Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

I'm not surprised that someone who was in high school when this came out didn't appreciate it. It is of course as much a farce as Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but it has become a cult film for old movie buffs, because it has the most impressive cast of old movie stars, supporting actors, bit players and celebrities of any movie ever made. Movie buffs and clubs have had parties where they show the film and have people list as many players as they can identify. Don't believe it? Mouse up the whole supporting cast and feast your eyes!

EVERY movie nut has a few in his collection that he hides from his friends... films that "aren't cool", trashy films with no redeeming social value, outrageous films with no importance whatever. Films that you secretly watch from time to time just because they're FUN!

I'll come clean here... ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, POOTIE TANG, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, CANDY and ROCK & ROLL HIGH SCHOOL are among MY Guilty Pleasures.

An outstanding member of my back-of-the-shelf collection is WON TON TON, THE DOG WHO SAVED Hollywood.

This one is DEFINITELY for those folks whose knowledge of American cinema goes back a LONG way... back to the Mack Sennett comedies, and to the days before Hollywood became a multibillion dollar Money Machine. It's a sort of Love Letter to the silent screen stars of the 1920's; they appear in a copious number of cameos here. If you don't know who the Ritz Brothers were, you won't get this film!

Madelein Kahn literally steals the show from a somewhat dopey German Shepard, a MAJOR achievement for ANY actor or actress! There's an old stage saying that one should NEVER work with kids or animals; they'll steal your scenes every time without even trying. Kahn MORE than held her own, even successfully stealing scenes from the pooch. Check out the scene where the roast chicken falls off of the delivery truck, and Kahn and Won Ton Ton fight over possession of it. She just DUSTED the dog, and overall HE comes off as the comedic straight man!

The only other recent actor that comes close to this level of thespian gallantry and sheer talent is Jim Bellushi in his performance in K9... he's ANOTHER screwball comedian who can pull it off successfully.

Bruce Dern's performance is somewhat wooden. Dern's persona literally radiates instability and danger... NOT good for comedy. He's gamely going through the motions here; it quickly becomes painfully apparent that Dern, as fine an actor as he is, has NO potential in comedic roles.

Art Carney does his usual masterful job of playing a curmudgeonly movie producer, constantly shooting down Dern's half baked movie ideas ("There's this little girl in Kansas, see, and a tornado takes her and her house to this magic land, somewhere over the rainbow...").

One of the unsung heros here is Ron Liebman; he shows a flair for subtle comedy that's totally unexpected.

It's not a film for everyone; a LOT of folks will HATE it. But.. if you love the REALLY old movies, and you can FIND it, WON TON TON is good for an evening's entertainment.

I saw this movie years ago, and really liked it. It got bad reviews and disappeared from view. I have not seen it on TV or video stores. Kahn was great and so were the many cameos. Give it a try if you can find it.

I thought it was a kick - but then I've been watching movies that date from 1917 and know a little about the pictures. This romp combined cameos and bits by folks from Hollywood's good years (which I define as when they used people instead of digital simulation) as well as familiar faces from TV and pictures from the 50's and 60's.

It's a GO for my money (but then I wasn't in high school when I bought it). Don't see it unless you love pictures!

My friend knew I was a fan of Michael Winner, as previously I lent him a copy of "SCREAM FOR HELP". So he returned the favor with the polar opposite "WON TON TON THE DOG WHO SAVED HOLLYWOOD". This was one of those films I heard of, but never went out of my way to see. Watching it was eye-boggling, as I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It's the "Where's Wally" of Hollywood filmmaking, as star after star after star of golden age cinema show up in small and at times, unimportant roles. Just looking at that cast listing, is a curiosity, but what a waste. Still all of this does become a distraction, with it simply being a hyperbolic hodgepodge of situational humor done at a frenetic pace. It's obviously trying for that charming old-school slapstick comedy of errors and mischief, yet the scatterbrain energy, comic interplay and running gags begin to wear out its welcome. When you think it can't get any more ridiculous, it does, but that's when it kind shows up the shortcomings and lack of variety. It's very shallow, but I could be possibly missing something? A social commentary of the infatuating highs and devastating lows that makes Hollywood what it is? Nah, it's just an aspiring showbiz tale of a gal (Madeline Kahn), a guy (Bruce Dern) and a dog in twenties Hollywood consisting of numerous in-jokes and animated performances. The amusingly gleeful Madeline Kahn and an exaggerated Ron Leibman do steal most of the scenes. Well that's when Won Ton Ton is not doing his thing. It might be a train wreck, but it had its moments. Or you'll be pondering what were they thinking?