Well, the summer movies ended pretty much as they began. One of the first films to kick off the season was "The Rock," a big, bombastic, high-body-count, buddy-thriller (one's a cop, one's a crook) with a very loud, hard-rock soundtrack.
And it ended with "Bulletproof," also a big, bombastic, high-body-count, buddy-thriller (one's a cop, one's a crook) with a very loud, hard-rock soundtrack.In between we got "Eraser," "Fled" and "Chain Reaction," which, with a few minor adjustments, are all the same movie as "The Rock" and "Bulletproof." ("Eraser" and "Bulletproof" even have the same villain - James Caan!) And still to come over the next couple of weeks are "Maximum Risk" with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal's "The Glitter Man."
As usual, most of the summer flicks were aimed at the youth audience, and with junk like "Kingpin," "Spy Hard," "Eddie," "The Cable Guy," "The Nutty Professor," "The Frighteners," "Joe's Apartment" and "Tales From the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood," et al., the kids were welcome to them.
Even kid pictures aimed at younger children - the so-called "family movies" - were pretty dismal, dominated by such disappointments as "Flipper," "The Phantom," "Kazaam," "Jack," "Car Pool," "First Kid" and "The Stupids" (and except for "Jack" - another hit for Robin Williams - they were all box-office disappointments, as well).
Better were "Wallace & Gromit: The Best of Aardman Animation," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Harriet the Spy," "The Adventures of Pinocchio" and "Matilda" (along with the reissue of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory") . . . though only "Hunchback" made any significant impact at the box office. ("Hunchback" may also falter on the home video market, thanks to backlash resulting from its ill-advised "adult" sensibilities).
The biggest surprise of the summer was that we somehow managed to get five thoughtful pictures aimed at adults - and all of them were quite good: "Once Upon a Time . . . When We Were Colored," "Emma," "Courage Under Fire," "Cold Comfort Farm" and "Lone Star."
And then there was "Independence Day," which was expected to be a big hit - but not so big that it would rise up to threaten "Forrest Gump" and "The Lion King" on the all-time biggest moneymakers list (if not "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Jurassic Park" at the top of that list).
In terms of box-office revenue, there were no fewer than nine summer movies that crossed over the $100 million "blockbuster" mark (or are so close they'll cross over in the next few weeks):
- "Independence Day," $282 million.
- "Twister," $238 million.
- "Mission Impossible" $178 million.
- "The Rock," $128 million.
- "The Nutty Professor," $118 million.
- "Eraser," $99 million.
- "Phenomenon," $98 million.
- "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," $93 million.
- "A Time to Kill," $92 million.
By the way, the eventual $100 million to be earned by "Hunchback," while still qualifying the film for "hit" status, is the lowest a Disney animated feature has garnered since "The Little Mermaid."
Industry analysts believe that the Olympics caused some slippage in moviegoing during the second half of July, but having nine movies join the $100-million club from this three-month season is no small feat.
Still, in terms of quality, there seemed to be much less middle-of-the-road material. A few summer flicks were excellent, but an awful lot were awfully bad.
- THIS WAS ALSO the summer that Hollywood upped the ante in terms of offensive material in movies aimed at teens, further blurring the already very thin line between the PG-13 and R ratings.
"The Nutty Professor," "Kingpin," "The Cable Guy," "Joe's Apartment," "Chain Reaction," "Moll Flanders," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "A Very Brady Sequel" - and more - should have been rated R, not PG-13.
In fact, so much violence, sex and sleazy gross-out material is contained in these pictures that parents have to ask, does Hollywood really believe these things are appropriate for 13-, 14- or 15-year-olds?
On the other end of the scale, there were some R-rated films that were softer in terms of content than some of these PG-13 pictures.
Most R-rated films deserve their rating, but let's face it - should "Tin Cup," "A Time to Kill," "Lone Star" and "Courage Under Fire" really be in the same rating category as "Striptease," "Eraser," "The Rock" and Bulletproof"?
Not from where I'm sitting.
- AS FOR NEXT SUMMER, some of the potential blockbusters are already scheduled, though a few haven't even gone into production quite yet. Look for the sequel to "Jurassic Park," Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg's "The Lost World," to lead the pack, along with two more sequels, "Speed 2" and "Alien 4: Resurrection." In addition, we'll see James Cameron's "Titanic," Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers," Joel Schumacher's "Batman and Robin" and three more disaster flicks - one about a flood and two about exploding volcanos.
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Veteran comic actor Cheech Marin, currently co-starring in "Tin Cup," who became a star with partner Tommy Chong in a series of pro-drug comedies during the late '70s and early '80s:
"My advice to the baby-boomer generation is, when their kids come of age, just lie to them. Tell them you were home drinking milk and cookies during that time."
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK II: Dick Van Dyke, star of many movies but best known for his television work, including his current series, "Diagnosis Murder":
"Out of deference to my age (70), I only work four days a week, not five. So it does give me a chance to get my energy back. I've gotten arthritic in my old age. I took so many pratfalls in my time that my spine looks like the Colorado River."
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK III: Charlton Heston, currently co-starring in "Alaska," about his favorite film roles:
"Well, there's `Ben-Hur' or `El Cid.' I'd say `The Ten Commandments,' except I could do that so much better now. Yul (Brynner) gave a perfect Pharoah; the fact that it was also the King of Siam is neither here nor there. It's the same part. He was marvelous, better than I realized at the time. But I could be better.
"I liked my Antony in `Antony and Cleopatra,' which almost no one has seen. But `Khartoum' and `Will Penny' might be my best performances. Paramount dumped `Will Penny.' Such a good script, not `Macbeth' or O'Neill, but so well-written. I'm very proud of it."