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Quick LinksDisney's RocketMan Is a Partial Remake of 1967’s The Reluctant AstronautHarland Williams Turned Down Disney's George of the Jungle Before Staring in RocketManDisney's RocketMan Was Released in the Wrong Time

1997's RocketMan starring comedian Harland Williams was a bit of a wild card. It was produced at a time in the 1990s when Disney was remaking and making its classics (and even some from other studios). 101 Dalmatians (1996) gave birth to not one, but two more films in the franchise and introduced the world to Glenn Close's take on Cruella de Vil. 1997 would also see a successful remake of Flubber starring Robin Williams. Not to mention the ever-popular remake of The Parent Trap that would follow in 1998, showcasing the talents of a young Lindsay Lohan.

However, RocketMan fell sadly short of some of its Disney counterparts. Despite the meticulous nature of its star and cowriter, the script floundered...

Super-8 Movie Madness is teaming up with Roger’s Reels and The National Children’s Cancer Society for the third annual Super-8 Children’S Cancer Fundraiser Movie Madness which takes place Tuesday December 3rd at The Way out Club. The cover charge is $4.00 and all of that money will be donated to the St. Louis-based National Children’s Cancer Society.

Roger will be bringing by three 16mm prints from his collection of classic TV sitcoms to share. They are episodes of: Happy Days: “Fonzie’s Hero”, I Love Lucy: “Lucy Meets Superman” with special guest star George Reeves, and The Andy Griffith Show: “Barney and the Choir”, considered one of the best episodes of that beloved show.

The Super-8 Sound films (condensed from features, they average 15 minutes in length) to also be projected on a large screen December 3rd are: Bette Midler in The Rose, Phantasm, Gene Hackman in The French Connection,...

Canadian actor whose reputation was transformed by his deadpan comic persona in Airplane! and the Naked Gun series

Few people watching the career of the tall, husky and fair-haired Leslie Nielsen, who has died aged 84, could have predicted that the stolid actor who specialised in authority figures would become known as a comedy star after two and a half decades in show business. His reputation was transformed by playing Dr Rumack on board the threatened airliner in Airplane! (1980) and Frank Drebin, the hilariously inept plain-clothes cop, in three Naked Gun films.

What the writer-directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker saw in Nielsen, silvery grey and in his mid-50s, was his previously po-faced persona. "They spotted me for being what I really was, a closet comedian," he said. "And how lucky can you get? It's like they said to me, 'Leslie, come out and play.' Thank God for them.

.Super-8 Movie Madness With Live Music. will be held on Tuesday March 2 from 8pm to Midnight at the Way Out Club. This month we will be doing something a little different. In addition 14 sound films, we will be showing two silent films that will be accompanied onstage live by a talented musician named .Ellen the Felon. on keyboards! The cover charge is still a bargain at a measly $3.00. There will be movie passes, T-Shirts and poster giveaways again this time. If you.re not familiar with the madness, here.s a brief rundown: Remember (before video tapes) the Super-8 films they used to sell in the 1950.s and 60.s that were condensed versions of features? In the 1970.s they sold Sound versions of these films and 16 of these will be projected on a large screen at the Way Out Club (they average about 15 minutes each).

Condensed versions of the following...

One of the minor characters in Judd Apatow’s latest directorial effort Funny People was stand-up comic Randy, who also starred in the viral marketing campaign for the movie. Randy was played by real life comedian Aziz Ansari whom Us readers might know from shows like Parks and Recreation and Human Giant and he is apparently in talks with Universal about bringing about a Randy-starring spin-off to Funny People.

From MTV -

[Ansari] and writer-director Jason Woliner, one of Ansari’s collaborators on MTV’s sketch comedy show “Human Giant,” have sold Apatow and Universal Pictures on a pitch for the Randy movie, along with two other movie ideas.

…

As for Ansari and Woliner’s other pitches, one of them also sounds inspired by Funny People. Still without a title, it involves a “disgraced cosmonaut (Ansari) who is forced to return to outer space to clear his name.” Reminds me of the fake movie titled Astro-Not,...

Last week, during a live Q&A on FunnyOrDie.com, Judd Apatow addressed the idea of a "Funny People" spin-off focused on Aziz Ansari's minor stand-up comedian character, Randy (or, Raaaaaaaandy), implying that it was all up to the actor if it would happen. "You should Twitter Aziz Ansari and tell him you want that movie," Apatow urged fans via webcam. "Aziz may be concerned that more people think he's Randy than Aziz. That may be his hesitation."

Well, the occasional IMAX protester and costar of NBC's "Parks and Recreation" has apparently gotten over that hesitation, whether due to fans Tweeting him or not. According to Variety, he and writer-director Jason Woliner, one of Ansari's collaborators on MTV's sketch comedy show "Human Giant," have sold Apatow and Universal Pictures on a pitch for the Randy movie, along with two other movie ideas.

Ansari notes that he was surprised Apatow...

Composer Vic Mizzy wrote the classic theme songs for the 1960s television comedy series The Addams Family and Green Acres. His best known work commenced with a “buh-buh-buh-bump” – two finger snaps – another “buh-buh-buh-bump”, and the opening verse “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky – the Addams family.” Mizzy sang, overdubbing his voice three times, and played the harpsichord himself for the theme. He also directed the title sequence where the actors who played the Addams clan where instructed to snap their fingers in a bored fashion. He also retained the publishing rights to the theme, which remained profitable throughout his life.

Mizzy was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 9, 1916, and began playing musical instruments as a child. He began writing songs after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Mizzy began working in television in the late 1950s, scoring...

Vic Mizzy, the talented composer who created the legendary theme songs for the TV series The Addams Family, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction and Mr. Ed has died at age 93. Mizzy also composed themes for feature films including most of Don Knotts' hits from the 1960s including The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Reluctant Astronaut. For more click here...

By Variety

Vic Mizzy, who composed the indelible theme music for TV series "The Addams Family" and "Green Acres," died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 93.

His film scores included five Don Knotts films: "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," "The Shakiest Gun in the West," "The Reluctant Astronaut," "The Love God?" and "How to Frame a Figg."

Read more in Variety.

Don Knotts, the irrepressible comic actor who won five Emmys as Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, died Friday night in Los Angeles; he was 81. Knotts died of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, and had recently suffered health problems that kept him from making an appearance at his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, last August. Knotts started out in entertainment as a ventriloquist before returning to college and then enlisting in the army at the onset of World War II. After the war and college, he returned to New York and pursued a career in radio and television; he nabbed a part as a psychiatrist in the Broadway play No Time for Sergeants, which starred actor Andy Griffith. He reprised his role in the film version, and after moving to Los Angeles, was cast opposite Griffith in the actor's eponymous sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show. The show ran from 1960-1968, and Knotts won an unprecedented five Best Supporting Actor Emmys in a row as manic deputy Barney Fife, a role for which he would forever be identified. After leaving the show, Knotts embarked on a film career, appearing in family-friendly films such as The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Reluctant Astronaut and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, among others. His career in the 70s was marked primarily by Disney films such as The Apple Dumpling Gang and No Deposit, No Return, until he joined the sitcom Three's Company in the middle of the show's run as the bumbling landlord Mr. Furley, forever interfering in his tenant's lives. After Three's Company, Knotts made innumerable appearances in television shows and occasionally films; one of his most notable recent roles was as a mysterious television repairman who sets strange events in motion in the film Pleasantville. Knotts was married twice, to Kay Mets from 1948-1969, with whom he had two children, and to Lara Lee Szuchna from 1974 to 1983. --Prepared by IMDb staff...

Don Knotts, the irrepressible comic actor who won five Emmys as Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, died Friday night in Los Angeles; he was 81. Knotts died of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, and had recently suffered health problems that kept him from making an appearance at his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, last August. Knotts started out in entertainment as a ventriloquist before returning to college and then enlisting in the army at the onset of World War II. After the war and college, he returned to New York and pursued a career in radio and television; he nabbed a part as a psychiatrist in the Broadway play No Time for Sergeants, which starred actor Andy Griffith. He reprised his role in the film version, and after moving to Los Angeles, was cast opposite Griffith in the actor's eponymous sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show. The show ran from 1960-1968, and Knotts won an unprecedented five Best Supporting Actor Emmys in a row as manic deputy Barney Fife, a role for which he would forever be identified. After leaving the show, Knotts embarked on a film career, appearing in family-friendly films such as The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Reluctant Astronaut and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, among others. His career in the 70s was marked primarily by Disney films such as The Apple Dumpling Gang and No Deposit, No Return, until he joined the sitcom Three's Company in the middle of the show's run as the bumbling landlord Mr. Furley, forever interfering in his tenant's lives. After Three's Company, Knotts made innumerable appearances in television shows and occasionally films; one of his most notable recent roles was as a mysterious television repairman who sets strange events in motion in the film Pleasantville. Knotts was married twice, to Kay Mets from 1948-1969, with whom he had two children, and to Lara Lee Szuchna from 1974 to 1983. --Prepared by IMDb staff...

Don Knotts, the irrepressible comic actor who won five Emmys as Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, died Friday night in Los Angeles; he was 81. Knotts died of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, and had recently suffered health problems that kept him from making an appearance at his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, last August. Knotts started out in entertainment as a ventriloquist before returning to college and then enlisting in the army at the onset of World War II. After the war and college, he returned to New York and pursued a career in radio and television; he nabbed a part as a psychiatrist in the Broadway play No Time for Sergeants, which starred actor Andy Griffith. He reprised his role in the film version, and after moving to Los Angeles, was cast opposite Griffith in the actor's eponymous sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show. The show ran from 1960-1968, and Knotts won an unprecedented five Best Supporting Actor Emmys in a row as manic deputy Barney Fife, a role for which he would forever be identified. After leaving the show, Knotts embarked on a film career, appearing in family-friendly films such as The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Reluctant Astronaut and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, among others. His career in the 70s was marked primarily by Disney films such as The Apple Dumpling Gang and No Deposit, No Return, until he joined the sitcom Three's Company in the middle of the show's run as the bumbling landlord Mr. Furley, forever interfering in his tenant's lives. After Three's Company, Knotts made innumerable appearances in television shows and occasionally films; one of his most notable recent roles was as a mysterious television repairman who sets strange events in motion in the film Pleasantville. Knotts was married twice, to Kay Mets from 1948-1969, with whom he had two children, and to Lara Lee Szuchna from 1974 to 1983. --Prepared by IMDb staff...