comment #1

Balthazar says ...

Stakeout is a perfectly harmless, enjoyable film. But it would die in 5 minutes in today's cineplexes. (Unless Shia LeBoeuf was one of the stars)

Also, the plot would have to be speeded up, with way more twists and action for 2008. It's way too slow of a film for these days.

What that says about us, I don't know for sure.

But while there are things I miss about the 1980s, middle-brow comedies with B-stars are not among them.

comment #2

Geoff says ...

I love Stakeout. Always pleased when somebody mentions it.

comment #3

Doug Pratt says ...

The first Terminator movie was one of the all time great examples of that bait and switch, so much so that the power of its romance still often goes unappreciated:
"I came across time for you Sarah."

As for Stakeout, it was a wholly enjoyable movie, but it seems like a child's toy compared to Laura.

comment #4

AndrewOwens says ...

Stakeout better than Powell + Pressburger's Peeping Tom?

Well, Stakeout has a little Madeline Stowe nudity, so...ok.

comment #5

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

I can't say I was that wild about Stakeout either, but it's a good example of how what was a perfectly commercial movie 20 years ago could only be done as an indie today, because it's not about explosions.

comment #6

Edward says ...

Stakeout is more fun than Peeping Tom, but certainly not on the same level. Peeping Tom is a great film.

comment #7

George Prager says ...

And TIN MEN could only be made today in Romania.

comment #8

Jeremy Smith says ...

ANOTHER STAKEOUT has its moments, too. For example: a POV shot from a cat's asshole.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OYjhxe2Uow

You are missed, John Badham.

comment #9

Arran says ...

Yeah, what the hell happened to Badham? He used to be one of the most astute commercial film makers working (LOVE the everloving shit out of The Hard Way. Probably my favourite buddy movie). Then the work got worse and he seems to do nothing but TV assignments these days.

I loved Another Stakeout too. I'll always treasure the bit after Rosie O'Donnell tells Estevez to shave his moustache. "I've had this moustache for nine years. (beat) How long have you had yours?"

comment #10

adaml says ...

If I'd been asked to come up with the Best Picture slate at that year's Oscars, I'd have unashamedly given Stakeout a nomination. That's probably why they've never asked me

comment #11

Balthazar says ...

Wow, am I missing something? Stakeout was a perfectly enjoyable piece of entertainment. But Oscars???

comment #12

cinefan says ...

I am a fan of Stakeout too and try to catch it on cable whenever it's on. After overcoming his drug abuse, Dreyfus had a really nice resurgence to his career during the late 80s with Nuts, Stand by Me (narrator), Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Stakeout and Tin Men.

comment #13

Balthazar says ...

The best films of 1987, based on awards:

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES:
The Last Emperor (would never get made today)
Hope and Glory (if it got made today, would never get into U.S. theaters)
Fatal Attraction (a film ahead of its time, and I don't say that in a good way)
Moonstruck (would be an indie today)
Broadcast News (exists in an entirely different era of The Media, and so couldn't be made today)

ALSO:
Wall Street (a dated film, like Broadcast News, so hard to compare)
Good Morning, Vietnam (great film; I could see Jim Carrey in a similar role/remake)
The Untouchables (great film; not enough action for 2008, though)
Full Metal Jacket (only nominated for one Oscar!)
Empire of the Sun (nominated for 6 Oscar, but all technical awards)

Truly, what great (or popular) films of 1987 could be financed and marketed today?? I'd say: Fatal Attraction; a more hyper version of The Untouchables; Good Morning, Vietnam; Lethal Weapon, Robocop and Innerspace.

comment #14

lipranzer says ...

Sort of ironic that at the time, STAKEOUT was dismissed as just another cookie-cutter Hollywood film. I remember Roger Ebert liking it, but not many other critics. I myself found it a lot of fun.

comment #15

CinemaPhreek says ...

When you look at the credits of Badham and Kouf, you can see both the beauty of the studio system and also its worse aspects coming together in STAKEOUT. For me, it was Badham's last effective film (the casting of THE HARD WAY never worked for me, Fox as an action star was the worse example of that until Murray in LOST IN TRANSLATION).

In other words, it's a miracle the film was as much fun as it was and probably owes most that to the cast. Yet the whole "it would never work today" argument is unsupported BS. The numbers for DARK KNIGHT should be the latest wake-up call that the general public thinks the vast majority of films are crap. They will go, but only when it seems that it's a good bet for their time/money.

Here's something to consider, based on the 2000 US census, there are 49,376,000 men ages 15 - 39 in this country, the prime range for active movie going geeks drawn to the what has become de riguer for studio fare. Let's call it 25% of that number, 12,344,000. That means a film aimed at that market has the potential to make $84.9M from just them alone (keep in mind, I didn't include Canadian numbers).

So when you talk about who's not showing up, what you really mean are those guys. But it wasn't just those guys who made STAKEOUT a hit back in '87. It was date movie, it was girls-night-out movie (both Estevez AND Dreyfus brought them in).

I have another thought to consider for the next reply.

comment #16

Josh Massey says ...

"If I'd been asked to come up with the Best Picture slate at that year's Oscars, I'd have unashamedly given Stakeout a nomination."

That's alright. If I had to hand out Best Picture nominations for 1987, mine would look like this:

Broadcast News
Full Metal Jacket
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Predator
The Princess Bride

Personally, I think my list is more defensible than the real one.

comment #17

Josh Massey says ...

Oh, and Stakeout would have been in the top 10, but more for the Dreyfuss-Estevez relationship than the Dreyfuss-Stowe one.

comment #18

Balthazar says ...

Holy crap. Forgot Princess Bride came out that year. One bleeping Oscar nomination -- for song.

Nobody knew how simply brilliant that film was.

comment #19

lawnorder says ...

Stakeout is a great movie. Stowe was unbelievably sexy and Aidan Quinn was an incredible bad guy. That was back when they still made R rated capers/thrillers for adults. Today, Stakeout would a soft PG-13. Wasn't the sequel PG-13? Badham had a great run of hits and quality movies for a while there; it's too bad his career fizzled. Even Incognito was a far better movie than it got credit for.

comment #20

CinemaPhreek says ...

Balthazar - you are being woefully myopic on this trying to prove your point. Because those kinds of films are being made today.

Here's some examples from the last couple of Oscar seasons to remind you that difficult and/or personal-vision type movies that are very risky are still being made:
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Seabiscuit
No Country for Old Men
Atonement
There Will Be Blood

The ENTIRE 2005 slate:
* Brokeback Mountain
* Capote
* Crash
* Good Night, and Good Luck
* Munich

It's also disingenuous to dismiss films as dated because of their material. Some could only exist when they came out, others could be up dated. Driven filmmakers continue to find the funding for personal projects that others (especially studios) avoid. Otherwise, THE AVIATOR would never be... oh, wait, it was....

comment #21

Balthazar says ...

Phreek,

Good points. I'm not trying to myopic. Maybe I was reaching too far, stupidly trying to lump together quality and marketabilty, when those are two different things.

I'll stand by this, though: Some of those 1987 films would have a hard time staying in theaters for more than two weeks in "instant glory or die" 2008.

One good thing, as you note, is that at least the Academy doesn't require massive box-office success in order to get a ton of nominations.

comment #22

CinemaPhreek says ...

Here's something to consider:

Take a look at this top films list that has been adjusted for inflation.
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

Notice that in the last 25 years only 3 movies managed to make it into the top 20. Yet in only the 10 years from 1973 - 1983 you have 8.

Or look at this timeline for top film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films#Record_holding_highest_grossing_films_throughout_film_history_.28United_States_and_Canada.29

From '73 with THE EXORCIST, the top film changed every couple of years. But then it took 14 years for E.T. to be surpassed by TITANIC which has now been there 10.

comment #23

Jeremy Smith says ...

Kind of hard to believe that WINGS OF DESIRE couldn't get a Foreign Language nom in 1987. I'd love to know what Germany's official selection was that year.

comment #24

Edward says ...

I have never been able to get the love for Princess Bride and I've tried.

comment #25

CinemaPhreek says ...

Jeremy Smith - Word to the wise, if you haven't rewatched it and its a beloved film - STAY AWAY.

I spent years mooning over WINGS, telling everyone "You have to see it, it's amazing." I remember when those Oscar noms came out I was outraged.

Then, about 10 years ago I finally got a laserdisc copy and had a viewing party. By the end, I wanted to sneak out. I think much of my appreciation for the film had to do with the fact that I was in Berlin when they shot it. But years later, it struck me as not nearly as special as I once thought.

In other words, it's no LOCAL HERO.

comment #26

Jeremy Smith says ...

WINGS OF DESIRE held up fine for me when I revisited it several years ago (what the hell... here's my DVD Journal review). It's not an immensely profound work, but the visuals and general lightness of tone kept me under its spell. I do, however, share your preference for LOCAL HERO.

comment #27

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

"I have never been able to get the love for Princess Bride and I've tried."

Read the book.

It won't help you like the movie more, it's just a fun read.

comment #28

MickTravis says ...

It seems like "Stakeout" and "Another Stakeout" are ALWAYS playing somewhere on my cable dial.

comment #29

Edward says ...

I've watched WINGS OF DESIRE multiple times and never grow tired of it. I saw LOCAL HERO a couple of times when it was first released and haven't seen it since. I definately need to add it to my meager collection

comment #30

Balthazar says ...

Wings of Desire isn't quite in my all-time top 25, but it's one hell of a great and fascinating film.

comment #31

Bob Violence says ...

Kind of hard to believe that WINGS OF DESIRE couldn't get a Foreign Language nom in 1987. I'd love to know what Germany's official selection was that year.

It was Wings of Desire.

comment #32

Terry McCarty says ...

Edward wrote:
I saw LOCAL HERO a couple of times when it was first released and haven't seen it since. I definately need to add it to my meager collection.

When I was in Scotland recently, I saw a Region 2 DVD reissue that cost 16 pounds (or $32 US)--and its only extra was a Bill Forsyth interview.

comment #33

Terry McCarty says ...

lawnorder wrote:
Badham had a great run of hits and quality movies for a while there; it's too bad his career fizzled. Even Incognito was a far better movie than it got credit for.

I liked DROP ZONE for what it was--even though it was Badham in the later "give people the product they want" phase of his career.

comment #34

Terry McCarty says ...

98% of genre filmmakers (fantasy, crime, you-name-it) always seem to think in terms of elements. They think success of failure is defined by stars, plot, fights, car chases, FX. They never seem to realize that while these things work as selling points, they don't matter to all that much to anyone (except for the under-20 morons) and are actually profoundly secondary. Movies that really work are always about characters trying to connect with some fundamental emotion or goal. If you get that part right, then you can add in the genre conventions any old way and you're off to the races.

Earlier today at a Circuit City in Northridge, I heard an extremely loud noise of a car revving up its engines; almost as if someone had been driving a car around the store.

It was only a CC employee cranking up the volume of a Bluray DVD of an action movie in hopes of selling an HDTV to a young couple.

Safe to guess that they'd pronounce STAKEOUT slow and boring if they were coereced into watching it.

comment #35

George Prager says ...

Yes, the THE PRINCESS BRIDE is an insufferable piece of shit. For theater majors only.

BEST OF 1987

WITHNAIL & I
RAISING ARIZONA
EVIL DEAD II
ROBOCOP
FULL METAL JACKET
WALL STREET
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
RADIO DAYS
WISH YOU WERE HERE
THE LAST EMPEROR
MAURICE
BARFLY
THE BIG EASY
NEAR DARK
TIN MEN
WINGS OF DESIRE

comment #36

T. S. Idiot says ...

The funniest thing in the cat-dog Another Stakeout clip is that O'Donnell is faster than Dreyfuss.

comment #37

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