All of Me

All of Me
September 21, 1984
Universal
Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
DVD
B-

Although this movie, based on the book Me Two, which I haven't read, has the makings of a classic farce, most of the time it plays like an above average sitcom.  (Carl Reiner was the director, but this is not equivalent to what his son Rob was doing at the time.)  I really enjoyed the movie when I saw it on first release, so I made sure to buy the DVD for this project, but it didn't live up to my memories.  (Similar to Roxanne, which we'll get to later.)  Not that this movie isn't entertaining, but it only achieves magic at the end, when the characters played by Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin, who have fallen in love while sharing his body (her soul accidentally moving in next to his) and are now living separately but more together than ever, have a joyful, silly dance together, shown to us in a mirror, since that's the only way her spirit exists after her death.  I know I'm explaining this strangely, but it is an odd movie, despite its use of cliches.  Not only is there a farce trapped inside a sitcom, but there's also a missed chance to explode rather than embrace gender (and racial) stereotypes.  (Tootsie this isn't.)  No one breaks free but it's an interesting struggle.

This time Eric Christmas (by then 68) plays Fred Hoskins.  Neil Elliot, who's the cabbie here, was "Neil" in Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!  Hardhat Nicholas Shields was Gorilla in Elevator in Thank God It's Friday.  Gailard Sartain, who's Fulton Norris here, was B. B. Muldoon in Roadie.  Dana Elcar, who plays Martin's boss, was Maxwell Smart's boss in The Nude Bomb.  Richard Libertini, who plays Prahka Lasa, was Geezil in Popeye.

Minister David Byrd would be Dr. Hugo Bronfenbrenner in The Hudsucker Proxy.  Victoria Tennant, who plays the duplicitous Terry Hoskins, met Martin on the set and they were married for a few years.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
October 1978
Four Square Productions
Comedy, Sci-Fi, Musical
VHS
B

As a 1970s parody, I'd put this roughly halfway between Son of Blob and The Big Bus.  I first saw it as a kid, watching Elvira's presentation, and (despite a half dozen very politically incorrect jokes) it probably is best for kids, or those adults who can enjoy intelligent stupidity.  I won't get into a discussion of whether you can set out deliberately to make a bad film, but I will say it's a good job of a bad film, with the giant fake tomato on a skateboard standing out as a cheerful demonstration of what can be done on a proudly small budget.  The acting is generally over the top (except for the elderly couple who casually watch their grandbaby get eaten).  The songs are all classics of some sort, with "Puberty Love" by Ronny Desmond a cruel satire of Donny Osmond.  The script goes in all directions and has only a slight resemblance to linear storytelling.  (For instance, a lot of time goes by before Mason Dixon goes to his rendezvous at 10 a.m.)

Overall, I think it's more interesting than Plan Nine, although after so many viewings, some of the charm has faded for me, unlike my recent experience with The Big Bus, which impressed me more than ever.  This film had many sequels, but I found Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) so disappointing that I disliked George Clooney for about a decade.

Understandably, there's not much of a recognizable cast here.  (Jack Riley, of The Bob Newhart Show, is the biggest name.)  Eric Christmas, who's Senator Polk here, was the priest in Harold and Maude.  Alan Scharf, who plays Roberts, would be a clerk in Scavenger Hunt, while Art Koustik, who's the FIA Director here, would be a zoo director there.  D.J. Sullivan, who plays Mrs. Williams, would be "Sister" in Going Ape!

Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude
December 20, 1971
Paramount
Comedy, Romance, Musical
DVD
B+

Thirty-year-old screenwriter Colin Higgins, 42-year-old director Hal Ashby, and 23-year-old Bud Cort (as almost 20-year-old Harold) and 75-year-old Ruth Gordon (as almost-80 Maude) brought their unique, quirky talents together to make this unique, quirky movie, ably supported by 40-year-old Vivian Pickles as Harold's fantastically pretentious, mostly unflappable mother.  This is a tricky film to talk about because it's become a Cult Movie, some people's favorite movie, and it's certainly meant a lot to me since I saw it at 19 on campus.  (They also showed Amarcord and a beach party movie, not all on one night.  It was a very confused film society.)  I think it's one of those not quite great movies.  I don't think everything in it works, like the way Maude keeps stealing cars, but it remains wise, sweet, sometimes joyous, and very funny.  I don't want to oversell it, because it's also in a way a quiet, little movie, with many long-distance shots and details to hunt out (like the PermaSeal on the coffin).  I think when you watch it, you have to get past its reputation and just enjoy it, because that's what Maude would want.

Ruth Gordon is just right as life-loving Maude, although I kept thinking She doesn't look 80, she barely looks 70.  Baby-faced Cort as Harold, despite his faked suicides, has a gentleness that is rare in movies, and when Maude brings him to life, he expresses it whimsically, as when he somersaults.  The script by Higgins is sharp and dry (he'd later pen Foul Play and 9 to 5, two other movies that mean a lot to me), while Ashby not only gets just the right emotions out of everyone (even the cartoony characters, like Harold's uncle), but he has some great shots, like the tombstones that look like a computer punch card from a distance.  And I must say that the Cat Stevens songs fit the movie perfectly, perhaps not as good as the Simon & Garfunkel music in The Graduate, but integrated even more effectively.

Marjorie Eaton, who was Miss Persimmon in Mary Poppins, this time plays Madame Arouet.  Michael L. Davis was Chief of Police in Skidoo and is unconfirmed as a policeman here.  Eric Christmas, who plays the priest disgusted by the idea of Harold's "firm young body" commingling with Maude's "withered" flesh, would be Senator Polk in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!  Shari Summers, who plays Edith Phern (one of Harold's computer dates) would be a nurse in Who's That Girl?