Stubs - Movie Movie

Movie Movie (1978) Starring: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Red Buttons, Eli Wallach, Barry Bostwick, Harry Hamlin, Barbara Harris. Directed by Stanley Donen. Written by Larry Gelbart, Sheldon Keller. Produced by Stanley Donen. Black and White/Color U.S.A. Run time: 105 minutes. Musical, Comedy

Originally called Double Feature, the concept was to replicate the movie experience of the 1930s and 40s, when a movie was accompanied by a newsreel, trailers and even a second feature. We’ve discussed the concept of “A” and “B” pictures in a previous review. But the original, and unnamed studio, which liked Stanley Donen’s concept, passed on Larry Geilbart’s script. Donen was allowed to shop the idea around and found a home with Sir Lew Grade’s ITC Entertainment. (If you’re a Beatles fan you’ll also know Sir Grade as being behind ATV which controlled the Beatles musical catalogue until he sold it to Michael Jackson.) In this story, Grade is more or less a hero, since he liked the idea enough to help bring it to the screen.

The idea was for two features, one a parody of black and white boxing films, Dynamite Hands, for which there were numerous examples to draw from, including Winner Take All (1932), and a color musical, Baxter’s Beauties, think 42^nd Street or one of many backstage musical films from the early thirties. In between them there would be a trailer for a third film, a World War I flying ace film, Zero Hour. A fake newsreel and a second trailer were also shot, but dropped from the final film after test screenings in San Francisco in June, 1978. A prologue, featuring the venerable George Burns, was also added to the film in October or November, 1978 perhaps as a result of the test screenings.

Production apparently took place primarily at Warner Bros.’ Burbank studios, according to a supplemental interview attached to the recent Blu-Ray release, featuring Harry Hamlin. Movie Movie would be Hamlin’s first film. He was originally set against being a film actor and was on his way to London for a Fulbright Scholarship, when he was cast.

Casting changes seem to be common with any movie and this one is no exception. Rebecca York was originally supposed to appear in both films, but Trish Van Devere, then George C. Scott’s wife, decided that she wanted to be in both segments, so she replaced York as the love interest in Dynamite Hands. Ann-Margaret and James Farentino were also in discussions to appear in the film. Both were supposed to appear in both segments, but did not end up in the finished film. I wonder if Farentino’s departure might have opened the door for either Barry Bostwick or Harry Hamlin to appear.

Bostwick, by the time, was already a minor movie star, having appeared in the midnight cult movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and had already won an Tony Award as lead actor in a musical for his work on Broadway in The Robber Bridegroom (1977). While he would appear in both films, his singing and dancing talents wouldn’t be utilized until the second feature.

Another Broadway star, Ann Reinking, would also appear. Reinking, best perhaps known for her dancing and her work with director/choreographer Bob Fosse, was also relatively new to film, with Movie Movie one of only four films she’s made; her next film would be the Fosse directed All That Jazz (1979). Like Bostwick, her musical talents would be utilized, but only in the first film, as she would not appear in Baxter’s Beauties, perhaps because Van Devere was playing the lead role of the musical actress.

The film would feature four very well-known actors, the biggest being George C. Scott, who had been acting since the last 1950s in such films as Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Hustler (1961) and Dr. Strangelove (1964). In 1970, Scott had made a very big splash with his portrayal in Patton, winning, but refusing, the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Eli Wallach, who would win an Honorary Academy Award in 2011, was one of those actors who could play nearly any character, whether it be the lecherous Silva Vaccaro in Baby Doll (1956) to the Mexican bandit Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960). His chameleon acting skills would be put to the test in Movie Movie, as he would appear in both films.

Like Wallach, Red Buttons got his start on Broadway before coming to film in 1947. A comedian, Buttons had already won an Academy Award for his performance as Airman Joe Kelly in Sayonara (1957). His roles in both films were supporting roles to Scott’s character.

Rounding out the Academy Award winning actors in this film was Art Carney. Perhaps best known for his role as Ed Norton in Jackie Gleason’s The Honeymooners (1951-1955), he had won an Oscar for his performance opposite a cat in Harry and Tonto (1974). A reliable actor with good comedic timing, Carney would appear in both films.

Even though the first film, Dynamite Hands, was supposed to be in black and white, the film was actually shot in color due to the desire for TV sales. The required lighting put the production behind schedule and the original cinematographer was replaced. The film, which was recently released on Blu-Ray, originally opened with a brief introduction by George Burns, but this bit of video was not included in this release, except as a special feature.

Dynamite Hands opens with an exterior shot of a New York street corner, circa the late 1930s. Inside his office, Dr. Blaine (Art Carney) is completing his thorough examination of Angie Popchik (Kathleen Beller). He has the sad news that her eyes are getting worse and that the operation to fix them is only done by a doctor in Austria. The cost would be about $25,000, travel included.

Angie Popchik (Kathleen Beller) has eye trouble which will cost $25,000 to fix.

But young Joey Popchik (Harry Hamlin) is not aware of the bad news when he makes the delivery from the family deli to the gym of boxing trainer Gloves Malloy (George C. Scott). When the boxer Gloves is training, Sailor Lawson (Clay Hodges), refuses to pay for his sandwich, he and Joey get into it. Sailor can’t lay a glove on Joey, but Joey manages to knock him out cold.

Gloves offers Joey a contract, but Joey has his heart set on going to law school and becoming a lawyer. But that dream changes when he goes home and learns from his parents, Mama Popchik (Jocelyn Brando) and “Pops” (Michael Kidd), about Angie’s needs and the money it will cost.

Distraught, Joey goes up to the roof where he keeps pigeons. There he finds his best girl, Betsy McGuire (Trish Van Devere), a librarian for New York City. He tells her about Angie’s fate and what he has to do to help and she is initially with him on his idea to raise the money.

The next day, Joey goes back to Gloves and agrees to fight until he’s made the twenty-five grand.  Their contract is a handshake. With Gloves and Peanuts (Red Buttons) in his corner, Joey starts out on a string of fights around the country. When he returns six months later, he’s undefeated, but no closer to having the money Angie needs, having only earned $300 in that time.

While they’re sharing a drink in a nightclub, Joey, with Betsy by his side, tells Gloves how anxious he is to fight in Madison Square Garden and earn the large payday that would go with it. Gloves, though, doesn’t think Joey is ready yet and tells him he still needs more time.

Enter Vince Marlowe (Eli Wallach), a rival promoter and also owner of the nightclub. He overhears the conversation and offers to make it happen in three months. Despite Gloves' objections and warnings to stay away from the unscrupulous promoter, Joey agrees to let Vince represent him, but only if Gloves and Peanuts are a part of the deal.

Meanwhile, Troubles Moran (Ann Reinking) performs in the club and Joey is awestruck by her presence. When Gloves and Betsy leave the nightclub in disgust, Vince seizes on the moment and introduces Joey to Troubles. She’s one of the fast women Betsy was afraid of and Troubles lives up to her name.

Troubles Moran (Ann Reinking) tries to make Joey Popchik (Harry Hamlin)
forget about his girl and just about everything else.

Joey gets back to training with Gloves and Peanuts and despite his parent’s objections, starts to date Troubles. Angie, meanwhile, meets Johnny Danko (Barry Bostwick), one of Vince’s henchmen, and falls in love.

When he returns back to town, things are not right between him and Betsy. She wants nothing to do with him. Upstairs in the family’s apartment, Joey finds Angie and Johnny heavy petting and kicks Johnny down the stairs, promising to kill him if he comes around again.

Mad, he goes to Vince’s to demand the money, but Vince puts him off, telling him that he’s booked him in the Garden in a few days and then he’ll give him the money he needs for Angie’s operation. But before he can leave, Joey sees Troubles come downstairs from Vince’s bedroom.

Joey tries to win Betsy’s love back. He apologizes for his bad behavior and swears to her that she’s the only woman for him. But Betsy insists that she needs more time to think things over.

The night of the big fight comes and Peanuts is prepping Joey for the fight when Vince comes in. He 

tells Joey that he’s bet heavily against him and he tells Joey to take a dive in the fifth or else he won’t give him the money for Angie’s operation. Joey doesn’t want to go along, but feels trapped. Only then does he learn from Gloves that he and Peanuts have bet the farm, literally, on Joey. That’s bad enough, but on the way to the ring he finds out that everyone in the old neighborhood has bet on him and then finally learns that Pops has bet the deli on Joey to win.

The night of the big fight, Joey doesn't fight back until the fifth round.

Meanwhile, Betsy is back home listening on the radio and Vince and Troubles are sitting in the stands next to each other.

Joey doesn’t fight back for the first four rounds and looks close to giving up when at ringside, Angie and Johnny show up. They apologize for their late arrival, but despite Joey’s objections, the two of them have just wed and are leaving the next day on Johnny’s money to Austria for the operation.

Meanwhile, Betsy hurries down the Garden to be at ringside when Joey comes out for the fifth. Instead of the beating he’s been receiving or taking a dive, Joey knocks out his opponent and wins the fight. He’s escorted by police back to his dressing room, where Gloves tells him to get lost for a while and shows Joey and Betsy out the back way to a taxi.

Gloves goes to the nearest payphone to call the boxing commissioner about the rigged fight, but Vince stops him. While they’re getting into the cab, Joey hears a gunshot and goes back in. There he finds Gloves shot and with Peanuts by his side, Joey says goodbye to him.

Joey has a heartfelt goodbye with Gloves (George C. Scott).

So angered is Joey by Gloves’ murder that he hurries through law school in time to become District Attorney and personally try Vince for the crime. After his impassioned final argument, the jury does not need to deliberate and finds Vince guilty. With Betsy by his side, Johnny and Angie arrive to tell him that the operation was a success. When reporters clamor for a statement, Joey climbs up on the Judge’s (Charles Lane) bench and gives a rambling speech, dedicating the prosecution to Gloves’ memory. The film ends with a superimposed shot of Gloves munching down on his ever present cigar.

Before the next “feature” there is the coming attraction for “Zero Hour” a World War I send-up in which Scott, Carney and Wallach get to speak with bad English accents.

The second feature starts with the exact same shot as Dynamite Hands, except this time the shot is in color. We’re once again inside a doctor’s office, this time Dr. Bowers (Art Carney). This time the patient is Spats Baxter (George C. Scott), a legendary Broadway producer. Once again, the good doctor has bad news. Spats has six months to live, from their last appointment, five months ago. Dr. Bowers tells him that he suffers from Spencer’s disease, which only seems to affect show people.

The diagnosis leads Spats to confess to Dr. Bowers that he has to have one more hit show for the sake of his daughter no one knows about. After killing her mother in a car crash while driving drunk, he sent the girl upstate and sends her money anonymously every month at the finishing school she attends.

Soon afterwards, Kitty Simpson (Rebecca York), fresh off the train, happens to walk by the Baxter’s Beauties theater which is having auditions. But before she can get inside, she makes the acquaintance of Dick Cummings (Barry Bostwick), a seemingly nose in his books kind of guy. They end up entangled and trapped on top of an oversized wedding cake that comes up through the sidewalk. When Dick tries to extricate himself, he knocks Kitty’s suitcase out of her hands and it opens. But her embarrassment is only starting. When Dick tries to quickly put things right, he gets the hem of her dress caught inside the suitcase, so when he yanks it her dress comes off.

Dick slinks inside the theater, having been sent by an accounting agency. After putting herself back together and going inside, Kitty is informed by Pop (Eli Wallach), the stage manager, that they’re full up. But dance director Jinks Murphy (Red Buttons) is persuaded, after Kitty faints, by veteran chorus line dancer Trixie Lane (Barbara Harris) to give the girl an audition. But talent will out and Jinks wants to pass, but Spats, who has just returned from the doctor’s, decides to take a chance on her, having been a dancer once himself.

Spats goes to see the star of his show, Isobel Stuart (Trish Van Devere), getting drunk despite his boycott on any alcohol in her lavish, two-story dressing room. Her assistant, Gussie (Maidie Norman), doesn’t know how the liquor is getting in. (We find out later it's hidden in the piano.) Isobel knows star power and holds it over Spats. She refuses to do the new show, which he is desperate to do, unless he provides a completely new score.

Meantime, Spats finds his new accountant, Dick Cummings (Barry Bostwick), sitting behind his desk when he enters. Dick informs his new boss that everything looks good and that he has plenty of money on hand for the new production. While going through the ledgers, Spats discovers sheet music. Dick confesses to be a would-be song writer, offering up a song, which parodies love songs of the day, rhyming June, moon and spoon. Spats is impressed with what he hears and offers Dick the chance to write a score, 12 songs, but he has to do it one night. Dick is up to the challenge and starts 

out right away to write.

Spats Baxter (George C. Scott) finds sheet music in and among the ledgers
of his new accountant, Dick Cummings (Barry Bostwick).

Meanwhile, Trixie takes Kitty home to her apartment and reveals that she has a secret crush on Spats. Kitty settles in and ends up on the roof, presumably to check on the laundry that is hanging there to dry. But who should be up on the roof, with his piano composing, but Dick. While Kitty isn’t happy to see him at first, she does inspire the last song Dick needs to write. By mis-turning a phrase, she says "It Just Shows to Go Ya” and the show's big number practically writes itself. The two young wannabes sing and fall in love for everyone in the neighborhood to witness.

"It Just Shows to Go Ya" Dick and  Kitty (Rebecca York) get reacquainted and fall in love. 

The next day at rehearsal, Isobel is impressed by the score and as impressed by the young composer, whom she starts to woo. Dick even has to cancel his first date with Kitty, which breaks her heart.  Dick thinks Isobel loves him and is quite enthralled by the star’s attention. However, the short-lived romance ends, when Dick overhears Isobel tell Spats that she’s only using Dick to write great songs for her. Dick apologizes to Kitty for his behavior and they resume their romance.

Spats’ plans take a tumble when he learns that checks he’s written for the sets and costumes bounced. He finds out that Isobel has been charging her lavish lifestyle to the production and Spats owes $36,000, money he doesn’t have. He dismisses the cast and crew as he is forced to shut down the production.

But things turn around when Mr. Pennington (Charles Lane) comes to visit Spats, delivering to him the money he needs from an anonymous source. With the production back on, Kitty reveals to Trixie that she’s the source of the money. She tells her roommate about the money she’s been receiving her whole life from an unknown benefactor.

But during dress rehearsals, Isobel sees Dick and Kitty kissing and in a jealous rage tells Spats that she won’t go on as long as Kitty is still around. Seeing that he has no other choice, Spats tells Kitty that he has to let her go. Heartbroken, Kitty leaves town.

On opening night, Spats discovers that Isobel is once again drunk, having passed out on the floor. Worse, in her drunken stupor she’s fallen and broken her ankle, so there is no way she can go on. It’s then that Trixie reveals to Spats that not only could Kitty go in in her place, but that she’s also the one who gave him the money. Spats puts two and two together and realizes that Kitty is his long-lost daughter.

With only 90 minutes before the curtain is to go up and in a tip of the hat to the work of George M. Cohan, Spats dispatches Dick and Trixie to retrieve her from the finishing school in New Rochelle, “because it’s only 45 minutes from Broadway.” In the cab ride back, they tell Kitty about her true parentage and also rehearse the show in the back seat. They are fortunate that when their cab is pulled over for speeding, the motorcycle cop owes Spats a favor and escorts them the rest of the way into New York. But rush as they must, they are still late and Spats orders Peanuts to hold the curtain.

Baxter's Bikes is the opening number in the show.

The family reunion takes a backseat to getting Kitty onstage. She goes out a nobody and comes back a star as the musical is the big success that Spats desperately wanted. But Spencer’s disease finally catches up to him and Spats collapses on the stage. With the cast and crew around him, he praises Kitty, urges Dick to take care of his daughter and shows regrets about overlooking Trixie. He dies to a heavenly version of the show’s big number "It Just Shows to Go Ya.”

It helps, but isn’t required, to be somewhat familiar with studio era cinema, this is after all, not just a parody, but also a love-letter to Hollywood, similar to but better than say Hail, Caesar! (2016). The people behind this film, Stanley Donen in particular, were aware of and had been a part of the era they were dealing with. Donen, who knew a thing or two about musicals, helping to direct with Gene Kelly On The Town (1949) and Singin’ In the Rain (1952), also knew comedy, having directed the very funny original Bedazzled (1967) with British comedy greats Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

He is helped with a witty screenplay co-credited to Larry Gelbart and Sheldon Keller. Gelbart, who seemed to excel at period piece comedy, was one of the co-creators of the highly successful TV Series M*A*S*H which ran from 1972 to 1983. The screenplay is witty and funny and not afraid to make nonsense dialogue with heart; harder than you think it might be.

The acting is pretty good throughout. The one complaint would be Trish Van Devere as Betsy McGuire in Dynamite Hands. She is clearly too old for the role of a mid-twenties girl as she was in her late-thirties when she made the movie. Not that she was bad, per se, it’s just that she didn’t look right for the part, but it wasn’t talent that got her the role, but rather her marriage to the film's star. Ann Reinking certainly makes an impression as Troubles Moran and Barry Bostwick shines as Dick Cummings. They both make the hard work they do look easy, which is a sign of just how talented they are. It often seems that the better someone is at something the easier they make it look.

Most of the Academy Award winning lead males show their versatility, but really only George C. Scott has a leading role in both films. Wallach has a much bigger part in Dynamite Hands than in Baxter’s Beauties, but he is good even in a diminished role. Art Carney plays virtually the same character in both films and they are scenes that could have been shot back to back they are so similar. Likewise, Buttons’ Peanuts and Jinks are also very similar.

The films do not only a good job of recreating the double-bill experience, but also in how studio films were part art and part industrial. After all, with their own theater chains, studios were cranking out about a film a week. It is a tribute to the talent pool that so many of them were as good as they are. Not only do both films re-use actors, shots and sets, but they also hit upon similar themes and hit similar plot points, even though they are trying to tell different stories. They’re both boy meets girl stories at their essence and as follows, boy loses girl. In both, the innocent boy's affections are drawn away by a more glamorous woman, show girls. Both men realize their mistakes, not on their own, but by seeing and hearing that the love they thought was real wasn’t, and beg for the original girl to take them back. If the plots seem familiar than that is also to be expected. Remember, Hollywood films used to be considered safe for consumption by all age groups. Normally nothing too risky or daring with familiar being a good bet.

The pacing is also about right. As we’ve discussed in previous reviews of films like Winner Take All, the films never stop to catch their breath as they relentlessly move from opening credits to the end. The fact that Joey was able to become DA practically overnight, while amusing on its face, isn’t really too far out of line for how it might have been treated in a “B” film of the day, which routinely compressed time for the sake of plot.

I really liked Movie Movie the first time I saw it, yes in a theater, and it became one of those “why can’t I find it” films, which occasionally happens when smaller libraries change hands. The new owners may or may not know what they have. Nostalgia being what it is, Movie Movie became better and better in my mind the harder it was to find. When I saw that this film was finally getting an English-language release, I jumped on the pre-order. (I had actually considered importing a foreign language version with the original English as a bonus feature.) While I would not say I’m disappointed, the film doesn’t quite live up to the buildup I had in my own head, but that’s me.

If you love old Hollywood films, the studio era in particular, and have never seen Movie Movie, then I would say that you should definitely watch the film now that it has been restored. If you’re like me and have seen the film before, it is definitely worth watching it again, just be aware that absence can sometimes make the heart grow fonder and the film seem better.

Stubs Goes Blu(-ray) - A Hard Day’s Night

Stubs Goes Blu(-Ray) is an occasional series wherein we reexamine a favorite classic that receives an enhanced presentation.

A Hard Day’s Night (1964) Starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr with Wilfrid Brambell. Directed by Richard Lester. Produced by Walter Shenson. Screenplay by Alun Owen. Songs by Lennon-McCartney. Run time 87 minutes. Black and White. British. Musical Comedy

My love of this film is nothing new. When I first started writing about film for Trophy Unlocked, the first film I wrote about was A Hard Day’s Night. I have managed to own this in every conceivable format, including Betacam and even a PC ROM version that took every other frame of the film. (I even for a while had producer Walter Shenson’s personal copy that I took photos from for a project at USC.) But the best version I’ve seen, short of in the theater, is the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray version, which has been out for some time, but which I only recently had the time to watch. (So many movies, so little time).

There is nothing not to love about this film. A fictitious day in the life of what was at the time a force of nature, but which has, over time, been recognized as the greatest/biggest/most influential rock band of all time. So much has been written about them that I will not attempt to put my own spin on their story, but their music looms large in their legend and plays a very prominent role in the film. While most of the music was written specifically for the movie, including the title song, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” “If I Fell” and “And I Love Her,” they do perform one of their early greatest hits, “She Loves You,” one of the most infectious songs in all of pop/rock music.

In a script written specifically for them, by Alun Owen, the four Beatles come across as individuals with strong personalities and good senses of humor. While Paul doesn’t really get a vignette of his own, the others do with Ringo having received a lot of praise for his performance in the film. George, who is mistaken for a would-be actor, manages to deflate producer Simon Marshall’s (Kenneth Haigh) confidence in their resident teenager, Susan Canby, by giving his opinion and not caring how it’s taken. John has a shorter bit and interlude with Millie (Anna Quayle), who thinks she knows who he is until he convinces her he isn’t.

The supporting cast is also very strong, with all of them hitting their marks. They don’t get in the way of The Beatles and they are treated as more than just props for the humor, but there is a real give and take between themselves and with the Beatles. Wilfrid Brambell plays Paul’s other grandfather and given the obvious age differential seems to work well with them, especially Ringo, with whom he is paired with for part of the movie that sets Ringo out to parade about.

The Beatles are basically playing themselves or at least an idealized version of themselves and the film, made as quick exploitation, has turned into a classic of the rock film genre. Many groups have tried the formula from Gerry and the Pacemakers to The Ramones, but none has made a better film. A lot of that credit goes to director Richard Lester, who capitalizes on contemporary trends in filmmaking to bring the best out of everyone involved.

While The Beatles are certainly not Great Britain’s answer to the Four Marx Brothers, some comparisons are in order. Both rely on good screenplays and good chemistry with each member needing to be his own man, but also to work well within the confines of the group. And both groups seem to bring chaos with them to any given situation. The Marx Brothers are basically "controlled anarchy," while the Beatles’ presence destabilizes whatever situation they’re in.

Like Marx Brothers films, A Hard Day’s Night is funny, both verbally and visually. The dialogue, for the most part, sounds natural, giving the viewer the idea that they’re eavesdropping in on the group, rather than the fact they’re giving a bash at reading lines. The visual humor sometimes borders on the slapstick, as when Ringo puts down his raincoat in his best Walter Raleigh impersonation to let a woman avoid a mud pool, only to have her swallowed up by it.

John was busy the day they shot this sequence with Paul, Ringo and George.

There is an underlying sense of youthful rebellion under most of the film, as the Beatles keep running smack up against the “man”, whether it’s the regular train rider (Richard Vernon) they conflict with over the window and radio, the groundskeeper who chases them off the field they’re playing on during “Can’t Buy Me Love”, the TV director (Vincent Spinetti), who doesn’t know what to do with them, or even their own manager, Norm (Norman Rossington), whom Lennon constantly compares with a pig. But it is all played for fun, rather than for any overt political message.

The Beatles on tour, according to A Hard Day's Night.

Such was the phenomenon of the Beatles and the success of A Hard Day’s Night that it was mentioned in a recent college course, on Pop Culture, one of my sons took. The professor made the rather uninformed observation that the Beatles had made this film to show fans how to react to them. Perhaps he was unaware of the timing of the film, but it was made after they had already been to America and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. They were not showing fans how to react, but showing how fans did react to them.

Seeing the film again is sort of like meeting up with an old friend after an absence of years. They are still warm and funny and can be counted on to make you feel good for the experience. Seeing the film again in Blu-Ray is a real delight. The camera work, much of which is handheld, still looks good and even better in high definition. The black and white cinematography is iconic, making the Beatles seem more uniform, or idealized than they really were.

John leans forward on the train to ask Paul "Who's that little old man?"

Any good film is worth seeing in the best possible setting. Theatrical films, even those in black and white shot in the Academy ratio, should be seen on the big screen. But if your local revival house or college classroom is not showing the film, then the next best thing would be the Blu-Ray. 

For other Beatles films, see our Beatles Film Review Hub: 

http://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-hub-beatles-on-film.html

Blu-ray screeencaps courtesy of Blu-ray.com

Stubs - Independence Day

Independence Day (1996) Starring: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, Margaret Colin, Vivica A. Fox. Directed by Roland Emmerich. Screenplay by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. Produced by Dean Devlin. Color. U.S.A. Run time 145. Science Fiction, Horror, Action.

There is a rich tradition of filmmakers coming from Germany to Hollywood. But Roland Emmerich is hardly ever mentioned in the same breath as F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang or Billy Wilder. While these filmmakers’ works have stood the test of time, Emmerich’s have not yet, nor will they necessarily. A lot of that has to do with the types of films Emmerich is best known for making, disaster films. This is a genre that usually doesn’t stand the time of time. When is the last time anyone has mentioned The Towering Inferno (1974) or Earthquake (1974) or even Emmerich’s own The Day After Tomorrow (2004).

But some disaster films do last and even spark their own sequels. Such is the case with Emmerich’s Independence Day, released on July 2, 1996. The story originates when Emmerich and his filmmaking partner, Dean Devlin, were doing a press tour promoting their film adventure, science fiction film Stargate, in 1994.

By Hollywood standards, Emmerich and Devlin were able to have very quick turn around on their idea, with principal photography starting in New York in July 1995. There was a lot of location shooting with such diverse places as the Very Large Array in San Agustin, New Mexico; Wendover, Utah, West Wendover, Nevada; Cliffside Park, New Jersey; Fontana, California; the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah; and Hughes Aircraft in Los Angeles. Some sets, like those of the Oval Office, were reused from such films as The American President (1995) and Nixon (1995).

As can be imagined for a film reliant on special effects, there are 3000 plus special effects in Independence Day. However, to save on the budget, more were done on-set, in-camera rather than CGI and blue screen-laden. It was a strategy that seemed to work as the film won Best Visual Effects.

The mother ship deploys smaller ships which take positions over major cities throughout the world.

The movie opened on the day the story starts, on July 2, 1996, which is a tribute to good marketing. On that day, an enormous alien mothership, that scientists measure to be about one fourth the size of the Moon, enters orbit around Earth. The immediate effects were the disruption of communications, like capable TV, that is reliant on satellite technology. So big is this ship that it destroys anything that gets in its way or who’s way it gets into.

Early on the news isn't good, with General Grey (Robert Loggia) hearing first hand.

As the military is coming to grips and notifications go up the ladder to the President, Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), the mothership deploys three dozen smaller ships, each about 15 miles wide, which take positions over the major cities and military bases around the world.

Even the smaller ships are large, about 15 miles wide.

Meanwhile, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), an MIT graduate who works as the satellite technician for a New York cable company, leaves a chess game with his father, Julius (Judd Hirsch), when he’s called into work over the emergency, by his boss, Marty Gilbert (Harvey Fierstein). David quickly diagnosis the issue as a signal embedded in the satellite transmissions, which he thinks he can program to override. But at the same time, he notices that the signal is really a countdown, which he determines is for a coordinated attack from these ships.

David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) plays chess with his father Julius (Judd Hirsch).

It turns out that his ex-wife, Constance Spano (Margaret Colin), happens to be the President’s White House Communications Director. However, the President is still uncertain what to do. A former fighter pilot during the Gulf War, Mitchell was apparently enough of a war hero to have been elected President and his qualifications show. He seems uncertain what to do. He is getting advice from the head of US Space Command, General William Grey (Robert Loggia), and from his Secretary of Defense, Albert Nimzicki (James Rebhorn), but isn’t sure if the aliens are friendly or not. He even goes on TV to tell Americans not to panic, but to remain indoors.

In an effort to save his wife, David gets Julius to drive him down to Washington D.C. as everyone is beginning, on revised instructions, to evacuate the cities. They manage to make the drive in time to warn the President against the alien’s hostile intent.

The President’s own wife, Marilyn (Mary McDonnell), is in Los Angeles for a series of events and promises to turn to Washington as soon as she’s done.

Across the country, on July 3, Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith), a USMC F/A-18 pilot, is waking up in the bed of his girlfriend, Jasmine Dubrow (Vivica A. Fox), a single mother and an exotic dancer. Her son, Dylan (Ross Bagley), is excited about the alien invasion, which Steven is blind to at first. It is not until he sees one of the ships parked over the Library Tower in downtown Los Angeles.

Crowds gather hoping the aliens will provide hope.

Out in the Imperial Valley, Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), a widowed, alcoholic crop duster, is doing what he’s does best, messing up. His son, Miguel (James Duval), is sent by a farmer to tell Russell that he’s dusted the wrong field, again. Russell, who had served in Vietnam as a fighter pilot, is a local nutjob, claiming to have been once kidnapped by aliens, a story everyone believes he got from the bottom of a bottle. But when one of the ships passes overhead, his family, which includes his teenage daughter, Alicia (Lisa Jakub), and his youngest and sickly son, Troy (Giuseppe Andrews), along with the other trailer park residents, decide to get out of town.

Russell Casse (Randy Quaid) is an alcoholic former fighter pilot turned crop duster.

When Steven returns to his base, El Toro, Jasmine goes back to work, dancing one more night at the club, even though everyone is more interested in the news than her pole work. Deciding it’s time to leave, she grabs Dylan and heads to El Toro.

On what could be her last night on Earth, Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) goes back to work as a stripper.

Realizing what the countdown means, the President and his daughter, Patricia (Mae Whitman), along with his immediate staff and the Levinsons, are ushered out of the White House just as the attack begins and the White House, along with the Empire State Building in New York and the Library Tower in LA, are simultaneously destroyed and an atomic blast effect sweeps over those cities. Other cities across the globe: London, Moscow and Paris among them, share the same fate.

The White House gets destroyed just after the President manages to escape.

Jasmine, son and their dog narrowly escape destruction, by hiding in a room in a tunnel just as the blast effect lays waste to all of Los Angeles. Also caught up in the blast is the First Lady’s helicopter that is forced down by the explosion.

Back at El Toro, Steve (Will Smith) and Jimmy (Harry
 Connick Jr.) take part in planning the counter attack.

On July 3, Steven and his wing, including his best friend, Captain Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connick Jr.), are dispatched to counterattack the enemy ship over Los Angeles. But the ship is protected by a force field that the missiles can’t pierce. Steven and Jimmy pull out of the attack formation, but two of the ship’s smaller fighter crafts take chase. They end up somewhere that looks like the Grand Canyon, where Jimmy tries a maneuver that his plane can’t perform and he’s shot down. Steven, who is a better pilot, manages to survive and lead the fighter following him into crashing. Steven, who has parachuted out, goes over to the alien spaceship, opens the door and knocks the alien out.

The counter strike does not go very well.

Meanwhile, spurred on by Julius, who rants out alien conspiracy theories dating from a crash in Roswell back in 1947, the Secretary of Defense admits to the President that Area 51 does exist and the President has Air Force One sent there.

At the same time, Steven is pulling the unconscious alien, wrapped up in his parachute, through the desert, when the fleet of motor homes descends on him. Steven tells him that he saw a military base nearby when he was flying, Area 51, and directs the convoy in that direction.

The President lands at Area 51, which is run by Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin). Dr. Brackish Okun (Brent Spiner) is in charge of the research and leads a large contingent of scientist in an underground bunker several stories below the ground. Dr. Okun is an excitable unkempt man, perhaps driven a little mad by the isolation.

Dr. Brackish Okun (Brent Spiner) runs the scientific investigation at Area 51.

He shows the President the “freak show” as they call it, three aliens who have crash landed on earth preserved in cylinders. And he shows him the alien craft from 1947 that they have been rebuilding as best they can since it crashed landed. He tells that a few days ago, everything on the ship lit up and started to function. Impressed by David, the President suggests that he take a look at what Dr. Okun’s team has done to see if they’d missed anything.

President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and his entourage look at the "freak show".

Steven and the convoy arrive at the gates of Area 51 and use the unconscious alien as their ticket inside. No one is more excited by the arrival than Dr. Okun. Along with a team of scientists, they prepare to do an autopsy on the alien, only he’s not really dead. After throwing the doctors around, the alien grabs Okun. The President, who has come down to witness the autopsy, communicates telepathically through Dr. Okun. While the President talks about co-existing, the alien insists that they are there to kill off the human race. The alien then psychically attacks Whitmore. His security detail, including Major Mitchell, fire through the glass, killing the alien once and for all, but not before Whitmore is able to also read the alien’s mind. He sees that they move from planet to planet, like space locusts, killing off the native population and then strip the planet of its natural resources before moving on to the next conquest.

They start to do an autopsy on the alien, only he's not quite dead yet.

Knowing the aliens’ plans, Whitmore takes his Secretary of Defense’s suggestion and orders they retaliate with the bomb. He orders a wing of B-2 Stealth bombers to attack, the first being in Houston, Texas. With a ground patrol observing, the B-2 launches the missile. While they initially think the ship has been destroyed, once the electronics reboot, it reveals that the ship is still there. The other planes are ordered back to base.

While everyone is pre-occupied, Steven steals one of the helicopters and flies to El Toro Air Station to look for Jasmine and Dylan. When he arrives, Jasmine is not alone, having collected people along the way while having commandeered a firetruck. One of the survivors she’s collected is the First Lady, who is fatally wounded. Steven flies everyone back to Area 51, where the First Lady receives medical aide, but it is already too late. Whitmore is advised by one of the doctors that she has internal bleeding and there is nothing they can do to save her. But she does get to see her family again before she passes.

The next day, July 4^th, Julius inadvertently gives David an idea on how to defeat the aliens. He turns his father’s concern that he’ll catch a cold lying drunk on the floor, into the idea of giving the mothership a virus. He demonstrates this by giving the ship in the hangar a virus so that its shields go down. He suggests that they use the refurbished attack ship to gain entry to the mothership, surmising that if they can plant a virus it will cause all the shields to go down. The military adds to the idea, of adding a nuclear bomb on board the attack ship which they can deploy to cover their escape.

Steve volunteers to fly the alien ship and David volunteers to go with him, over Julius’ objections to plant the virus. But before they leave, Steve marries Jasmine in a ceremony that David and Constance witness, signaling a renewal of their love for each other.

Steve and Jasmine marry in an impromptu ceremony before he goes into space.

While Steve has some difficulty getting the ship going, he does manage to get it into space, where, as David hoped, the mother ship’s tractor beam pulls the craft inside and into a docking station. Once there, David takes out his trusty Apple laptop which manages to communicate with the mother ship’s network (of course it does) and he manages to upload the virus.

David manages to plant a virus in the alien ship's computer.

Meanwhile, the military has organized a ragtag team of pilots, including Russell and even the President, who insists on going up; he is, after all, a fighter pilot at heart. He delivers an inspirational message to everyone before they go up, a mixture of patriotism and Shakespeare, that rallies the troops. They are in flight waiting for the virus to take effect.

President Whitmore addresses the meager forces gathered at Area 51.

With its shields down, the ship over Area 51 is susceptible to a missile attack, but the planes lack the fire power to bring it down. The ship starts to deploy the its main attack weapon, a powerful destructive beam. The President takes aim, but misses. However, Russell comes out of nowhere with the last missile of the attack wing. But when he tries to fire it, the armed missile malfunctions and won’t fire. Taking matters into his own hands, Russell flies his plane into the beam. The resulting explosion reverberates throughout the ship, ultimately bringing it down. General Grey orders that they let the other straggling forces left throughout the world in on how to bring the ships down.

The ship over Area 51 starts to destruct.

But onboard the Mother Ship, Steve and David try to escape, but are locked in place. Once they are discovered, they launch the missile and the disruption frees their ship. With 30 seconds to go before the bomb explodes and despite being chased by like-size attack ships, Steve manages to fly them out of there just as the aperture they came in through closes. They are away by the time the bomb goes off, destroying the Mother Ship, but they get caught up in the aftermath and Area 51 loses contact with them.

Even after delivering the virus, David and Steve are not out of danger.

When their ship crash lands, Constance and Jasmine, along with the President, rush out to the crash site. They find Steve and David walking away from the crash site, smoking victory cigars. Steve tells Dylan that he promised him fireworks as they watch the crashed ship explode.

During the least satisfying special effects sequence, Steve shows Dylan the fireworks.

We’re all led to believe that with the aliens defeated, life can get back to a new normal as the humans rebuild. And that’s what they wanted us to believe, for 20 years, before someone had the bright idea, or lack thereof, and decided to make a sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, with an eye towards trying to make this into a trilogy. In retrospect, it takes a little away from your enjoyment to realize that what you thought was a complete and original story was only part one of three. Not to put this in the league with truly great films like Casablanca, but I’m so glad the thinking was different back then. Knowing that there was Casablanca 2: Freedom Fighter and Casablanca 3: Rick and Ilsa Together Again would certainly have tainted that film.

For the most part I really enjoyed the film the first time I saw it in the theater and on repeated viewings. It seems to hold up as an Epic Sci-Fi Adventure film. A few of the special effects haven’t aged well, especially the panorama of the crashed space ship with Steven holding Dylan and talking about fireworks. This shot for some reason really screams blue screen to me.

Will Smith makes a likeable hero. At this point in his career, Smith was still transitioning from being a rap star, The Fresh Prince; and TV star, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air; into a movie star. He had already appeared in several films, including a very good performance in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and the action-comedy Bad Boys (1995). This was in the era before Smith’s ego got so big that he thinks every role he played was Academy Award worthy.

Jeff Goldblum got his start in films playing the role of Freak #1 in Death Wish (1974). He would have a series of small but memorable roles, including Annie Hall (1977), in which he plays a party guest speaking into the phone, "This is Mr. Davis. I forgot my mantra." He would continue to get bigger roles in such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Big Chill (1983) before taking the lead in the modern remake of The Fly (1986) and its sequel The Fly II (1989). He would reach the point where he was a big enough star to be playing himself in The Player (1992). Goldblum also appeared as Dr. Ian Malcolm in the blockbuster Jurassic Park (1993) prior to his role in Independence Day. His quirky persona came to good use as the MIT trained genius who would rather spend his days working as a satellite technician for a New York cable company.

The acting in the supporting roles is for the most part good, but not all together stellar. Mary McDonnell seems under used in her relatively small role as the First Lady. Bill Pullman is good as a President struggling with the overwhelming duties of a crisis none before him has had to face. Vivica A. Fox plays a stripper with a good heart. Robert Loggia almost seems born to play roles like General Grey. He’s an actor who can play both tough and smart, capabilities that come in handy here. Judd Hirsch is typically good, showing that he had successfully moved on from the TV Series Taxi.

But if anything, the film has almost too many comedic sidekicks.To begin with, Randy Quaid comes to mind. His Russell Casse is so over-the-top that it still sort of works. In a bit of art imitating life, Quaid has come to resemble this character since the movie. Harry Connick is also a little bit of a ham, perhaps just a tad over playing his fairly small part of a subordinate close friend of Steven’s in the Marine’s Air Corp. I wince every time he goes into his “preacher” routine. Likewise, Brent Spiner makes all that he can as the oddball head of the alien science program at Area 51. It’s sort of rare that a sci-fi film has so many comedic side-characters. Harvey Fierstein also gets into the act, playing David’s boss at the cable company. But his role is mostly running around yelling “David, David”, like a chicken with its head cut off, sort of a waste for his talent. You might say you need a lot of comedy to over balance the severity of the subject matter, but there is only so much scenery that you can chew.

The story is riddled with conveniences, like David’s wife being the Communications Director for the President. Like Jasmine happening to find and save the wounded first lady out of the whole of Los Angeles. Like the fact that an Apple laptop can communicate with a truly alien technology. Like the fact that despite their tentacles and squid-like bodies, the seating in the spaceship would be amenable to humans. Or like the fact that alien space crafts have not changed in the 50 years since the one at Area 51 crashed at Roswell. With the progress Earth technology has made in the past half-century, it’s a little hard to believe that theirs would have seemed to have stopped. In a matter of about fifty years we went from bi-planes in WWI to landing on the moon. Wouldn’t theirs have progressed, too? I could go on and on and I would if I didn’t like the film.

I’ve seen it a couple of times, originally in the theater and a week ago during our family Friday night movie. The film may have story problems, but what summer tent pole movie doesn’t? The plot may be pretty straight forward and the characters never get beyond a caricature, but there really isn’t time for much of that, as the film has a rather large cast to showcase. But you don’t watch a summer film for the high quality stories and great acting; you watch to have fun and to see the spectacle. And on that level, Independence Day does deliver. It’s little wonder that it was a major hit, being the top-grossing film in the US in 1996; breaking opening week and weekend records Jurassic Park had set three years before. (All of those have since been shattered many times over.)

What the film does best is give you hope that when the chips are down, humans from all different countries, religions and races can and will work together. So much has changed in the world since this film was released that that hope seems dimmer now. I have no idea about or interest to see the sequel, but I’m sure “current” events would have to addressed somehow. Part of my reason for not being interested in the sequel is that I think this film doesn’t really need one, especially 20 years later. For me, the original Independence Day is enough. I’m one and done.