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Just saw "The Woman in Red" for the very first time. Funny film, with some great comedic sequences. It's definitely not Wilder's best, but still worth checking out.
Great early scene with the extremely hot Kelly Le Brok (who I remember first seeing in "Weird Science") standing on the vent - very memorable
I was also amused by the "gag" that Charles Grodin & his buddies played on that restaurant - i.e., Grodin pretending to be a blind man and knocking over/breaking glasses, etc. & then going to his car & driving away - very funny! The kid in me was laughing at this; but, the adult in me was cringing at how much money it was going to cost to replace all of those broken glasses/plates - LOL.
Nice scenery of '80's San Francisco, as well.
Back when this came out in '84, it passed me by completely due to being a kid & not really having an interest in seeing a movie about a guy going through a mid-life crisis. However, now that I'm in my 40's myself, I can relate to this a lot more - LOL. I guess it's good I waited to see this Posts: 400 | Registered: Sep 2016 | Site Updates: 0
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I remember this coming out very well. People often forget that the song 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' was the theme for the movie. That was the big summer school dance / romance song (Ok, along with 'Careless Whisper' and 'Hello'). It's a remake (fairly faithful) of a French film.
I have a real soft spot for this and rented it a lot back in the day (even though I was a kid). I used to love Gene Wilder movies and would watch anything he was in. I kinda think of this as his last 'contemporary' movie, if you know what I mean. All of the ones that came later seemed somewhat out of step with the times.
Grodin, as always, steals the show. But Gilda Radner also has a nice little role.
I loved the fact the film ended with him starting the whole process over again - really 80's. For some reason the dialogue when he's waiting at the airport always stuck with me:
"While Didi was waiting for me in San Francisco... Charlotte was waiting in Los Angeles. Two women waiting for me in the middle of the night. Crazy as it seems... I had adventure in my life."
[ 16. November 2016, 13:54: Message edited by: Logan 5 ]
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quote:Originally posted by Logan 5: [QB] I remember this coming out very well. People often forget that the song 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' was the theme for the movie. That was the big summer school dance / romance song (Ok, along with 'Careless Whisper' and 'Hello'). It's a remake (fairly faithful) of a French film.
Grodin, as always, steals the show. But Gilda Radner also has a nice little role.
I loved the fact the film ended with him starting the whole process over again - really 80's.
Yes, I do remember the song that year - it was all over the place. I never liked it, but I understand it has it's place in the movie.
Yes, it was funny that Gilda Radner played Gene Wilder's fellow worker that he mistakenly thought was "The lady in red" - then when he saw Radner at the restaurant, he made a hasty exit & tried to unsuccessfully hide from her - LOL. The scene when she turned off his parking brake in the car & caused it to run down the hill & crash was hilarious! What's especially funny about this scene is that Radner & Wilder actually got married not long after this film was released - extremely amusing, given the way they were acting towards each other in the movie
Yes, I thought it was interesting that the movie started at the end, and then ended at the beginning (if that makes sense).
I'll always wonder - did the Wilder character survive that fall in the finale?! LOL
[ 16. November 2016, 17:23: Message edited by: Nostalgic for the '80's ]
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Memorable for me is Jack Black's hilarious putdown of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" in the great High Fidelity. "My daughter likes that song." "Is she in a coma?" LOL
Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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quote:Originally posted by Crash: Memorable for me is Jack Black's hilarious putdown of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" in the great High Fidelity. "My daughter likes that song." "Is she in a coma?" LOL
It's true... even at the time people were very critical of Stevie for doing such a lame song. But it is very catchy and deserved to be a hit. Probably his last commercial high point (I think he had a big hit the following year, but then never really bothered the charts much again). I'll always associate it with knocking on a girls door on behalf of a friend to tell her he had a crush on her.
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It's unbelievably lame and unbelievably catchy, definitely his low-water mark as a songwriter.
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I have The Woman In Red soundtrack LP and though I don't dislike "I Just Called To Say I love You" I picked it up more so for the Dionne Warwick Stevie Wonder combo track "It's You" and also the the other Dionne Warwick solo track "Moments Are Moments"
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I hated "I just called to say I love you", both as a kid & as an adult. Really can't stand the song.
That being said, when I just saw "The Woman in Red" last week the song's inclusion on the soundtrack didn't take away from my enjoyment of the film, and did definitely date it to the '84 time period.
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quote:It's unbelievably lame and unbelievably catchy, definitely his low-water mark as a songwriter.
I think there's a good song in there trying to get out. Different instrumentation, different style. Lyrically it's not bad (barring some repetition).
I rewatched it again yesterday. Still like it. Not sure I empathise with Gene's character as much as I did when I was younger because he's basically a cheat (or wants to be). The most tacky musical moments for me were 'I Just Called' (which I like) and the piece of dated funk that plays when Kelly dances on the air vent. Kelly, by the way, was perfect casting and looks great.
"More sleeve" "*More* sleeve?!"
I just noticed that Judith Ivy plays the wife and she was also the love interest in 'Lonely Guy' which we talked about recently. She was also in 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' in a good role. She's not well remembered but that's not a bad little group of movies.
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I got around to watching The Lonely Guy and must say while it's not quite up there with The Jerk,All Of Me and The Man With Two Brains I thought overall it was rather decent and with some pretty funny gags in there!
That's a fun film which you mention Logan Brighton Beach Memoirs I really enjoyed that as I did Biloxi Blues!
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