The Villain (1979 film)

Last updated

The Villain
Villainmovie79.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Hal Needham
Written byRobert G. Kane
Produced byMort Engelberg
Starring Kirk Douglas
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ann-Margret
Paul Lynde
Foster Brooks
Strother Martin
Ruth Buzzi
Jack Elam
Mel Tillis
Cinematography Bobby Byrne
Edited by Walter Hannemann
Music by Bill Justis
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • July 27, 1979 (1979-07-27)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.5 - 6 million [1]
Box office$9.8 million [2]

The Villain (Cactus Jack in the UK and Australia) is a 1979 American metrocolor Western comedy film directed by Hal Needham and starring Kirk Douglas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ann-Margret, Paul Lynde (in his final film appearance), Foster Brooks, Strother Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Jack Elam, and Mel Tillis. It is a parody of Western films, blended with an homage to the Warner Bros. cartoon Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

Contents

Plot

A beautiful woman, "Charming Jones" (Ann-Margret), is being escorted across the west by a naive, slow-witted cowboy, "Handsome Stranger" (Schwarzenegger), after claiming a large sum of money given to her by her father, "Parody Jones" (Martin). However, bad guy "Avery Simpson" (Elam), who delivered Charming the money, decides he wants it for himself. He hires an old outlaw, "Cactus Jack" Slade (Douglas), to rob them when they leave town.

Throughout the trip, Charming makes advances toward Handsome, all of which are met with indifference. Meanwhile, Cactus Jack proceeds to lay trap after trap for the two, all of which backfire. Jack's attempt to enlist the assistance of "Nervous Elk" (Paul Lynde), the chief of a local American Indian tribe, also fails.

Finally, Jack confronts the couple openly, at which point Charming gives up on romancing Handsome and instead kisses Jack, who proceeds to bounce around in red-hot elation (in a manner reminiscent of Daffy Duck's classic "woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!" bounces).

Cast

Production

The film marked Needham's third feature film as director and reunited him with actor Kirk Douglas. Prior to focusing on directing, Needham was one of Hollywood's top stuntmen and stunt coordinators and, although he did not receive onscreen credit, Needham worked as a stunt double for Douglas on In Harm’s Way (1965), The War Wagon (1967) and The Way West (1967). [1] Needham described The Villain as a “‘Roadrunner’ cartoon done with live characters”; several of the gags are direct homages to iconic ones from the Chuck Jones cartoons, such as the sequence where Jack paints a hole in the side of a mountain, only for the wagon to drive right through it; another is Jack being crushed by his own boulder trap.

The film was financed independently by producer Engelberg and Rastar Films, a production company founded by producer Ray Stark. Engelberg and Rastar had previously produced Needham's Smokey and the Bandit in 1977.

Filming

Principal photography began 16 Oct 1978 on location in Monument Valley in Utah. [3] Other filming sites in the state included Magma Mine, Benson, Rio Rico, the Flying V Ranch, and Western set of Old Tucson, outside Tucson, AZ. [1]

Reception

Critical response

The film received mainly negative reviews, criticizing the execution of the slapstick and the satire. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one star, as did Walter J. Addiego of the San Francisco Examiner ; Siskel described the film as "a direct ripoff of Tex Avery's marvelous Road Runner cartoons", [4] [lower-alpha 1] while Addiego wrote that it contained "the sorriest collection of jokes in recent memory […] put together by a group who probably wouldn't make the grade in the Mel Brooks school of infantile humor." [5]

Also giving the film one star was Kathleen Carroll, who, in the New York Daily News , summarized it as "a hopelessly stupid Western spoof about a hopelessly stupid gunfighter who learns his bad-guy tactics from studying a pulp novel titled "Badmen of the West" and who invariably ends up being outsmarted by his horse." [6] After the film premiered in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reviewer Linda Gross wrote:

The attitude of the entire movie is like one condescending dirty joke with lines like "What do you do when you capture a white woman?" or "I want to molest your lady friend."

Robert G. Kane, who worked for several years as a writer for Dean Martin's "Celebrity Roast", wrote the slim screenplay, which is full of such innuendoes. The humor has a smirky quality. Ann-Margret spends the entire movie trying to seduce Schwarzenegger, who keeps running off to gather firewood. It gets embarrassing.

"The Villain" is directed by former stuntman Hal Needham ("Smokey and the Bandit" and "Hooper"). Needless to say, the stunts, coordinated by Gary Combs, are pretty good, but the characters are like cartoons and the broad, burlesque humor is too simple to spoof. [7]

Lawsuit

In 1982, Needham sued the producers, claiming his company, Stuntman Inc., “received different treatment” in matters of equal profit participation among the parties of Rastar, Mort Engelberg, and Stuntman, Inc. In addition to asking for $250,000 in damages, Needham requested an audit of the picture's finances. [1]

Notes

  1. Although Tex Avery was involved with the earlier Looney Tunes shorts, Avery had no involvement in the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons. At the time of The Villain's release, all of the shorts were created and directed by Chuck Jones.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tex Avery</span> American animator and director (1908–1980)

Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His most significant work was for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, where he was crucial in the creation and evolution of famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, The Wolf, Red Hot Riding Hood, and George and Junior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Clampett</span> American animator (1913–1984)

Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil. He was born and raised not far from Hollywood and, early in life, showed an interest in animation and puppetry. After dropping out of high school in 1931, he joined the team at Harman-Ising Productions and began working on the studio's newest short subjects, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann-Margret</span> Swedish actress, singer, and dancer (born 1941)

Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress and singer credited as Ann-Margret. She has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards, winning in 2010 for a guest role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

<i>The Cannonball Run</i> 1981 film by Hal Needham

The Cannonball Run is a 1981 action comedy film. It was directed by Hal Needham, produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest films, and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Filmed in Panavision, it features an all-star ensemble cast, including Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan and Dean Martin. The film is based on the 1979 running of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an actual cross-country outlaw road race beginning in Connecticut and ending in California.

<i>Hooper</i> (film) 1978 film by Hal Needham

Hooper is a 1978 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent, Brian Keith, Robert Klein, James Best and Adam West. The film serves as a tribute to stuntmen and stuntwomen in what was at one time an underrecognized profession. At the time of filming, Field and Reynolds were in a relationship, having met on the set of Smokey and the Bandit the previous year.

<i>Last Action Hero</i> 1993 film directed by John McTiernan

Last Action Hero is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott. It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, a Los Angeles police detective within the Jack Slater action film franchise, while Austin O'Brien co-stars as Danny Madigan, a boy magically transported into the Slater universe, and Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, a ruthless assassin from the Slater universe who escapes to the real world. Schwarzenegger also served as the film's executive producer and plays himself as the actor portraying Jack Slater. The film also marked Art Carney and Tina Turner's last feature film before their deaths in 2003 and 2023 respectively.

<i>Magic</i> (1978 film) 1978 American psychological horror film by Richard Attenborough

Magic is a 1978 American psychological horror drama film starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith. The film, which was directed by Richard Attenborough, is based on a screenplay by William Goldman, who wrote the novel upon which it was based. The score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Needham</span> American stunt performer and film director (1931–2013)

Hal Brett Needham was an American stuntman, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981) and Stroker Ace (1983).

<i>The Fall Guy</i> American television series

The Fall Guy is an American action-adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonlight as bounty hunters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Elam</span> American actor (1920–2003)

William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies. His most distinguishing physical quality was his misaligned eye. Before his career in acting, he took several jobs in finance and served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Elam performed in 73 movies and in at least 41 television series.

Stunt Dawgs is a 1992–1993 animated comedic adventure series about a team of Hollywood stunt performers and their bulldog named Human who also solve crimes and battle villains. The villains in question are invariably an insane director called Richard P. Fungus and his band of unscrupulous stunt performers, the Stunt Scabs. Based on the 1978 film Hooper, the series was produced by DIC Animation City, Franklin/Waterman Productions, and Rainforest Entertainment and co-created by Jeff Franklin, best known for co-producing Full House.

<i>Charlottes Web</i> (1973 film) 1973 American animated musical drama film

Charlotte's Web is a 1973 American animated musical drama film based on the 1952 children's book of the same name by E. B. White. The film was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Like the book, this film centers on a pig named Wilbur who befriends an intelligent spider named Charlotte who saves him from being slaughtered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Boot Awards</span>

The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Money raised at the award banquet was used to help finance various services offered by the Fund to those in the entertainment industry.

<i>The Batman/Superman Hour</i> American animated television series

The Batman/Superman Hour is a Filmation animated series that was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1969. Premiering on September 14, 1968, this 60-minute program featured new adventures of the DC Comics superheroes Batman, Robin and Batgirl alongside shorts from The New Adventures of Superman and The Adventures of Superboy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio</span> Division of MGM film studio responsible for producing animated shorts

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters Tom, Jerry, Droopy, Butch, Spike, Tyke, and Barney Bear.

<i>The Bride Came C.O.D.</i> 1941 film by William Keighley

The Bride Came C.O.D. is a 1941 American screwball romantic comedy starring James Cagney as an airplane pilot and Bette Davis as a runaway heiress, and directed by William Keighley. Although the film was publicized as the first screen pairing of Warner Bros.' two biggest stars, they had actually made Jimmy the Gent together in 1934, and had wanted to find another opportunity to work together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porky Pig filmography</span> Porky Pig cartoons

This is a list of all cartoons featuring Porky Pig. Directors are listed in parentheses.

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast is an American series of television specials hosted by entertainer Dean Martin and airing from 1974 to 1984. For a series of 54 specials and shows, Martin and his friends would "roast" a celebrity. The roasts were patterned after the roasts held at the New York Friars' Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serial film</span> Series of short subject films

A serial film,film serial, movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed. Usually, each serial involves a single set of characters, protagonistic and antagonistic, involved in a single story, which has been edited into chapters after the fashion of serial fiction and the episodes cannot be shown out of order or as a single or a random collection of short subjects.

The Protector is a 1997 American action film written by Jack Gill, Dee McLachlan, Stuart Beattie, and Andrea Buck, and directed by Gill. It stars Matt McColm as Kenneth James Conway, an ex-commando and a private detective investigating the disappearance of a virologist. Supporting cast includes Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, and Carol Alt.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Villain". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  2. Beaupre, Lee (March–April 1980). "Grosses Gloss: Breaking Away at the Box-Office". Film Comment; New York. 16 (2): 69–73, 80.
  3. D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN   9781423605874.
  4. Siskel, Gene (July 25, 1979). "'Villain' is like Road Runner, but it isn't funny". Chicago Tribune . Tribune Media Services. p. 10, s. 3.
  5. Addiego, Walter J. (August 18, 1979). "Well, a villain isn't supposed to be good". San Francisco Examiner . San Francisco Media Company LLC, Oahu Publications Inc., and Black Press Group Ltd. p. 7.
  6. Carroll, Katbleen (July 21, 1979). "'The Villain' wins rating of one unstifled yawn". New York Daily News . Tribune Media Services. p. 9C.
  7. Gross, Linda (August 3, 1979). "'Villain' Aims Low in Western Farce". Los Angeles Times . p. 20, part IV.