JakeStevens Blog

Ah, the 80's. Bad music, bad clothes, and bad hair, but this is such an honest time capsule that it made me feel almost nostalgic for the Regan era. Joe Morton (best known as Dr. Miles Dyson in Terminator 2) plays the brother with aplomb. As good a job as he does in this somewhat aimless film, I'm surprised he wasn't a bigger star back in the day. He conveys so many emotions without uttering a single word through the entire film. Watch for Fisher Stevens as a card trickster in a humorous cameo. Campy and pointless, but fun.

March 10th, 2007

Both Robert Altman and Robin Williams have disowned this film, and I'm not sure why. Sure, it's not Citizen Kane - it's POPEYE, for Chrissakes! I had the soundtrack on vinyl (?!) as a child, and the music by notoriously self-destructive Harry Nilsson will rattle around in your brain for days afterward. As always with Altman's films, his personal touches (2.35:1 Widescreen, various scenes of many people talking at once) are here in full force, and this is William's first theatrical role. Ray Walston is loveably cranky as Poopdeck, and Shelley Duvall is annoyingly accurate as Olive. Not the best film ever (Plot? What plot?), but a childhood favorite.

I bought this on the day that Betty Hutton passed away and committed myself to watch it that evening. It took me three days to get through this snooze-fest. Charlton Heston's acting is so wooden here it's hard not to laugh at his macho-posturing and stilted line delivery. I can see why this is notoriously known as the worst "Best Picture" Oscar winner of all time, especially compared with the competition ("High Noon", the original "Moulin Rouge!" and not-even-nominated "The Bad And The Beautiful"). It's bloated, lumbering and melodramatic, and the only thing that saves this carcass of a film is the finale. "The Greatest Show On Earth" - an ironic title for the Worst Best Picture Winner In History. Avoid it!