Jump to content
GreaseSpot Cafe

Movie Mash-Up


Recommended Posts

On 8/30/2020 at 4:20 AM, WordWolf said:

-One scene from this movie had characters look down from a high window down onto traffic.  The traffic was visibly hamsters and mice running around a maze meant to look like traffic.  The actual set-piece was a miniature from "Superman- the Movie" that they found lying around an old studio.

-One of the actors had a life-mask made of his face, to make it easier to get a good makeup prosthesis for a moment in this movie.  The life-mask was in storage after that for decades.  About 5 years ago (give or take), it was taken out.  It was scanned to prepare a CGI of the now-late actor's face for use in a movie that was then in production.

Peter Cushing, whose face was CGI'd for "ROGUE ONE" a few years ago.

-In the pizza parlor, the characters are drinking shakes.  One is an actress with a strawberry shake, one is an actor with a chocolate shake, and the rest are actors with vanilla shakes.  I don't know exactly why she got a strawberry shake, but the others are obvious in hindsight.

The chick's shake was pink, the Caucasian guys got vanilla shakes, and the Black guy got a chocolate shake.  I don't know how I missed that.

 

-The bookstore scene has no cuts and lasts for exactly 88 seconds.   I'm confident that was a coincidence, but if it was intentional, it makes sense they'd try to make the run-time a number that read the same forwards and backwards.

That's the backwards scene. You'll understand once you watch the movie.

-The lead character sings in this movie.  The actor did all his own singing!

Val Kilmer, as singer Nick Rivers, sang.

-The lead actor and the actor playing the scientist later worked on another movie together.  In that movie, the lead actor was the lead actor again, and the other actor didn't have a lot of screen-time again.

Dr Paul Flemond was played by Michael Gough.  Years later, in "Batman Forever", Kilmer and Gough acted in the same movie as Batman and Alfred.

In case anyone's curious, I added the explanations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

This movie has had two sequels, perhaps better thought of as remakes.  I consider them sequels, because the actor who played the title role in this movie played the father of the title role in the second film and the grandfather of the title role in the third.  (And, yes, the actor who played the title role in the second played the father of the title role in the third.  One, big, happy family.)

An actor/musician auditioned for the lead role.  He didn't get it, but he did write the score for the film.  The theme song was a BIG hit.

This was one of only three MGM movies in this particular year which turned a profit and helped keep the studio out of bankruptcy.

Georg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CORRECTION:  This movie has had two sequels, perhaps better thought of as remakes.  I consider them sequels, because the actor who played the title role in this movie played the UNCLE of the title role in the second film and the GREAT UNCLE of the title role in the third.  (And, yes, the actor who played the title role in the second played the father of the title role in the third.  One, big, happy family.)

This (i.e., the first) movie aired in 1971.  The other two were in 2000 and 2019.

An actor/musician auditioned for the lead role.  He didn't get it, but he did write the score for the film.  The theme song was a BIG hit.  He was the first African American to win and Academy Award for Best Song.

This was one of only three MGM movies in this particular year which turned a profit and helped keep the studio out of bankruptcy.

Much of the action centers around 125th Street in Harlem. The exterior of the lead character's apartment was at 55 Jane Street, in Greenwich Village, across the street from the (real) "No Name Bar" at 621 Hudson Street. The bar later became a deli.

The character "Bumpy Jonas" was based on Bumpy Johnson, an African American mobster in the 30's.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

-Few people seem to notice, but this movie had a titular line (a line in the script where the name of the movie is said.)

-A moment in this movie, remembered by EVERYBODY, inspired a hit rock song.

 

-The dessert in one scene is better-known as Black Forest Cherry Cake.

-The soundtrack credits include "the Battle Hymn of the Republic" "Ave Maria"

by Schubert, and "the Bridal Suite" from Lohengrin.

 

-One line makes a passing reference to FIVE previous movies.

 

Premiere Magazine named the titular character role as 9th in their list

of 100th Greatest Performances of all Time."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/18/2020 at 5:59 PM, WordWolf said:

-Few people seem to notice, but this movie had a titular line (a line in the script where the name of the movie is said.)

-A moment in this movie, remembered by EVERYBODY, inspired a hit rock song.

 

-The dessert in one scene is better-known as Black Forest Cherry Cake.

-The soundtrack credits include "the Battle Hymn of the Republic" "Ave Maria"

by Schubert, and "the Bridal Suite" from Lohengrin.

 

-One line makes a passing reference to FIVE previous movies.

 

Premiere Magazine named the titular character role as 9th in their list

of 100th Greatest Performances of all Time."

Inspector Kemp, in one of his "WHAT????" lines.  "We'd better CONFIRM the fact that young Frankenstein is not following in his grandfather's footsteps." 

Aerosmith recorded "WALK THIS WAY" after seeing this movie in the theater.

The cake was "Schwarzwalder Kirschtort."  

The meeting with the peasants and their elders had one elder mention that they still had nightmares from five times before.   That was a reference to the five Universal Frankenstein movies.

 

 

George is up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This movie was based on episodes of a famous TV show.  Three episodes of the show were slightly modified; a fourth segment of the movie touched briefly on another episode.  References to several other episodes are strewn throughout.

Three actors (an adult and two children) were killed in an accident on the set.  The children were actually under-age and acting without the proper permits.  Their scene was removed from the movie and they do not appear in the credits.  The accident had a strong effect on the directors.  It ended the friendship of wo of them, who had collaborated on a number of well-known films.

George

(Spoiler:  if you know the answer to this, it may help you with my current TV Show Mash-up puzzle.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

This movie was based on episodes of a famous TV show.  Three episodes of the show were slightly modified; a fourth segment of the movie touched briefly on another episode.  References to several other episodes are strewn throughout.

Three actors (an adult and two children) were killed in an accident on the set.  The children were actually under-age and acting without the proper permits.  Their scene was removed from the movie and they do not appear in the credits.  The accident had a strong effect on the directors.  It ended the friendship of wo of them, who had collaborated on a number of well-known films. 

As the adult was waiting to film what would turn out to be the scene that killed him, he said to a production assistant, "I must be out of my mind to be doing this. I should've asked for a stunt double. What can they do but kill me, right?!"

In the opening sequence, two actors discuss an episode of the show the movie is based on.  One said it was from the correct show, the other asserted that it was from a similar series which ran about the same time.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This movie was based on episodes of a famous TV show.  Three episodes of the show were slightly modified; a fourth segment of the movie touched briefly on another episode.  References to several other episodes are strewn throughout.

Three actors (an adult and two children) were killed in an accident on the set.  The children were actually under-age and acting without the proper permits.  Their scene was removed from the movie and they do not appear in the credits.  The accident had a strong effect on the directors.  It ended the friendship of wo of them, who had collaborated on a number of well-known films. 

As the adult was waiting to film what would turn out to be the scene that killed him, he said to a production assistant, "I must be out of my mind to be doing this. I should've asked for a stunt double. What can they do but kill me, right?!"

In the opening sequence, two actors discuss an episode of the show the movie is based on.  One said it was from the correct show, the other asserted that it was from a similar series which ran about the same time.

When Bill Shatner appeared on "3rd Rock from the Sun" as the Big Giant Head, he was asked by John Lithgow ("Dick Solomon") how his flight was.  Shatner answers, "It was a horrible flight! There was a man on the wing of the plane!" Lithgow replies, "The same thing happened to me!"

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember discussing "Wild Kingdom" with the hitchhiker.

This MUST be "Twilight Zone- the Movie."     William Shatner's episode with "some...thing on the wing" was redone in the movie with Lithgow seeing the gremlin.    This movie redid  that episode, and "It's a Wonderful Life", and I forget which was the third.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correct.

Vic Morrow and two kids died in a helicopter accident during the filming.  The scene was actually supposed to show the redemption of Morrow's bigot character, as he carries two Vietnamese children to safety.  The scene was removed in the final cut.

On a lighter note, that "episode" also had an homage to "Animal House," when one of the American soldiers in the swamp says, "I sure wish we hadn't fragged Lt. Niedermeyer!"  At the end of "Animal House," where the futures of all the Deltas are briefly mentioned, Niedermeyer was "killed by his own troops in Vietnam."  :biglaugh:

The opening sequence, Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks talk about a sci-fi episode about a man with a stopwatch which could stop time.  Brooks claims it was an Outer Limits episode; Aykroyd correctly identifies it as a Twilight Zone episode ("A Kind of Stopwatch," to be precise).

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...