Great Movies Almost Ruined By A Single Performance (1 Viewer)

[Sultanofcinema]

This thread isn't about political correctness! Stop making such posts in this thread.

Robert, sincere apologies!

 

[Polbroth]

You do understand that Shemp was the comedic star of the original Three Stooges and left for a solo career. He was replaced by Moe and Shemp's younger brother Jerome/Curley? He came back after Jerome's illness.

I'm aware of much Stooge lore, some of it more or less fact-based.

I wonder if Shemp inspired such luminaries as Chuck Norris, David Hasselhoff, Steven Seagal, Terry Crews and even Hulk Hogan to pursue entertainment careers; if so, his is an extraordinary legacy to be sure.

But Shemp's ruinous appearances in the shorts were nearly matched by Curly Joe's in the later features, admittedly thin gruel to begin with.

Much ruin to go around it would seem.

 

[Christian D66]

Just read an interview with George Axelrod from Backstory 2 where he says he hated the Rooney scenes and even got Hepburn to agree to reshoot them but Edwards wouldn't change it. So even the screenwriter (famed for risque themes) said it was in "bad taste."

 

[roxy1927]

Not a great film but James Stewart in The Spirit of St Louis which has great moments. You've got a very middle aged man playing a young handsome Lindbergh. What was Wilder thinking? I understand John Kerr was wanted who would have been perfect but even back then Kerr had Lindbergh's number and refused to play him. And Lindbergh's reputation since then has only gotten considerably worse.

 

[roxy1927]

Who is Ann Margaret?

 

[jayembee]

Who is Ann Margaret?

Never heard of her.

Now Ann-Margret...

Ann-Margret - IMDb

Ann-Margret. Actress: Carnal Knowledge. Actress and singer Ann-Margret is one of the most famous sex symbols and actresses of the 1960s and beyond. She continued her career through the following decades and into the 21st century. Ann-Margret was born Ann-Margret Olsson in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland...

www.imdb.com

 

[Polbroth]

Allow me to continue winning the thread with this grand slam observation...

Pepe Le Pew.

Everything about the cartoons is pure brilliance/true greatness except for the literally/figuratively odious Pepe.

But as with Shemp in a handful of bearable Stooges appearances, there are a handful of Pepe cartoons brilliant through and through, one being an Oscar-winning 1949 outing where Pepe gets a dose of his own medicine. (Pepe AND the Oscars getting it right in the same year; maybe there's even a good Shemp short from 1949 too!)

 

[Jake Lipson]

Barbara Streisand in Hello, Dolly!

 

[roxy1927]

So who do you think should have played Dolly? As great a performer as Channing was close-ups of her in Todd AO would have caused blindness among most members of the audience. She was a wonderful featured movie player much like Ethel merman.

 

[Matt Hough]

So who do you think should have played Dolly? As great a performer as Channing was close-ups of her in Todd AO would have caused blindness among most members of the audience. She was a wonderful featured movie player much like Ethel merman.

Ginger Rogers was the second Broadway Dolly and as an Oscar-winning movie star, she would have been quite a viable selection (true, she hadn't made a movie in five years, but it could have been hyped as a return to the screen). But Fox was going to sink mucho dollars into the film, so I don't blame them for selecting the hottest new movie star in the business. Not a good artistic decision but a great business decision. No, the movie didn't earn back its cost, but it got closer with Barbra than it would have with anyone else.

 

[Polbroth]

So who do you think should have played Dolly?

Ann-Margrock.

 

[roxy1927]

I heard she was interested in Irene Molloy.

 

[mskaye]

So who do you think should have played Dolly? As great a performer as Channing was close-ups of her in Todd AO would have caused blindness among most members of the audience. She was a wonderful featured movie player much like Ethel merman.

Shemp Howard would have been an amazing Dolly ! And arguably easier on the eyes (and ears) than Miss Channing.

 

[Polbroth]

Ginger Rogers was the second Broadway Dolly and as an Oscar-winning movie star, she would have been quite a viable selection (true, she hadn't made a movie in five years, but it could have been hyped as a return to the screen). But Fox was going to sink mucho dollars into the film, so I don't blame them for selecting the hottest new movie star in the business. Not a good artistic decision but a great business decision. No, the movie didn't earn back its cost, but it got closer with Barbra than it would have with anyone else.

I think someone already mentioned the disastrously bad creative decision to cast Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and Streisand as Dolly was just as wrong as Hepburn in that earlier part - just a terrible fit.

Dolly the film was doomed from the start & from the top down, with Streisand far from the only creatively terrible casting choice.

But Babs was big at the time, and the only other choice that would have made sense in terms of popularity AND Broadway bonafides AND talent would have been Julie Andrews, and she was exploring other waters.

Shirley Booth - Broadway's original (non-musical) Dolly - was a marvelous singer and would have been a superb creative choice, but she was 70 in 1968 and all but retired.

I'm not sure Rogers was ever quite right, but Debbie Reynolds might have been great, and Elizabeth Montgomery might have been perfect, but again, only Andrews could match Babs for sheer cinematic star power at the time, at least musically speaking.

 

[roxy1927]

The problem with Julie is she couldn't do an American accent and I think a british accent really would have been out of place in Dolly.

My choice would have been Betty Grable but at that point who was going to spend 20 million in 60s money on a movie starring Grable. Streisand though does sing the hell out of the role.

 

[Jake Lipson]

So who do you think should have played Dolly?

Someone age appropriate for Dolly's arc. The story is about a widow who has spent the last ten years withdrawn from the world. Streisand could probably play it now, but she just wasn't the right age for that to make sense when the movie was made. The part as written requires someone of a certain age who has believably lived Dolly's experiences. The movie just does not work with her at the center because the casting was utterly misconceived.

There is no almost about this one. The movie has many good things in it but is plainly ruined by having a miscast Dolly at the center. When did Streisand's Dolly marry Ephram, at age ten? It just doesn't work.

 

[Indy Guy]

"It's not the years...it's the milage!" Streisand had plenty enough miles to stand her own with Matthau.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I respectfully disagree.

 

[roxy1927]

Someone age appropriate for Dolly's arc. The story is about a widow who has spent the last ten years withdrawn from the world. Streisand could probably play it now, but she just wasn't the right age for that to make sense when the movie was made. The part as written requires someone of a certain age who has believably lived Dolly's experiences. The movie just does not work with her at the center because the casting was utterly misconceived.

There is no almost about this one. The movie has many good things in it but is plainly ruined by having a miscast Dolly at the center. When did Streisand's Dolly marry Ephram, at age ten? It just doesn't work.

But in '68 who would you having a $ 20 million Todd AO musical on your shoulders have cast? I bet a lot of the money was made off of Streisand being in the film.

 

[Jake Lipson]

But in '68 who would you having a $ 20 million Todd AO musical on your shoulders have cast?

I don't know. That wasn't my job. Speaking strictly as a Dolly fan, probably would have told them to go get Carol Channing. Streisand was not the right choice for this material at that time.