Although collecting physical media doesn’t have the convenience appeal of streaming films, there is now sort of a stigma with purchasing movies through online platforms. Although its possible to compile a collection of movies through an online library, consumers will ultimately be at the whim of the service should it choose to keep the title available on their server. Additionally, there are a number of titles that don’t happen to find their way to have streaming access and physical media distributors like Shout and Vinegar Syndrome have dedicated their business to some overlooked titles.
Kino Lorber, another great media distributor has just unveiled the technical specs for the Chevy Chase Fletch films via Blu-ray.com, as well as revealing the special features that can be found on the new blu-rays. In 2022, Jon Hamm would take up the mantle in the long-in-development third movie, Confess, Fletch, which is based...
Kino Lorber, another great media distributor has just unveiled the technical specs for the Chevy Chase Fletch films via Blu-ray.com, as well as revealing the special features that can be found on the new blu-rays. In 2022, Jon Hamm would take up the mantle in the long-in-development third movie, Confess, Fletch, which is based...
- 2/16/2024
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
Revisiting the exciting milieu of Warner Bros.' 1993 boxoffice smash "The Fugitive", but with one notable difference in the absence of superstar Harrison Ford as the wily good guy on the run, "U.S. Marshals" is a satisfying action extravaganza with Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones returning as the tough, relentless Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard.
Stuart Baird ("Executive Action") marshals his troops with finesse, and debut screenwriter John Pogue has come up with inventive ways to pay homage to writer Roy Huggins' characters and the original film.
Produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson, the wide release won't chase down the big numbers of its predecessor, but it's a sure-fire winner worldwide and should not escape the attention of video renters.
The success of "The Fugitive" was rightly recognized as the dual attraction of Ford's heroic doctor on a quest to clear his name and the professionalism of Jones' driven bogyman to the bad guys. Diverging from the original premise, "U.S. Marshals" lacks the first film's simple, dynamic structure and the strong emotional bonds one forms with the desperate "runner."
Instead, there's a big question as to whose side the current film's fugitive is on. Seen first in a spectacular curtain-raising traffic accident that lands him in the hospital, tow truck driver Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) is battered but in for far worse when the police find a concealed weapon in his truck. Seems the gun was used in a double homicide.
In short order he's put on a prisoner transport plane, and before one can say "Con Air" ten times, an assassin among the convicts tries to shoot him and causes a nasty crash landing instead. Also on board is Gerard, and he helps rescue the survivors after the plane lands on a rural road, flattens a bunch of telephone poles, skids off the road, flips over and lands upside down in the Ohio River.
The plane crash is the analog of the first film's knockout train-and-bus wreck, whose jump-off-the-dam scene is replayed with Sheridan swinging off a building in a move that would have Quasimodo demanding a stunt double. Overall, from the early tracking of the enigmatic Sheridan through the woods near the plane crash to the climactic rounds of cat-and-mouse pursuits and surprise gun battles in New York, Baird and crew successfully keep the tension high despite some confusing plot points.
Sheridan is both a runner and shooter, as Gerard finds out in one point-blank encounter, but it's a bit frustrating the way the audience is kept in the dark about his true identity and how he connects to the murders that one is initially led to believe he knows nothing about. Indeed, the focus is squarely on Gerard and his team, including returnees from the first film Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck and Tom Wood.
As such, "U.S. Marshals" is a showcase for Jones, and he comes through with another convincing, grounded performance. He's hurt but doesn't take it personally when he's shot at, yet he has an emotional side that comes out when one of his comrades is killed. With a more potent motive for risking life and limb than in the first film, Gerard also makes a mistake or two in figuring out who is the real bad guy.
Kate Nelligan is elegantly authoritative as Gerard's boss. While government agent Robert Downey Jr. is a bit too devious-looking from the outset, the actor has several fine moments playing the outsider on Team U.S. Marshals.
Well mounted in all regards, the elaborate production has a rugged physicality and mostly believable sequences, with the solid contributions of mechanical-effects supervisor Mike Meinardus, visual effects-designer Peter Donen and stunt coordinator Gary Davis.
U.S. MARSHALS
Warner Bros.
A Kopelson Entertainment/Keith Barish production
Director: Stuart Baird
Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Based on characters created by: Roy Huggins
Screenwriter: John Pogue
Executive producers: Keith Barish, Roy Huggins
Co-executive producer: Wolfgang Glattes
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Director of photography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer: Maher Ahmad
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gerard: Tommy Lee Jones
Sheridan: Wesley Snipes
John Royce: Robert Downey Jr.
Renfro: Joe Pantoliano
Walsh: Kate Nelligan
Marie: Irene Jacob
Biggs: Daniel Roebuck
Newman: Tom Wood
Running time -- 131 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Stuart Baird ("Executive Action") marshals his troops with finesse, and debut screenwriter John Pogue has come up with inventive ways to pay homage to writer Roy Huggins' characters and the original film.
Produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson, the wide release won't chase down the big numbers of its predecessor, but it's a sure-fire winner worldwide and should not escape the attention of video renters.
The success of "The Fugitive" was rightly recognized as the dual attraction of Ford's heroic doctor on a quest to clear his name and the professionalism of Jones' driven bogyman to the bad guys. Diverging from the original premise, "U.S. Marshals" lacks the first film's simple, dynamic structure and the strong emotional bonds one forms with the desperate "runner."
Instead, there's a big question as to whose side the current film's fugitive is on. Seen first in a spectacular curtain-raising traffic accident that lands him in the hospital, tow truck driver Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) is battered but in for far worse when the police find a concealed weapon in his truck. Seems the gun was used in a double homicide.
In short order he's put on a prisoner transport plane, and before one can say "Con Air" ten times, an assassin among the convicts tries to shoot him and causes a nasty crash landing instead. Also on board is Gerard, and he helps rescue the survivors after the plane lands on a rural road, flattens a bunch of telephone poles, skids off the road, flips over and lands upside down in the Ohio River.
The plane crash is the analog of the first film's knockout train-and-bus wreck, whose jump-off-the-dam scene is replayed with Sheridan swinging off a building in a move that would have Quasimodo demanding a stunt double. Overall, from the early tracking of the enigmatic Sheridan through the woods near the plane crash to the climactic rounds of cat-and-mouse pursuits and surprise gun battles in New York, Baird and crew successfully keep the tension high despite some confusing plot points.
Sheridan is both a runner and shooter, as Gerard finds out in one point-blank encounter, but it's a bit frustrating the way the audience is kept in the dark about his true identity and how he connects to the murders that one is initially led to believe he knows nothing about. Indeed, the focus is squarely on Gerard and his team, including returnees from the first film Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck and Tom Wood.
As such, "U.S. Marshals" is a showcase for Jones, and he comes through with another convincing, grounded performance. He's hurt but doesn't take it personally when he's shot at, yet he has an emotional side that comes out when one of his comrades is killed. With a more potent motive for risking life and limb than in the first film, Gerard also makes a mistake or two in figuring out who is the real bad guy.
Kate Nelligan is elegantly authoritative as Gerard's boss. While government agent Robert Downey Jr. is a bit too devious-looking from the outset, the actor has several fine moments playing the outsider on Team U.S. Marshals.
Well mounted in all regards, the elaborate production has a rugged physicality and mostly believable sequences, with the solid contributions of mechanical-effects supervisor Mike Meinardus, visual effects-designer Peter Donen and stunt coordinator Gary Davis.
U.S. MARSHALS
Warner Bros.
A Kopelson Entertainment/Keith Barish production
Director: Stuart Baird
Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Based on characters created by: Roy Huggins
Screenwriter: John Pogue
Executive producers: Keith Barish, Roy Huggins
Co-executive producer: Wolfgang Glattes
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Director of photography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer: Maher Ahmad
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gerard: Tommy Lee Jones
Sheridan: Wesley Snipes
John Royce: Robert Downey Jr.
Renfro: Joe Pantoliano
Walsh: Kate Nelligan
Marie: Irene Jacob
Biggs: Daniel Roebuck
Newman: Tom Wood
Running time -- 131 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The medium is the story in Warner Bros.' "Mad City", as an invasively smarmy TV news reporter tailors a hostage situation to bolster his career. Starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman, this Warner Bros. release is an ambitious tale of media manipulation and personal breakdown.
In a slug line, it's "Broadcast News" meets "Dog Day Afternoon", not a bad combo, but under Costa-Gavras' grim, staccato direction, "Mad City" is strictly yesterday's news.
No doubt about it, producer Arnold Kopelson has smartly assembled an all-star movie unit, but "Mad City"'s parts are far greater than their sum. It's a tricky call for the marketers, whether to platform this topical, serious-minded film to sophisticated audiences, who will consider it old hat, or to launch it wide based on its star draws, and then watch it tumble through negative word-of-mouth.
Either way, "Mad City"'s boxoffice population will reflect bright flight -- brainy viewers heading away toward more challenging and entertaining filmic regions. "Mad City"'s best region may be on the left bank side of Europe, where Costa-Gavras is greatly regarded as a political filmmaker and the United States generally is thought of as a media circus.
Undeniably, in this age of paparazzi pestilence, "Mad City" is timely. Dustin Hoffman stars as Brackett, a loose-cannon, prima-donna TV news reporter who has been sent down from the network to the journalistic bush leagues for past transgressions. It's his all-consuming desire to make it back to the network, and, he feels, he needs just one big story to do it.
Brackett's opportunity comes in an unexpected package, when he is relegated to a puff story about a natural history museum going under financially. While on the assignment, a disgruntled ex-employee, Sam Travolta) barges in with a shotgun, ostensibly to plead with the museum director (Blythe Danner) to get back his old job as a security guard. Blam, Sam: his gun goes off accidentally, and, worse, straight into the gut of the on-duty guard. Bad luck for the guard but good luck for the vainglorious Brackett, who is inside the story for an exclusive.
You don't have to have just watched the latest inane freeway chase on Channel 2 to guess what happens next. Unfortunately, Tom Matthews' screenplay unfolds like a New York Times story: predictable, plodding, pedantic and personality-deficient. Through Brackett's interviews with Sam, we're presented a capsule portrait of the hostage-taker, a schlub who has reached his melting point.
Unfortunately, we learn about as much as this crazed cluck as we do in 20-second TV news bits about those postal workers who go berserk with guns. Yet, because the hostages are kids, the story loses a deeper psychological and political perspective. While it's fun to watch Travolta goof around with the kiddies, the narrative is largely unchallenging.
The serioso posture of the film's themes are further lunked up by an array of stereotypical backdrop characters, including an old warhorse station manager (Robert Prosky); a drippy, local news anchor (William Atherton), an ingenue, cub reporter (Mia Kirshner), a patrician museum director (Danner), a two-faced network anchor star (Alan Alda), as well as sharkish, 20-something network honchos. All perform admirably, given the constricted dimensions of their prototype characters.
For their roles, Hoffman and Travolta acquit themselves capably, given the deficiencies of the writing. Hoffman is, not surprisingly, well-cast as the bantam news hound, a cross between Carl Bernstein and Geraldo Rivera. Travolta is less lucky in his blubbering, blue-collar role. His worker-character is, alas, -- tubby, dumb and friendly. Kind of like one of those generic "Mr. Goodwrench"-type guys in the TV commercials for car parts. Although Travolta's inherent good-naturedness truly comes across, and we come to feel sorry for the character, this overblown story is, through all its staccato furor, the story of a big puppy dog overcome by the snarling, evil pack of wolves, i.e. the press.
That Sam's hostages are primarily little kids also diminishes the depth of the storyline: i.e. the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives tend to bond with their captors, is completely wasted. Having Sam cuddle up to kids is, alas, lazy dramaturgy and superficial psychodynamics. Most woefully, the relationship between the manipulative newsman and the dunderheaded assailant never develops beyond a predatory level as the slimy newsman circles his prey; incredibly, the story line climaxes with a character reversal that is largely unbelievable, given all that we have seen before.
Aesthetically, Costa-Gavras' film is comparable to an academic publication -- you know those weighty theories published by university presses who think brown-paper-bag wrappings and no gloss or glitter somehow dignify their findings.
Compositionally, "Mad City" is dullsville, but it is also abrasive: Charged with tight shots, propelled by a quick clip, painted with dull colors and muddied with odd fluty music, it's ramrodded with all the incendiary firepower of groundbreaking developments. Through all its bombastic fury, we half expect the junta to come running up the stairs and swarm the palace, er, museum. Under such shrill direction, the film soon snaps under its own strident gait. It seems likely that Costa-Gavras has no sense of humor -- a necessary punctuation for as tightly wound a story as this one -- and the film's utter relentlessness soon trips it up. How do you say "loosen up" in Greek?
Ultimately, "Mad City" is more ornery than mad. It's so stiff that even when it wanders into "Network" territory, it does not seem to recognize any story dimension other than its preachy, evil-media cant.
This rigid work, like fellows with top hats, seems ripe for comic leveling. Paging the Zucker brothers ... Leslie Nielsen.
MAD CITY
Warner Bros.
An Arnold Kopelson production
in association with Punch Prods.
A Costa-Gavras film
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Director Costa-Gavras
Screenwriter Tom Matthews
Story Tom Matthews, Eric Williams
Executive producers Stephen Brown,
Jonathan D. Krane, Wolfgang Glattes
Director of photograhy Patrick Blossier
Production designer Catherine Hardwicke
Editor Francoise Bonnot
Music Thomas Newman
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman
Casting Amanda Mackey Johnson,
Cathy Sandrich
Sound designer Bertrand Lenclos
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sam John Travolta
Brackett Dustin Hoffman
Laurie Mia Kirshner
Hollander Alan Alda
Lou Potts Robert Prosky
Mrs. Banks Blythe Danner
Dohlen William Atherton
Lemke Ted Levine
Miss Rose Tammy Lauren
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
In a slug line, it's "Broadcast News" meets "Dog Day Afternoon", not a bad combo, but under Costa-Gavras' grim, staccato direction, "Mad City" is strictly yesterday's news.
No doubt about it, producer Arnold Kopelson has smartly assembled an all-star movie unit, but "Mad City"'s parts are far greater than their sum. It's a tricky call for the marketers, whether to platform this topical, serious-minded film to sophisticated audiences, who will consider it old hat, or to launch it wide based on its star draws, and then watch it tumble through negative word-of-mouth.
Either way, "Mad City"'s boxoffice population will reflect bright flight -- brainy viewers heading away toward more challenging and entertaining filmic regions. "Mad City"'s best region may be on the left bank side of Europe, where Costa-Gavras is greatly regarded as a political filmmaker and the United States generally is thought of as a media circus.
Undeniably, in this age of paparazzi pestilence, "Mad City" is timely. Dustin Hoffman stars as Brackett, a loose-cannon, prima-donna TV news reporter who has been sent down from the network to the journalistic bush leagues for past transgressions. It's his all-consuming desire to make it back to the network, and, he feels, he needs just one big story to do it.
Brackett's opportunity comes in an unexpected package, when he is relegated to a puff story about a natural history museum going under financially. While on the assignment, a disgruntled ex-employee, Sam Travolta) barges in with a shotgun, ostensibly to plead with the museum director (Blythe Danner) to get back his old job as a security guard. Blam, Sam: his gun goes off accidentally, and, worse, straight into the gut of the on-duty guard. Bad luck for the guard but good luck for the vainglorious Brackett, who is inside the story for an exclusive.
You don't have to have just watched the latest inane freeway chase on Channel 2 to guess what happens next. Unfortunately, Tom Matthews' screenplay unfolds like a New York Times story: predictable, plodding, pedantic and personality-deficient. Through Brackett's interviews with Sam, we're presented a capsule portrait of the hostage-taker, a schlub who has reached his melting point.
Unfortunately, we learn about as much as this crazed cluck as we do in 20-second TV news bits about those postal workers who go berserk with guns. Yet, because the hostages are kids, the story loses a deeper psychological and political perspective. While it's fun to watch Travolta goof around with the kiddies, the narrative is largely unchallenging.
The serioso posture of the film's themes are further lunked up by an array of stereotypical backdrop characters, including an old warhorse station manager (Robert Prosky); a drippy, local news anchor (William Atherton), an ingenue, cub reporter (Mia Kirshner), a patrician museum director (Danner), a two-faced network anchor star (Alan Alda), as well as sharkish, 20-something network honchos. All perform admirably, given the constricted dimensions of their prototype characters.
For their roles, Hoffman and Travolta acquit themselves capably, given the deficiencies of the writing. Hoffman is, not surprisingly, well-cast as the bantam news hound, a cross between Carl Bernstein and Geraldo Rivera. Travolta is less lucky in his blubbering, blue-collar role. His worker-character is, alas, -- tubby, dumb and friendly. Kind of like one of those generic "Mr. Goodwrench"-type guys in the TV commercials for car parts. Although Travolta's inherent good-naturedness truly comes across, and we come to feel sorry for the character, this overblown story is, through all its staccato furor, the story of a big puppy dog overcome by the snarling, evil pack of wolves, i.e. the press.
That Sam's hostages are primarily little kids also diminishes the depth of the storyline: i.e. the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives tend to bond with their captors, is completely wasted. Having Sam cuddle up to kids is, alas, lazy dramaturgy and superficial psychodynamics. Most woefully, the relationship between the manipulative newsman and the dunderheaded assailant never develops beyond a predatory level as the slimy newsman circles his prey; incredibly, the story line climaxes with a character reversal that is largely unbelievable, given all that we have seen before.
Aesthetically, Costa-Gavras' film is comparable to an academic publication -- you know those weighty theories published by university presses who think brown-paper-bag wrappings and no gloss or glitter somehow dignify their findings.
Compositionally, "Mad City" is dullsville, but it is also abrasive: Charged with tight shots, propelled by a quick clip, painted with dull colors and muddied with odd fluty music, it's ramrodded with all the incendiary firepower of groundbreaking developments. Through all its bombastic fury, we half expect the junta to come running up the stairs and swarm the palace, er, museum. Under such shrill direction, the film soon snaps under its own strident gait. It seems likely that Costa-Gavras has no sense of humor -- a necessary punctuation for as tightly wound a story as this one -- and the film's utter relentlessness soon trips it up. How do you say "loosen up" in Greek?
Ultimately, "Mad City" is more ornery than mad. It's so stiff that even when it wanders into "Network" territory, it does not seem to recognize any story dimension other than its preachy, evil-media cant.
This rigid work, like fellows with top hats, seems ripe for comic leveling. Paging the Zucker brothers ... Leslie Nielsen.
MAD CITY
Warner Bros.
An Arnold Kopelson production
in association with Punch Prods.
A Costa-Gavras film
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Director Costa-Gavras
Screenwriter Tom Matthews
Story Tom Matthews, Eric Williams
Executive producers Stephen Brown,
Jonathan D. Krane, Wolfgang Glattes
Director of photograhy Patrick Blossier
Production designer Catherine Hardwicke
Editor Francoise Bonnot
Music Thomas Newman
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman
Casting Amanda Mackey Johnson,
Cathy Sandrich
Sound designer Bertrand Lenclos
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sam John Travolta
Brackett Dustin Hoffman
Laurie Mia Kirshner
Hollander Alan Alda
Lou Potts Robert Prosky
Mrs. Banks Blythe Danner
Dohlen William Atherton
Lemke Ted Levine
Miss Rose Tammy Lauren
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/27/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
While any high concept that pairs Bill Murray and a circus elephant in a road-picture setting would appear to have boundless possibilities, those in "Larger Than Life" are unfortunately exhausted before the end of the first hour.
Despite the efforts of Murray and a particularly pleasing pachyderm and a promising start, the film is a bit of a mess, giving the impression that dozens of pages of script had been trampled on or otherwise truncated.
After doing the releaseschedule shuffle, MGM/UA has finally settled on a pre-election weekend debut for this big white elephant, and while those in the Bob Dole camp may or may not find humor in its significance, overall business probably won't amount to much more than peanuts.
Murray has the tailor-made role of Jack Corcoran, a motivational speaker whose long-lost and recently departed father leaves him a sizable inheritance in the form of Vera (Tai), an 8,000-pound circus elephant, in addition to some equally large debts.
Figuring he could sell the animal to the highest bidder and use the money to pay off those bills, Corcoran has five days to find Vera a new home before his next motivational engagement. Along the way, he encounters a veritable three-ring circus of characters, including a tightly wired trucker (Matthew McConaughey in a way-over-the-top performance that's definitely not a keeper), a big-top veteran (Pat Hingle) and his tattooed-lady wife (Lois Smith), a San Diego Zoo elephant expert (Janeane Garofalo) and a whip-cracking animal handler (Linda Fiorentino).
The film is not without its inspired moments -- Murray choreographing a human pyramid during one of his motivational sessions, Murray attempting to drive a rig with a mind of its own, Murray and his newfound gray friend cavorting in the water -- but they are few and far between.
It appears as if director Howard Franklin (who first worked with Murray on the underrated "Quick Change") has given his star free reign to improvise, which is fine as long as there's something he can always come back to. In this case, that would be Roy Blount Jr.'s script, and, at least in its remaining form, it seems Murray had the right idea. The picture needed a stronger blueprint.
Behind the scenes, the most impressive work comes from elephant trainers Gary and Kari Johnson, whose family-owned Have Trunk Will Travel trains Asian elephants for both the entertainment industry and county fairs. Murray's co-star, who previously appeared in "Operation Dumbo Drop", has a 50-command repertoire and more personality than any animatronic or computer-generated version could hope to replicate.
It deserved better.
LARGER THAN LIFE
United Artists
In association with
Trilogy/RCS/Majestic Pictures
A Trilogy Entertainment Group production
Director Howard Franklin
Producers Richard B. Lewis, John Watson,
Pen Densham
Screenplay Roy Blount Jr.
Story Pen Densham, Garry Williams
Executive producers Wolfgang Glattes,
Guy East, Sue Baden-Powell
Director of photography Elliot Davis
Production design Marcia Hinds-Johnson
Editor Sidney Levin
Costume design Jane Robinson
Music Miles Goodman
Casting Gail Levin, Tricia Tomey
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jack Corcoran Bill Murray
Mo Newman Janeane Garofalo
Tip Tucker Matthew McConaughey
Hurst Keith David
Vernon Pat Hingle
Walter Jeremy Piven
Luluna Lois Smith
Mom Anita Gillette
Running time - 93 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Despite the efforts of Murray and a particularly pleasing pachyderm and a promising start, the film is a bit of a mess, giving the impression that dozens of pages of script had been trampled on or otherwise truncated.
After doing the releaseschedule shuffle, MGM/UA has finally settled on a pre-election weekend debut for this big white elephant, and while those in the Bob Dole camp may or may not find humor in its significance, overall business probably won't amount to much more than peanuts.
Murray has the tailor-made role of Jack Corcoran, a motivational speaker whose long-lost and recently departed father leaves him a sizable inheritance in the form of Vera (Tai), an 8,000-pound circus elephant, in addition to some equally large debts.
Figuring he could sell the animal to the highest bidder and use the money to pay off those bills, Corcoran has five days to find Vera a new home before his next motivational engagement. Along the way, he encounters a veritable three-ring circus of characters, including a tightly wired trucker (Matthew McConaughey in a way-over-the-top performance that's definitely not a keeper), a big-top veteran (Pat Hingle) and his tattooed-lady wife (Lois Smith), a San Diego Zoo elephant expert (Janeane Garofalo) and a whip-cracking animal handler (Linda Fiorentino).
The film is not without its inspired moments -- Murray choreographing a human pyramid during one of his motivational sessions, Murray attempting to drive a rig with a mind of its own, Murray and his newfound gray friend cavorting in the water -- but they are few and far between.
It appears as if director Howard Franklin (who first worked with Murray on the underrated "Quick Change") has given his star free reign to improvise, which is fine as long as there's something he can always come back to. In this case, that would be Roy Blount Jr.'s script, and, at least in its remaining form, it seems Murray had the right idea. The picture needed a stronger blueprint.
Behind the scenes, the most impressive work comes from elephant trainers Gary and Kari Johnson, whose family-owned Have Trunk Will Travel trains Asian elephants for both the entertainment industry and county fairs. Murray's co-star, who previously appeared in "Operation Dumbo Drop", has a 50-command repertoire and more personality than any animatronic or computer-generated version could hope to replicate.
It deserved better.
LARGER THAN LIFE
United Artists
In association with
Trilogy/RCS/Majestic Pictures
A Trilogy Entertainment Group production
Director Howard Franklin
Producers Richard B. Lewis, John Watson,
Pen Densham
Screenplay Roy Blount Jr.
Story Pen Densham, Garry Williams
Executive producers Wolfgang Glattes,
Guy East, Sue Baden-Powell
Director of photography Elliot Davis
Production design Marcia Hinds-Johnson
Editor Sidney Levin
Costume design Jane Robinson
Music Miles Goodman
Casting Gail Levin, Tricia Tomey
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jack Corcoran Bill Murray
Mo Newman Janeane Garofalo
Tip Tucker Matthew McConaughey
Hurst Keith David
Vernon Pat Hingle
Walter Jeremy Piven
Luluna Lois Smith
Mom Anita Gillette
Running time - 93 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 10/28/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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