gilda radner – We Are Movie Geeks

LOVE, GILDA – Review

With the year’s end “light at the end of the tunnel” in sight, 2018’s parade of distinguished feature documentaries marches on with another “crowd-pleaser” bringing up the rear. Cinemas have been host to truly exceptional works of non-fiction filmmaking. This week’s release joins the impressive list of the “celebrity showbiz profile” sub-genre that includes the box office hit WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR along with WHITNEY, MCQUEEN, and QUINCY. Though music doesn’t play as big a role in this subject’s life as in several of these films, she made her greatest cultural impact on television, just as NEIGHBOR’s Fred Rogers. Oh, and her works were much more “adult” in nature, While Rogers was a daytime TV king to countless kids, she was the first real “queen of late-night TV comedy”. And while she’s been gone for nearly three decades, her influence seems to be felt now, more than ever. This film profiles Ms. Radner, the superstar who ended nearly all her writings with two simple words: LOVE, GILDA.

The film begins with footage from the show that made her famous, with Gilda commanding everyone’s attention at a trendy “watering hole”. It then backtracks over twenty years with snapshots and jittery old 8mm silent home movie footage of plump-cheeked little Gilda, perhaps 6 or 7 years old, her eyes darting about in search of the camera, ready to perform a dance or make a funny face. Older brother Michael tells us of the food issues that started very early, and how her mom got “diet pills” (speed, basically) prescribed for the out-going, “zaftig” ten-year-old. Then her journals and diaries are brought out. When Gilda’s own voice isn’t availible, several current comic actors are enlisted to provide the audible. Many are connected to Gilda’s TV alma mater “Saturday Night Live”. Frequent “guest host” and current “queen of movie comedy” Melissa McCarthy, current SNL cast member Cecily Strong, and SNL vets Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, and (token fella’) Bill Hader read different passages (Hader seems like Indiana Jones finding a long-hidden treasure, stifling a plea that “These belong in a museum!”). We’re told of Gilda receiving love from an elderly nanny named “Dibby” while poppa and mama were too busy with business and high society in Detroit. When she left home for the University of Michigan, Gilda continued to search for love, amassing many boyfriends, before following one, a sculptor, to Canada. When that romance fizzled, Gilda plunged into the theatre scene, and became part of the Toronto cast of “Godspell”. Show creator Stephen Schwartz, piano accompaniest Paul Shaffer, and fellow castmate, and former beau, Martin Short share their memories, along with a funny audio recording. We see Gilda jump from the stages of the Toronto Second City to the NYC sound booth of the National Lampoon as part of their radio show and comedy album ensemble (and her first encounter with John Belushi). After a couple of NatLamp stage shows, Lorne Michaels signed her up (really, Gilda was the first to be hired) for a new live weekend late night comedy/music NBC show. Michaels is interviewed along with fellow SNL-ers Chevy Chase and Laraine Newman, and writers Anne Beatts, Rosie Shuster, and Alan Zweibel. The filmmakers provide us with a refresher course on the many characters Gilda inhabited during her five year run on the show, all while still searching for her soul mate (much is made of the long affair with Bill Murray), and battling various eating disorders. We’re treated to several behind-the-scenes videos from her Broadway show (turned into the feature film GILDA LIVE!), and see her cavorting with future husband, guitarist G.E. Smith. When her stint at SNL ended, Gilda was adrift until landing a movie role in the film HANKY PANKY opposite movie “comedy king” Gene Wilder. After divorcing Smith, she married Gene, then signing letters with “love, Gilda Radner-Wilder”. This should have been her “happily ever after”, but several failed pregnancies eventually led to the discovery of Ovarian cancer. The film then chronicles Gilda’s health struggles, her remission, an attempted comeback via TV’s “It’s Gary Shandling’s Show”, and the disease’s final fatal return. Aside from her TV comedy legacy, several cancer screenings programs bear her name along with many cancer-affected family support centers around the world bearing her name and image, “Gilda’s Club”.

First-time feature director Lisa Dapolito has done a terrific job of wrangling the massive amount of archive footage while eliciting funny, honest responses from her interview subjects. While viewers might wish for more complete SNL sketches (the inspired Fellini parody “La Dolce Gilda” would have best illustrated her complex, conflicting thoughts on fame), but we get enough of on insight on her many recurring characters (a taste of Emily Litella, Roseanne Roseannadanna, etc.) to grasp her importance on the show’s infancy. And some still living folks are sorely missing from the “talking heads” clips. The third of “Chevy’s Angels”, Jane Curtain might have some great backstage stories. And any comments from Bill Murray would have been a major coup (doubtful of that ever happening, since Gilda barely mentioned him in her memoir, “It’s Always Something”). I was hoping to know a bit more about the time just after SNL. No mention of THE FIRST FAMILY, Gilda’s first big-time feature film, post-SNL, which bombed. Nor do we hear of her part in Jean Kerr’s play “Lunch Hour”, which bounced around to several theatres to little fanfare. This would help explain those limbo years, the very early 1980’s, in which the studios had no idea how to capitalize on her incredible popularity. It’s a great choice to have much of Gilda’s written thoughts interpreted by several members of the exclusive comedy club she helped establish. The stars bring the prose to life along with graphics that highlight passages for dramatic effect. And the early childhood home movie footage bookended with the jumpy video-cam shot scenes of domestic bliss with family and friends at Casa de Wilder give the film an extraordinary intimacy. The comic icon morphs into a warm, sympathetic human being. While many big fans (myself very much included) bemoan some exclusions, the rarities included, particularly the awkward spot with Tom Snyder on “Tomorrow” and the chaotic live prime time New Orleans SNL special (in which the cast realized that they were akin to rock stars), more than make this a pop culture event. Though the tale comes to a real tragic conclusion, the film is a real celebration of a remarkable talent who truly reached through the TV screen and grabbed the public by the “funny bone” and the heart. All those touched by her story should love LOVE, GILDA.

4.5 Out of 5

LOVE, GILDA opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

4th Annual MLFF: LOVE, GILDA – The Review

One of my favorite films at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival was LOVE, GILDA. Not only did it do an amazing job at capturing her spirit, but it is incredibly relatable… especially if you (like me) have ever fought an intense disease or illness.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner looks back and reflects on her life and career. Weaving together recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with her friends, rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comediennes inspired by Gilda (Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Bill Hader and Cecily Strong), Love, Gilda offers a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story.

Produced and Directed by Lisa D’Apolito, LOVE, GILDA leaves viewers with an incredibly positive way to look at life… with laughter. Reading from her own words, Poehler, Rudolph, Hader, Strong and more learn more about one of their biggest inspirations. We learn about Radner’s feelings about herself, her weight, her rise to fame, romances and her battle with cancer through her own tapes.

It starts in the 1950’s, with home movies of a young Radner and her family. She describes her relationship with her father and mother, and the impacts that they had on her. She is quite candid, talking about the death of her father, and her mothers’ thoughts on her weight – including the time she gave Radner diet pills.

It’s apparent, instantly, in the home videos that Radner has an energy that is larger than life. We learn about her relationship with food due to an eating disorder and watch as she seamlessly rises to fame due to her electric personality and impeccable sense of humor. During this time she also went through a lot of boyfriends, including those that she worked with. The good news is that all of them seemed to remain friends, judging by the tone of the doc.

Behind all of the fame lived someone who was unhappy. Radner was her own worst critic. She was constantly looking for love and acceptance. She later found a life full of love with actor Gene Wilder. The film touches on her yearning to have a child, which was hindered by suddenly learning that she had ovarian cancer.

One thing that I love about this film is Radners’ positive spirit as she fought this disease. Throughout her battle, she constantly tried to make people laugh. Her goal was to make cancer funny. Normally, a diagnosis like this would be enough to destroy someone’s spirit. Nor Radner. She was more worried about others, and living life to the fullest. During her struggle, Wilder was by her side. Their love for each other is inspiring.

Throughout the film, Radners’ courage and positive attitude shine through even the darkest of moments. LOVE, GILDA is sure to make audiences laugh and cry.

OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5

For More Information: http://lovegilda.com

Or For The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival: https://www.mammothlakesfilmfestival.com

Iconic Comic Actor Gene Wilder Dies at Age 83

The sad news for fans of film comedy spread like wildfire earlier this week. Here’s the opening paragraph facts from the New York Times:

Gene Wilder, who established himself as one of America’s foremost comic actors with his delightfully neurotic performances in three films directed by Mel Brooks; his eccentric star turn in the family classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”; and his winning chemistry with Richard Pryor in the box-office smash “Stir Crazy,” died early Monday morning at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 83.

A nephew, the filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman, confirmed his death in a statement, saying the cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease.

Mr. Wilder’s rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny; try to make it real. “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he said more than once.

And what an actor. That’s from the first few lines of the obituary. We movie geeks mourn with the rest of the globe, but we’d also like to celebrate the beloved star by taking a look back at his nearly 50 year screen career. In 1967, after much work on the stage and in television, Mr. Wilder made his film debut in a brief comedy sequence as part of a movie “game-changer” from director Arthur Penn, BONNIE AND CLYDE.

His role was that of a frantic new husband that the Barrow gang takes a “liking to”, until he reveals his occupation. Later that year, Wilder would begin the first of several great screen partnerships (he was a terrific team player) when he co-starred with Zero Mostel in the Oscar-winning (Best Original Screenplay) comedy classic, the Mel Brooks farce THE PRODUCERS.

As the initially timid, prone to bouts of exasperated panic Leo Bloom, Wilder created a screen persona that he’d use for the rest of his celebrated screen characters. But it would be several years before he joined forces with Brooks. In the meantime, Wilder added many more memorable roles to his resume’. 1970 saw him in two little-seen gems. He was an Irishman romancing Margot Kidder in QUACKSER FORTUNE HAS A COUSIN IN THE BRONX, then he was part of two sets of identical twins (Donald Sutherland, the other set) in the swashbuckling, Paris set parody START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME from director Bud Yorkin (right before he began TV’s “All in the Family”).

The next year Wilder played the title character in a film that barely made a ripple at the box office, but thanks to repeated holiday airings on TV (much like THE WIZARD OF OZ) and home video sales, has become a cherished, mush-adored movie treasure, Mel Stuart’s WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (see the photo above). Perhaps 1971 audiences just weren’t ready for the sophisticated satire or the dark humor as the loopy “candy-man”, with the aid of his “Oompa-Loompa” minions dealt karmic justice to several bombastic brats. Wilder showed off his musical chops as he sang a wistful Bricusse/ Newley song that became an anthem for dreamers everywhere.

Talk about shifting gears! Wilder followed up Wonka in ’72 by teaming up with that other famous comedy writer/director Woody Allen for his anthology EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX * BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK. In one outrageous segment, Wilder played a prominent, married doctor who begins a passionate affair… with a sheep! Then came perhaps Gene’s greatest year of cinematic triumphs. At the start of 1974 he re-teamed with Mostel in the film adaptation of the famed Eugene Ionesco play RHINOCEROS. Then came a reunion with Brooks when Wilder stepped in for an ailing actor, at almost the last minute, and played boozy but redeemed hero the Waco Kid (AKA Jim) in the box office smash BLAZING SADDLES.

During filming, Wilder told Brooks that he was toying with an idea of a comedy based on the most famous gothic horror novel of all time. After much cajoling, the two would work on a script. Following the release of the musical fantasy THE LITTLE PRINCE with Wilder as the Fox, audiences would get to see that collaboration, maybe the greatest monster movie parody of all time, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. It was a loving tribute, shot in shimmering black and white, of the iconic James Whale Universal films of the 1930’s. Wilder was Frederick Frankenstein (so embarrassed by his infamous legacy that he insists that it’s pronounced”Frawnk-enstein”), the grandson of the original mad scientist Victor, who inherits the ancestral family castle in Transylvania and finally decides to “take up the family business”. With an all-star cast (a true movie-lovers’ “dream team”), the flick is pure, giddy comedy nirvana.

Here’s one of many memorable moments:

But this would be the final pairing with Brooks. The following year, Wilder would begin his long screen directing career by pulling triple duty (directing, writing, and starring) in THE ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ SMARTER BROTHER, re-teaming with his YF co-stars Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman. 1976 saw the start of another screen partnership as Wilder displayed great screen chemistry with stand-up comedy superstar Richard Pryor in Arthur Hiller’s Hitchcock homage, the comedy/romantic/thriller SILVER STREAK.

Audiences responded to the team-up, and demanded more flicks featuring the off-beat, likable duo. They’d have to wait four long years for the Sidney Poitier directed prison farce STIR CRAZY. Nearly ten years later, the two would reunite for Hiller in SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL. The final Wilder/Pryor comedy (and Wilder’s final feature film) would be 1991’s ANOTHER YOU. After STREAK, there was another self-written and directed romantic farce set in the 1920’s, THE WORLD’S GREATEST LOVER, with Wilder attempting to rival silent screen heart-throb Rudolph Valentino while trying to save his marriage to Carol Kane. And then Wilder saddled up for another Western as a Polish rabbi riding alongside Harrison Ford in Robert Aldrich’s THE FRISCO KID. Two years after STIR, Wilder began his final screen partnership when he was paired with TV’s “Saturday Night Live” star Gilda Radner in Poitier’s own Hitchcock-influenced comedy-romance HANKY PANKY.

This lead to a marriage and two more films, THE WOMAN IN RED and HAUNTED HONEYMOON. Between the last two Pryor flicks, Wider played a cartoonist (?!) for director Leonard Nimoy in FUNNY ABOUT LOVE.

So we raise a glass, or a box of popcorn, to frizzy-haired funnyman Gene Wilder. Thinking of you will forever put a smile on our faces. Thanks for the bounty of belly-laughs! Now where’d I put my blue blanket??!!

DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD – The Review

Attention comedy geeks everywhere! To paraphrase a literary classic, this new documentary feature lets us all “look back in laughter” at one of the most influential humor magazines of the last fifty years. Actually its legacy reaches on past its newstand existence. Yes, it’s been absent from newsstands (there’s still a few of them left) for nearly twenty years. But, to paraphrase again, we’ve come “not to bury this magazine, but to praise it”. And to recall the chuckles and the mini-empire it spawned. Of course, this wasn’t the first humor publication. Puck paved the way decades before. Then Mad magazine shook up the staid 1950’s. But by 1970, that mag had somewhat settled into a (still entertaining) routine, poking fun at suburbia, and wasn’t connecting with the “counter-culture”. Younger “baby boomers” wanted their humor to have a sharper edge, to reflect the “hippie” spirit, and so they turned to the “underground comix”, the realm of artists like Robert Crumb, Jay Lynch, and Skip Williamson, which were sold at “head” shops and other alternative venues. Then in 1970, a magazine tried to bridge that gap between Mad and the comix. It was sharp, stinging satire and parody. And along with the wit, there were lots of jokes about corporate America, rock music, drugs, and, to the delight of its mostly teenage readership, sex. in the pix of many, many topless ladies. Time to peer behind the scenes of that seventies (and early eighties) institution with (here’s the complete title) DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL LAMPOON.

Of course the story of Nat Lamp really begins in the sixties, with the college institution, the Havard Lampoon. By then their magazine parodies became quite sophisticated. Now here’s one of the many interesting tidbits this doc unearths: Mademoiselle magazine approached the college editors to do a parody of them as a great publicity stunt. Inspired by idea, and the cash, the college staff plunged in. This generated the spark to go past the college and venture into the murky waters of the magazine world. The film zeros in on the original editors, Henry Beard, Doug Kenney, and Robert Hoffman. We see the mag’s shaky start with its trippy “graphix” and attempt to ape Mad with a weird cartoon duck mascot. There’s insight from the still lovable huckster former publisher Matty Simmons, who became the “godfather” to the young group, a fella’ who looked more like a used car salesman than the guiding force behind these subversives. And then we catch up with Michael Gross , the art director who gave NL a slick professional look (if you’re gonna’ do funny stamp make them look like the real thing). We’re treated to lots of terrific art from that golden era (didya’ know that Frank Frazetta and Neal Adams were contributors?). Soon, other writers made their mark, like Michael O’Donoghue, Tony Hendra (a Brit TV star!) Chris Miller, and PJ O”Rourke. Much of their work still has a real “bite” (that “Vietnamese Baby Book” still smarts!). There are even interviews with the men that sold advertising space (a tip of the cocktail glass to Jose Cuervo). Slowly the brand branches off and expands to the stage with “National Lampoon’s Lemmings” (great old video footage of Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner) and the later “National Lampoon Show” (hey, there’s young Bill Murray). The doc gives lets us a listen to their first comedy record “Radio Dinner” and the syndicated weekly dose of mirth and mayhem “The National Lampoon Radio Hour”. With the jump into book publishing, the doc devotes a much deserved chunk of time to what many people consider to be the mag’s supreme comedy achievement, the still scathingly hilarious “National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody”. Simmons says that NBC approached him about creating a weekend live comedy/variety late night show (he says they passed, sot wishing for their talent to be stretched too thin). Finally Hollywood makes them that “offer you can’t refuse” and we hear of the mega-smash ANIMAL HOUSE with lots of insight from director John Landis. This plus lots of behind the scenes footage and stories from cast members Tim Matheson and Kevin Bacon. Their next huge movie hit, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION, is also profiled with stories of its creator John Hughes, director Harold Ramis, and quips from Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. Along the course of the film we also hear from NL admirers like Billy Bob Thorton and Judd Apatow. This is one wild, funny trip through a true comedy kingdom.

Director/co-writer Douglas Tirola (along with co-writer Mark Monroe) aren’t re-inventing the documentary form with what seems at times to be a really well-researched bonus feature on the next super deluxe home video edition of ANIMAL HOUSE (hey, it’s been over two years, so it’s probably due for yet another re-issue). It’s told in a fairly straight-ahead chronological order (“then they did this, which led to this…”) and the interview subjects are the same basic talking heads (although there are some neat background knickknacks in view). But happily, the pace is jazzed up with some great graphic images from the mag’s pages and nifty limited animation enhancing some of the best gag cartoons (be sure and wait for the rolling Sam Gross-drawn frog). What actually surprised me was the way that the doc began to focus in on the funny yet sad and tragic story of Doug Kenney, the founder perhaps best known as the bespectacled Delta House veteran (“What are we supposed ta’ do, ya’ MORON!!”). The subtitle of the doc could be “The Seduction of Doug K”. He was engulfed by the vices of tinsel town and almost becomes a poster child for all the excesses of the flashy, coke-fueled 70’s and 80’s. His end became a harsh “wake up call” for those “over-indulgers”. Actually it would make a great solo doc or a dramatic/comedic bio-pic (Will Forte? Clark Duke?). I just wish the doc could have touched on the great “funny pages” section (No Vaughn “Cheech Wizard” Bode?) and the superb “Sunday Newspaper Parody” which revisited the 64′ Yearbook world. That’s being a bit nitpicky, but if they can run a few seconds of “Disco Beaver from Outer Space”? But (semi-) seriously this is an entertaining and informative look at a time before political correctness, when comedy burst its shackles and seemed to cover the globe.Without this mag would we have “Saturday Night Live”, “The Onion”, “Funny or Die” or “Adult Swim”. Uh-uh. And if you listen closely you can still catch the echos of raucous laughter generated by the lunatics of the Lampoon. Thank you Mona Gorilla!

4 Out of 5

DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD opens everywhere and plays exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

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OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5

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