I’m fascinated by the decade Whoopi Goldberg spent following the extraordinary success of The Color Purple starring in ill-fated high-concept vehicles of varying degrees of idiocy.
Glad this turned out to be a stinker as Jumping Jack Flash along with Burglar seemed to always be front and center at the video stores of my youth despite me knowing exactly zero people who saw them.
I thought Burglar was supposed to be a vehicle for Eddie Murphy, not Willis. But knowing it was supposed to be a man explains a bit of dialogue calling Goldberg’s character “the most dangerous boxer in Rikers Island,” and the fight scene at the end.
As Nathan writes, this was a decent enough financial hit, and it was popular with audiences -- and I think the latter was entirely due to Goldberg's natural charisma. People just got a kick out of watching her in those early movies. It also immediately established Penny Marshall as a trustworthy, bankable director.
I actually got to watch a little bit of the production of "Fatal Beauty", as the climax of the film was shot at the Century City mall where I was working a retail job at the time (my first real job, actually). The film's producer came into our shop with his wife, and they bought a few hundred dollars' worth of toys for their kids. (Or grandkids? I'm not sure.)
Later I learned from someone else involved with that production that when they were in post, the studio decided to change the entire POV of the movie to make it as close to a "Beverly Hills Cop" ripoff as possible, in light of that film's massive release after "Fatal Beauty" wrapped. They re-edited the film to stress more of the comedy, and if you look at the official poster, it is a direct callout to "BHC", with Whoopi sitting in a convertible holding a pistol and shrugging.
It's something. Not to give anything away but the whole movie is Whoopi talking on a telephone and then the big reveal is that the telephone has been off the hook the entire time.
Glad this turned out to be a stinker as Jumping Jack Flash along with Burglar seemed to always be front and center at the video stores of my youth despite me knowing exactly zero people who saw them.
I thought Burglar was supposed to be a vehicle for Eddie Murphy, not Willis. But knowing it was supposed to be a man explains a bit of dialogue calling Goldberg’s character “the most dangerous boxer in Rikers Island,” and the fight scene at the end.
Apparently Whoopi was supposed to play Willis' neighbor and when he dropped out they gave her his lead role.
Ah, Hollywood!
As Nathan writes, this was a decent enough financial hit, and it was popular with audiences -- and I think the latter was entirely due to Goldberg's natural charisma. People just got a kick out of watching her in those early movies. It also immediately established Penny Marshall as a trustworthy, bankable director.
I actually got to watch a little bit of the production of "Fatal Beauty", as the climax of the film was shot at the Century City mall where I was working a retail job at the time (my first real job, actually). The film's producer came into our shop with his wife, and they bought a few hundred dollars' worth of toys for their kids. (Or grandkids? I'm not sure.)
Later I learned from someone else involved with that production that when they were in post, the studio decided to change the entire POV of the movie to make it as close to a "Beverly Hills Cop" ripoff as possible, in light of that film's massive release after "Fatal Beauty" wrapped. They re-edited the film to stress more of the comedy, and if you look at the official poster, it is a direct callout to "BHC", with Whoopi sitting in a convertible holding a pistol and shrugging.
How have I never heard of "The Telephone"??
I need to write about it for My World of Flops.
It's something. Not to give anything away but the whole movie is Whoopi talking on a telephone and then the big reveal is that the telephone has been off the hook the entire time.
For the record, I liked it. But yeah, I can see why it didn’t do boffo box office. Definitely something that would be an Indy today.
Can we please get a bit more about the Russian fitness videos sold (or rented, perhaps?) at the bank?