Great To Work On

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Clive Donner's What's New, Pussycat? (1965) was a sloppy, mostly unfunny sex farce, but the stories of its making are legendary (or at least the ones told to me by production designer Richard Sylbert were). It falls, then, into a category that's rarely discussed -- movies that suck on their own terms but would have been unforgettable to work on with the key creatives. If a film was fun or intensely dramatic to work on and was also great to watch then it doesn't make the list.

John Landis's The Blues Brothers, a legendary cocaine movie, was another one of these, I've heard. Heaven's Gate, however, doesn't have the reputation of having been a great party shoot. The DVD documentary about the making of the disastrous Cleopatra ('63) is far more entertaining that the film itself, so that would be another. It's a shame that no one tried to throw together a similar-type doc about the making of the '62 Mutiny on the Bounty. I once head a story about Brian De Palma saying that if crew people are having too much fun on a set then something's wrong. Good movies, he felt, are hard to make and therefore shouldn't be relaxing or pleasurable during principal photography.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 29, 2009 at 12:23 PM

comment #1

MilkMan says ...

Donner's The Nude Bomb (1980) is what I saw on my birthday with a group of friends. Andrea Howard was a babe in that movie.

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 12:54 PM

comment #2

MilkMan says ...

I would say that Oceans 13 falls into this category.

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 12:55 PM

comment #3

MilkMan says ...

It was probably a hoot to make The Marrying Man if you were Alec Baldwin.

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 12:56 PM

comment #4

MilkMan says ...

I meant Oceans 12. Actually, I mean all of them.

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 12:57 PM

comment #5

actionman says ...

The stories I heard from people at JBF about the making of Top Gun were insane.

Posted by actionman at April 29, 2009 12:58 PM

comment #6

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

The original Casino Royale. The original Ocean's Eleven. Barbarella. 75% of American movies made between 1966 and 1969.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at April 29, 2009 12:58 PM

comment #7

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Working on Top Gun was probably a dream come true if you were a young, closeted gay male.

I mean this sincerely.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at April 29, 2009 1:00 PM

comment #8

George Prager says ...

THE LAST MOVIE

Posted by George Prager at April 29, 2009 1:10 PM

comment #9

Josh Massey says ...

The Ocean's movies were the first thing to pop in my head - but I liked the bookends, so I guess Ocean's 12 would be the qualifier.

Red Dawn was probably a fun set to be on. Of course, like The Blues Brothers, I dig it.

The all-timer would have to be Cannonball Run II - the only movie that dreamt of casting Frank Sinatra and Jackie Chan. Those movies must have been one long party.

Posted by Josh Massey at April 29, 2009 1:14 PM

comment #10

MilkMan says ...

Salo?

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 1:15 PM

comment #11

actionman says ...

That's pretty funny, Kaned, but actually, it was pure heaven for any heterosexual male in the San Diego and Los Angeles area who happened to be working on the film.

Posted by actionman at April 29, 2009 1:16 PM

comment #12

Gordon27 says ...

"but the stories of its making are legendary (or at least the ones told to me by production designer Richard Sylbert were)"

There's a great story in one of Peter Sellers' biographies where he's at the hotel, on his day off or whatever, and an exec or agent sees him and thinks he's Woody Allen and comes over, so Peter Sellers starts pretending to be Woody Allen, and the guy proceeds to say things like, "I hear Peter Sellers is being a problem, don't worry, we'll take care of him." And "Woody" went along with it.

I always wanted to hear a Woody Allen anecdote about Peter Sellers to balance that out.

Posted by Gordon27 at April 29, 2009 1:26 PM

comment #13

Wrecktem says ...

"Salo?"

With all those hot, nubile young lads and lasses and all the free chocolate you can eat? Works for me.

Posted by Wrecktem at April 29, 2009 1:26 PM

comment #14

Rich S. says ...

Cleopatra must have been a blast. I mean, Liz Taylor's tracheotomy alone was a laugh-a-minute.

Posted by Rich S. at April 29, 2009 1:26 PM

comment #15

Wrecktem says ...

NAKED young nubile lasses at that!

Posted by Wrecktem at April 29, 2009 1:27 PM

comment #16

Gordon27 says ...

What about movies like 'I Am Legend', which were terrible to work on and to watch?

Posted by Gordon27 at April 29, 2009 1:29 PM

comment #17

R. Hunt says ...

I second "The Last Movie"..
How about "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid"?

Posted by R. Hunt at April 29, 2009 1:39 PM

comment #18

rr3333 says ...

'The Edge' must have been a blast!

Posted by rr3333 at April 29, 2009 1:44 PM

comment #19

EdHavens says ...

There's some good tidbits about Pussycat in Mark Harris's book Pictures at a Revolution, when Warren Beatty was still involved in its creation.

Posted by EdHavens at April 29, 2009 2:19 PM

comment #20

MilkMan says ...

I read somewhere that orgies were a daily occurence on the set of Moving Violations (1985).

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 2:25 PM

comment #21

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

That's pretty funny, Gordon. I actually wouldn't mind being on the set of that movie for one reason and one reason only: Alice Braga.

Did Matheson ever visit the set? I think I would have called in sick that day...

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at April 29, 2009 2:34 PM

comment #22

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Also, Lake Placid looks like it must have been a fucking riot to work on.

Then again, I actually found that movie hilarious. I realize I'm probably in the vast minority here.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at April 29, 2009 2:36 PM

comment #23

Jason says ...

FREE CHOCOLATE. That's great, Wrecktem. Somebody check the credits to see if Salo's prop manager was also the caterer.

Posted by Jason at April 29, 2009 2:53 PM

comment #24

nemo says ...

"I meant Oceans 12. Actually, I mean all of them."

All of them including the original Rat Pack version. Probably fun to "work" on, if you can call that work. A snooze to watch. So bad it makes the Soderbergh versions look good.

Posted by nemo at April 29, 2009 3:15 PM

comment #25

MilkMan says ...

Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains and The Outsiders, while both severely mediocre films, were probably fun to work on just to watch all of the boys jockey for position with Diane Lane.

I know I have said this before, but I think it bears repeating: Diane Lane in The Outsiders and Rumble Fish is the most beautiful girl in the history of cinema. No one comes close.

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 4:10 PM

comment #26

The Hoyk says ...

I know firsthand from Nancy Dowd that STAINS was not a picnic in the least. Adler spent more time off the set than on, Dowd was getting harassed so much she walked off and took her name off the film, Lane was pushing for emancipation from her mother, and Dern...well let's just say Steve Jones has a story.

I hold STAINS in higher regard than you, it's one of my most favorite films, but I will admit what strengths it has are in spite of and not the result of its on-set atmosphere.

Posted by The Hoyk at April 29, 2009 4:52 PM

comment #27

MilkMan says ...

I suspect that good movie was left on the editing room floor, Hoyk. Because the ideas are there, buried, and from time to time they sneak out. I actually liked the ending of the film because it struck me as very honest, regardless of whether or not it's real or happening in Corrine's head. But, I mean, those fake News Magazine Television Thingamajigs are just horrible. I'm not surprised to hear that Adler was a turd. He strikes me as a prototypical Los Angeles Music Industry Douche, all style and charisma and not a whole lot more.

I wonder why Lane wanted to get divorced from her parents so young. That kind of explains the anger she is working with in her performance. I mean, she looks pissed in Fabulous Stains.

Posted by MilkMan at April 29, 2009 5:05 PM

comment #28

bmcintire says ...

I just finished reading Steven Bach's "Final Cut" a few days ago. Apparently, the set of HEAVEN'S GATE was pure bliss for almost everyone (especially the crew) since there were days and days where nothing was getting done and no one was asked to do much of anything. After two full months of this, however, everyone started going insane. And they had a full four months to go from that point.

Posted by bmcintire at April 29, 2009 5:15 PM

comment #29

frankbooth says ...

I agree, Milkman. Dillon's shop class hallucination in Rumble Fish is one of the great images in modern cinema.

Posted by frankbooth at April 29, 2009 10:18 PM

comment #30

frankbooth says ...

Oh, and Pussycat is awful. Hard to believe it could be so dull with that cast.

Posted by frankbooth at April 29, 2009 10:24 PM

comment #31

TVMCCA says ...

Re MilkMan's post:
Regardless of Adler-as-human-being-and/or-director, STAINS and UP IN SMOKE are still around three decades later, where some films by more "talented" directors from that period have been forgotten.

Posted by TVMCCA at April 29, 2009 11:09 PM

comment #32

TVMCCA says ...

I once head a story about Brian De Palma saying that if crew people are having too much fun on a set then something's wrong. Good movies, he felt, are hard to make and therefore shouldn't be relaxing or pleasurable during principal photography.

And bad movies can be made the same way too. Trust me, I've been there.

Posted by TVMCCA at April 29, 2009 11:11 PM

comment #33

TVMCCA says ...

George Prager wrote:
THE LAST MOVIE

Certainly the description of it in one of Michael Medved's GOLDEN TURKEY AWARDS books would bear this out. There's a quote from (if I recall correctly) someone involved with the film that alleges that Hopper shot in Peru because there was a particular kind of mushroom he wanted to try.

Posted by TVMCCA at April 29, 2009 11:13 PM

comment #34

Aladdin Sane says ...

I bought Pussycat for $3 on DVD a couple years ago. Besides O'Toole's way of saying, "Pussycat", the only thing I care to remember from it is the exchange between O'Toole and Richard Burton. That was classic.

Posted by Aladdin Sane at April 30, 2009 1:22 AM

comment #35

moviemaniac2002 says ...

The dubbing-over-the-Japanese sessions from
Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" ...would love to
have seen that......

Posted by moviemaniac2002 at April 30, 2009 7:38 AM

comment #36

tmurry says ...

Is there a name for that group of guys - Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLouise, Jerry Reed, Mel Tillis, Sally Fields (kinda'), etc. - who made all those lousy movies together like the Cannonball Runs, Hot Stuff, Fatso, the Smokie/Bandit sequels? Those movies looked like the most fun any of those guys ever had, and were probably fun to work on for anybody but more serious minded crew members (to whom it was likely intolerable).

Posted by tmurry at April 30, 2009 10:25 AM

comment #37