Won Ton Ton il cane che salvò Hollywood

This is a nice slapstick-comedy about the good old days in Hollywood and also a hommage to Rin Tin Tin, the most famous silent-movie dog-star. Bruce Dern plays a director who starts to have success after discovering the dog. All-star guest appearances from Milton Berle over Cyd Charisse to Rory Calhoun and Johnny Weissmueller are also included but the best actor is the dog who plays Won Ton Ton. He is fantastic. In some scenes it doesn't work to put the humor and slapstick from the Twenties into the Seventies but this movie is really worth to take a look.

Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood is by far a comedy masterpiece, but it stars the lovely Madeline Kahn in a truly hysterical performance. She rises so above the material. She possesses the same kind of movie magic of the screwball comediennes of the 30's and 40's and even comes off much better. I think if Madeline Kahn were a star in those days we would have had at least 100 films starring her. But when she made her film debut in 1972 she was a true Hollywood find. After all her first four movies are all now classics and two considered masterpieces. Not to mention two Oscar nominations. But with all that greatness the movie studios offered her parts in so-so comedies. I mean she made some more very good films, but not up to her first four. She was as beautiful and extremely talented as all her peers of the day. I always felt she was one day going to get her Academy Award in her older years, but unfortunately she died much too soon. Bruce Dern, Art Carney, Teri Garr, Phil Silvers, Ron Liebman, Nancy Walker and so many stars from the past appear in this take off on Rin Tin Tin. Paramount has yet to release it on DVD. 2006 is here today and its the films 30th anniversary. I wish they would release it for us all to enjoy and cherish a underrated performance from Madeline Kahn.

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?

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 never saw Won Ton Ton when it was released (although I was certainly old enough). The reviews were so damning that, in spite of a chance to see some of my favorites (The Ritz Brothers, Joan Blondell, Fritz Feld, Terri Garr and a host of former stars), I put it off until I bought the DVD and played it tonight. Perhaps the direction could have been better; certainly the camera-work wasn't consistent, but we thought it far funnier and more clever than many other 1970s movies that were better-received. The dog (or series of dogs) in the title role was (were) brilliant, even in extended shots. Harry & Jimmy Ritz (who, contrary to the IMDb cast list, WERE billed) showed, 40 years after their prime, why they were comedians' comedians. Art Carney didn't disappoint. I like Madeline Kahn but am not the fan that many are, and rather wish Terri Garr had the opportunity to play the lead. Rob Liebman and Fritz Feld gave topnotch comic performances. And Bruce Dern brought energy and comic sense to his lead role. It was a delight to watch the many former stars who, in a few moments of screen time, still knew how to nail a character and a scene. I wish Joan Blondell, now recognized as one of the finest and freshest actors of Hollywood's studio era, had been given a larger role. Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood isn't a comic masterpiece, but it is far better than its reputation. More important: it is fun!