''Movie Movie'' is a 1978 American
double bill
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
directed by
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kell ...
. It consists of two films: ''Dynamite Hands'', a
boxing ring
A boxing ring, often referred to simply as a ring or the squared circle, is the space in which a boxing match occurs. A modern ring consists of a square raised platform with a post at each corner. Four ropes are attached to the posts and pulled p ...
morality play
The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...
, and ''Baxter's Beauties of 1933'', a musical comedy, both starring the husband-and-wife team of
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...
and
Trish Van Devere
Trish Van Devere (born Patricia Louise Dressel; March 9, 1941) is a retired American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the film ''One Is a Lonely Number'' (1972), and won a Genie Award for the film '' The Changeling'' (1980 ...
. A fake trailer for a flying-ace movie set in World War I titled ''Zero Hour'' (also starring Scott) is shown between the double feature.
Barry Bostwick
Barry Knapp Bostwick (born February 24, 1945) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Brad Majors in the musical comedy horror film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975) and Mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom ''Spin City'' (199 ...
,
Red Buttons
Red Buttons (born Aaron Chwatt; February 5, 1919 – July 13, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the 1957 film ''Sayonara''. He was nominated for awards for his acting work i ...
,
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed ...
and
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
appear in both segments, with
Harry Hamlin
Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'' and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series ''L.A. Law'' ...
,
Barbara Harris and
Ann Reinking
Ann Reinking (November 10, 1949December 12, 2020) was an American dancer, actress, choreographer and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway (theatre), Broadway productions such as ''Coco (musical), Coco'' (1969) ...
featured in one each. The script was written by
Larry Gelbart
Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series ''M*A*S*H'', and as co-writer of the B ...
and
Sheldon Keller Sheldon Bernard "Shelly" Keller (August 20, 1923 – September 1, 2008) was an American screenwriter and composer.
Life and career
Keller was born in Chicago and attended University of Illinois, where he began writing comedy with his fraternity br ...
.
Plot
The film is introduced by
George "The Burns" Burns, who tells viewers that they are about to see an old-style
double feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
. In the old days, he explains, movies were in
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
, except sometimes "when they sang it came out in amazing color like gras and sometine purpl."
''Dynamite Hands''
Joey Popchik, a young man from a poor family, dreams of one day becoming a lawyer. His sister is losing her eyesight, so he becomes a boxer to raise the money to have her cured. Along the way, he gets seduced by fame and fortune, and runs afoul of a crooked boxing manager. In the end, his sister is cured, and Joey, so that "poetic justice could be served," races through law school to become the prosecutor who puts the villain behind bars, spouting corny courtroom aphorisms such as "a man can move mountains with his bare heart."
''Baxter's Beauties of 1933''
Legendary theatrical producer Spats Baxter learns he's dying. To support the daughter he's never known after he's gone, he plans to create one last Broadway smash. Kitty Simpson, a young ingenue with dreams of performing on Broadway, arrives to audition. Baxter's accountant is at heart a genius songwriter Dick Cummings. Baxter's star, Isobel Stuart, is a spoiled actress who almost destroys the entire production with her drunkenness and reckless spending of the show's money. In the end, Kitty must go in Isobel's place. Kitty becomes a star, and learns that Baxter is her long-lost father. As the curtain falls, a dying Baxter tells her "One minute you're standing in the wings, the next minute you're wearing 'em."
Cast
*
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...
as "Gloves" Malloy / "Spats" Baxter
*
Trish Van Devere
Trish Van Devere (born Patricia Louise Dressel; March 9, 1941) is a retired American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the film ''One Is a Lonely Number'' (1972), and won a Genie Award for the film '' The Changeling'' (1980 ...
as Betsy McGuire / Isobel Stuart
*
Red Buttons
Red Buttons (born Aaron Chwatt; February 5, 1919 – July 13, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the 1957 film ''Sayonara''. He was nominated for awards for his acting work i ...
as "Peanuts" / "Jinks" Murphy
*
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
as Vince Marlow / Pop
* Rebecca York as Kitty
*
Harry Hamlin
Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'' and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series ''L.A. Law'' ...
as Joey Popchik
*
Ann Reinking
Ann Reinking (November 10, 1949December 12, 2020) was an American dancer, actress, choreographer and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway (theatre), Broadway productions such as ''Coco (musical), Coco'' (1969) ...
as "Troubles" Moran
*
Jocelyn Brando
Jocelyn Brando (November 18, 1919November 27, 2005) was an American actress and writer. She is best known for her role as Katie Bannion in the film noir ''The Big Heat'' (1953).
Early life
Brando, the older sister of Marlon Brando, was born in ...
as Mama Popchik / Mrs. Updike
*
Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd (August 12, 1915 – December 23, 2007) was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, stron ...
as Pop Popchik
*
Kathleen Beller
Kathleen Beller (born February 19, 1956) is an American actress who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in '' Promises in the Dark'' (1979) and was well known for her role as Ki ...
as Angie Popchik
*
Barry Bostwick
Barry Knapp Bostwick (born February 24, 1945) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Brad Majors in the musical comedy horror film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975) and Mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom ''Spin City'' (199 ...
as Johnny Danko / Dick Cummings
*
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed ...
as Dr. Blaine / Dr. Bowers
* Clay Hodges as "Sailor" Lawson
*
George P. Wilbur
George Peter Wilbur (March 6, 1941 – February 1, 2023) was an American actor and professional stuntman, best known for playing Michael Myers (Halloween), Michael Myers in both ''Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers'' and ''Halloween 6: The ...
as Tony Norton
* Peter Stader as Barney Keegle (as Peter T. Stader)
*
Jimmy Lennon
Jimmy Lennon Sr. (April 13, 1913 – April 20, 1992) was a ring announcer for boxing and professional wrestling matches.
Early life
Lennon sang as a young boy in church and later formed a singing group, The Lennon Brothers, with his brothers in V ...
as The Announcer (as James Lennon)
*
Barbara Harris as Trixie Lane
*
Charles Lane as The Judge / Mr. Pennington
*
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kell ...
as Nightclub Emcee / Cab Driver (uncredited)
*
George Burns
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
as Himself, Introductory Segments (uncredited)
Production
The film originally was called ''Double Feature'' and was based on an idea of Larry Gelbart. He pitched the project in 1975 and was successful at Universal. He says it took him and co-writer Sheldon Keller six weeks to write the film and six months to get paid.
In June 1976, Universal announced Gelbart would write, direct, and produce the film.
The studio disliked the script and allowed Gelbart to take it elsewhere. Gelbart showed it to Martin Starger, the American representative of Lew Grade. Both Starger and Grade loved the script; Grade had been a backer of Gelbart's ''Sly Fox'' and he agreed to finance ''Double Feature''.
['Movie Movie' --Why? Why?: 'Movie Movie' --Why? Why?, By LARRY GELBART. New York Times ]19 Nov 1978: D1.]
The budget was $6 million. Stanley Donen agreed to direct. Filming started in October 1977.
It was decided to shoot the film using color stock that could be printed in black-and-white to give the filmmakers the option of showing the film in black-and-white or color. The title was changed to ''Movie Movie'' because it was felt ''Double Feature'' might be confusing. There were plans to include a ''Flash Gordon''-type serial, but this was not filmed.
George C. Scott said "Gelbart is such a good writer and the picture was so much fun I was almost ashamed to take the money."
The film was previewed extensively. As a result of the preview, a newsreel used to open the film was dropped, along with a trailer for a fake movie. A new ending was shot for "Dynamite Hands," which took one day. A prologue was added starring George Burns, in which Burns explained what double features were.
Release
The film premiered at the Sutton Theatre in New York City on November 22, 1978.
[ In the theatrical release, as George Burns leads us to expect in the film's prologue, "Dynamite Hands" and the mock film trailer (for ''Zero Hour'', a flying-ace movie set in World War I) were in black-and-white, and the musical "Baxter's Beauties of 1933" was in color.
]
Proposed sequel
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
liked the movie so much that he commissioned a sequel. In October 1978, he said this would be called ''Movie Movie Two'' and would be written by Gelbart and Keller and once more directed by Donen. Gelbart wrote a script which is among his papers at UCLA, but it went unproduced.
The movie failed at the box office. Grade blamed poor distribution from Warner Bros. This contributed to Grade deciding to help set up his own distribution company, Associated Film Distribution
Associated Film Distribution was a British film distribution company. It was set up in the 1970s by ITC Entertainment and EMI Films to distribute their films in the US.
Michael Deeley, head of EMI at the time, opposed the move. He thought it was ...
, with ultimately disastrous financial consequences for him and his company.[Lew Grade, ''Still Dancing: My Story'', William Collins & Sons 1987 p 251]
Home media
Some home video editions (like the 1980 Magnetic Video Corporation edition) featured the original color version of "Dynamite Hands" that was printed on black-and-white film stock during its theatrical release.
The film was released on Blu-ray by Scorpion Releasing June 28, 2016.DVD Talk
/ref>
Awards and honors
See also
* ''Grindhouse
A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a film ...
'' (2007), a similar double-bill concept
* Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
- spoofed in the film as Warren Brothers
* B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
* ''That's Entertainment!
''That's Entertainment!'' is a 1974 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate the studio's 50th anniversary. The success of the retrospective prompted a 1976 sequel, the related 1985 film ''That's Dancing!'', and a ...
''
* Classical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking which became characteristic of American cinema between the 1910s (rapidly after World War I) and the 1960s. It eventually be ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Movie Movie''
at Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
{{Stanley Donen
1978 films
1970s musical comedy films
1970s parody films
American musical comedy films
American parody films
American anthology films
American boxing films
Films directed by Stanley Donen
ITC Entertainment films
Films with screenplays by Larry Gelbart
Warner Bros. films
1978 comedy films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films