worth watching "Val" the documentary about kilmer - for a least a tiny glimpse. But it just seemed the whole thing was a wreck. Only good thing -- Barbara Carerra. Yowza.
Was she in the movie? I know she was in the 70s remake, but don't recall her being in the more recent remake with Kilmer and Brando.
peter bogdanovich - at long last love. it was universally reviled when it came out in 1975. the lone desenter was roger ebert. he said the film was not great, but he said he didn't understand the hostility towards it. it seems more people are agreeing with rog.
Peter Bogdanovich had changed for the worse by the time of the sequel to The Last Picture Show. I loved the original but could not stand the Texasville follow-up. It's really unusual I think that one director can make something so great and another so ghastly.
Ben Stiller's been lagging for sometime now. "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty" didn't ring as many bells as he hoped.
I was so disappointed by Another 48 Hrs. as the first film was one of my favorites of the early '80s. The chemistry that Murphy and Nick Nolte had in the first film was completely gone and the ridiculous plot (especially when the unseen bad guy, the sinister "Ice Man" turned out to be none other than Jack's (Nolte) cop buddy Kehoe (Brion James). About the only thing I remember liking about the film was Kevin Tighe's performance as a sleazy cop.
Yeah she was in the version with Burt Lancaster and Michael York. Kinda silly but at least coherent and she was definitely hot.
I dunno, Magnum P.I. still went on for four years after that, and three years later he had Three Men and a Baby, which grossed $240 million. He didn't transition into the 90s well, though. What sort of killed him off was the 1992 double-whammy of:
I can't believe this one hasn't been mentioned yet. Tod Browning was a famous horror director, working with Lon Chaney Sr. on some of his greatest silent horror films. Browning then directed the 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi, the first talkie horror film. He followed that up with the career killer, Freaks. The movie was so disturbing that after previews, 30 minutes of "objectionable" material was cut from the film (which are considered lost). That pretty much ended his career. Tom Laughlin had phenomenal success with Billy Jack in 1971, the second Billy Jack film. He followed it up with the excessively long and drawn out Trial of Billy Jack. He had one last go around with the character with Billy Jack Goes to Washington, which outside of some preview runs in a few cities, never had a real release until it came out on DVD decades later (and cut by about an hour from its original listed running time).
The Devil Doll was great ( 1936 ) I have no idea if it was successful though obviously nothing could top his own success with Dracula
He also made The Mark of the Vampire (1935) and Miracles for Sale (1939) so his career wasn't dead after Freaks.
What, like the Jewish mother of Sherlock Holmes, a Welsh Dr Watson, a nervous misfit in Bedazzled, a drunk in Arthur, etc etc. Yes, I guess he did. If only he'd had the range of Ryan Reynolds.
I always looked at Selleck, much like his Three Men And A Baby costar Ted Danson more as tv stars who had enough charm and charisma that they got movie offers as well. Both always had tv to fall back on when the movie roles dried up, especially Danson who has only been off tv screens for a couple years since Cheers premiered in 1982. The irony being Shelley Long left Cheers for a full time movie career yet Danson had bigger movie success while concurrently doing the show and he stayed 11 years. Michael J Fox was sort of in the same boat but he was a bigger "movie star" at the height of his fame that many were surprised he didnt leave Family Ties sooner
I don't think Selleck ever really made a satisfying move from TV to movies. Yes, "3 Men" was a hit, but it didn't seem like an "actor-driven hit". Ie, it did well because people liked the premise - you could've cast a broad array of other actors as the leads and it would've done as well. I mean, Selleck, Guttenberg and Danson didn't exactly have film careers that set the world on fire, did they?
Yeah, Fox legitimately made the "TV to movie" transition. The 3 "Back to the Future" movies were huge, and other flicks like "Secret of My Success", "Teen Wolf" and "Doc Hollywood" did nicely. Fox's other films never approached the level of the 3 "BttF" flicks, but he still was an actual movie star, whereas I would never call Danson or Selleck a "movie star". Also, I feel strongly that Fox was a significant reason that the first "BttF" was such a big hit. Would it have done as well with Eric Stoltz as the lead? Doubt it seriously! Fox was perfect for the role and really helped sell tickets...
I It was symbiotic because I think BttF also helped turn Family Ties into a bigger hit. The show was already a hit but it exploded in 1985 being #2 behind Cosby and I think the whole "we get to see Michael J Fox every week" thing was a big selling point because they pretty much retooled the show to focusing on him instead of the parents.
