Greetings, students, and welcome to the Film School. I hope you had a fun week, what with celebrating our nation's 237th birthday. I did my best to enjoy this week but alas, I didn't. The wrench in the machinery of my fun was this week's offering for the class. Now, I mentioned last week that I would answer class questions at the top of the posting. However, none of you left even one question, so I don't have to answer them. I still want to answer so leave them at the bottom and I'll answer them next week, if possible.
Now, let us to this week's movie. It's a film from 1982 called "Jekyll & Hyde... Together Again" and all reports say it's a comedy. While I did laugh at the jokes, I also just watched in silence. After watching it, I came to the conclusion that this film was part of the mass of movies that came out in the wake of the classic comedy "Airplane!". Some history, in 1980, "Airplane!" came out and was a huge hit. Now, other people tried to make films in the same vein. However, most of those films died a slow death at the box office.
As usual, we begin our look at this movie with a summary. This week, it'll be a short one for reasons I'll explain in a minute. Our hero is Dr. Daniel Jekyll, who is trying to develop a new drug. Unfortunately, he accidentally takes some of it and it turns him into a sex-crazed maniac named only Mr. Hyde. That's the summary. No, really, it is. Any other plot point I might point out is just part of the gags that make up about 90% of the film. I guess I should say more of the so-called plot, so I will do so. Mind you, this plot will make no sense even in the context that the movie tries to provide with no success.
Dr. Daniel Jekyll is a renowned surgeon who has been asked to perform an operation on a Howard Hughes stand-in named Hubert Howes. The operation is being termed the world's first total transplant, basically swapping old organs for new ones. Anyway, Dr. Jekyll doesn't want to do the operation, preferring to retired so he can marry his fiancee Mary and also focus on his efforts to develop a drug to increase man's survival instinct so he can survive disease. However, Mary's father is also Mr. Howes' lawyer, who is pushing Dr. Jekyll to give up his plans so he can do the operation on his client.
While on call one day, he meets a hooker named Ivy. Dr. Jekyll is taken aback by Ivy. However, his "love" for Mary is "stronger". The reason for the quotes will come later. That night, he is working in his lab on something I call super cocaine because that's what it looks like. Anyway, Dr. Jekyll accidentally snorts some of it and ends up turning into this sex-crazed drug-fueled maniac named only Mr. Hyde. He goes off in search of Ivy. He finds her at her place of work, as an entertainer at some bar. She takes him back to her place for some sex. Some time later, Dr. Jekyll returns and, feeling shame, decides to throw out the stuff.
However, he can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he takes it again and changes again. Once again, he ends up with Ivy. Again, Dr. Jekyll returns and feels more shame. He goes to his fiancee, who offers some comfort. However, he is confronted by Mary's father. Dr. Jekyll tells Mary's father that he will do the operation on Mr. Howes. The day of the operation, Dr. Jekyll tries to once more rid himself of the stuff, which he does. However, he finds out he doesn't need it anymore as he changes into Mr. Hyde during the operation itself. He first goes out in search of more super-cocaine. However, he can't find any.
Then, he receives a telegram from a committee who Mary sent Jekyll's notes on his super-cocaine research. The committee has awarded Jekyll a $500,000 grand prize for his efforts. The ceremony is in London, so Hyde heads off to find Ivy, so she can come with him. He finds her but she refuses to go with him. Hyde lets drop that he is Dr. Jekyll. However, she believes that Hyde did something to Jekyll so she follows him to London. Once Hyde arrives at the ceremony, he proceeds to make a mockery of the event. This leads to a chase through the streets of London, ending on a rooftop, from which he falls from. This causes Dr. Jekyll to be cured of Hyde. Ivy and Mary fight over him and the two decide, after Dr. Jekyll tries to leave them both, to share him. The End.
Where do I begin? I can't decide. My summary here is all the real plot I can find after watching the movie. I'm leaving a ton of things out because those things are the gags, jokes, and whatnot. One joke that comes to mind is one as Hyde arrives in London. As he enters the airport, there are two stations. One is the usual "Customs" and the other, as a joke, is "Traditions". The "Traditions" guy is pouring himself a cup of tea from a fancy tea service set. The joke here is a play on the phrase "customs and traditions" and you know the old saying if the joke has to explain, it's not funny. The scene also includes the following exchange:
Customs guy: Anything to declare?
Hyde: Man has not evolved from the primordial slime from which he came
Customs guy: Good, sir. Enjoy your stay
(it's a paraphrase of the scene. Some words may have been left out)
One area of the film that actually disturbed me was the first transformation scene. When he changes into a chain-wearing maniac, he literally does just that. Chains just form on him and rings literally pop out of his fingers. The very transformation just creeped me out. Luckily, I knew that once it was over, I wouldn't see it again. The whole movie is just a collection of gags too numerous to name. If you watch the movie, you know what I'm talking about. Now, I pointed out that this film seems to have been in response to "Airplane!", what with all the gags and jokes. However, this movie fails in that respect and I'll tell you why.
You see, in "Airplane!", the jokes and gags evolved out of the story and sometimes moved the story along. A great example is when Leslie Nielsen's character is telling Elaine about the sickness striking the crew. As he names what happens, the Captain is showing them. Each item is followed by their actualization. Eventually, the listing ends with the Captain out of commission and no one left to fly the plane except Elaine. The plot is moved forward through the jokes and gags. Here, it's all about the gags. The jokes barely move the story along, if at all. Plot is interrupted by gags and make no sense.
One example in this movie is when Hyde corners Ivy in an arcade. She climbs into a simulator, where she drives a car. Hyde comes in and tries to kidnap her to London with him. As the two fight each other, the car on the screen is moving around wildly, with voices in the game reacting as if it was real, complete with gags like, "hey, you lost a hubcap", and a hubcap coming out of the simulator. This gag doesn't move the story at all. In fact, it stomps on the story, as any connection between this and the movie doesn't exist. The movie literally ends with a shot of Robert Louis Stevenson spinning in his grave, lamenting the ruining of his tale.
Now, all this doesn't mean the movie isn't good. It's actually pretty funny, with some moments worth the watch. One great moment is the ceremony in London. When Hyde comes in, he turns the thing into a performance. He's doing stand-up comedy and tops the thing with a musical number, "Hyde's Got Nothing to Hide", complete with a all-female backing group. The ceremony, before Hyde arrives, includes an Israeli couple getting an award for a gas that kills humans but not plants. Dr. Jekyll's award is also given out by an actual Oscar-winning actor, who is credited as playing himself in the end credit. The whole sequence is a fun ride.
There's also a plastic surgeon character who, to me, is like the love child of Steve Martin and Charles Grodin. He is so obsessed with his work that he has operated on himself. He's also implied to be gay. However, that is played more for laughs, than any actual attempt to give him personality. One gag has him admitting to wearing ladies' underwear, with him claiming that he used to just wear it at home and now, he can't stop. Clearly, he needs to seek help. Another gag has him with Mary at the London ceremony, with an exchange of words ending with him saying that he doesn't like girls. One final gag is him accepting an invite to go home with the host of the ceremony.
In conclusion, what makes a movie bad can also make it good. A lack of real story is made up for by lots of great gags. The movie's final shot, of Stevenson in his grave, doing what he all knew he was doing since this movie started playing, shows this movie knows it's bad. It plays up that notion with gusto. All in all, I ask you to watch this train wreck. Now, next week, we move away from selections in my Netflix queue to a movie that I love so well. If you love robots, the 1980s, Steve Guttenberg, the Brat Pack, and a cheesy foreign guy played by a white guy, you'll love next week's movie. Next week, it's the 1986 classic "Short Circuit"!
Until then, this is John Maxwell saying class dismissed!!!
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