Wyner, George

Spaceballs

Mel Brooks's 1987 parody of the Star Wars trilogy is a jumble of jokes rather than a comic feature, and, predictably, some of those jokes work better than others. The cast, including Brooks in two roles, more or less mimics the principal characters from George Lucas's famous story line, and the director certainly gets a boost from new allies (SCTV graduates Rick Moranis and John Candy) as well as old ones (Dick Van Patten, Dom DeLuise). Watch this and wait for the sporadic inspiration--but don't be surprised if you find yourself yearning for those years when Brooks was a more complete filmmaker (Young Frankenstein). --Tom Keogh

May the farce be with you in this hysterically funny space oddity created by comic genius Mel Brooks that will send you into hyperspace with fits of laughter! Lampooning everything from Star Wars to Star Trek this outrageous send-up of epic sci-fi-movies is full of cosmic crazies who score "eight trillion on the laugh-meter" (Gene Shalit NBC-TV)!Fearless -- and clueless -- space heroes Lone star (Bill Pullman) and his half man/ half dog sidekick Barf (John Candy) wage interstellar warfare to free Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) from the evil clutches of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). On the way to the rescue -- in their Winnebago -- they confront the huge gooey Pizza The Hutt (voice of Dom De Luise) sassy robot Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers) and a wise little creature named Yogurt (Brooks) who teaches them the mystical power of "The Schwartz" in order to bring peace -- and merchandising rights -- to the entire galaxy!System Requirements:Starring: Mel Brooks John Candy Rick Moranis Bill Pullman Daphne Zuniga Dick Van Patten George Wyner and Joan Rivers. Directed By: Mel Brooks. Running Time: 96 Min. Color. This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 2000 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 027616810021 Manufacturer No: 980100

Devil's Advocate

Kevin Lomax (Reeves) an ambitious talented young district attorney joins a powerful New York law firm headed by the mysterious and charismatic John Milton (Pacino). as Lomax faces the intense seduction of success and money he is increasingly tempted.Running Time: 144 min.System Requirements:Produced by Arnon Milchan Arnold Kopelson; written by Jonathan Lemkin Tony Gilroy; DVD released on 12/01/1998; running time of 144 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1997 Warner Bros.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 085391617228

Too old for Hamlet and too young for Lear--what's an ambitious actor to do? Play the Devil, of course. Jack Nicholson did it in The Witches of Eastwick; Robert De Niro did it in Angel Heart (as Louis Cyphre--get it?). In The Devil's Advocate Al Pacino takes his turn as the great Satan, and clearly relishes his chance to raise hell. He's a New York lawyer, of course, by the name of John Milton, who recruits a hotshot young Florida attorney (Keanu Reeves) to his firm and seduces him with tempting offers of power, sex, and money. Think of the story as a twist on John Grisham's The Firm, with the corporate evil made even more explicit. Reeves is wooden, and therefore doesn't seem to have much of a soul to lose, but he's really just our excuse to meet the devil. Pacino's the main attraction, gleefully showing off his--and the Antichrist's--chops at perpetrating menace and mayhem. The film was directed by Taylor Hackford (Against All Odds, Dolores Claiborne), who provides alternate-track commentary for the movie itself, plus a dozen deleted scenes. Also note: due to a settlement with artist Frederick Hart over the movie's use of a sculpture resembling his Ex Nihilo in Washington's National Cathedral, future releases of the film will be altered. --Jim Emerson

The Fletch Collection

Gregory McDonald's lightweight mystery novel about an undercover newspaper reporter cracking a police drug ring is transformed by screenwriter Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, and writer/director of The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas) into a fairly sarcastic and occasionally very funny Chevy Chase vehicle. Enjoyment of the film pivots on whether you find Chase's flippant, smart-ass brand of verbal humor funny, or merely egocentric. If you don't like Chase, there's really no one else worth watching (Geena Davis is sadly underused). Chase seems born to play I.M. "Fletch" Fletcher, a disillusioned investigative reporter whose cynicism and detached view on life mirrors the actor's understated approach to comedy. Fletcher offers Chase the opportunity to adopt numerous personas, as his job requires numerous (bad) physical disguises, and much of film's humor centers on the ridiculous idea that any of these phony accents or bad hairpieces could fool anyone. These not-so-clever disguises are put to use when Fletch becomes involved in the film's smart but continually self-mocking two-part mystery. As well as trying to gather drug-smuggling evidence against the LAPD for a long-overdue newspaper story, a rich and apparently terminally ill stranger also offers Fletch a large payoff to kill him. While the film does a fairly good job juggling both of these plots, not to mention tossing in a love interest as well, it's subservient, for better or worse, to Chase's memorable one-liners and disguises. Followed by two forgettable sequels that lack both the original's wit and Chase's attention span. --Dave McCoy

Follow the clues with Chevy Chase as Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher in this hilarious 2-movie set, The Fletch Collection! The antics begin with the original comedy Fletch, which follows the reckless investigative reporter - who changes his identity more often than his underwear - as he uncovers police corruption, forbidden romance and murder. The humor continues in Fletch Lives as the newspaper sleuth travels to Louisiana to live the good life but soon finds himself immersed in the kind of troubles that only an ace newsman can solve. It's no mystery that The Fletch Collection is zany, timeless fun you'll enjoy again and again!

Fletch (The "Jane Doe" Edition)

Loosely based on the book by Gregory McDonald director Michael Ritchie s FLETCH is a laugh-out-loud comedy that features a classic performance by Chevy Chase who stars as Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher a crack investigative journalist who goes undercover for a story about possible connections between the L.A. police department and the local drug trade. He gets derailed when a Santa Monica businessman Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson) mistakes him for a homeless man and offers him $50000 to commit a murder. The man claims to have terminal bone cancer but can't commit suicide if he wants his family to collect on his insurance policy so he wants Fletch to do his dirty work. Fletch pretends to accept the offer and finds that it leads him deeper into the heart of his own investigation. Working from a crackling script by Andrew Bergman Chase relishes every line of dialogue written for his goofy master-of-disguise character making FLETCH one of the most influential and oft-quoted comedies of the 1980s.Run Time: 98 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 025193289223 Manufacturer No: 61032892

Gregory McDonald's lightweight mystery novel about an undercover newspaper reporter cracking a police drug ring is transformed by screenwriter Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, and writer/director of The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas) into a fairly sarcastic and occasionally very funny Chevy Chase vehicle. Enjoyment of the film pivots on whether you find Chase's flippant, smart-ass brand of verbal humor funny, or merely egocentric. If you don't like Chase, there's really no one else worth watching (Geena Davis is sadly underused). Chase seems born to play I.M. "Fletch" Fletcher, a disillusioned investigative reporter whose cynicism and detached view on life mirrors the actor's understated approach to comedy. Fletcher offers Chase the opportunity to adopt numerous personas, as his job requires numerous (bad) physical disguises, and much of film's humor centers on the ridiculous idea that any of these phony accents or bad hairpieces could fool anyone. These not-so-clever disguises are put to use when Fletch becomes involved in the film's smart but continually self-mocking two-part mystery. As well as trying to gather drug-smuggling evidence against the LAPD for a long-overdue newspaper story, a rich and apparently terminally ill stranger also offers Fletch a large payoff to kill him. While the film does a fairly good job juggling both of these plots, not to mention tossing in a love interest as well, it's subservient, for better or worse, to Chase's memorable one-liners and disguises. Followed by two forgettable sequels that lack both the original's wit and Chase's attention span. --Dave McCoy

Though None Go with Me

It s 1951 and America is caught in the Korean War but a world away in a small town call Three Rives Elizabeth Leroy is caught in her own personal struggle. She longs to escape her small town life and set out in pursuit of a career but a twist of fate and the promise of true loves forces her to stay. She meets the town s new handsome and devout minister with whom she quickly fall in love and plans to marry but when he decides to leave for Korea to do God s work she is heartbroken. The events that follow alter Elizabeth s life forever and truly test not only her faith and inner strength but her resilience as well.Special Features:An excerpt from The Rapture a prequel to the Left Behind seriesThough None Go With ME discussion guideFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 018713517760 Manufacturer No: 51776

My Favorite Year

Peter O'Toole gives a knock-out performance as Alan Swann a booze-loving former matinee idol who is forced into making a live appearance on a variety show to appease the IRS. Mark Linn-Baker plays the fledgling writer for the show who must keep Swann on the sober and narrow.Running Time: 92 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569540521

This love letter to the golden days of live television in the 1950s is a thinly veiled depiction of Your Show of Shows, the groundbreaking comedy show that starred Sid Caesar. The story, set in 1954, focuses on one of the writers for the show (Mark Linn-Baker), who is given the task of chaperoning that week's guest star, a famously ill-behaved movie star named Alan Swann. He's based on Errol Flynn and played with Oscar-nominated glee by Peter O'Toole. He also happens to be the writer's movie hero, but proves to be a hilariously drunken party animal, one who opens the naive young writer's eyes in a variety of ways. The highlight of the film is Swann's visit to the writer's outer-borough home and his encounter with the writer's star-struck mother (a delightful turn by Lainie Kazan). One of the better films directed by former actor Richard Benjamin. -Marshall Fine

To Be or Not to Be

No filmmaker seems to take such glee at poking fun of the Nazis as Mel Brooks. In To Be or Not to Be, a remake of a 1942 Jack Benny comedy, Brooks and an all-star ensemble cast have a splendid time working as a makeshift Polish underground in World War II, using as their cover their theatrical company. Brooks stars as Frederick Bronski, a legend-in-his-own-mind leading man, and Anne Bancroft, Brooks' real-life wife, is his glamorous--and amorous--spouse. It's a joy to see the two spar, snuggle, and softshoe together. Bancroft, in her early '50s, is so gorgeous and seductive it's perfectly believable that she's beguiling to men of all ages--from a hunky young flier played by Tim Matheson to a wizened Nazi collaborator played by Mel Ferrer. As one would expect in a Brooks film, there's lots of silliness, but the script is leavened with real drama and fleshed out by a superb cast, including Charles Durning as a semi-clueless Nazi official. There are witty blink-and-you'll-miss-them moments, too; early in the film, Bronski is barking orders to his theater staff, including one crew member who's named Sondheim, apparently solely so that later Bronski can bark, "Sondheim, send in the clowns!" Also not to miss is the production number "Naughty Nazis," in which Bronski, as a misunderstood Hitler, sings, "All I vant is peace... a little piece of Poland, a little piece of France...." No wonder he's "world famous in Poland"! Extras include a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette, and interviews with Brooks, Durning, and the lovely Bancroft, all the more bittersweet viewed after her 2005 death. --A.T. Hurley

Mel Brooks and his real-life wife Anne Bancroft play Frederick and Anna Bronski musical comedy stars in 1939 Poland. The highlight of the Bronskis' act is Frederick's imitation of Adolf Hitler but he is forced to eliminate this turn for fear of offending the Nazis. Meanwhile Anna enters into a harmless flirtation with Polish bomber pilot Andre Sobinski (Tim Matheson). The pilot's nightly signal to visit Anna in her dressing room is "To Be or Not to Be" spoken by Bronski during the Shakespearean portion of his act. When the Germans march into Warsaw the Bronskis and the rest of their troupe are forced into hiding (notably the homosexual Lupinski played by Lewis J. Stadlen who is forced to endure the humiliation of wearing a pink star). Flying for the Polish resistance in England Sobinski asks kindly Professor Seletzky (Jose Ferrer) to deliver his "To Be or Not to Be" message to Anna. When Seletzky doesn't seem to recognize the name of Anne Bronski Warsaw's biggest star Sobinski suspects that something is amiss. Sure enough Seletzky is a Nazi spy heading to Warsaw to help Col. "Concentration Camp" Ehrhardt (Oscar-nominated Charles Durning) destroy the underground movement. Parachuting into Poland Sobinski enlists the aid of the Bronski troupe to foil the Nazis. What follows is an uproarious series of disguises and deceptions capped by Bronski's impersonation of Der Fuhrer.System Requirements:Running Time: 107 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 024543167310 Manufacturer No: 2226731

Fletch Lives

Before his movie career completely tanked, Chevy Chase made one of the few films that gave him a chance to display his comic versatility: 1985's Fletch, the Michael Ritchie-directed comedy about an investigative reporter who specializes in going undercover on big stories. Lightning, however, didn't strike twice when Ritchie and Chase went back to Gregory MacDonald's novels for a second helping. This sequel features Chase once again as Fletch, super-reporter, who heads from L.A. to the South, where he supposedly has inherited an estate. Before long, he's become involved in a murder plot and is trying to stay out of the killer's sights himself. The material is considerably weaker, revealing Chase's shortcomings as an ad lib comic. --Marshall Fine

Fletch inherits a Louisiana plantation from his aunt, and his new neighbors want him to leave town.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 14-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

The Bad News Bears

This likable 1976 comedy gently skewers the whole post- Rocky mania for movies about losers who find their mettle or salvation or purpose in life in competitive sport. Walter Matthau stars as a drunk who becomes manager of a pathetic little-league baseball team. When he brings in a talented girl pitcher (Tatum O'Neal), the crew have an actual chance at winning some games and maybe a championship. But director Michael Ritchie (Downhill Racer) undercuts the romance of it all with the team's foul-mouthed tendencies and Matthau's own decadent spin on mentor-coachdom. Similarly to Ritchie's wicked comedy Smile --which lampooned the fervor surrounding beauty pageants--The Bad News Bears pokes fun at another American institution. --Tom Keogh

First of a trilogy of films takes an unflinching look at the underbelly of little league baseball in Southern California. Former minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker is a lazy, beer swilling swimming pool cleaner who takes money to coach the Bears, a bunch of disheveled misfits who have virtually no baseball talent. Realizing his dilemma, Coach Buttermaker brings aboard girl pitching ace Amanda Whurlizer, the daughter of a former girlfriend, and Kelly Leak, a motorcycle punk who happens to be the best player around. Brimming with confidence, the Bears look to sweep into the championship game and avenge an earlier loss to their nemesis, the Yankees.

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Ken Harrison is an artist that makes sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident and is paralyzed from his neck. All he can do is talk and he wants to die. In hospital he make friends with some of the staff and they support him when he goes to trial to be allowed to die.Running Time: 118 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569795532 Manufacturer No: 795539

In interviews, Richard Dreyfuss often refers to Whose Life Is It Anyway? as having been made at the nadir of his substance-abuse problem in the 1980s. Yet it's not too bad. Based on the hit Broadway play, it's a debate about the ethics of euthanasia and one person's right to choose whether to live or die. Dreyfuss plays a sculptor who, after a car accident, is left a paraplegic. Appalled at the prospect of a life in which he has no control of anything, he pleads with hospital authorities to help him die. When they refuse, he takes them to court. Dreyfuss brings great passion to a role in which he can't even use his body; the humor is often pitch-black, but it works, both as a script and as a cinematically opened-up version of a play. --Marshall Fine