Film Within A Film Follow-up Fun!

"Life is like a movie. Write your own ending."
- Kermit The Frog in THE MUPPET MOVIE (Dir. James Frawley, 1979)



Looks like I made some serious ommisions according to the many many readers who wrote in about my 10 Definitive Films Within Films (07/01-07/08) post last time out so here's some of the best suggestions, picks, and oversights:

Tony Ginorio suggests: SOMETHIN’S COOKING

It's the cartoon that opens WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (Dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1988). An excellent pastiche of a 1940s Tex Avery short, with Roger and Baby Herman unleashing mayhem as only animated characters can. Halfway through, however, the director yells “Cut!”, and what at first seems like a mere cartoon suddenly becomes a live set, with a flesh-and-blood director chewing out his ink-and-paint actors, completely up-ending our preconceived notions of what is “real” and what is movie magic. 



Not only does this clever device introduce the film’s main concept – that animated characters are real – it also foreshadows the way characters and events in the main story are not what they seem: how a simple infidelity case turns out to be a cover-up for something far more sinister, and how a certain femme fatale turns out to be “just drawn that way.” 



Mike Weber writes:

Billy Bright (Dick Van Dyke) watching his old movies on late-night teevee in THE COMIC (Dir. Carl Reiner, 1969) - which I swear was a major part of the inspiration for Firesign Theatre's "Don't Crush That Dwarf" album, which came out the next year and ends with an identical setup.


SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY: in any number of John Landis films (and the"Thriller" video) - but best in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981). *

Peter Bogdanovich's TARGETS (1968), which uses outtakes from THE TERROR (1963) as the latest film from star Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff), at whose drive-in premiere the ultimate confrontation takes place. 



The whole setup for KISS KISS BANG BANG uses an actual film from1987 (DEAD AIM) that featured one of the cast (Corbin Bernsen). Footage from DEAD AIM was used as a film called "Johnny Gossamer", in which the character played by Bernsen is used as part of the McGuffin.

* 

Though we never actually see any of it, the fictional film "See You Next Wednesday" (based on a quote from 2001 : A SPACE ODYSSEY) is like Mike remarks above a running gag through-out just about every John Landis movie (including KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, THE BLUES BROTHERS, & COMING TO AMERICA) it even warrants this Wikipedia entry.



Mike also wrote back :

"I completely forgot the double feature from the marquee of the theatre in the beginning of GREMLINS (Dir. Joe Dante, 1984) - "Watch the Skies" and "A Boy's Life" - the working titles of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Dir. Steven Spielberg, 1977) and E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (Spielberg, 1982).

A lot of people emailed me that DRIVE-IN (Dir. Rodney Amateau, 1976) should have been noted but Jon Futrell made the case best :

As a fan of drive-in movie theaters, I'd have to say my favorite movie within a movie is "Disaster '76" from the 1976 release DRIVE-IN. 



A production of the equally fictional Executive Pictures (complete with Mount Rushmore logo), "Disaster '76" plays on the screen at the Alamo Drive-in one Friday night. A jumbo jet is bombed on a New Year's Eve flight, knocking out the entire crew except for stewardess Margo. A ship's captain (in full uniform no less!) takes the control and tries to land. Instead, he crashes into a high-rise skyscraper creating "a tower of an inferno". Somebody actually said that in "D '76". While the folks at the drive-in have their own romantic and criminal issues at the theater, there's floods, sharks and an overturned cruise ship on the screen. It's almost a shame that Irwin Allen didn't make a similar "all disasters in one" type of film. 



Film Babble sadly notes that DRIVE-IN is not available on DVD at the present time - sigh. 



J Campie a film critic from Managua, Nicaragua (Confidential.com) agrees with many of those who wrote in when he writes:

Please include in your list "El Amante Menguante" (you can translate it as "The Shrinking Lover", although it loses the poetic bent of the original spanish title). This is a fake silent movie that Benigno watches in TALK TO HER (Dir. Pedro Almodovar, 2002) In it, a man shrinks so that he can actually enter his complete self inside the woman he loves. I know it sounds....strange and icky to say the least, but on the movie it looks lovely, and works wonderfully to highlight the central themes of the best Pedro Almodovar film ever made. 



Jeff Beachnau states :

You forgot the two (well, 3) greatest movies shown in Christmas classics -

"The Night the Reindeer Died" starring Lee Majors shown at the beginning of SCROOGED (Dir. Richard Donner, 1988). *







And the greatest movie within a movie of all time (which I didn't even know until I grew up that they weren't real movies), "Angels with Filthy Souls" and "Angels with Filthier Souls" shown in HOME ALONE (Dir. Chris Columbus, 1990) and HOME ALONE 2 : LOST IN NEW YORK (Dir. Chris Columbus, 1992).

* It's a TV movie but I'll allow it. 



Other films within films that multiple movie lovers wrote in: 



"Devil's Squadron" in THE STUNTMAN (Dir. Richard Rush, 1980)

“Living In Oblivion” in LIVING IN OBLIVION (Dir. Tom DiCillo, 1995)

SILENT MOVIE (Dir. Mel Brooks, 1976) Was the first major silent feature film in forty years that Mel Funn (Brooks) and cohorts Dom Deluise and Marty Feldman were trying to make actually named SILENT MOVIE? It's been decades since I've seen it so - anybody know the answer? Anybody?








"O Brother, Where art thou" from SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (Dir. Preston Surges, 1941) This of course is notable because it was a fake movie within a movie that became a real movie almost 60 years later thanks to the Coen Bros.

“COVEN” in AMERICAN MOVIE (Dir. Chris Smith, 1999) Another film within that is a film itself on its own - though COVEN is only 40 min. long.

"The Spy who Laughed at Danger" from HOOPER (Dir. Hal Needham, 1978)

“The Old Mill” from STATE AND MAIN (Dir. David Mamet, 2000)

This one I felt truly ashamed as a hardcore Python fan to have not noted -

"The Crimson Permanent Assurance" from MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE (Dir. Terry Jones, 1983) 



Notable for many reasons but to break it down to the principles - A: Terry Gilliam's tale of elderly anti-globalization office clerks commandeering their workplace structure and turning it into a pirate ship was originally supposed to be inside the movie but it became such an entity itself at over 15 minutes it cost much more than the rest of the production. B: - Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) makes his film debut in it. And C: - It comes back to disrupt the movie from within - an announcer even says "we interrupt this film to apologise for the unwarranted attack from the supporting feature..." 





Okay! Next time out actual film reviews of movies in theaters and movies out recently on DVD -so please stay tuned.




More later...

The Cameo Countdown Continues

"We now return to "Return Of The Pink Panther Returns" starring Ken Wahl as Inspector Clouseau..."
- An announcer on a late night TV broadcast in the background of Chief Wiggum's bedroom on The Simpsons

So I had such a gigantic response for my post - 20 Great Modern Movie Cameos (6/3/07 - 6/10/07) that I thought I'd honor my readers and their suggestions this time out. I got more email than I've ever gotten in my life in the last week so it is quite a task to go through it all but well worth it. Let's start with the major cameo ommisions - i.e. the ones that got the most votes :

Sean Connery - ROBIN HOOD : PRINCE OF THIEVES (Dir. Kevin Reynolds, 1991) I've never made it through all of this commercial Costner castastrophe but I keep hearing that one of its only saving graces was an appearance at the end of the collosal icon Connery (who played Robin Hood himself in ROBIN AND MARIAN, 1976) as King Richard. Since I doubt I'm putting this one in my Netflix queue I'll just have to take my reader's word for it.

Cate Blanchett - HOT FUZZ (Dir. Edgar Wright, 2007) I was so surprised by the amount of email I got that wanted this appearance noted! Especially since you can barely see her - I mean most people won't catch her but David G. puts it best in his email to me : "It's a gross but funny scene, and you never get to see her face...just her eyes...everything else is covered because she's working a gruesome crime scene. To top it off, she's arguing with the hero, her ex-boyfriend, about their relationship...so the scene also lays waste to that particular cliche."

Marcel Marceau - SILENT MOVIE (Dir. Mel Brooks, 1976) I agree that this should have made the list. The most famous mime in history has the only spoken line (well, spoken word) in Brooks' retro mid 70's silent film satire.

Most people just wrote in names but some fine folk took the time to write a bit 'bout their cameo picks - here's some I particularly enjoyed :

Jeffrey Singer writes :

One of my favorites was Charlton Heston in WAYNE'S WORLD. Mike Myers asks a garage mechanic for directions, and the mechanic goes into a tirade about how he loved a girl on that street. Myers turns to the director and says, "Can we get someone else to do it?" The scene is repeated with Heston. I thought it was wonderful.

Brad Weinstock puts in more than a mere 2 cents :

Meryl Streep's cameo (as a bogus version of herself) in the Farrelly Brothers' STUCK ON YOU is a high point in an otherwise so-so comedy. Her scene as a diva-fied version of herself in a restaurant in the middle of the movie is fine, but it's her tour de force at the end of the movie as Bonnie Parker in a ridiculous community theatre version of "Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical" (with Greg Kinnear as Clyde) that is absolutely priceless. It's a brilliant little moment of zen watching, arguably, the greatest living actress do a shrill, gangly, awkwardly dancing rendition of Dunaway's classic role. This segment is so hilarious and bizarre, that you wonder who was able to pull strings and convince her to appear. I had to put STUCK ON YOU in my Netflix queue for the sole purpose of watching this sequence again.

Craig writes :

Robert Patrick in WAYNE'S WORLD 2 as his TERMINATOR 2's T-1000 character, who pulls Wayne and Garth (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey) over on the highway, shows him a picture and says "Have you seen this boy?" When I saw this, the theatre erupted in laughter, since T2 was fresh in memory.

Kevin T. from Seattle sez :

What about George Lucas in BEVERLY HILLS COP 3? Extremely random cameo. He walks up to the theme park and says something cheesy. Onscreen for all of maybe 5 seconds. How in the Hell did they get him to make an appearence in that Awful Sequel? *

* Film Babble attempting to answer Kevin T.'s query notes that according to the mighty IMDb It's a "Director Trademark: ['John Landis' ] [filmmakers] Appearances by directors Martha Coolidge, Joe Dante, Arthur Hiller, George Lucas, Peter Medak, Barbet Schroeder, George Schaefer and John Singleton and filmmaker Ray Harryhausen were also in BEVERLY HILLS COP 3". That explains Steven Spielberg showing up as the Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk in THE BLUES BROTHERS!


I was happy to get an email from Jim Beaver (Ellsworth on Deadwood - pictured on the left, also on the new series John From Cincinnati, and the new old reliable classic CSI, and countless other film and TV performances and most importantly for film babble purposes a renowned film historian) who had a sweet handful of cameo contributions :

Yul Brynner in THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN. One of my very favorites. "Oh, yes!"

Peter O'Toole has a cameo in the original CASINO ROYALE which he asks Peter Sellers if Sellers is Richard Burton. (Sellers says, "No, I'm Peter O'Toole," to which O'Toole replies, "Then you are the greatest man that ever breathed!")

John Wayne in I MARRIED A WOMAN (1958). (Stretching the term "modern" here).

Count Basie in BLAZING SADDLES.

One I never see mentioned, an oddity in that it's a cameo by an actor who is already in the film in another role: Frank Finlay as the jeweler in the 1973 THE THREE MUSKETEERS. Finlay plays Porthos in the film, but as I recall, with heavy makeup he also plays the fellow who makes the fake necklace. What a great movie that was.

Danny T. writes :

Personally, my favorite cameos were in the movie DODGEBALL : A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY where we see Chuck Norris, William Shatner, and my favorite Lance Armstrong. While the first two were just quick jokes that just added a little bit of humor to the film, the Lance Armstrong cameo is absolutely ridiculous how he berates Vince Vaughn's character by using his cancer survival as a form of trash talking. And while Lance isn't exactly an Oscar quality actor (much less a Golden Globe one) he still at least had fun. And, the audience does as well.

Quizmaster Moses of Boston, MA offers :

Donald Bumgart in ROSEMARY'S BABY. (Remember when Mia Farrow calls the actor who her husband replaced?) Listen closely and the voice on the other end of the phone is none other than Tony Curtis. That is the equivalent of Cameo Gold, my friend - and probably the Best Movie Trivia Question ever.

Tracy Spry sez :

Marla Maples in HAPPINESS

William Burroughs in DRUGSTORE COWBOY

Dweezil Zappa in PRETTY IN PINK

Stiv Bators in TAPEHEADS and POLYESTER

George Plimpton in GOOD WILL HUNTING

Travis C. asks :

...where is the love for Neil Patrick Harris (TV's Doogie Howser!) as himself in HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE? Come on! "Dude, I humped every piece of ass ever on that show" and "Yeah, that was a real dick move on my part, that's why I'm paying for your meal." Too funny...

Ronald Skinner writes :

I'd have to add: Veronica Hart in BOOGIE NIGHTS (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997). Hart plays Judge O'Malley in the child custody hearing of Amber Waves (Julliane Moore). The scene was inspired by Hart's own real-life custody problem. Veteran porn actress plays legitimate role while legitimate actress plays veteran porn star. And it's very discreet, so a casual viewer would probably not even recognize Hart. Art imitiates life imitating art. BOOGIE NIGHTS also has porn actress Nina Hartley playing Little Bill's wife.

Henri Cheramie really has some whoppers! -

Okay, here's a few for you...I don't know how great these are, but they are kinda cool :

Hugh Hefner in the trailer and early cut of CITIZEN TOXIE : THE TOXIC AVENGER IV. Due to Legal Issues, he asked to be taken out of the movie but in the trailer he is still seen saying "Only the toxic avenger knows for sure."

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in LAND OF THE DEAD (Director and Writer/Star of SHAUN OF THE DEAD make appearances as zombies in a photobooth.

John Travolta in BORIS AND NATASHA : He comes to the door with flowers asking "Is Natasha home?"

Johnathan Winters in THE ADVENTURE OF ROCKY AND BULWINKLE : In a movie rife with cameos and guest stars, his is the funniest, playing three roles.

Peter Jackson (LORD OF THE RINGS director) in HOT FUZZ : Dressed as a psycho santa, Peter stabs Simon Pegg in the hand.

Frank Oz in just about every film by John Landis.

Brad Pitt and Matt Damon on the Dating Game in CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND.
P.J. Soles in THE DEVIL'S REJECTS : She's the woman who gets harassed by Captain Spaulding and eventually has her car stolen.

Groucho Marx in SKIDOO!: He plays "God" the head of the Mafia. This mafia is filled with old movie stars.

Mitchell S. Nagasawa has the floor :

One of the best cameos and best kept cameo of the modern era has to be Will Ferrell in WEDDING CRASHERS. I am amazed that they managed to keep this secret and the impact of Chazz walking down the stairs to be revealed as Ferrell was HUGE on the audience that I was in. They couldn't have cast anyone better and by the reaction of all the movie goers, they agreed too.

Mpavlov echoes the sentiment of the Matt masses when mentioning :

My favorite cameo, that always seems to miss these lists, is Matt Damon in EUROTRIP. To refresh your memory, he plays the lead singer of the rock band that plays at the graduation party. Performing the hilarious "Scotty Doesn't Know" with a shaved head, tattoos, and piercings, Matt Damon bangs his head, grinds with Kristin Kreuk, shakes his tongue at the crowd and finally makes out with her. Very hilarious.

Chris French writes :

JAWS (Director Steven Spielberg, 1975) : Peter Benchley (author of the book Jaws) as the reporter on the beach leading into theJuly 4th attacks; Steven Spielberg as a voice on the radio in the same sequence.

CARS (John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, 2006) Not only does Richard "The King" Petty appear as one of his cars (a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird -- which, ironically, he never won a race while driving), Lynda Petty (his wife) appears as the station wagon the Petty Clan used to use to drive to races. Mario Andretti as the car he won the 1967 Daytona 500 in.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD : PART 1 (Dir. Mel Brooks, 1981) : Hugh Hefner as a Roman citizen describing his new invention, "the 'centerfold'"; Henny Youngman as Chemist, source of the punchline for "a pack of Trojans"; Spike Millgan as the senile old man in the French Revolution sequence ("What fool put a carpet on the wall?").

BASEKETBALL (Dir. David Zucker, 1998) : Dale Earnhardt Sr. as the Cab Driver ("Can *I* drive faster? Hang on!"). Reggie Jackson as himself. (I don't count Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Siegfried & Roy, as they really don't do anything except sit in glass cases.

Gary from Novato, CA. says : James Cagney in RAGTIME (Dir. Milos Forman, 1981) - Because he was a screen legend, it had been 20 years since he'd last appeared in a film, and it was the last film he ever appeared in. It was also one of the most talked about cameo appearances.

Steven L. writes :

There are numerous examples of famous newspaper reporters, columnists, etc., appearing as themselves in cameos to add verisimilitude. Most often in political thrillers and science-fiction movies. Just to name two: Howard K. Smith appeared in THE BEST MAN. Eleanor Clift, Jack Germond, Fred Barnes, Morton Kondracke (now of Fox News) appeared in INDEPENDENCE DAY. *

Someone pointed out to me that the category of news media folks who have cameos in movies is a whole category in itself. Larry King (CNN) has had a zillion cameos in movies and TV shows, notably GHOSTBUSTERS (Roger Grimsby was in that movie too.) A number of other CNN personalities were in the movie CONTACT. Bernard Shaw (CNN) was in JURASSIC PARK II ; THE LOST WORLD

* They also appeared in DAVE (Dir. Ivan Reitman, 1993)

Daniel Garcia from http://TheDarkSideoftheGeeks.Blogspot.com remarks :

Earlier today I was watching SINGLES on TNT, and I didn't remember the cameo by Tim Burton... it's like 10 seconds long, but TOO funny to see him charging 20 bucks for a lousy video to a desperate woman!

Mikey Mouse on the record :

I love those cameos but as you will see most of them are part of a comedy.

Bob Barker in HAPPY GILMORE
*
Ronnie James Dio in TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY

Ozzy Osbourne in LITTLE NICKY

Neil Diamond in SAVING SILVERMAN

Billy Idol in THE WEDDING SINGER

* (Happy retirement Bob! - Dan)

Scott N. writes :

A few more great cameos for you:

Reggie Jackson as himself in THE NAKED GUN... getting him to assassinate the queen, HA!

Warwick Davis as a pod race spectator in STAR WARS : EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE...IT'S WILLOW!!!!!

Ed Kowalczyk (lead singer of Live) as Waiter at Clifton's in FIGHT CLUB...personal bias

Me - as a blurry background shadow in SNAKE EYES ...got paid $120 to do it too.

Okay! So a lot of people wrote in with suggestions that didn't quite fit the criteria. A good example is ANNIE HALL - Paul Simon as slimey Tony Lacey fits the bill. He was a well known celebrity and instantly recognizable. But Jeff Goldblum, as much as I love his brief part on the phone at a Hollywood party - "I lost my Mantra" wasn't known at the time - neither was Sigourney Weaver (seen in long shot) in 1977 - so keep that in mind. I thought about making a 'cameos after the fact' post but c'mon! These are better labeled as "bit parts" not cameos. Okay?!!?

The Modern Movie Media Cameo Whore Award Goes To :

Larry King

As Steven L. noted above King has done zillions of cameos (including LOST IN AMERICA, CONTACT, MAD CITY, BULLWORTH, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, - too many to list here) all of which have him playing himself giving credibility to a fictional entity - be it characters or events that have become household names. My personal favorite King cameo comes from DAVE (also mentioned above) in which he interviews director Oliver Stone fresh from JFK about his conspiracy theories dealing with President Mitchell (Kevin Kline) being replaced by a double (also Kline). Great 'cause King scoffs at the notion and we all know that Stone is right. Sigh - just like real life.

Lastly I have to say to file this under "I got to take my reader's word for it" but I'll at least note that a lot of people loved Dustin Hoffman's cameo as himself in THE HOLIDAY. Still haven't put it in my Netflix queue yet though.

Thanks from film babble for all your suggestions, picks, ommisions, everything. Please feel free to email -

boopbloop7@gmail.com

More later...

Review To A Kill & 5 R-Rated Moments In PG AND G Rated Movies That Slipped Past The MCAA

“It's not really happening. It's a movie, and it's called acting.”
- Dakota Fanning talking about her new film HOUNDDOG

Okay, I got some DVD reviews and some babble 'bout R rated moments in G and PG rated movies so let's get started.



DVDS IN CURRENT RELEASE:





FACTOTUM (Dir. Bent Hammer, 2005) 



One of my favorite movies is BARFLY (incidently it's out of print on DVD - used copies sell for $89.95 - $200 on Amazon) in which Mickey Rourke portrayed Charles Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chimalski - a definitive movie drunk, a pouty poet, and an all around unemployable schlub. Well Chimalski is back, this time a splotchy-faced and cranky Matt Dillon fills his shoes. Dillon's take on the character is edgier with less of the humour than Rourke's but he's still the same schlub. 



Dealing mostly with the series of jobs Chimalski can't keep and interspersed with the destructive relationships (Lili Taylor, Marissa Tomai) he can't get a handle on, FACTOTUM doesn't have much of a plot but it does actually have a point. It's no BARFLY but after what some critics have mistaken for a inebriated exercise, Dillon's final monologue brings it all into sweet focus. 

IDIOCRACY (Dir. Mike Judge, 2006) 



Mike Judge's (OFFICE SPACE, Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill) return to the big screen has an infamously troubled back-story (extensive re-tinkering, little distribution and almost no promotion), so it's recent DVD release will be the first time many are allowed to see it. 



Telling the story of 21st century every-man Luke Wilson who along with Maya Rudolph (SNL) is frozen in an army experiment for 500 years only to awaken to a collosally dumbed down culture where the President is a wrestler/former porn star, StarBucks offers sexual as well as coffee service, and Costcos are the size of Tennessee. 



The premise peters out less than half-way through and awful unneccesary narration annoyingly talks over full scenes of dialogue strongly implies further dumbing down of the movie in post production. Still there are some interesting attempts at socio-political satire and enough decent laughs involved to gain it a following particularly among fans of base level comedy. I've had those who lecture me on the worth of JACKASS, the SCARY MOVIE series and even CLERKS 2 so I know they are plenty out there who will dig it. 



BUGSY: THE EXTENDED CUT (Dir. Barry Levinson, 1991) 



"Dialogue's cheap in Hollywood Ben, why don't you run outside and jerk yourself a soda?"
- Virginia Hill (Annette Benning)




Haven't seen this since it's original video release in '92 (didn't catch it in theaters in '91) so I don't remember it very closely and couldn't tell what was different about this new version but I enjoyed this new special edition much more than I expected. 



Based on the legendary mobster who ostensibly built Las Vegas and who Godfather fans well know was the inspiration for Moe Green (Alex Rocco) BUGSY doesn't quite acheive the levels of stylistic period piece lyricism it aims for yet it still works. Warren Beatty plays the right note as the slick vain enterprising yet not unromantic Ben Siegel (I know that doesn't sound like much of a stretch), Annette Benning puts in her usual silky never sleazy accompaniment and the rest of the cast is top notch (Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel, Elliot Gould, and Joe Montegna) James Toback's sharp script is worth singling out too. 



Levinson's directorial career has been spotty since (WAG THE DOG, ENVY, MAN OF THE YEAR, ugh) so it is nice to go back and re-appraise one of his most competant and under-rated films. 



THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED (Dir. Kirby Dick, 2006) - Having been confused and weirded out by what the exact standards and/or rules of the MPAA's movie rating system I was excited about this film. I have to say though that this good-intentioned but ultimately misguided feature is fascinating but flawed as fuck. The idea of hiring private detectives to find out exactly who the people are who rate movies is a good one but the execution of said premise involving following SUVs around and getting un-insightful film of possible suspects is frankly a waste of time. Better is the interview material, the comparisons of what is permited between hetero and homosexual content and the background history of the MPAA and their former President Jack Valenti. I just wish it went deeper and was better structured - Kirby Dick appears to be passionate and dedicated and I wasn't as annoyed by his Gonzo-insertions as some were but this could use a bit more work. This Film Is Not Yet Finished, more like.

Inspired by this documentary I thought it would be fun to look at: 



5 R-RATED MOMENTS IN PG AND G RATED MOVIES THAT SLIPPED PAST THE MCAA

1. HEAD (Dir. Bob Rafelson, 1968) – The famous 1968 photograph and NBC-shot film of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon is one of the most shocking and violent images ever presented to the world at large. It is effectively used alongside other frightening war footage in the LSD fueled mind-bending montages of this freaky envelope pushing movie in which the Monkees deconstruct their pre-fab bubblegum image. Thing is, this is a G-rated movie! Really Seems like someone at the MPAA saw that this was the Monkees and stamped a G on it without even watching it. 



2. BRAINSTORM (Dir. Douglas Trumball, 1983) - A good example of what often sailed by the review board in the days before PG-13, this virtual-reality sci-fi thriller that is most famous because of the drowning death of Natalie Wood that occured while shooting contains a shocking scene involving one of the bulky combersome devices that Christopher Walken is wearing in the picture on the right. A man has a heart attack while engaging in a simulated sex program with full frontal female nudity shown. I learned this the hard way when I innocently put the movie on when I used to work at a local video chain. Definitely not 'in-store playable.'



3. JAWS (Dir. Steven Spielberg, 1975) – Many bloody moments in this movie qualify it for an R rating but the skinny dipping girl who gets eaten within the first five minutes should of set up some sort of ratings red flag. On the other hand I saw the movie when I was a kid and don’t remember losing any sleep over it. 



4. BANANAS (Dir. Woody Allen, 1971) - Squirmy neurotic low-level products tester Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen) has very little luck in his meager life - even the simple task of picking up a porn mag along side copies of news publications like National Review invites public scorn. As he makes his choice of purchase we are guided through an explicit wall of porn magazine covers that did oddly only earned a PG-13 rating in a later video incarnation re-appraising.

5. AIRPLANE! (Dir. Jim Abrahms, Jerry Zucker, 1980) – There are a lot of scenes and elements in this famous disaster movie spoof that would be questionable PG material these days but the extreme shot of female full frontal nudity that occurs during a riotous panic when the passengers are told the plane is in jeopardy takes the cake! Of course it goes by so quick one could blink or sneeze and miss it. Looks like someone at the MPAA sure did.



More later...