenth version of the famous classic farce. Hill himself admits the film was an "aberration in the career line", and I'm not sure why he made it - maybe he wanted to try something completely different after the personal project of Streets of Fire.

It starts off as a "Walter Hill" film at least - there's a Ry Cooder music score, Pryor is a baseball player and participates in a well-shot bar-room brawl within the first ten minutes. Then things move into broader, more typical 80s comedy territory, with Hume Cronyn as Pryor's grandfather leaving a message from beyond the grave, villainous lawyers in three piece suits, a wacky support cast (including John Candy as Pryor's best friend), and an underdeveloped, sexless love interest.

It's not terribly funny. I remember thinking this was okay as a kid but it hasn't aged well. Maybe the central concept is flawed (I haven't seen other versions) - maybe the new script writers didn't come up with many fresh variations. I mean, the gimmick is outlandish, right - the fun comes from seeing ways Brewster can waste money. Here he hires a lot of advisers, a hotel room, gets an interior designer to change a room lots of times, mails some precious stamps, pays for his baseball team to play the Yankees, and runs for mayor. That's all... alright. I guess I was looking for more "oh my goodness" or "oh yeah that's real wish fulfillment" moments.

The movie is actually more effective in its serious moments - when Pryor realises he just doesn't make the cut as a baseball player, the last few moments where all his old friends desert him. I wish they'd developed Pryor's love story more and fleshed out (if you forgive the pun) John Candy's part. Rick Moranis pops up in a small role and Pat Hingle does wonders with the part of a kindly old lawyer who wants to help Brewster.

Movie review - rewatching "Streets of Fire" (1984) ****

Every now and then I like to rewatch Streets of Fire, one of my own personal cult movies. There is something really special about it for me, in part because I watched it as a kid, when movies seize you in a particularly strong way, but also because of its sheer oddity. A mixture of 50s juvenile delinquent movies, rock and roll, Jim Steinman songs, war, Westerns, fantasy, shooting on a sound stage, most scenes at night, kissing in the rain, fights with sledge hammers, bikers, blues, strippers, tough talking types.

The opening scene remains terrific with its thumping drums and base, and MTV tight editing of Diane Lane as "Fire Inc" or whoever they were singing "Nowhere Fast" - a tune that sounds completely incongruous to the 1950s look of everything else but I went with it. To be honest Diane Lane, while stunning, is never completely convincing as a rock chick - she lacks the fire of a true rock star (I have no idea of what over young actress at the time could have played it better but the fact remains she's the weak link in the main cast) - but the number is spectacular and has a spectacular ending with Willem da Foe (great entrance) and his bikers going on the attack. We see a teary black woman yell at the bikers and never see her again (I've seen this movie so many times I notice the little editing quirks - like holding on Michael Pare for an extra close up when he's driving in the car with Rick Moranis and Amy Madigan; and also the word echoes grate on me).

Anyway then Michael Pare comes into the action and has a fantastic star entrance, looking cool on the train, then beating up some enjoyably convenient thugs accompanied by a thumping Ry Cooder song - I've never been able to find out the name, if anyone can help me I'd love to know. Which then half way through changes to a different tune ("Get Out of Denver" I believe) that jars.

But anyway the rest of the first half stays at the high level I love of Streets of Fire - meeting Amy Madigan (one of the all time great sidekicks and worthy of another movie), Bill Paxton's turn as a bartender, Rick Moranis' hilarious turn as a tough talking manager (NB his character is actually quite brave), the mechanic who gives Pare the guns, going into the Battery, meeting Ed Begley Jnr's cameo as a homeless man, the action at the Battery (the sort of place that turns up in lots of Walter Hill movies-  bikers, strippers, blues), the thrilling rescue sequence with some top lines ("McCoy I'm a great fan") jump cut editing and stunts, with a fantastic confrontation between Pare and de Foe among the flames.

After that the movie becomes less sure. The whole sequence where they go to that weird neon lit section where everyone's acting like they're in a late 80s video with big hats and kissing and listening to rock videos on the TV seems strange and out of place of the rest of the movie (the Battery and Richmond all seem like they're part of the same world - this place doesn't). Why have that girl character who joins them? She just tags along, doesn't go out with anyone, doesn't complicate things. The all-male black singing troupe aren't that memorable either, although at least they have some pay off, appearing at the end to mime "I Can Dream About You".

There are some good moments in the second half - Michael Pare's little speech to Diane Lane that prompts her to kiss him in the rain, their love sequence, the Bombers trapping everyone in Richmond (I wish more could have been made of this). The final fight between DaFoe and Pare is expertly choreographed and shot, but it does feel underwhelming for a finale (with bikers and townsfolk just looking on) and I wasn't too wild about Pare punching Lane in the face, even if it is for "her own good". Still I can forgive a lot for that ending with Lane and Pare kissing, and her singing "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" with her support group and new band really getting into it as Pare walks off into the sunset and goes to have adventures with Amy Madigan. So romantic...

Very very much a flawed movie. I'm not sure if it would have been a success even had the last half's script problems been fixed but lots of people love it. Such as me!

Movie review - "Fair Game" (1995) *

Another film I saw after the enthusiastic endorsement of the team at How Did This Get Made? and it didn't disappoint. Eventually, that is... at first I thought they were being too mean, and this wasn't that bad. Cindy Crawford was in over her head but she was pretty, looked good and was giving it a go - she had too much dialogue, and bad dialogue at that, but she was trying, and was willing to offer up a bit of partial nudity to make the punters happy. And there's no reason why a story about a bunch of baddies trying to kill her and a hunky cop trying to stop them couldn't have worked on a cheesy level.

The terrible script is far more to blame than Crawford why this doesn't work - there's no real reason for the baddies to kill Crawford, especially not to go to such incredible, expensive lengths; the baddies have an incredible ability of technology except when it's needed for plot; the good guys are unbelievably stupid (eg using credit cards when there are people out to kill them); the baddies spend most of the film trying to kill Crawford then they decide to hold her hostage for no good reason. None of it makes sense.

There's also terrible wise-cracky dialogue, unfunny comedy scenes, hammy Russian henchmen, Steven Berkoff sleep walking through his villain role (he's nowhere near as good as he is in Octopussy or Beverly Hills Cop), a hilarious explosion where Crawford is blown off her balcony. Billy Baldwin is likeable in the lead - it's not his fault this is a turkey (apart from accepting the role) and some of the action is decent enough.

Script review – “Lethal Weapon” by Shane Black

Terrific fun to read – bright, witty, full of asides. Very easy to digest. The story isn’t that original, even then a typical cop show would do it better (girl kills herself, revealed she was murdered, cops investigate and uncover drug ring, baddies kidnap cops daughter). Even on the page it drags on a bit (that final fight with Riggs and Joshua is dull here too.) The ace in the hole is the character of Riggs – suicidal, funny, super tough and a brilliant killer. Him and his relationship with Murtagh is what helps the piece become something different.

Script review – “Streets of Fire, Second Draft” (1983) by Walter Hill and Larry Gross

The full title is “The Adventures of Tom Cody, Book One: Streets of Fire” – Hill was clearly hoping for a franchise (the ending indicates two sequels, “The Far City” and “Cody’s Return”), but the disappointing box office response of this meant there were none. 

 

There’s nothing quite like this film, a rock and roll fantasy, as it proclaims itself – the opening page says it takes place “in the Other World, a far off place where Genres collide – in this case, Futuristic Fantasy meets the Western, gets married and has rock and roll babies. And, in a rather special way, it’s meant to be comedy.” It also had a big budget and no stars; Hill only managed to get it up off the back of his massive success with 48 Hours.

 

The script starts off with pictures of a rotting town, Richmond, and narration from Reba about how tough things are. This has a flowery tone to it – did Gross write it? It's in contrast to the big print, which is done in Hill’s patented, sparse style. Reba goes on explaining about Ellen, and Raven – and it’s all stuff that pictures would show. Raven doesn’t abduct Ellen until the second song finishes but then the script pretty much follows the film, the big difference being the film has lots of dialogue which has been trimmed. (There are plenty of omitted scenes too – I wonder if some of them fleshed out what Cody was doing before he came back to town.) This must be a later draft since McCoy has been changed into a woman, something I understand didn’t happen until the casting process.

 

The script doesn’t shed any more light on the point of having the Baby Doll character. It does have Billy refer to the Sorels as “boogies” – Hill’s scripts always have racist characters in them. Some other differences – there’s a specific reference in the script to Ellen singing “Streets of Fire” at the end, which didn’t happen; Cody gives Ellen a quick, abrupt kiss here instead of the romantic, passionate one in the film.

 

A random notes – when Cod and Raven are fighting with fists, Greer throws Raven a sledgehammer and implores him to use it - but in a mirror image of Cody tossing aside the sledgehammer, Raven doesn’t (it’s like in Hard Times).

Script review – “48 Hours” (1982) by Walter Hill and Larry Gross

This hasn’t aged very well, mostly because it’s been copied so often. Several scenes feel very tired, eg Cates (tough cop) getting told off by his boss for breaking rules, the squabbling partners. Some claim this as the first buddy cop film – but what was Starsky and Hutch and Chips, etc? It borrows from The Driver the idea of having three lead characters described in short sentences at the beginning but isn’t written in a style as sparse as that earlier film. The character of Elaine, Cates’ girlfriend, is thrown away – there are some “character scenes” between them (quite wordy – Gross’ influence?); she could easily have been cut out of the film altogether (she does suggest where they might find the baddies at the end, but anyone could have done that). It’s striking how racist Cates’ character is – he really gets stuck into Reggie with several racist remarks.

Movie review – “Jumping Jack Flash” (1986) ***

I love spy comedies where the lead stumbles into a bunch of actors playing in a spy film. That’s what happens to Whoopi Goldberg in this movie – working on a computer at the bank she starts chatting via whatever the 1986 equivalent of the internet was. Whoopi has a high old time and the film has a real feminist bent (director was Penny Marshall). It’s also got a great cast – Brit stage legends (John Wood, Jonathan Pryce), TV comics (Tracey Ullman, Michael McKean, Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman), stage faves (Carol Kane), future stars (Jim Belushi), continentals (Jerome Krabbe). Mr Mini series Stephen Collins is there. Good silly fun. Loved Whoopi getting into the British embassy pretending to be the Supremes.

Movie review - "Streets of Fire" (1984) ****

Cult film which marked something of a pinnacle for Walter Hill movies. It's a real one of a kind experience, though full of clichéd situations. Set in a weird sort of 50s rock and roll world, shot on a soundstage, Diane Lane lip synchs to Jim Steidman films in MTV snazzy rock video montage performances (very well done with excellent editing and carefully composed frames), then is kidnapped by bikie Willem da foe and ex-boyfriend Michael Pare comes to the rescue.
I love so much of this - the opening attack scene, then Pare's arrival with Ry Cooder's thumping guitar, the jagged editing/jump cuts as the credits go past, arriving in a café and a random gang appear to be beaten up (but why do they change the music), meeting Rick Moranis and Amy Madigan, going into the Battery, rescuing Lane.
After that the story becomes less sure - did we really need that blonde girl with unmistakably 80s hair joining the group? What does she add?
And then at the end it makes sense the bikies would go after them - but sitting around watching while da foe and Pare fight it out doesn't make sense. It needed to be something more spectacular.
I think it was a mistake to have da foe kidnap Lane just for a couple of weeks to have fun - he should have wanted money as well. And the stuff about "the town" that Pare and company are from is undeveloped. Still, love that romantic ending, Lane is beautiful, Pare a charismatic star like a young Bob Mitchum (he had a decent career Pare, but never became a big name), Madigan and Moranis offer excellent support

Movie review - "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998) **

Peter Bart's book "The Gross" on the Hollywood summer of 1998 goes into some detail the depressing behind the scenes machinations of making this unwanted sequel - depressing because it was so driven by cash and "slots" and all that stuff.
The actual film isn't as offensive as the reasoning behind its existence, mainly because all the cast and crew seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company - it feels like wearing a comfortable shoe.
The plot is a sort of grab bag of various plots which might have done service as C stories for episodes of a drama series - no one seems to overly care, no one seems overly stressed. Jet Li is the only member of the cast who seems determined to put in a real effort - the time when he threatens Danny Glover's pregnant daughter is the only time the film has a sense of threat (cf Lethal Weapon 2 where the baddies killed Mel's wife and new love interest and threatened Glover's family). It's as though the filmmakers were afraid to put their characters through too much stress.

DVD review - "The Warriors" (1979) ****

Walter Hill's classic looks better than ever, and this re release was done to coincide with a new video game based on the movie. It's nice to see an impressive transfer and I loved the doco of the making of, with interviews with Hill and the cast (who look quite old but fit - they probably no spring chickens when they made the film). They have made a few new additions to the film for the DVD - adding a prologue drawing comparisons with the Anastabis, which was kind of pointless, and doing transitions between scenes in comic book style, which was also kind of pointless. You don't need to show all the inspiration. The film is wonderfully creepy, beautifully shot, with crisp action sequences, taunt action, etc. Great beginning, gets off to a flying start, the baseball furies are terrific. Seems to slump a little around the two thirds mark. David Patrick Kelly is awesome; Michael Beck a stoic lead; James Remar should have become a star. I didn't know that he wasn't meant to handle the romantic leading man duties - but the guy who was (Tom Waites) didn't get along with Hill so Hill killed off his character!

Movie review - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (2005) ***1/2

A joyous tonic for those worried about Hollywood's inability to make decent commercial films any more: a funny, clever action-murder mystery with Robert Downey Jnr getting involved in kidnapping plot while on holiday in LA. He runs into a gay private eye (Val Kilmer), an old flame (Michelle Monaghan), a millionaire actor (Corbin Bensen) and other low lives. Plenty of twists and turns, funny dialogue, good work from all the cast. Its fun to see two of Hollywood's bad boys, Downey Jnr and Kilmer, play the buddy leads, and Monaghan is a nice find. Written and directed by Shane Black who had to struggle to get this made - this had to struggle to be made?? It's a commercial film??? Yet it must be admitted - it hasn't been a blockbuster. C'est la vie... all I can say is the audience I saw it with really enjoyed it, and this was several weeks after release, so word of mouth must be good.

Some random things I liked: Shane Black really has to start thinking of other things to use in his movies apart from buddy duos, kidnapping and Christmas; I loved the bit where Monaghan is talking away and Downey is just looking at her boob; the depiction of crazy women in LA is depressingly accurate; Val Kilmer can't afford to put on pounds - he only has to add a few and he becomes unattractive, as here; this remains Monaghan's best role.