It Came from Hollywood
Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Gilda Radner and Cheech and Chong present this compilation of classic bad films from the 50's, 60's and 70's. Special features on gorilla pictures, anti-marijuana films and a special tribute to the worst film maker of all-time, Ed Wood.
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- Cast:
- Dan Aykroyd , John Candy , Cheech Marin , Tommy Chong , Gilda Radner
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Reviews
You won't be disappointed!
Very disappointing...
A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
A weak movie that celebrates weak movies, "It Came From Hollywood" presents clips from more than a half-century of movies, most bad, some not, presented in the form of themes hosted by popular comedians of the day.Sometimes, the result is amusing. Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong work their stoner screen personas to solid effect watching clips of famous drug cautionary films like "Reefer Madness." I don't care for Cheech & Chong generally but found their work here entertaining in a low-burn way.A clip from the Ed Wood classic "Plan Nine From Outer Space" features Dudley Manlove pondering an attack on mankind: "As long as these humans think, we'll have our problems."Cut to Chong at the ticket window: "I want my money back." Alas, that's as much as I can offer in the way of positive comment about the interstitial sketches which make up the original content in this film. That's a shame because I am a fan of both Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner from their "Saturday Night Live" heyday and John Candy of SCTV. They make up the other three players introducing the recycled content here. Seeing Gilda and Danny relive their small- screen glories playing SNL characters like Judy Miller and a short- fused detective should be more fun than it is.Some reviewers here see a connection between "It Came From Hollywood" and "Mystery Science Theater 3000," which ran bad movies over caustic commentary that was often funny. But the blog Dead 2 Rights has it right: This is a cracked remake of films of the prior decade like "That's Entertainment." Producer-directors Andrew Solt and Malcolm Leo are out for cheap yuks.Instead of overblown reverence, you get easy scorn for silly B- movies about rampaging gorillas and brains that fly around and attack people."C'mon, honey, you want it and you know it," Aykroyd says over footage of a woman being jumped by a brain in "Fiend Without A Face." "Don't be a brainteaser."Chuckles do come, but never develop into anything more, the way they so often did on MST3K with their zany sketches and running gags. The clips are more interesting for curiosity value, like a chance to see Rosey Grier try to sell the idea of having Ray Milland's head attached to his body in "The Thing With Two Heads.""This picture started the black street fad of wearing middle-aged white men," Aykroyd explains.The inclusion of clips from classic films like "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and good genre flicks like "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" is annoying, though, as are any of the sequences featuring Radner, as lost here as she did in any other movie she made."The movie theaters just show scary monster movies so you drop all your popcorn and candy on the floor and they put in back in the boxes and resell it," she explains as her Judy Miller character.A decent sequence showcases two Ed Wood films, "Plan Nine" and "Glen Or Glenda?" It's hosted by Candy, who makes the fair point that it's hard to make a movie when there's no budget. If the rest of the film followed this more explanatory approach, rather than generally commenting on the weak plots and overacting, it could be worth your time.To be fair, "It Came From Hollywood" came from 1982, the year of David Letterman's late-night debut when snarky irony became suddenly fashionable. Snarky irony is mostly what you get here, and while it works at times, it isn't enough to make it that interesting.
It's just sad how little this movie is recognized and how it has been recalled for DVD. You have some of the biggest stars of the time taking about bad B movies of the 50's 60's and 70's like A.p.e the giant claw Earth vs the flying saucers the Colossal man. I can only imagine a movie like this today stars like johnny Depp Leonardo Dicaprio Jake Gyllenhaal Taking about old B movies of the past including ones from the 80's like Hobgoblins the Abomination Deadly spawn Lobster man from mars and bad shot on video movies. This is a classic that more people should know about all the stars do a good job the clips are great it never takes it self seriously. I first saw this on HBO way back in 92 or 93 and i will never forget the first time seeing it this any fan of John Candy Gilda Radner Dan Aykroyd or b movies should see it.
"It Came From Hollywood" makes its main point--that some older movies are really pretty bad--then beats its audience to death with that point for 80 minutes. Hollywood comedy narrators Dan Aykroyd, Cheech and Chong, John Candy, and Gilda Radner simply spend the film telling us how bad these movies are, as unrelated, seemingly random clips from the films are shown. The movie's so dumb that it even includes sequences from good films such as "The Incredible Shrinking Man", which is rightfully regarded as a 1950s sci-fi classic.The celebrity narrators aren't even that funny, while they remind us over and over (and over) that some movies are just plain awful. The film finally rambles to an awkward ending--including John Candy laughing while his jowls and stomach shake--leaving the audience with a message of...what happened? I hope the famous narrators were well paid. Do yourself a favor and just watch the old films instead. They're a lot funnier than this piece of junk.
In what seems to be a precursor to "Mystery Science Theater 3000", several famous comedians (playing themselves) mock some of Hollywood's worst movies ever. Cheech and Chong have lots of fun with "The Amazing Colossal Man", while John Candy and Dan Aykroyd love playing with Ed Wood's movies. Gilda Radner has a hysterically weird experience after hearing on the radio of an escaped gorilla. They all have some great comments and gags, especially when Chong orders an unusual container of popcorn.Either way, "It Came from Hollywood" is a testament to how funny all of these people really are. You'll love the "intimate" scene between Candy and Aykroyd.