From the Tube to the Silver Screen

Would you believe that a movie version of the 1990’s FOX television show 21 Jump Street will be released on March 16, 2012? Yes, it’s true. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, 21 Jump Street was a police drama about a special unit of police officers who investigate youth crime. These police officers were chosen to be a part of this unit because they could pass for high school and college age students.  It’s headquarters is located at 21 Jump Street (hence the title). The show launched the careers of Johnny Depp and Holly Robinson Peete.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, let me be the first to tell you that I’m not exactly going to be camping out for tickets to this film. Still, the idea of television shows that are turned into movies makes for a good blog subject. So, I will be spotlighting television shows that got the big screen treatment. Of course, the most famous example of a television show that made the transition to the big screen is Star Trek. Still, there have been others that have made the transition, some successfully, some not so successfully. Such as:

The A-Team (2010)
I pity the fool who thought I wouldn’t include this film. Actually no, I don’t, I just wrote that for the heck of it.  This film is based on the NBC television show that ran from 1983 to 1987 about four Army veterans framed for a crime they didn’t commit. (In the television series they were Vietnam veterans, in the movie they were Iraq War veterans.) So, they make their living as soldiers of fortune who help ordinary folks in trouble, such as rescuing people from cults. The film version features the team tracking down counterfeiters. Like the television show, the film featured its fair share of car chases, explosions and pithy banter between the actors.

The Addams Family (1991) /Addams Family Values (1993)
These films started out as a comic in the New Yorker that was drawn by Charles Addams, which then led to a television series that ran on ABC from 1964 to 1966, which then led to two films staring Raul Julia as Gomez Addams, the eccentric patriarch of the gothic Addams family and Anjelica Huston as his macabre, yet loving wife Morticia. Since the powers that be were smart enough to get actors like Julia and Huston, who played their roles well without going overboard both the films were commercially successful and got good reviews.

Bean, the Movie (1997)
This show was a hit on the BBC and soon became a hit worldwide. Actor Rowan Atkinson (who is also is famous for his Black Adder and Johnny English roles) plays Mr. Bean, a museum security guard who doesn’t talk but gets into all sorts of trouble and his attempts to rectify the situation makes it worse (and funny). In the film version, museum officials send Mr. Bean to the U.S. to accompany Whistler’s Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 1: The Artist’s Mother, also known as Whistler’s Mother, as a way to get rid of him for a few weeks. After the painting is delivered to a Los Angeles museum, Bean subsequently ruins it. His attempts to fix the painting initially makes it worse (and funny). Yet in the end, Mr. Bean saves the day, as well as the painting and to top it off, he actually speaks a few well chosen words.

The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)
This started out as a sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962 to 1971 about the Clampett family who fell into a fortune when oil was discovered on their land. Father Jed moves daughter Ellie May, nephew Jethro and mother-in-law Granny from their humble home in the hill country of Arkansas to Beverly Hills. It is there that the salt of earth Clampetts meet the phony social climbers of Beverly Hills and the end results are very funny. Yet, this was one movie treatment of a sitcom that should not have been greenlighted. The characters in the film were all one-dimensional and the story of someone wanting to marry Jed for his money didn’t hit the jackpot, so to speak.

Of course, this is just a short list of the many television shows that were made into movies. Still, it would be nice if the suits in Hollywood would stop with the TV shows into movies trend. While there have been some television shows that were turned into great movies, such as The Addams Family and Bean. There were others that were real duds, such as The Beverly Hillbillies. So, listen up suits. How about you folks leave the television shows alone and actually seek out some original projects. Yes, I’ve said that in other blog entries and if you want me to stop saying it, then greenlight something that didn’t start out as a television show!

Sources:
http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/12/19/21-jump-street-poster-jonah-hill-channing-tatum/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092312/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084967/

http://www.amazon.com/Bean-Rowan-Atkinson/dp/B00007AJF7/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1324578809&sr=1-1

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/whis/hd_whis.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Addams-Family-Values/dp/B000FIHN52/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1324578847&sr=1-1

http://www.tv.com/shows/the-addams-family/

http://www.amazon.com/Beverly-Hillbillies-Diedrich-Bader/dp/B0002XL2ZW/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1324575748&sr=1-2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055662/

 

 

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What Lurks In Your Walls Or Some People Have All The Luck

As I have stated many times before, I love the Antiques Roadshow[1].  I especially love hearing the stories of how people happened to find their treasures. Usually people find things at yard sales, estate sales, tucked away in an attic, a basement, a closet or even curbside. Well, not too long ago there were two people who found treasures in their home that would astound the appraisers at the Antiques Roadshow.

First there’s Blair Pitre of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. He bought a turn of the century bungalow and started work on renovating it.  As he was tearing down the walls, he found movie posters from the late 1920’s/early 1930’s featuring actors such as Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and Joan Crawford. This is an important period in the history of motion pictures because the industry was transitioning from silent to talkies. The previous owner, an 80-year-old woman who died in 2009, was the granddaughter of an early twentieth century movie theater owner in Pitre’s town. As to why the posters were in the wall, most likely she used them as insulation and never thought that they would be worth anything. Pitre had the posters auctioned off to help pay for renovation of his house. One poster, Bulldog Drummond, a drama from 1929 sold for $9,000. Pitre hopes to find more posters in his home. In particular, he is hoping to find Metropolis, since that poster is worth a million dollars.

Next there’s retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Martin Kober. For as long as he could remember, a painting of the Virgin Mary crying over the crucified Jesus has been in his family.  Family lore said that the painting was a Michelangelo. The item hung over the sofa of his parents home, until the day when the younger Kober threw a tennis ball and knocked it off the wall. His parents then wrapped it up and kept it behind the sofa. When Kober retired in 2003, he decided to research the history of this painting. One expert, Antonio Forcellino says that the painting is a actual Michelangelo painting, another expert, William Wallace says that it isn’t. Forcellino bases his claims on his expertise as a restorer, as well as the painting’s similarity to a drawing Michelangelo did that is now at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Wallace states that while the piece is impressive, it was not done by Michelangelo. So, who’s right? Time and more examination by experts will tell.

Still, what I want to know is why are Pitre and Kober so lucky? How come their treasures were right under their noses and all that’s in my walls is insulation and all that is behind my sofa are dust bunnies? This inquiring mind wants to know.

Sources:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Lost+found+Vintage+movie+posters+fetch/3300921/story.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/12/new.york.painting

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[1] Antiques Roadshow is the American version of the BBC television show of the same name that airs on PBS. This show has people bringing their antique and collectible items to appraisers and the appraisers tell them if their items are worth anything. Sometimes the items are worth something and sometimes they aren’t.