MOVIE MOVIE (1978) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Stanley Donen
George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Art Carney,
Red Buttons, Eli Wallach, Barry Bostwick,
Harry Hamlin, Ann Reinking, Jocelyn Brando,
Michael Kidd, Dick Winslow, Charles Lane
A movie done in the style of a 1930s double feature, complete with coming attractions and a repertory cast playing parts in both stories. The first is "Dynamite Hands", a black-and-white boxing drama staring George C Scott as a veteran trainer and Harry Hamlin as a hot young kid (with dynamite hands), who only wants to stay in the ring long enough to pay for the surgery his sister needs to save her eyesight. The second is "Baxter's Beauties of 1933", a Busby Berkeley-style musical in color, starring Scott as a dying Broadway producer trying to mount a last big hit before his own final curtain. Larry Gelbart wrote the script, in which no cliché goes unused or unmangled. It's clever and fun up to a point, but it quickly starts to feel like a gimmick. Donen's affection for the movie conventions of the period is obvious, though, and if it's not like going back to the 1930s exactly, it's an entertaining crack at it. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez played with a similar setup in "Grindhouse", their valentine to drive-in movies, released in 2007.
Ann Reinking
(1949-2020)
