5 Men and a Limo
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''5 Men and a Limo'' is a 1997 American short film produced by Aspect Ratio as an introduction sketch for the 26th Annual ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
''
Key Art Awards The Clio Entertainment Awards (formerly the Key Art Awards) is an awards program by Clio that recognizes "excellence in marketing and communications" across the entertainment industry—i.e., the industries of film, television, live entertainment ...
. In the film voiceover actor
Don LaFontaine Donald Leroy LaFontaine (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor who recorded more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers over four ...
picks up four other voiceover actors in his limo to travel to the awards. The actors talk about themselves and the awards, making humorous references to common phrases and techniques they use when voicing movie trailers. Besides LaFontaine, the other actors appearing in the film are John Leader,
Nick Tate Nicholas John Tate (born 18 June 1942) is an Australian actor popularly known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction television series '' Space: 1999'', and James Hamilton in the 1980s Australian soap opera '' Sons an ...
, Mark Elliot, and Al Chalk.
Hal Douglas Harold Douglas (born Harold Cohen; September 1, 1924 – March 7, 2014) was an American voice actor best known for performing thousands of voice-overs for movie trailers, television commercials, and stage plays over the course of a six-decade car ...
provides his voice for a telephone call, but does not appear. The limousine in the film is LaFontaine's. The driver is Clinton Hendricks, LaFontaine's personal sound engineer and driver., ''Fade In'' magazine; published February 2003; retrieved July 3, 2007.


Reception

The film's original purpose was to serve as an introductory sketch for the 1997 ''The Hollywood Reporter'' Key Art Awards broadcast. According to John Leader, the sketch played to a packed house at the awards ceremony and was so well received that the next day, bootlegged copies began circulating around the Internet;Biography of John Leader
; retrieved July 8, 2007.
to date, one copy of the film has nearly one million views on YouTube alone.; retrieved April 25, 2011. In addition, the five voiceover artists, many of whom had few on-camera credits to their names prior to ''5 Men and a Limo'', had become instantly recognizable; LaFontaine went on to do on-screen appearances in commercials for GEICO as "that announcer guy from the movies", while Leader has done on-screen commercials for Burger King and Kudos granola bars.Excerpts from John Leader's commercial voiceovers
; retrieved July 8, 2007.


Cultural references

The short film opens with the "
James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since '' Dr. No'', released in 1962. Composed by Monty Norman (with arrangements for film provided by John Bar ...
," before transitioning into the theme from ''
Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...
'' after the show's opening graphics. When Hal Douglas is heard phoning LaFontaine, the familiar intro to the "
Theme from New York, New York "Theme from ''New York, New York''", often abbreviated to just "New York, New York", is the theme song from the Martin Scorsese film ''New York, New York'' (1977), composed by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb. It was written for and per ...
" is heard on the music track as a subtle indication of Douglas' East Coast management. This is abruptly interrupted by a sample from the 1985 electronica song " Oh Yeah" by Swiss band
Yello Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983. Their sound is often charac ...
, once LaFontaine ignores Douglas and introduces Al Chalk. An excerpt from the score of '' Groundhog Day'' is heard when Mark Elliot enters the film. Otherwise the score from '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' is heard in the background during many of the voiceovers provided by the limousine's passengers.


References


External links


LaFontaine's clip archive page
which includes this film and other material * * {{DEFAULTSORT:5 Men And A Limo American comedy short films 1997 comedy films 1997 films 1990s English-language films 1997 short films 1990s American films English-language comedy films