One of my all time favorite movies is the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker disaster spoof Airplane!. If you by chance haven’t seen the film, there’s no real way to describe the film’s offbeat, random, out-of-left field sense of humor. It’s something you’ll just have to experience for yourself.

I first saw the movie sometime in the early 1980s, at my friend’s house on HBO. It was a comic revelation to us and for months afterwards we would set each other up with lines like “Surely you don’t mean it,” and getting the expected “Yes I do. And don’t call me Shirley!” in response.

It wasn’t until around the time I was in high school or college that I learned that the movie was actually patterened after a 1957 b-movie called Zero Hour!, scripted by none other than Alex Roots Hailey! Finding it on television proved impossible and it never got a release on VHS.

Last week though, Zero Hour! finally got a home video release as part of Warner Brothers “Cult Camp Classics” series. And the similarities between Zero Hour! and Airplane! are amazing! Where the original film reached for dramatic tension, Airplane! grabs laughs using the exact same lines. The Zucker-Abrams-Zucker team knew that the original was pure soapy melodrama, and they played it as straight as possible, knowing that’s where the laughs were.

Don’t take my word for it though. Check out these two scene-by-scene comparisons that recently showed up on YouTube.

It’s been a question that seems to have been on Disney fans’ lips since the first DVD players rolled off the assembly lines and into retail outlets over 10 years ago- “When is Disney going to release Song Of The South on DVD?”

Well, it looks like they just might have an answer soon enough.

Over at the eponymous JimHillMedia.com, Jim Hill addresses just such a possibility in his weekly “Why For?” column. It seems that since John Lasseter has put a stop to all the direct-to-home video sequels that were being produced, the studio’s home video division is looking for product to replace their cancelled titles and Song Of The South is a guaranteed seller.

For those who don’t know, Jim Hill is perhaps the internet’s best resource for behind-the-scenes information on the House of Mouse. While Hill is definitely in the realm of speculation, his is probably the best educated guess available. It’s one I would certainly put some stock into.

You may recall this past April, we reported that during an appearance at the Philadelphia Film Festival, Walt Disney’s nephew Roy E. Disney had stated he was pushing for a release of the film on DVD.

The folks over at DoubleViking.com, a sort of on-line variation of magazines like Maxim, have published an article announcing something that I’ve known for the past 23 years-

Real Men Love The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!

To be sure, some of the reasons the writer gives are a bit tongue in cheek. But he is correct in stating “If you haven’t watched it, then you are seriously missing out on a cinematic gem.”

I first saw Buckaroo Banzai during its incredibly short theatrical release in the fall of 1984. It was on my first date ever and though my love affair with Sheri P. went the way of most high school romances, my love affair with the movie has continued to this date. As a high school sophmore with no idea of what he wanted to do with his future, it was a revelation to see a character, as personified by Peter Weller, who didn’t choose one path in life, but walked many- musician, scientist, surgeon, adventurer. Definitely a reassuring message to a kid stuck in the middle of taking all sorts of college and career apptitude tests and being told by guidence counsellors, teachers and the like that everything you do now is going to HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!

It was also one of the first movies that inspired me to pick up a pen and try my hand at writing. I wound up getting a couple of Buckaroo fan fiction short stories published, one of which netted me a letter from Peter Weller himself!

If you haven’t checked out Buckaroo Banzai, drop it into your NetFlix/Blockbuster rental queue or head out to your local DVD rental establishment and pick it up. It’s a film that, despite being firmly cemented in the mid-80s New Wave esthetic, holds up well today.

And remember, “No matter where you go… there you are.”

Fame

Although it hasn’t been announced officially, Film Jerk reported on Friday that Andy Fickman has been selected to helm MGM’s remake of Fame, which we previously reported about here. As Fickman has already directed such family friendly films as the Amanda Bynes comedy She’s The Man and the Disney football flick The Game Plan with Dwayne Johnson, it gives one pause to wonder if the studio is looking to do away with some of the original’s darker elements such as drug use and Coco’s (Irene Cara) descent into pornography. Time will tell…

Slueth

EmpireOnLine has posted the first picture released from the upcoming remake of Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1972 film starring Jude Law and Michael Caine. This version is a return of sorts for Caine, who starred in the original film as a hairdresser who has an affair with the wife of a mystery writer, played by Laurence Olivier, leading to a series of mind games between the two. This time, it is Caine’s character whose wife is having an affair with Law, leading to a game of wits between the two. Actor/director Kenneth Branagh is set to direct from a screenplay updated by Harold Pinter.

Colossus: The Forbin Project

The 1970 techno-thriller, Colossus: The Forbin Project, is being lined up for a remake at Universal with Brian Grazer producing and Ron Howard potentially directing. Based on the first of a trilogy of novels by D. F. Jones, the film tells the story of an artificially intelligent computer placed in charge of the United States defense systems who links up with its Soviet counterpart and comes to the decision that mankind needs to be enslaved in order to save itself from themselves. Screenwriter Jason Rothenberg is reportedly planning on incorporating elements from Jones’ other two books in this updating.

Via Variety.

Hellraiser

Noted author Clive Barker, who wrote and directed the 1987 original horror film Hellraiser based on his own novella The Hellbound Heart, has reportedly turned in a forty page treatment for an upcoming remake. This news comes from Seraphim Film’s Joe Daley, who told Variety, “There are some areas of the first movie where I think we can be a lot more intense and a lot more scary. It will not be simply a reworking or reshooting of the first picture.” However, with Barker currently working on adaptation of his short story “Meat Train,” it remains unclear as to when he’ll have time to further pursue a script for Hellraiser.

Via Shock Till You Drop

I’ve already talked about my love for the 1980 Flash Gordon.

Lot’s of remakes being announced by the studios over the last week or so. Here’s a rundown of what cinematic new retreads are coming our way.

Fame

MGM has announced that they will be revisiting the New York Academy of Performing Arts with a remake of Alan Parker’s 1980 musical Fame. Set at the real world school for young entertainment industry hopefuls, the original film starred Irene Cara and Debbie Allen. The new version already have a writer and director attached but they were not named by studio COO Rick Sands, who made the announcement at Cannes on Tuesday. He did say that the film is budgeted at $25 million and already set for a Summer 2008 release. He also promised that the new film would retain some of the musical numbers from the original.

3:10 To Yuma

A couple of new photos have been released of the remake of the 1957 western 3:10 To Yuma have surfaced. The new version stars Russell Crowe, seen below, will be hitting theaters in October.

Barbarella

Producer Dino DeLaurentiis is putting together an update of the 1968 camp classic Barbarella, which starred a pre-feminist Jane Fonda as a futuristic space kitten/adventuress. No director or cast have been hired (although that hasn’t stopped the British press from speculating on who may land the title role), but a script is currently being written by Casino Royale (2007) scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. According to an article in Variety, “in the remake, [Purvis and Wade] will make Barbarella a free, modern gal who survives in a futuristic world through her intelligence, fighting skills and sexuality.”

Via Cinematical

Clash Of The Titans

Lawrence Kasdan, scripter for two of the greatest genre films of the 1980s, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), has been hired to write a remake of another ‘80s genre favorite- Clash Of The Titans. The original, which featured the last effects work from stop-motion genius Ray Harryhausen, starred Harry Hamlin as Perseus, the son of Greek god Zeus (Sir Laurence Olivier) who must complete a set of tasks including slaying the Medusa and taming the winged horse Pegasus as part of his quest to free the captured Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker). According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kasdan will be working from a previous draft by Travis Beacham.

The Incredible Hulk

Not so much a remake of Ang Lee’s critically roasted Hulk than an attempt to try and start a franchise again, director Louis Leterrier has found his Bruce Banner in the form of Edward Norton. With the film set for a release in July 2008, production should get rolling fairly soon. The film’s screenplay is by Zak Penn, who has also worked on the big screen comic book adaptations of Fantastic Four, Elektra and X-Men films, all characters published by Hulk publisher Marvel Comics.

(And if you think — years is a little too soon to remake a film, remember that Dashille Hammet’s The Maltese Falcon was brought to the screen three times over the space of ten years, with the third try – John Houston’s version with Humphrey Bogart – being the charmed.)

Via Variety

Director Rachel Talalay’s 1995 adaptation of the popular British comic book Tank Girl may have been raked over by critics and generally ignored by audiences during its brief theatrical run, it has managed to gather a small cult following.* Unfortunately, that following isn’t enough to ensure that studio MGM would want to put the time, money and effort towards a special edition DVD release that would improve the current barebones release already out there.

But for those fans of the film looking to see more of what Talalay had in mind for the film before she had to deal with interference from higher-ups in the studio, there’s hope. Over at her personal site, Talalay has posted some material in the form of photos and several previously unseen clips from Tank Girl that wound up on the cutting room floor. Included among the clips are the film’s original intended beginning (with some storyboards filling in for never finished effects shots), the film’s original ending, a different cut of its mid-film Cole Porter musical number and more. One of the photos features the film’s original Tank Girl, Emily Lloyd, before she was replaced by Lori Petty.

You can check it out here.

* A few years back, I attended an appearance by Malcolm McDowell, who plays Tank Girl‘s villainous Kesslee, where before he spoke, a montage of his various film roles was played. By far the clip that got the biggest cheer was a scene from Tank Girl.

There are many films out there that have probably been unfairly lambasted by either critics or the passage of time. For me, one of those films is the 1980 Dino De Laurentiis produced comic-strip adaptation Flash Gordon. A garish collision of primary colors, art deco design and good old-fashioned cliffhanger adventure, Flash Gordon is a movie that never made any pretense at wanting to do anything more than give its audience two hours of light-hearted, escapist fun. And after recently catching the film again on one of the numerous Encore Cable channels, the film did just that- it entertained me in such a way that few films can.

Flash Gordon is one of those films I remember distinctly seeing as an 11-year old kid. It was early January at the Union Deposit Eric Twin outside of Harrisburg, PA (sadly long closed and recently bulldozed to make way for a shopping center expansion). It was, rightfully so, a Saturday matinee and it was cinematic love at first sight. And I’m not just talking about how Ornella Muti slinked her way through the picture as Ming’s daughter Princess Aura, either. The production design’s use of primary colors recalled the comic books my friends and I were devouring. I was already becoming familiar with the adventure serials of the 1930s and 40s through airings on a local public television station. Sure, some things, like the sadomasochistic side of the leather clad General Kala, flitted right over my barely-pubescent head. But the film’s joyful recreation of those serials captured my imagination.

The film has an amazing cast headed up by no less an actor than Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless, a role he clearly relished and played to the hilt. There’s also a pre-Bond Timothy Dalton bringing a Shakespearian tenor to Prince Barin that is counterbalanced by Brian Blessed’s complete haminess as Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen. These two performances have no right whatsoever to work side-by-side, but they do. Meanwhile, Topol’s Dr. Hans Zarkov exudes all the wide-eyed excitement of a school boy on a field trip to a planetarium.

I’ve never been a fan of camp, but Flash Gordon walks that fine line between camp and more straight-forward adventure, never letting either overtake the tone of the movie. Flash Gordon is a film that never forgets its roots in the adventure comic strips and action-packed pulp magazines of the 1930s and 40s, whether it has Flash facing the poisonous beast living inside the stump in the Arborian Temple or the perilous duel with whips between Flash and Barin where one false step could send them hurtling into the void. The film even becomes a pirate movie when Vultan’s Hawkmen swoop down on the War Rocket Ajax, which first fires its lasers in broadside barrages before its captain instructs his crew to “Repel boarders!” Sure the football bit in Ming’s throne room is goofy in the extreme, but it never gets goofy enough to be cringe-inducing. Instead, the scene strikes a fine balance that stands out in stark relief to the grimness of the dungeon and execution scenes that follow. And there’s something definitely creepy and not campy about the scene where Dr. Zarkov’s memories are supposedly drained out of his brain.

Of course, the film isn’t perfect. Jones’ Gordon and Melody Anderson’s Dale Arden are not particularly well-developed in the script, especially in relation to Flash’s fantastic surroundings, and at times they seems to be struggling to bring some depth to their characters. Additionally, it has always bugged me that even though Dr. Zarkov has forced them onto a rocketship at gunpoint and essentially kidnapped them to Mongo, they’re absolutely chummy with him for the rest of the film.

Flash Gordon’s recreation of Saturday matinee thrills predates the release of another film that owed much to the chaptered adventure serials- Raiders Of The Lost Ark. But why did critics only greet Flash lukewarmly at best but embrace the slightly more realistic and gritty atmosphere Spielberg imparted? (Coincidentally, both films shared character actor William Hootkins in small supporting roles.) Perhaps it was another space opera, George Lucas’ Star Wars (1976) with its breathtakingly real special effects technology, that spoiled critics for the simpler pleasures of some of Flash Gordon’s more primitively created visuals. While there was plenty of use of current optical compositing technology to create the fantastic worlds of Mongo, the movie also relied on shooting models on miniature sets in just the same method that the visuals were created for the original 1930s Flash Gordon serials. But for all the good visuals that optical printing could create, no amount of visual compositing could produce such an image as War Rocket Ajax moving through the psychedelic cloudscape of Mongo.

Recently, there has been talk of a new version of the comic strip being developed by none other than director Stephen Sommers. For me, this does not bode well, as I found his last film, the insufferable Van Helsing (2004), to be a hodgepodge of visual set-pieces with no story or logic to support them. To make matters worse, an issue of Weekly Variety appeared last month with a front cover ad announcing a television adaptation from RIH Entertainment, the same folks behind the recent Poseidon Adventure mini-series on NBC. With a backlit silhouette emerging from smoke, one could not be faulted for fearing that their take might be a little grittier than perhaps the material calls for.

Next month marks the 25th anniversary of Flash Gordon’s theatrical release. Currently the movie is unavailable on Region 1 DVD, though there is a rather nice Region 2 release available in England, complete with audio commentaries from director Hodges and actor Brian Blessed. When I had the chance to meet Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson at a convention last year, they both confirmed that they had recorded a joint audio commentary for a new DVD release. Unfortunately, as DVD release dates are now being announced for January and February of next year, its beginning to look like Universal Studios has dropped the ball. That’s a shame, as there are undoubtedly many fans waiting to once again sit back on their couch and watch Flash save every one of us.

Back during Hollywood’s Golden Age, studios regularly raided the boards of Broadway for source material for their films. However, with the recent success Mel Brooks had in bringing his hit 1968 comedy The Producers to the Great White Way, the flow has seemingly reversed and Broadway producers are mining recognizable Hollywood hits for stage adaptations. A walk through midtown Manhattan’s theatre district will reveal marquees for numerous stage versions of well known films- Spamalot (an adaptation of Monty Python And The Holy Grail), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Color Purple, The Wedding Singer, Disney’s Tarzan and The Lion King as well as the upcoming High Fidelity and Secondhand Lions.

This week a new and rather unusual movie inspired show opened to preview audiences at off-Broadway’s New World Stages- Evil Dead: The Musical. An hysterical romp where a spring vacation trip to a spooky cabin in the woods turns into a nightmare of demon possession, dismemberment and snappy dance numbers, Evil Dead: The Musical manages the seemingly impossible- transforming a stylized horror comedy into a rollicking musical comedy that manages to stay faithful to its highly different the source material.

Originally mounted in Toronto in 2003 and then at the 2004 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, the play skillfully combines plot elements from the first two of director Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films as well as incorporates a few elements from the franchise’s third installment Army Of Darkness (1992). While the first Evil Dead (1981) film was played fairly straight, the second installment definitely amped the comedy elements, resulting in a splatter film as made by the Three Stooges. The stage play’s script steers towards the more comedic interpretation and is smart enough to knowingly wink at the audience over any lapses of story logic. The show’s book also fleshes out the movies’ characters a bit before making them gist for the Grand Guignol mill.

The opening night performance encountered a few minor technical snafus, but the cast braved through them. Truth be told, some technical flubs could easily be interpreted as the stage equivalent of the film series’ sometimes clunky, low-budget effects, so any unexpected mechanical effect failure could conceivably fit right in with the spirit of the piece.

The cast acquitted themselves nicely, with a few adroitly handling double rolls. Ryan Ward, the show’s only holdover from its Toronto run, is tasked with unenviable job of stepping into the shoes of a character that Bruce Campbell has made a film icon. Ward manages to play Ash in a way that evokes Campbell but never allows things to devolve into a bad Campbell impression. Also of special note is Jenna Coker, who, as Ash’s younger sister Cheryl, is transformed into a foul-mouthed, pun spewing demon. Coker throws herself into her performance with an energetic physicality that amazes.

There were plenty of fans of the Evil Dead films at the show’s opening preview night audience. (One guy, right, even showed up dressed as Campbell’s Ash.) Alternately cheering or shouting along with some of the series’ more iconic lines of dialogue, they gave the performance an almost Rocky Horror Picture Show-like atmosphere. The cast at times seemed surprised by the crowd’s enthusiasm; no more so than during the curtain call when they received a standing ovation.

And then there’s the “splatter zone”.

Those familiar with the Evil Dead films know that Raimi was fond of splashing the fake blood around and the stage version takes equal glee in splashing the red stuff around. The theatre is warning patrons that the first three rows from the stage have been designated the “Splatter Zone” and to dress accordingly. If you can’t figure out why, you may to seriously thing about sitting further back. I have to admit that the splatter effects that were supposed to splash the audience were a little anemic on opening night. I was sitting directly in the second row in front of the cellar trap door and barely got a few drops on me. Fortunately, while chatting with some of the actors afterwards, I was assured that they were still trying to find the right amount of blood to pump and that things would be messier in future performances.

Evil Dead: The Musical will run through previews for the rest of October before beginning its open-ended run on November 1. If you’re anywhere within sane traveling distance of New York City, you need to see this show as soon as possible. If you’re live an insane traveling distance of New York City, do something crazy and come to Manhattan to see this show.

There has been some talk of Raimi producing a remake of the original Evil Dead film, allowing some new young director to bring his vision to the story. I would say that a new vision has already been brought to the Evil Dead franchise and its playing out every night at a theater on New York City’s 50th street.