Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #53 :: July 28 to August 3

Toho Studios

Every decade over the last 100 years saw the release of at least one new film somewhere in the world, from a 1921 UK silent, to a 1961 Japanese monster movie, to a 1921 Aussie drama. The US also represents with an early cross-dressing comedy, several Westerns (including one that adds science fiction to the genre), horror, absurd comedy, family films and a film its stars called one of the worst of their careers. Let’s hit the red carpet to see if any of your favorite films premiered this week!

1921

August – The Bigamist

Cast: Guy Newall, Ivy Duke, Julian Royce, Barbara Everest, A. Bromley, Dorothy Scott, Douglas Munro
Director: Guy Newall
Studio: George Clark Productions, distributed by Stoll Pictures
Trivia: The film was released in the UK in August 1921 but the exact date is unknown.

1931

July 30 – Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

Cast: Matahi, Anne Chevalier, Bill Bambridge, Hitu
Director: F. W. Murnau
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held in New York City on March 18, 1931. The film opened in Sweden on July 30, followed by the US on August 1. This was F. W. Murnau’s last film. He died in an automobile accident a week before the film’s premiere. The film won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. It was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. A small production company called Colorart was supposed to finance the film but only provided $5000. Fed up with a lack of communication from the company, Murnau funded the film himself. To cut costs, he sent the Hollywood crew home from Bora Bora and taught the natives to work as the film crew. The plan to film in color was scrapped. The film’s ownership reverted to Murnau’s mother in the 1930s. The original negative was returned to Germany, where it was destroyed during World War II. A complete nitrate print of the film was discovered in 1973, and a preservation negative was produced for future generations. Prior to the discovery, prints of the film had been edited to remove content deemed objectionable by the Production Code.

August 1 – The Smiling Lieutenant

Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles, George Barbier, Hugh O’Connell
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film premiered in New York City on May 22, 1931, and opened in London on July 31 before its US engagement beginning August 1. Adapted from the operetta Ein Walzertraum by Oscar Straus, with libretto by Leopold Jacobson and Felix Dörmann, which in turn was based on the novel Nux, der Prinzgemahl (Nux the Prince Consort) by Hans Müller-Einigen. This was the first of three films directed by Ernst Lubitsch to feature Miriam Hopkins. Maurice Chevalier called his performance ‘mechanical’ due to his grief over the death of his mother. Lubitsch encouraged a feud between Hopkins and Claudette Colbert, who were determined to both be filmed from the same angle, as it benefited their characters. The film was Paramount’s biggest hit of 1931, and was Oscar nominated for Best Picture. A French version with the same three leads was produced at the same time as the English language version. It was also a big hit.

1941

July 28 – ‘Pimpernel’ Smith

Cast: Leslie Howard, Francis Sullivan, Mary Morris, Hugh McDermott, Raymond Huntley, Manning Whiley, Peter Gawthorne, Allan Jeayes, Dennis Arundell, Joan Kemp-Welch, Philip Friend, Laurence Kitchin, David Tomlinson, Basil Appleby, Percy Walsh, Roland Pertwee, A. E. Matthews, Aubrey Mallalieu, Ben Williams, Ernest Butcher, Arthur Hambling, Mary Brown, W. Phillips, Ilse Bard, Ernest Verne, George Street, Hector Abbas, Neal Arden, Richard George, Roddy Hughes, Hwfa (Hugh) Pryce, Oriel Ross, Brian (Bryan) Herbert, Suzanne Claire (aka Violette Cunnington), Charles Paton
Director: Leslie Howard
Studio: British National Films, distributed by Anglo-American Film Corporation
Trivia: The film opened in the UK on July 28, 1941, but did not get a US release until February 12, 1942 under the title Mister V. Michael Rennie appears in an uncredited role as a Guard Captain. The film was inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, a role previously played by star and director Leslie Howard, and was described as ‘one of the most valuable facets of British propaganda’. The film helped to inspire the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg to lead a real-life rescue operation in Budapest that saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi concentration camps during the last months of the Second World War. This was one of the first films to openly discuss Nazi labor, concentration and death camps. Howard’s son Ronald also appeared in the film.

August 1 – Bowery Blitzkrieg

Cast: Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Donald Haines, Ernie ‘Sunshine Sammy’ Morrison, David Gorcey [The East Side Kids], Bobby Stone, Keye Luke, Warren Hull, Charlotte Henry, Martha Wentworth, Jack Mulhall, Eddie Foster, Dennis Moore, Tony Carson, Pat Costello, Dick Ryan
Director: Wallace Fox
Studio: Monogram Pictures Corporation
Trivia: The sixth East Side Kids film, introducing Huntz Hall into the group. Hall’s character is called ‘Limpy’ in the film, but would subsequently be referred to as ‘Gimpy’. Hall was also part of Universal’s Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys films at the same time. Released in the UK as Stand and Deliver.

August 1 – Charley’s Aunt

Cast: Jack Benny, Kay Francis, James Ellison, Anne Baxter, Edmund Gwenn, Laird Cregar, Reginald Owen, Arleen Whelan, Richard Haydn, Ernest Cossart, Morton Lowry, Will Stanton, Lionel Pape, C. Montague Shaw, Maurice Cass, Claud Allister, William Austin
Director: Archie Mayo
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Trivia: The film premiered on Los Angeles on July 31, 1941. The third filmed version of the 1892 stage farce of the same name by Brandon Thomas.

1951

July 29 – The Secret of Convict Lake

Cast: Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott, Ann Dvorak, Barbara Bates, Cyril Cusack, Richard Hylton, Helen Westcott, Jeanette Nolan, Ruth Donnelly, Harry Carter
Director: Michael Gordon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The fictional story is based on legends of Convict Lake, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges of northern California. Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell were the original choices to star.

August – Bright Victory

Cast: Arthur Kennedy, Peggy Dow, Julie Adams, James Edwards, Will Geer, Nana Bryant, Jim Backus, Minor Watson, Joan Banks, Richard Egan, John Hudson, Marjorie Crossland, Donald Miele, Murray Hamilton, Larry Keating, Hugh Reilly, Mary Cooper, Rock Hudson, Ken Harvey, Russell Dennis, Philip Faversham, Robert F. Simon, Virginia Mullen, Ruth Esherick
Director: Mark Robson
Studio: Universal Pictures
Trivia: The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in April 1951, then premiered in Los Angeles on July 16 before its general release in August (exact date is unknown). Arthur Kennedy was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance. The film also received a nomination for Best Sound Recording. Kennedy wore black contact lenses for the role.

August – Warpath

Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Dean Jagger, Forrest Tucker, Harry Carey Jr., Polly Bergen, James Millican, Wallace Ford, Paul Fix, Louis Jean Heydt, Chief Yowlachie, Walter Sande, Charles Dayton, Robert Bray, Monte Blue, John Hart
Director: Byron Haskin
Studio: Nat Holt Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film’s exact release date in the US is unknown. A comic book adaptation of the film was released in August 1951 by Fawcett Comics.

August 1 – Cattle Drive

Cast: Joel McCrea, Dean Stockwell, Chill Wills, Leon Ames, Howard Petrie, Bob Steele, Griff Barnett, Lewis Martin
Director: Kurt Neumann
Studio: Universal Pictures
Trivia: Much of the film was shot in the Death Valley National Park, California and Paria, Utah. This was Dean Stockwell’s last film as a child actor. He would not appear in another film for five years. The photo of Dan’s (Joel McCrea) ‘Girl in Santa Fe’ is McCrea’s wife Frances Dee. The film was derided as a Western version of 1937’s Captains Courageous.

August 2 – As Young as You Feel

Cast: Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, David Wayne, Jean Peters, Constance Bennett, Marilyn Monroe, Allyn Joslyn, Albert Dekker, Clinton Sundberg, Minor Watson, Wally Brown, Russ Tamblyn
Director: Harmon Jones
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on June 15, 1951. The film was remade for TV in 1957 as The Great American Hoax. Clifton Webb was the original choice for the role of John R. Hodges, but a deal fell through and Monty Woolley was cast. Constance Bennett plays Russ Tamblyn’s mother in the film. A year earlier, her sister Joan played Tamblyn’s mother in Father of the Bride.

1961

July 30 – Mothra

Cast: Frankie Sakai, Kyōko Kagawa, Hiroshi Koizumi, Ken Uehara, Jerry Ito, Yumi Ito and Emi Ito, Takashi Shimura, Masamitsu Tayama, Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Robert Dunham, Haruo Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka
Director: Ishirō Honda
Studio: Toho Studios
Trivia: The film opened in Japan on July 30, 1961, but did not come to the US until May 10, 1962. An original story by Takehiko Fukunaga and Yoshie Hotta, The Glowing Fairies and Mothra, was serialized in Weekly Asahi Extra magazine in January 1961, and was adapted into a screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa, patterned after King Kong and Godzilla. The name Mothra came from combining the Japanese word for ‘moth’ with the suffix ‘ra’, taken from ‘Gojira’. Adding ‘ra’ to a monster’s name became a common practice (King Ghidorah, Hedorah) even outside of Toho productions (Gamera). ‘The Peanuts’ scenes were filmed separately and they never interacted with the cast. The Mothra suit was the largest ever built for a Toho monster movie and required six or seven people inside to operate it. Columbia Pictures agreed to distribute the film in the US on the condition that Mothra attacked a non-Japanese city. The intention was to film the climactic attack in Los Angeles but the budget did not allow for the production to travel so the fictional Newkirk City was created. This was the first kaiju film to feature Tokyo Tower, which had been built three years prior to the film’s production. This was the first kaiju film in which the monster is not ‘killed’ at the end.

1971

July 28 – Von Richthofen and Brown

Cast: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Karen Huston, Hurd Hatfield, Stephen McHattie, Brian Foley, Robert La Tourneaux, Peter Masterson, David Weston, Tom Adams, Seamus Forde, Maureen Cusack, Ferdy Mayne, Lorraine Rainer
Director: Roger Corman
Studio: The Corman Company, distributed by United Artists
Trivia: The film premiered in San Francisco on June 30, 1971. The film is also known as The Red Baron. While real names are used, the film is largely fictional. United Artists turned down Bruce Dern for the role of Roy Brown. Don Stroud had been cast as Manfred von Richthofen, but was given the role of Brown and John Phillip Law was cast as von Richtofen. The studio also insisted the actors’ voices be dubbed with fake German accents. This was Roger Corman’s last directorial effort until Frankenstein Unbound in 1990. The film reused vintage airplanes from 1966’s The Blue Max. One pilot was killed in a crash during production, and in a separate incident another pilot and star Stroud were injured in a crash a day later. One of the stunt pilots was Richard D. Bach, who would go on to write the novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

July 30 – Bless the Beasts and Children

Cast: Bill Mumy, Barry Robins, Miles Chapin, Darel Glaser, Bob Kramer, Marc Vahanian, Jesse White, Ken Swofford, Elaine Devry, David Ketchum, Bruce Glover, Wayne Sutherlin, Vanessa Brown, William Bramley
Director: Stanley Kramer
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Trivia: The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in June 1971, then opened in Berlin on July 30. It began a limited US engagement in Los Angeles on August 1 and made its way to New York City by October 28. Adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Glendon Swarthout. The score featured an instrumental selection titled ‘Cotton’s Dream’. The music was used for a montage of gymnast Nadia Comăneci’s routines for ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which made the music popular enough that it was lengthened, re-editd and released under the title ‘Nadia’s Theme’ and was subsequently used as the theme song for the CBS soap opera The Young & the Restless. This was Barry Robins’ only film appearance.

Bing Crosby Productions

July 30 – Willard

Cast: Bruce Davison, Sondra Locke, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Borgnine, Michael Dante, Jody Gilbert, William Hansen, John Myhers, J. Pat O’Malley, Joan Shawlee, Almira Sessions, Pauline Drake, Helen Spring, Alan Baxter, Sherry Presnell
Director: Daniel Mann
Studio: Bing Crosby Productions, distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Trivia: The film had five premiere engagements in 1971 including Scranton, PA (February 26), Indianapolis, IN (April 16), Atlanta, GA (June 10), New York City (June 18) and San Francisco (July 28) before its general release on July 30. Based on the novel Ratman’s Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, which was also the film’s original title. The film’s success spawned a sequel, Ben (1972), and two imitation films, Stanley (1972) and Kiss of the Tarantula (1976). The film was remade in 2003 with Crispin Glover as Willard and original star Bruce Davison appearing in a portrait as Willard’s father. Ernest Borgnine was offered a percentage of the film’s profits or a higher salary. He chose the salary.

August 1 – On the Buses

Cast: Reg Varney, Doris Hare, Michael Robbins, Anna Karen, Stephen Lewis, Bob Grant, Brian Oulton, Andria Lawrence, Pat Ashton, Jeanne Varney, Pamela Cundell, Pat Coombs, Eunice Black, Wendy Richard, Peter Madden, David Lodge, Brenda Gogan, Caroline Dowdeswell, Nosher Powell, Terry Duggan, Norman Mitchell, Claire Davenport, Maggie Rennie, Tex Fuller, Anna Michaels, Ivor Salter, George Roderick, Gavin Campbell, David Rowlands, Hilda Barry, Moira Foot, Reginald Peters
Director: Harry Booth
Studio: Hammer Film Productions, EMI Elstree, distributed by MGM-EMI Film Distributors
Trivia: The film opened in the UK on August 1, 1971. No US date is listed. The first spin-off film from the TV sitcom On the Buses. The film was the highest grossing in the UK in 1971, out-performing Diamonds Are Forever.

August 1 – The Omega Man

Cast: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Eric Laneuville, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Brian Tochi
Director: Boris Sagal
Studio: Walter Seltzer Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: Based on the 1954 novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson. This is the second adaptation of Matheson’s novel following The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price in 1964. A third adaptation, I Am Legend with Will Smith, was released in 2007. According to Whoopi Goldberg, the interracial kiss between Charlton Heston and Rosalind Cash was one of the first to appear in a motion picture. The studio wanted Diahann Carroll for the role played by Cash. The film was shot in the business district of Los Angeles on weekends when the area was practically deserted in order to give the effects of no life in the city, but occasional passers-by and moving cars can be seen in the background of some shots. This was Brian Tochi’s first film.

1981

July 31 – Escape to Victory

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Pelé, Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Paul Van Himst, Kazimierz Deyna, Hallvar Thoresen, Mike Summerbee, Co Prins, Russell Osman, John Wark, Søren Lindsted, Kevin O’Callaghan, Max von Sydow, Gary Waldhorn, George Mikell, Laurie Sivell, Arthur Brauss, Carole Laure, Benoît Ferreux, Clive Merrison, Maurice Roëves, Michael Cochrane, Zoltán Gera, Tim Pigott-Smith, Daniel Massey, Jean-François Stévenin, Julian Curry, Amidou, George Mikell, Werner Roth
Director: John Huston
Studio: Carolco Pictures, Lorimar, Victory Company, New Gold Entertainment, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film was screened at the Moscow Film Festival on July 7, 1981, then had its New York City premiere on July 16. Also known as Victory. Based on the 1962 Hungarian film drama Két félidő a pokolban (Two half-times in Hell). Sylvester Stallone started soccer training during weekends off from filming Nighthawks. Stallone didn’t think the training was necessary and on the first day dislocated his shoulder and broke a rib. He paid more attention when he was able to return. He still sustained minor injuries during filming and broke another rib, stating it was harder than fighting in the Rocky movies. Michael Caine only agreed to be in the film to work alongside Pelé. The movie was to originally star Lloyd Bridges and Clint Eastwood. Alain Delon was also scheduled to appear. Roger Moore had considered a role in the film. John Huston hated the film and said he only did it for the paycheck. Stallone said he only did the film to work with Huston.

July 31 – Under the Rainbow

Cast: Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, Joseph Maher, Robert Donner, Billy Barty, Mako, Cork Hubbert, Pat McCormick, Adam Arkin, Zelda Rubinstein, Jerry Maren, Peter Issacksen, Tony Cox
Director: Steve Rash
Studio: Orion Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film earned Razzie Award nominations for Worst Musical Score and Worst Supporting Actor (Billy Barty). The film is loosely based on legends surrounding the gathering of little people in a Hollywood hotel to audition for The Wizard of Oz. The film was shot on location at the Culver Hotel, where the actors playing the Munchkins stayed during the production of The Wizard of Oz. Jerry Marin, who plays the pitcher in the kitchen baseball scene, actually appeared in The Wizard of Oz as one of the Lollipop Guild members. He later said he regretted making this film because it was in such poor taste and nothing remotely like what happened during the filming of The Wizard of Oz. Carrie Fisher admitted this was one of the worst movies she ever appeared in. Chevy Chase said it was one of the worst movies ever made. Film debut of Zelda Rubenstein. The final film of make-up artist Fred B. Phillips, who was also an uncredited make-up artist on The Wizard of Oz.

July 31 – Winter of Our Dreams

Cast: Judy Davis, Bryan Brown, Cathy Downes, Mercia Deane-Johns, Baz Luhrmann, Peter Mochrie, Mervyn Drake, Margie McCrae, Joy Hruby, Kim Deacon
Director: John Duigan
Studio: Greater Union Organisation, Spectrum, The Australian Film Commission, Vega Film Productions, Winta, distributed by Greater Union Organisation (Australia), Satori (US)
Trivia: The film opened in Australia on July 31, 1981. Its exact US release date in August is unknown. Judy Davis won the Best Actress in a Lead Role in the AFI Awards for her performance in the film. The film was nominated in 6 other categories. The film was also screened at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where Davis also won the Best Actress award. Director John Duigan had written an unproduced script in the 1970s titled Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain, and included a 1960s radical-turned-yuppie character from that script in this film. To prepare for her role as a drug addicted prostitute, Davis lived in King’s Cross, the red-light district of Sydney, and familiarized herself with the hookers and drug addicts who frequented the region. Feature film acting debut of Baz Luhrmann. This is the only film to pair Australian actors Davis and Bryan Brown.

1991

July 31 – Hot Shots!

Cast: Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Kevin Dunn, Jon Cryer, William O’Leary, Kristy Swanson, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bill Irwin, Ryan Stiles, Heidi Swedberg, Rino Thunder, Charles Barkley, Don Lake, Cylk Cozart, Bill Laimbeer, Jerry Haleva, Gene Greytak, Mark Arnott
Director: Jim Abrahams
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on July 26, 1991. The film is primarily a parody of Top Gun, with some scenes spoofing other popular films, including 91⁄2 Weeks, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Dances with Wolves, Marathon Man, Rocky, Superman and Gone with the Wind. The aircraft carrier on which the movie takes place is actually a wooden deck built on the edge of a cliff at a deserted Marineland facility. The scene was shot at an angle that made the deck look like a ship at sea. Several aircraft carrier scenes were taken from the movie Flight of the Intruder. The shot of the “S.S. Essess” back lit by the rising sun is stock footage of the U.S.S. Nimitz from the movie The Final Countdown. The opening crowd shot of the boxing match attended by Lt. Cmdr. Block and Wilson is reused footage of the final fight scene of Rocky II, with costumes and sets matching exactly.

August 2 – Body Parts

Cast: Jeff Fahey, Brad Dourif, Kim Delaney, Zakes Mokae, Lindsay Duncan, Paul Ben-Victor, Peter Murnik, John Walsh, Nathaniel Moreau, Peter MacNeill, Arlene Duncan, Lindsay G. Merrithew, Andy Humphrey, Sarah Campbell, James Kidnie
Director: Eric Red
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: Based on the horror novel Choice Cuts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. Advertisements for the film in Wisconsin were cancelled due to the Jeffrey Dahmer killings.

August 2 – Doc Hollywood

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Barnard Hughes, Woody Harrelson, David Ogden Stiers, Frances Sternhagen, Bridget Fonda, Roberts Blossom, Eyde Byrde, Mel Winkler, George Hamilton, Adele Malis-Morey, Time Winters, K.T. Vogt
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on July 31, 1991. Based on Neil B. Shulman’s book What? Dead…Again? Pixar has been accused of plagiarizing the film for its animated film Cars. Director Michael Caton-Jones makes a cameo appearance as a maitre’d.

August 2 – Return to the Blue Lagoon

Cast: Milla Jovovich, Brian Krause, Lisa Pelikan, Courtney Barilla, Garette Ratliff Henson, Emma James, Jackson Barton, Nana Coburn, Brian Blain, Peter Hehir, Alexander Petersons, John Mann, Wayne Pygram, John Dicks
Director: William A. Graham
Studio: Price Entertainment, distributed by Columbia Pictures
Trivia: Based on the 1923 novel The Garden of God by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. This was the first starring role for Milla Jovovich, and she considers it the worst film she’s ever done. The film received five Golden Raspberry Awards nominations: Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and two for Worst New Star (Jovovich and Krause). This was director William A. Graham’s final film.

August 2 – Rock-a-Doodle

Cast: Toby Scott Ganger, Glen Campbell, Phil Harris, Christopher Plummer, Ellen Greene, Eddie Deezen, Sandy Duncan, Charles Nelson Reilly, Sorrell Booke, Will Ryan, Louise Chamis, Bob Gallico, Jake Steinfeld, T. J. Kuenster, Jim Doherty, John Drummond, Frank Kelly, Kathryn Holcomb, Stan Ivar, Christian Hoff, Jason Marin
Director: Don Bluth
Studio: Goldcrest, Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Ltd., distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company (North America), Rank Organisation (United Kingdom)
Trivia: The film opened in the UK on August 2, 1991 but did not get a general US release until April 3, 1992 after screening at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis on March 20, 1992, followed by a limited release on April 1 in Seattle. Loosely based on Edmond Rostand’s 1910 comedy play Chantecler. This was Phil Harris’ final role before he retired from acting. A concept for the film dated back to the early Walt Disney Studio days, but Walt rejected the pitch and the film was never put into production. Don Bluth began pre-production on the film in 1982. The first and last scenes of the film were to be shot in black and white like The Wizard of Oz, and were to be directed by Victor French who had to pull out of the project due to terminal lung cancer. Bluth took over even though he had no experience with live action filming and very little of the footage made it into the film. The film was to be released in the US around Thanksgiving 1991 but the studio wanted to avoid competition from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Universal’s An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. Pinky the fox, Chanticleer’s greedy manager, was based on Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker. Cast member Eddie Deezen has never seen the film. This was Toby Scott Ganger’s first film.

August 2 – Rover Dangerfield

Cast: Rodney Dangerfield, Susan Boyd, Ronnie Schell, Ned Luke, Shawn Southwick, Sal Landi, Bert Kramer, Robert Pine, Dana Hill, Eddie Barth, Dennis Blair, Don Stewart, Gregg Berger, Paxton Whitehead, Chris Collins, Tom Williams, Bernard Erhard, Danny Mann, Robert Bergen, Tress MacNeille
Director: James L. George, Bob Seeley
Studio: Hyperion Animation, The Kushner-Locke Company, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film opened in limited release in the US on July 1, 1991 before expanding on August 2. The film was originally planned to be released in December 1988 and would carry an R-rating. Warner Bros. insisted it be toned way down to a G.

2001

August 1 – Harvard Man

Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adrian Grenier, Joey Lauren Adams, Eric Stoltz, Rebecca Gayheart, Gianni Russo, Ray Allen, Michael Aparo, Scottie Epstein, John Neville, Polly Shannon, Phillip Jarrett, Al Franken
Director: James Toback
Studio: Bigel/Mailer Films, The Kushner-Locke Company, distributed by Lions Gate Films
Trivia: The film screened at Cannes on May 10, 2001, followed by a general release in France on August 1. The film received a limited US release beginning April 12, 2002. Leonardo DiCaprio was originally to star in the film. The movie was shot in 20 days.

August 3 – Rush Hour 2

Cast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, John Lone, Zhang Ziyi, Roselyn Sánchez, Alan King, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Tsang, Don Cheadle, Joel McKinnon Miller
Director: Brett Ratner
Studio: Roger Birnbaum Productions, Salon Films, distributed by New Line Cinema
Trivia: The film premiered on July 26, 2001 on-board the United Airlines Flight 1 from Los Angeles to Hong Kong renamed ‘The Rush Hour Express’, and was screened at the Urbanworld Film Festival on August 2. Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek, and Gianni Russo make cameo appearances. This was the highest grossing film in the Rush Hour franchise. Don Cheadle agreed to do the film if he could fight Jackie Chan and speak Chinese. The scene of Carter and Lee running naked down a Hong Kong street was real as production could not close off the street for filming. Some of the film’s counterfeit money ended up in a few casinos in Las Vegas. The situation got so out of control the FBI briefly shut down the film to investigate if production violated the Counterfeit Deterrence Act of 1992. Chris Tucker refused to act like Michael Jackson for the karaoke scene, so Brett Ratner secretly had Tucker filmed between actual takes and included it in the film. Jackson called Tucker after seeing the film and told him he was kicking with the wrong leg. Ziyi Zhang could not speak English and had to take direction from Jackie Chan interpreting, and Brett Ratner miming the action. She tried to learn English from Roselyn Sánchez, but Sánchez discouraged her or else she’d speak English with a Puerto Rican accent. The Desert Inn in Las Vegas stood in for the Red Dragon Hotel. Coincidentally, Red Dragon was Brett Ratner’s next film. It was demolished on October 23, 2001. Ziyi Zhang’s character was originally written for a man. Jerry Lewis was offered the role of Steven Reign.

Walt Disney Pictures

August 3 – The Princess Diaries

Cast: Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Héctor Elizondo, Heather Matarazzo, Robert Schwartzman, Mandy Moore, Caroline Goodall, Erik von Detten, Patrick Flueger, Sean O’Bryan, Sandra Oh, Kathleen Marshall, Mindy Burbano, René Auberjonois, Gerald Hathaway, Larry Miller, Patrick Richwood, Mayor Willie Brown, Fat Louie
Director: Garry Marshall
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures, BrownHouse Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on July 29, 2001. Based on Meg Cabot’s 2000 young adult novel of the same name. Disney greenlit the film under the title The Princess of Tribeca, but reverted to the original title when the setting was changed from New York to San Francisco. This was Anne Hathaway’s film debut, and the end of Julie Andrews’ semi-retirement from acting. It was also her first Disney film since Mary Poppins. The film was an unexpected success, outperforming expectations because of its G-rating. It was one of the most profitable films of 2001 and established Hathaway as a bankable actress. Juliette Lewis had initially been offered the role. Reese Witherspoon, Kirsten Dunst, Alicia Silverstone, Jessica Biel, Claire Danes, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brittany Murphy, Katie Holmes, Christina Applegate, Kate Beckinsale and Eva Mendes,and Liv Tyler were also considered. Garry Marshall’s granddaughters convinced him to cast Hathaway because she had more ‘princess-like hair’. Hathway was cast only from her audition. She did not do a screen test. Hathaway reminded Marshall of Julia Roberts, who he directed in Pretty Woman (to which this film references in several ways). He also likened Hathaway’s skill at physical comedy to his sister Penny. Andrews agreed to be in the film because of Marshall’s involvement. She did not read the script before signing on. Marshall allowed Andrews significant freedom to determine her portrayal of Clarisse. Heather Matarazzo has said Marshall was her favorite director to work with because of his positive energy. Héctor Elizondo has appeared in every film Marshall directed. This was Mandy Moore’s first credited film role. Moore had no experience and said Marshall had no business casting her, but said working with him was the highlight of the film. She also appreciated that several of her co-stars were around the same age (16), with the experience setting her acting career in motion. This was Robert Schwartzman’s first and last film to date. He wanted to change his last name to Cage, in honor of his cousin Nicolas, but the film’s publicity material had already been finalized. Marshall, his wife, daughter and twin granddaughters make appearances in the film. The last name of his daughter’s character, Kutaway, is a reference to how she is seen in ‘cutaway shots’. Marshall was challenged to make the film funnier while keeping it to a G-rating, so he reviewed scripts from Happy Days and The Odd Couple to remind him how to approach family-friendly material. The film’s executive producer, Whitney Houston, came to the set and serenaded Marshall on his birthday. The decision to kill off Mia’s father, who is alive and has a significant role in the book, was made as the decision to cast Andrews was decided upon from the beginning. The book’s author approved of the change upon hearing of Andrews’ casting, with much of the father’s dialogue given to Andrews’ character. The picture of Mia’s father is Hathaway’s real father Gerald. The cat Fat Louie was Hathaway’s cat in real life. Andrews’ jewelry and tiara for the final part of the movie were real diamonds on loan from Harry Winston, and worth $500,000. Hathaway’s tiara was made of cubic zirconia. Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ was played on a boom box during the final dance scene to get natural movements from the actors, but the scene had to be re-shot several times because some of them would mouth the words to the song.

2011

July 29 – Cowboys & Aliens

Cast: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Noah Ringer, Adam Beach, Abigail Spencer, Ana de la Reguera, Walton Goggins, Julio Cedillo, David O’Hara, Toby Huss, Raoul Trujillo, Paul Ortega, Wyatt Russell
Director: Jon Favreau
Studio: Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, Relativity Media, Imagine Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, Fairview Entertainment, Platinum Studios, distributed by Universal Pictures (North America), Paramount Pictures (International)
Trivia: The film made its premiere at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. Based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The project began development between Universal and DreamWorks in 1997, based on the concept for the graphic novel which had not yet been published. Columbia Pictures acquired the rights to the story in 2004 but did nothing with it. Universal and DreamWorks re-acquired the rights in 2006. The studio pressured Jon Favreau to film in 3D but he resisted and filmed in anamorphic widescreen to give it a ‘classic movie feel’. Robert Downey Jr. showed interest in the starring role in June 2008, and told Favreau about the film while making Iron Man 2. Favreau joined the project in 2009, while Downey left in 2010 to make Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Daniel Craig replaced him. Harrison Ford wanted to not wear a hat in the film to keep audiences from thinking of Indiana Jones, but he was convinced to wear a cowboy hat. Sam Rockwell’s role was originally written as a large Mexican, but was re-written when Rockwell expressed interest. Producer Steven Spielberg invited Favreau and the writers to a private screening of several Westerns to show them how to properly make one. Daniel Craig suggested Eva Green for the role of Ella after working with her on Casino Royale, but she turned it down. A Southland Ice Company wagon is visible in the final scene, which was the predecessor to 7-11.

July 29 – Crazy, Stupid, Love

Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, John Carroll Lynch, Josh Groban, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, Joey King, Beth Littleford, Julianna Guill, Liza Lapira, Crystal Reed, Dan Butler
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Studio: Carousel Productions, Di Novi Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film’s New York City premiere was held on July 19, 2011. Ryan Gosling received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film’s working title was Untitled Marital Crisis Comedy. The filmmakers offered a free iPad to anyone on set who could come up with a title for the movie. The film was written with Steve Carell in mind. Carell hated the final title and preferred The Wingman, which he felt was accurate but boring. The feature film debut of Josh Groban. The film’s original cut was three hours long. The film’s original release date was April 22, 2011. The film was shipped to theaters with the code name First Date.

July 29 – The Devil’s Double

Cast: Dominic Cooper, Philip Quast, Ludivine Sagnier, Mimoun Oaïssa, Raad Rawi, Mem Ferda, Dar Salim, Khalid Laith, Pano Masti, Nasser Memarzia, Tiziana Azzopardi, Akin Gazi, Amrita Acharia, Abner Fabbro
Director: Lee Tamahori
Studio: Corsan, distributed by Lionsgate
Trivia: The film was screened at Sundance on January 22, 2011, the Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, the Hong Kong International Film Festival on March 28, the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 20, and the St. Petersburg International Film Festival on July 14 before beginning its limited US release on July 29. The film opened in Canada on August 5 and the UK on August 10. Danny Boyle was considered to direct.

July 29 – The Smurfs

Live Action Cast: Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofía Vergara, Tim Gunn
Voice Cast: Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Anton Yelchin, Fred Armisen, Alan Cumming, George Lopez, Jeff Foxworthy, Paul Reubens, Gary Basaraba, John Oliver, Kenan Thompson, B. J. Joel McCrary, Wolfgang Puck, John Kassir, Tom Kane, Frank Welker
Director: Raja Gosnell
Studio: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Kerner Entertainment Company, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Trivia: The film’s New York City premiere was held on July 24, 2011. Loosely based on the comics series of the same name created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo. The first Sony Pictures Animation film to combine live action and animation. The film began development with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies as a fully animated film, and was planned as a trilogy to explain more of Gargamel’s backstory. The film’s release date was changed three times. Joan Rivers, Liz Smith, Tom Colicchio, Olivia Palermo, and Michael Musto make cameo appearances. Jonathan Winters and Frank Welker are the only two voice actors who were members of the original 1980s animated series’ cast. The filmmakers were allowed to create three new Smurfs for the film by Peyo’s estate: Narrtor, Crazy and Gutsy. Quentin Tarantino was in talks to play Brainy Smurf. It took three months to build Gargamel’s Smurfalator due to the difficulty of finding the right parts. During filming, each animated Smurf was represented by a different colored dot for the actors to look at, and memorize which dot was which Smurf. Katy Perry was cast without producers knowing the voice they were listening to was hers. Smurfs never take off their caps, but they did in the movie to use as parachutes. During those scenes, Peyo’s estate demanded the Smurfs only be seen from above or below. The Smurf ‘Panicky’ was to appear in the film, and was to be voiced by Adam Wylie, but he’s only mentioned in some dialogue. The character though did appear in McDonald’s merchandise and finally appeared in The Smurfs 2. Out of the 101 Smurfs, only 21 are mentioned by name. Painter and Tailor Smurf are the only two named who appear in the film but have no dialogue. Alyson Hannigan was considered for the role of Grace. Christopher Lloyd, Nathaniel Parker, Robin Williams, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Reynolds, James Garner, Jim Carrey, Armand Assante, Michael Palin, Wallace Shawn and John Lithgow were considered for the role of Gargamel.

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