Jonathan Dolgen, the tough-minded dealmaker and skillful numbers-cruncher who spent a decade at Viacom working for Sumner Redstone and alongside Paramount Pictures head Sherry Lansing, has died. He was 78.
Dolgen died Monday evening of natural causes at UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his family, a publicist announced. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2012.
A native of Queens and a former Wall Street lawyer, Dolgen also held top positions at Columbia Pictures, Fox and Sony Pictures before becoming the first top executive recruited by Redstone for the newly merged entertainment conglomerate forged by Viacom’s $8.2 billion purchase of Paramount Communications.
“I had known Dolgen off and on over the years when I was a motion picture exhibitor, even before I gained control of Viacom,” Redstone recalled in his 2001 book, Passion to Win. “He was with Columbia Pictures, and I remember sitting with him in one particular meeting that became rather heated and thinking,...
Dolgen died Monday evening of natural causes at UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his family, a publicist announced. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2012.
A native of Queens and a former Wall Street lawyer, Dolgen also held top positions at Columbia Pictures, Fox and Sony Pictures before becoming the first top executive recruited by Redstone for the newly merged entertainment conglomerate forged by Viacom’s $8.2 billion purchase of Paramount Communications.
“I had known Dolgen off and on over the years when I was a motion picture exhibitor, even before I gained control of Viacom,” Redstone recalled in his 2001 book, Passion to Win. “He was with Columbia Pictures, and I remember sitting with him in one particular meeting that became rather heated and thinking,...
- 10/10/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
No one expected much from "Pretty Woman" when they were making it. It was a modestly-budgeted romantic comedy whose stars were Richard Gere (then in the depths of a career slump) and Eric Roberts's kid sister. But when the movie was released, 25 years ago this week (on March 23, 1990), the project was transformed from overlooked stepsister to box office royalty. Mirroring her on-screen Cinderella makeover, Julia Roberts went from little-known ingenue to queen of Hollywood. Plus, the film saved Gere's career and (along with 1989's "When Harry Met Sally") revived the romantic comedy genre in Hollywood.
A quarter-century later, "Pretty Woman" remains a fan favorite, one you've seen a million times on cable. Even so, there's much you may not know about the movie -- the difficulties in casting (Gere and Roberts weren't anyone's first, second, or third choices), crises on the set, what was left out of the final film,...
A quarter-century later, "Pretty Woman" remains a fan favorite, one you've seen a million times on cable. Even so, there's much you may not know about the movie -- the difficulties in casting (Gere and Roberts weren't anyone's first, second, or third choices), crises on the set, what was left out of the final film,...
- 3/23/2015
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Exclusive: It has been a decade since Robert Zemeckis last directed a live action film, the classic Cast Away. It has been 25 years since he launched the time travel trilogy Back to the Future. I'm told that Zemeckis is plotting a return to both folds at Warner Bros, where he is at the center of a deal for the time travel pitch Timeless. It's a big tent pole picture that will be written by Mike Thompson. Zemeckis and his ImageMovers will produce. Deal is mid six-figures. Zemeckis and Image Movers have been cozy-ing up with Warner Bros since Disney shuttered its Marin County animation facility ImageMovers Digital earlier this year. Even though Zemeckis once seemed comfortable directing pictures exclusively in the 3D performance capture process he pioneered in Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol and the upcoming Beatles pic Yellow Submarine, Zemeckis has lately been rumored to be kicking the...
- 9/29/2010
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
London, June 9 – Steve Reuther, producer of the 1990 rom-com movie ‘Pretty Woman’ has died of cancer at the age of 58.
Reuther’s family said he expired at his home in Santa Monica, California.
The producer’s career, spanning 30 years, started as the post boy at the William Morris talent agency in the late 1970 and he became a producer in the 1980s.
He was the executive producer on Dirty Dancing in 1987. Reuther also worked for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker and The Ugly Truth, starring Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl.
The filmmaker’s latest project was a film.
Reuther’s family said he expired at his home in Santa Monica, California.
The producer’s career, spanning 30 years, started as the post boy at the William Morris talent agency in the late 1970 and he became a producer in the 1980s.
He was the executive producer on Dirty Dancing in 1987. Reuther also worked for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker and The Ugly Truth, starring Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl.
The filmmaker’s latest project was a film.
- 6/9/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
By Peter McAlevey
Wow! As if it wasn’t tough enough dealing with the passings of people like Dan Melnick or Dennis Hopper (each chronicled here), who were, of course, of another generation.
Now we’ve got to start dealing with our own. I can never forget Steve Reuther for several reasons, not the least of which was that we were supposed to be best friends. I don’t say that lightly -- when people like myself and Steve came of age in Hollywood in the ‘70s, there was one road to the top. And that was (following in the footsteps of Barry Diller and David Geffen before us) throug...
Wow! As if it wasn’t tough enough dealing with the passings of people like Dan Melnick or Dennis Hopper (each chronicled here), who were, of course, of another generation.
Now we’ve got to start dealing with our own. I can never forget Steve Reuther for several reasons, not the least of which was that we were supposed to be best friends. I don’t say that lightly -- when people like myself and Steve came of age in Hollywood in the ‘70s, there was one road to the top. And that was (following in the footsteps of Barry Diller and David Geffen before us) throug...
- 6/8/2010
- by Lew Harris
- The Wrap
In writing today about Steve Reuther's life and his passing, I was most taken by how much he accomplished in such a short time. He came from humble beginnings. There was nothing in his past to suggest that he would wind up working with some of the greatest artists and film makers of his time... or that he would develop the taste level that he would enjoy with his success. He made everything he had the old fashioned way... by working his ass off. He was a voluminous worker, a tireless producer, who worked in virtually every aspect of the movie business that he loved. He was a wonderful father, who adored his daughter Danielle, a brilliant young woman who is currently studying film and arts at Nyu. He loved to travel, crisscrossing...
- 6/8/2010
- by Richard Baskin
- Huffington Post
Producer Steven Reuther Dies At 58
Michael Douglas' former producing partner, Steven Reuther, the prolific movie boss behind classics such as Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman, has died at the age of 58.
Reuther passed away at his home in Santa Monica, California on Saturday after a long battle with cancer.
He began his career working in the mail room at the William Morris talent agency, and went on to become an executive at Galactic Films, where he worked as an executive producer on Dirty Dancing.
Reuther later teamed up with his producing partner Michael Douglas, forming Douglas/Reuther Productions and working with him on several films including 1997's Face/Off starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. He served as the company's president between 1994 and 1999.
His other notable works include Nine 1/2 Weeks, Pretty Woman and The Rainmaker, while his more recent films include last year's The Ugly Truth, with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.
Reuther's family is planning to establish a scholarship in his name at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)'s film school, according to Deadline.com.
Reuther passed away at his home in Santa Monica, California on Saturday after a long battle with cancer.
He began his career working in the mail room at the William Morris talent agency, and went on to become an executive at Galactic Films, where he worked as an executive producer on Dirty Dancing.
Reuther later teamed up with his producing partner Michael Douglas, forming Douglas/Reuther Productions and working with him on several films including 1997's Face/Off starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. He served as the company's president between 1994 and 1999.
His other notable works include Nine 1/2 Weeks, Pretty Woman and The Rainmaker, while his more recent films include last year's The Ugly Truth, with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.
Reuther's family is planning to establish a scholarship in his name at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)'s film school, according to Deadline.com.
- 6/7/2010
- WENN
By Richard Baskin
In writing today about Steve Reuther’s life and his passing, I was most taken by how much he accomplished in such a short time. He came from humble beginnings. There was nothing in his past to suggest that he would wind up working with some of the greatest artists and filmmakers of his time ... or that he would develop the taste level that he would enjoy with his success.
He made everything he had the old fashioned way ... by working his ass off. He was a voluminous worker...
In writing today about Steve Reuther’s life and his passing, I was most taken by how much he accomplished in such a short time. He came from humble beginnings. There was nothing in his past to suggest that he would wind up working with some of the greatest artists and filmmakers of his time ... or that he would develop the taste level that he would enjoy with his success.
He made everything he had the old fashioned way ... by working his ass off. He was a voluminous worker...
- 6/7/2010
- by Lew Harris
- The Wrap
By Josh Dickey
Steve Reuther, a producer and film executive whose credits include “The Ugly Truth,” “Made in America” and “Dirty Dancing,” has died. He was 58. Reuther died Saturday at his Santa Monica home. A cause of death was not given. Reuther started in the mailroom at the William Morris agency in the late 1970s, and rose to become an expert in film finance. He eventually moved into film development an...
Steve Reuther, a producer and film executive whose credits include “The Ugly Truth,” “Made in America” and “Dirty Dancing,” has died. He was 58. Reuther died Saturday at his Santa Monica home. A cause of death was not given. Reuther started in the mailroom at the William Morris agency in the late 1970s, and rose to become an expert in film finance. He eventually moved into film development an...
- 6/7/2010
- by Josh Dickey
- The Wrap
Film producer and executive Steven Reuther has died at age 58. Reuther died yesterday afternoon at his Santa Monica home after a long illness. Reuther, who started off in the Wma mailroom in the late 1970s, went on to become a film executive at Galactic Films, where he helped develop 9 1/2 Weeks and at Vestron Pictures, where he executive produced Dirty Dancing. He then partnered with Arnon Milchan at New Regency films for 5 years where he developed Sidney Lumet’s Family Business, the Danny Devito/Michael Douglas picture War of the Roses, and Lumet’s Q and A. He went on to produce and executive produce [...]...
- 6/6/2010
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
We have new clips from the film as well as interview excerpts from Sony Pictures' comedy "The Ugly Truth," starring Gerard Butler, Katherine Heigl, Cheryl Hines, Bonnie Somerville, Bree Turner, Eric Winter and Vicki Lewis. The film opens on July 24th andis helmed by Robert Luketic from the writing by Kirsten Smith, Karen McCullah and Nicole Eastman. Steven Reuther, Kimberly di Bonaventura and Deborah Jelin Newmyer produce...
- 7/16/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See the third trailer embedded for Sony's "The Ugly Truth," starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Corddry and Bree Turner. The Robert Luketic directed romantic comedy is produced by Deborah Jelin Newmyer, Kimberly di Bonaventura and Steven Reuther. This one's sent out on July 24th (wide) and looks to bring in a hefty bundle for the distributor. Australian-born Luketic is experienced in the comedy genre mingled with romance with previous credits including "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton," "Monster-In-Law" and "Legally Blonde." What's "The Ugly Truth" about? A romantically challenged morning show producer (Heigl) is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent (Butler) to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love. His clever ploys, however, lead to an unexpected result. The Ugly Truth (2008) (Released date: 24 July 2009 )Starring: Gerard Butler, Katherine Heigl, Cheryl Hines, Bonnie Somerville, Bree Turner, Eric Winter and...
- 4/30/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See the third trailer embedded for Sony's "The Ugly Truth," starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Corddry and Bree Turner. The Robert Luketic directed romantic comedy is produced by Deborah Jelin Newmyer, Kimberly di Bonaventura and Steven Reuther. This one's sent out on July 24th (wide) and looks to bring in a hefty bundle for the distributor. Australian-born Luketic is experienced in the comedy genre mingled with romance with previous credits including "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton," "Monster-In-Law" and "Legally Blonde." A romantically challenged morning show producer (Heigl) is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent...
- 4/30/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See the third trailer embedded for Sony's "The Ugly Truth," starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Cheryl Hines, Nathan Corddry and Bree Turner. The Robert Luketic directed romantic comedy is produced by Deborah Jelin Newmyer, Kimberly di Bonaventura and Steven Reuther. This one's sent out on July 24th (wide) and looks to bring in a hefty bundle for the distributor. Australian-born Luketic is experienced in the comedy genre mingled with romance with previous credits including "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton," "Monster-In-Law" and "Legally Blonde." A romantically challenged morning show producer (Heigl) is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent...
- 4/30/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Man of the House
A high concept that goes nowhere, "Man of the House" tries, but not all that hard, to milk laughs from its ostensibly hilarious setup: A tough, taciturn Texas Ranger is assigned round-the-clock protection of five witnesses to a crime. The quintet just happens to be -- get this! -- a college cheerleading squad. A winningly restrained lead performance by Tommy Lee Jones, who also exec produced, isn't enough to put the film on the boxoffice scoreboard. Hitting every cliche along its well-traveled road, the action comedy, released Friday without press screenings, will have a quick playoff to video.
After they witness the murder of an informant (Curtis Armstrong), the giggly, high-maintenance cheerleaders for the University of Texas Longhorns football team must share a sorority house with lawman Roland Sharp (Jones). Posing, much to his dismay, as the assistant cheerleading coach, the decidedly nonperky Sharp finds himself navigating household matters like the dietary restrictions of the Zone. The girls suffer unspeakable deprivations, like being denied the use of cell phones.
Ditzy Barb (Kelli Garner) has a crush on him, but Sharp's PG-13 interest in the scantily clad girls is strictly professional. He gets them to expose less epidermis and offers minilectures on why plagiarizing a term paper is not a good thing. Predictably, the cheerleaders stop being demanding and horrid and advise him on how to communicate with his teen daughter Shannon Marie Woodward) and how to comport himself on a date with a fetching professor (Anne Archer).
Director Stephen Herek ("Life or Something Like It") ably orchestrates a few action sequences, but suspense is beside the point. Whatever danger the girls face is as unconvincing as most everything else going on here, from the rote villainy of a corrupt FBI agent Brian Van Holt) to the obligatory importance-of-good-parenting subplot.
Jones' masterful underplaying is a pleasure, and Cedric the Entertainer lends comic fillips to the role of an ex-con preacher. Among the five actresses playing Sharp's charges, only Vanessa Ferlito gets to suggest anything like a real person, and she shares a very good scene with Jones in which Sharp confesses that "The Sound of Music" is his favorite movie.
Otherwise, the girls are broadly sketched types: There's the boyfriend-obsessed Latina (Paula Garces) and studious premed student (Monica Keena). As the mouthy squad captain, Christina Milian must deliver an ode to cheerleading that invokes the names of important people who once plied the noble art -- Madonna, Cameron Diaz and George W. Bush, among them.
With solid but unexceptional tech support, Herek makes good use of Austin locations, both downtown and on the campus of the University of Texas (his alma mater). But he can't quite breathe life into the clunky script, credited to Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone and John J. McLaughlin.
MAN OF THE HOUSE
Sony Pictures Entertainment/Columbia Pictures
Revolution Studios/Bel Air Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Stephen Herek
Screenwriters: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, John J. McLaughlin
Producers: Steven Reuther, Todd Garner, Allyn Stewart
Executive producers: Tommy Lee Jones, Marty P. Ewing, Derek Dauchy
Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.
Production designer: Nelson Coates
Music: David Newman
Costume designer: Betsy Heimann
Editors: Chris Lebenzon, Joel Negron
Cast:
Roland Sharp: Tommy Lee Jones
Percy Stevens: Cedric the Entertainer
Molly McCarthy: Anne Archer
Ed Zane: Brian Van Holt
Anne: Christina Milian
Teresa: Paula Garces
Evie: Monica Keena
Barb: Kelli Garner
Heather: Vanessa Ferlito
Emma: Shannon Marie Woodward
Morgan Ball: Curtis Armstrong
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 100 minutes...
After they witness the murder of an informant (Curtis Armstrong), the giggly, high-maintenance cheerleaders for the University of Texas Longhorns football team must share a sorority house with lawman Roland Sharp (Jones). Posing, much to his dismay, as the assistant cheerleading coach, the decidedly nonperky Sharp finds himself navigating household matters like the dietary restrictions of the Zone. The girls suffer unspeakable deprivations, like being denied the use of cell phones.
Ditzy Barb (Kelli Garner) has a crush on him, but Sharp's PG-13 interest in the scantily clad girls is strictly professional. He gets them to expose less epidermis and offers minilectures on why plagiarizing a term paper is not a good thing. Predictably, the cheerleaders stop being demanding and horrid and advise him on how to communicate with his teen daughter Shannon Marie Woodward) and how to comport himself on a date with a fetching professor (Anne Archer).
Director Stephen Herek ("Life or Something Like It") ably orchestrates a few action sequences, but suspense is beside the point. Whatever danger the girls face is as unconvincing as most everything else going on here, from the rote villainy of a corrupt FBI agent Brian Van Holt) to the obligatory importance-of-good-parenting subplot.
Jones' masterful underplaying is a pleasure, and Cedric the Entertainer lends comic fillips to the role of an ex-con preacher. Among the five actresses playing Sharp's charges, only Vanessa Ferlito gets to suggest anything like a real person, and she shares a very good scene with Jones in which Sharp confesses that "The Sound of Music" is his favorite movie.
Otherwise, the girls are broadly sketched types: There's the boyfriend-obsessed Latina (Paula Garces) and studious premed student (Monica Keena). As the mouthy squad captain, Christina Milian must deliver an ode to cheerleading that invokes the names of important people who once plied the noble art -- Madonna, Cameron Diaz and George W. Bush, among them.
With solid but unexceptional tech support, Herek makes good use of Austin locations, both downtown and on the campus of the University of Texas (his alma mater). But he can't quite breathe life into the clunky script, credited to Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone and John J. McLaughlin.
MAN OF THE HOUSE
Sony Pictures Entertainment/Columbia Pictures
Revolution Studios/Bel Air Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Stephen Herek
Screenwriters: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, John J. McLaughlin
Producers: Steven Reuther, Todd Garner, Allyn Stewart
Executive producers: Tommy Lee Jones, Marty P. Ewing, Derek Dauchy
Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.
Production designer: Nelson Coates
Music: David Newman
Costume designer: Betsy Heimann
Editors: Chris Lebenzon, Joel Negron
Cast:
Roland Sharp: Tommy Lee Jones
Percy Stevens: Cedric the Entertainer
Molly McCarthy: Anne Archer
Ed Zane: Brian Van Holt
Anne: Christina Milian
Teresa: Paula Garces
Evie: Monica Keena
Barb: Kelli Garner
Heather: Vanessa Ferlito
Emma: Shannon Marie Woodward
Morgan Ball: Curtis Armstrong
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 100 minutes...
- 3/17/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Archer joins 'Cheer' squad at Revolution
Anne Archer has joined the cast of Revolution Studios' Cheer Up, which is being directed by Stephen Herek. Production is set to begin Oct. 6 in Austin, Texas, with Brian Van Holt, Paget Brewster and Shea Whigham also starring. The comedy centers on a hard-edged Texas Ranger (Tommy Lee Jones) who is forced to go undercover as an assistant cheerleading coach to protect a group of college cheerleaders after they witness a murder. Archer plays a college professor who is Jones' love interest. Holt (Black Hawk Down) plays an FBI agent, and Whigham (Tigerland) plays Jones' fellow Texas Ranger. Brewster has been cast as Binky, the enthusiastic cheerleading coach. The film is being produced by Steven Reuther, Todd Garner and Allyn Stewart. Archer, whose credits include Rules of Engagement, Patriot Games and Fatal Attraction, is repped by Writers & Artists Agency. Holt is repped by CAA, while Brewster is repped by UTA and the Burstein Co. Whigham is repped by the Gersh Agency and Original Entertainment.
- 9/25/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Revolution gives 'Cheer' a home
Revolution Studios has picked up Bel-Air Entertainment's action comedy Cheer Up, with Tommy Lee Jones attached to star and Stephen Herek directing. The project was originally set up at Warner Bros. Pictures but was put into turnaround. Now at Revolution, it reunites Jones with the studio with which he is in production on The Missing for director Ron Howard. Cheer sees Jones star as a hard-edged FBI agent forced to go undercover as an assistant cheerleading coach to protect a group of college cheerleaders after they witness a murder. Steven Reuther is producing the project, with Allyn Stewart co-producing. Rob Ramsey and Matt Stone are rewriting the material, which was originally picked up as a spec script by Bel-Air a year and a half ago from writer John J. McLaughlin from a story by Scott Lobdell (HR 9/24/01). Jones came aboard in July, with Herek boarding a month later (HR 8/15). The project was brought to Revolution partner Todd Garner by Reuther and will be overseen by Derek Dauchy.
- 5/2/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hollywood Wants To Stay At Home
Experts are predicting an increase in the number of films to be shot in Los Angeles in the wake of the terrorist attacks on America's East Coast. As the whole of America rallies after the events of two weeks ago, studio bosses anticipate that actors and film crews will be reluctant to travel far afield to shoot movies. Steven Reuther, producer of troubled movie Collateral Damage says, "I have a movie that has to shoot in Africa. I don't think I have a chance of putting it together now. I wouldn't be able to get an actor to go." Nina Jacobson, president of Buena Vista Motion Picture Group, also predicts Hollywood will experience an increase in production. Jacobson says, "I'm sure I will be asked to have more things shot in Los Angeles. Everyone wants to be home."...
- 9/27/2001
- WENN
Film review: 'The Replacements'
Talk about bad timing. In the midst of one of the more contentious labor strikes in the entertainment industry, here comes Warner Bros.' "The Replacements", a film glorifying scabs.
Based loosely on the National Football League players strike a dozen years ago, in which replacement players filled in for the pros while labor negotiations dragged on, "The Replacements" makes no effort at evenhandedness: Professional players are portrayed as too pampered and overpaid to play football with healthy abandon. What they lack is heart, the kind that their replacements -- ordinary, blue-collar jocks -- possess in ample measure.
Despite its unabashedly pro-management stance, the film's scruffy amiability and comic football action may win more than a few fans. Gene Hackman is always good value and a cast of implausibly wacky supporting characters turn the fictional Washington Sentinels into a football team that should win something -- if not the Super Bowl than perhaps the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.
Vince McKewin's screenplay is essentially a hand-me-down from such sports movies as "Major League" and "The Bad New Bears", in which an unlikely group of athletes comes together and after an initial display of comic ineptitude, win in spite of themselves.
The Sentinels, four games away from a playoff berth, go on strike late in the season. The team's folksy owner (Jack Warden) recruits McGinty (Hackman), the coach he once fired, to put together a team. Instantly, McGinty has a list of players he wants that runs the gamut from bodyguards to a guy in prison.
For quarterback, he selects Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), who established a reputation for wilting under pressure in college. Shane somehow clicks with this new coach, to say nothing of head cheerleader Anabelle Farrell (Brooke Langton), and leads the Sentinels to the verge of victory despite the harassment of union players.
Acting standouts include Hackman, of course; Rhys Ifans as the chain-smoking soccer-style field goal kicker; and Langton, who despite a skimpily written role manages to be smart, funny and sexy. Reeves, though, struggles with an indifferently written character. He never quite gets a handle on what makes the guy tick on and off the field.
The Sentinel's replacement roster is jammed with funny ideas for characters that McKewin fails to develop: a Japanese sumo wrestler (Ace Yonamine), an overeager LAPD officer (Jon Favreau) and two bookends of beefcake (Michael "Bear" Taliferro and Faizon Love) who look like relatives of Sherman Klump who have drifted across the multiplex from where "The Nutty Professor II" is playing.
Director Howard Deutch keeps things moving along fast enough so one doesn't puzzle too long over inconsistencies, unlikely football plays or the need for repeated shots of the exotic dancers who have replaced the Sentinel cheerleaders.
With such behind-the-camera pros as cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, production designer Dan Bishop and editors Bud Smith and Seth Flaum, the film is a smooth and polished product. Would it be churlish to point out that these guys along with the fine actors are all union members?
THE REPLACEMENTS
Warner Bros.
in association with Bel-Air Entertainment
a Dylan Sellers production
Producer: Dylan Sellers
Director: Howard Deutch
Writer: Vince McKewin
Executive producers: Steven Reuther,
Jeffrey Chernov, Erwin Stoff
Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto
Production designer: Dan Bishop
Music: John Debney
Costume designer: Jill Ohanneson
Editors: Bud Smith, Seth Flaum
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shane Falco: Keanu Reeves
Jimmy McGinty: Gene Hackman
Annabelle Farrell: Brooke Langton
Clifford Franklin: Orlando Jones
Dainel Bateman: Jon Favreau
Nigel Gruff: Rhys Ifans
Jamal Jackson: Faizon Love
Andre Jackson: Michael "Bear" Taliferro
Running time - 109 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Based loosely on the National Football League players strike a dozen years ago, in which replacement players filled in for the pros while labor negotiations dragged on, "The Replacements" makes no effort at evenhandedness: Professional players are portrayed as too pampered and overpaid to play football with healthy abandon. What they lack is heart, the kind that their replacements -- ordinary, blue-collar jocks -- possess in ample measure.
Despite its unabashedly pro-management stance, the film's scruffy amiability and comic football action may win more than a few fans. Gene Hackman is always good value and a cast of implausibly wacky supporting characters turn the fictional Washington Sentinels into a football team that should win something -- if not the Super Bowl than perhaps the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.
Vince McKewin's screenplay is essentially a hand-me-down from such sports movies as "Major League" and "The Bad New Bears", in which an unlikely group of athletes comes together and after an initial display of comic ineptitude, win in spite of themselves.
The Sentinels, four games away from a playoff berth, go on strike late in the season. The team's folksy owner (Jack Warden) recruits McGinty (Hackman), the coach he once fired, to put together a team. Instantly, McGinty has a list of players he wants that runs the gamut from bodyguards to a guy in prison.
For quarterback, he selects Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), who established a reputation for wilting under pressure in college. Shane somehow clicks with this new coach, to say nothing of head cheerleader Anabelle Farrell (Brooke Langton), and leads the Sentinels to the verge of victory despite the harassment of union players.
Acting standouts include Hackman, of course; Rhys Ifans as the chain-smoking soccer-style field goal kicker; and Langton, who despite a skimpily written role manages to be smart, funny and sexy. Reeves, though, struggles with an indifferently written character. He never quite gets a handle on what makes the guy tick on and off the field.
The Sentinel's replacement roster is jammed with funny ideas for characters that McKewin fails to develop: a Japanese sumo wrestler (Ace Yonamine), an overeager LAPD officer (Jon Favreau) and two bookends of beefcake (Michael "Bear" Taliferro and Faizon Love) who look like relatives of Sherman Klump who have drifted across the multiplex from where "The Nutty Professor II" is playing.
Director Howard Deutch keeps things moving along fast enough so one doesn't puzzle too long over inconsistencies, unlikely football plays or the need for repeated shots of the exotic dancers who have replaced the Sentinel cheerleaders.
With such behind-the-camera pros as cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, production designer Dan Bishop and editors Bud Smith and Seth Flaum, the film is a smooth and polished product. Would it be churlish to point out that these guys along with the fine actors are all union members?
THE REPLACEMENTS
Warner Bros.
in association with Bel-Air Entertainment
a Dylan Sellers production
Producer: Dylan Sellers
Director: Howard Deutch
Writer: Vince McKewin
Executive producers: Steven Reuther,
Jeffrey Chernov, Erwin Stoff
Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto
Production designer: Dan Bishop
Music: John Debney
Costume designer: Jill Ohanneson
Editors: Bud Smith, Seth Flaum
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shane Falco: Keanu Reeves
Jimmy McGinty: Gene Hackman
Annabelle Farrell: Brooke Langton
Clifford Franklin: Orlando Jones
Dainel Bateman: Jon Favreau
Nigel Gruff: Rhys Ifans
Jamal Jackson: Faizon Love
Andre Jackson: Michael "Bear" Taliferro
Running time - 109 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 7/31/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Ready to Rumble'
Almost surrealistically rated PG-13 by the MPAA -- for its "language, crude humor, sexual content, brief nudity and wrestling violence," but nothing about excessive yelling -- Warner Bros.' wide release "Ready to Rumble" might just as well have a government stamp that reads: "This movie can potentially cause Brain Damage in people who have brains."
But complaining about the bloody, cartoons-come-to-life carnage and aggressive approach to nearly all aspects of human interaction that characterizes pro wrestling merely puts one in the majority. Aimed at the legions of fans who have repopularized the televised combat between muscled characters created by athlete-performers, boxoffice underdog "Ready to Rumble" defies all rules of polite society, down to the foul-mouthed granny-fan dressed in S&M wear, on its way to giving the young and hopefully restrained audience what it wants.
Based on World Championship Wrestling characters -- and starring quite a few, including Bill Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, Steve "Sting" Borden -- the screenplay is credited to Steven Brill and feels like "Mighty Ducks 4", with "bitch-slapping" replacing slap shots. Director Brian Robbins ("Varsity Blues", "Good Burger") knows a thing or two about going over the top to get a laugh, but he stands back here and lets the boisterous cast do most of the work.
Gordie Boggs (David Arquette) and Sean Dawkins (Scott Caan) live in Wyoming and work for the sanitation department, emptying outhouses and whatnot. They live and breathe WCW wrestling, particularly TNT's "Monday Nitro Live!" Rivaling the dumbest of the dumb, Gordie and Sean have little problems of self-esteem and motivation, but nothing else matters when their idol Jimmy King (Oliver Platt) bellows "I will crown you!" and another challenger is defeated.
They just happen to have tickets the night King is gang-pummeled and dethroned in a scary "fixed" match --actually a more spontaneous and dangerous "real" fight -- with Diamond Dallas Page and his posse. Page is egged on to glory by snarling heavy Titus Sinclair (Joe Pantoliano), the dictatorial head of the WCW out to prove who is boss. While Gordie gets a close look at sexy "Nitro" dancer Sasha Rose McGowan), the guys' hero is beaten and humiliated, and they're crushed.
On the way home they crash their truck for a crap-spilling entr'acte that leads to an epiphanic decision to help King win his crown back and get revenge on Sinclair. Their quest turns up a drunken, fatalistic King who needs to be whipped into shape fast. They all go to the city and seek out coach extraordinaire Sal Bandini (Martin Landau) for a round of "who wants to be an old dickens flipping he-men on their backs?"
The film succeeds with jabs at Middle American sleaze and trashy everyhicks, employing colorfully crude language and slang. In general, restraint and subtlety are nowhere to be found, particularly with the frequent kicking of crotches. (Those who stick around for the end credits get to see replays for one last chuckle.) Meanwhile, the "triple cage" finale involves a Vegas rematch between King and Page in another setup by Sinclair to kill the former.
Caan ("Boiler Room") and Arquette (the "Scream" trilogy) are agreeably brainless and as impervious to pokes and smacks as their cultural forebears Moe, Larry and Curly. Platt, Pantoliano and McGowan are likewise disciplined enough to keep one watching, but the spit-and-spotlights blazonry of the finale is rendered with a comic bludgeon. The overloading of the senses unfortunately includes the soundtrack, with several uses of Aaron Copland's soaring "Fanfare for the Common Man" to go along with hits by Wagner, Van Halen, Kool and the Gang, The Bee Gees, Motley Crue and many others.
READY TO RUMBLE
Warner Bros.
In association with Bel-Air Entertainment
An Outlaw production in
association with Tollin/Robbins Prods.
Director: Brian Robbins
Screenwriter: Steven Brill
Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver
Executive producers: Steven Reuther,
Mike Tollin
Director of photography: Clark Mathis
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Ned Bastille
Costume designer: Carol Ramsey
Music: George S. Clinton
Casting: Marci Liroff
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gordie Boggs: :David Arquette
Sean Dawkins: Scott Caan
Jimmy King: Oliver Platt
Bill Goldberg: Himself
Sasha: Rose McGowan
Diamond Dallas Page: Himself
Titus Sinclair: Joe Pantoliano
Sal Bandini: Martin Landau
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13...
But complaining about the bloody, cartoons-come-to-life carnage and aggressive approach to nearly all aspects of human interaction that characterizes pro wrestling merely puts one in the majority. Aimed at the legions of fans who have repopularized the televised combat between muscled characters created by athlete-performers, boxoffice underdog "Ready to Rumble" defies all rules of polite society, down to the foul-mouthed granny-fan dressed in S&M wear, on its way to giving the young and hopefully restrained audience what it wants.
Based on World Championship Wrestling characters -- and starring quite a few, including Bill Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, Steve "Sting" Borden -- the screenplay is credited to Steven Brill and feels like "Mighty Ducks 4", with "bitch-slapping" replacing slap shots. Director Brian Robbins ("Varsity Blues", "Good Burger") knows a thing or two about going over the top to get a laugh, but he stands back here and lets the boisterous cast do most of the work.
Gordie Boggs (David Arquette) and Sean Dawkins (Scott Caan) live in Wyoming and work for the sanitation department, emptying outhouses and whatnot. They live and breathe WCW wrestling, particularly TNT's "Monday Nitro Live!" Rivaling the dumbest of the dumb, Gordie and Sean have little problems of self-esteem and motivation, but nothing else matters when their idol Jimmy King (Oliver Platt) bellows "I will crown you!" and another challenger is defeated.
They just happen to have tickets the night King is gang-pummeled and dethroned in a scary "fixed" match --actually a more spontaneous and dangerous "real" fight -- with Diamond Dallas Page and his posse. Page is egged on to glory by snarling heavy Titus Sinclair (Joe Pantoliano), the dictatorial head of the WCW out to prove who is boss. While Gordie gets a close look at sexy "Nitro" dancer Sasha Rose McGowan), the guys' hero is beaten and humiliated, and they're crushed.
On the way home they crash their truck for a crap-spilling entr'acte that leads to an epiphanic decision to help King win his crown back and get revenge on Sinclair. Their quest turns up a drunken, fatalistic King who needs to be whipped into shape fast. They all go to the city and seek out coach extraordinaire Sal Bandini (Martin Landau) for a round of "who wants to be an old dickens flipping he-men on their backs?"
The film succeeds with jabs at Middle American sleaze and trashy everyhicks, employing colorfully crude language and slang. In general, restraint and subtlety are nowhere to be found, particularly with the frequent kicking of crotches. (Those who stick around for the end credits get to see replays for one last chuckle.) Meanwhile, the "triple cage" finale involves a Vegas rematch between King and Page in another setup by Sinclair to kill the former.
Caan ("Boiler Room") and Arquette (the "Scream" trilogy) are agreeably brainless and as impervious to pokes and smacks as their cultural forebears Moe, Larry and Curly. Platt, Pantoliano and McGowan are likewise disciplined enough to keep one watching, but the spit-and-spotlights blazonry of the finale is rendered with a comic bludgeon. The overloading of the senses unfortunately includes the soundtrack, with several uses of Aaron Copland's soaring "Fanfare for the Common Man" to go along with hits by Wagner, Van Halen, Kool and the Gang, The Bee Gees, Motley Crue and many others.
READY TO RUMBLE
Warner Bros.
In association with Bel-Air Entertainment
An Outlaw production in
association with Tollin/Robbins Prods.
Director: Brian Robbins
Screenwriter: Steven Brill
Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver
Executive producers: Steven Reuther,
Mike Tollin
Director of photography: Clark Mathis
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Ned Bastille
Costume designer: Carol Ramsey
Music: George S. Clinton
Casting: Marci Liroff
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gordie Boggs: :David Arquette
Sean Dawkins: Scott Caan
Jimmy King: Oliver Platt
Bill Goldberg: Himself
Sasha: Rose McGowan
Diamond Dallas Page: Himself
Titus Sinclair: Joe Pantoliano
Sal Bandini: Martin Landau
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13...
- 4/7/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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