by Dennis Polifroni
(U.S.A. 1986 94mins) DVD
Downtown. Where your life’s a joke.
p. David Geffen d. Frank Oz w. Howard Ashman lyrics. Howard Ashmanm. Alan Menken score. Miles Goodman p. Robert Paynter e. John Jympsen art. Steve Spence, Roy Walker
Rick Moranis (Seymour Krelborne), Ellen Green (Audrey), Vincent Gardenia (Mr. Mushnik), Steve Martin (Orin Scrivello, DDS), Tichina Arnold (Ronette), Michelle Weeks (Shirelle),Tisha Campbell (Crystal), Jim Belushi (Patrick Martin), Christopher Guest (Florist Customer), Miriam Margoyles (Nurse), Bill Murray (Arthur Denton), John Candy (Wink Wilkenson),Levi Stubbs (voice of Audrey II)
It’s really hard to believe that prior to THE LITTLE MERMAID anyone knew who the hell Howard Ashman and Alan Menken were. Starting with that little gem based on the Hans Christian Anderson story, this duo song-writing team took home six consecutive Oscars in the categories of Best Original Song and Music Score for their work on three back-to-back Disney animated films (THE LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ALADDIN) and, in one glorious foul swoop, made themselves a household name. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, basically, ushered in a whole new interest in the film musical and reminded everyone seeing these films what a Broadway show was like without ever having to step foot near Times Square. They borrowed from many (in the case of BEAST it was Busby Berkeley) and turned what they liked so much about popular music into their own. Big band jazz (ALADDIN), Karen Carpenter (THE LITTLE MERMAID) and hints of Max Steiner (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) were all evident in their work and it had viewers from around the world not only embracing every phrase, flourish and lyric, but loving the familiarity they brought to each song. Surely, this was a matter of two guys just being in the right place at the right time and giving it everything they got to a company desperate to regain the old glories of the 30’s and 40’s that happened with films like PINOCCHIO, BAMBI and SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. Two true originals were busting out into the sun-light and two newbies in the music world were born.
Newbies????
Not on your life…
The facts unseen were that Ashman and Menken were not, at all, virgins to the territories of film and stage music. While it’s true they had struggled for years to be heard and appreciated, they DID have earlier success and it just wasn’t on the stage or the screen, it was…
BOTH.
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken had met in New York City years earlier and became fast friends and partners in music. Both sharing a love for the classic stage musicals that they grew up with they began a collaboration that culminated in the mild Broadway hit, based on Kurt Vonneguts insane novel, GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER. Noting that most of the good reviews for ROSEWATER mentioned that the team made good on a bizarre source they decided that they would see if lightning could strike twice. With his love for bad B-movie matinees when he was a child, Ashman turned Menken on to Roger Corman’s shoe-string budgeted horror/comedy THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and the two saw potential for what is still considered the most bizarre success the musical stage has ever seen.
Cormans film, a little black and white quickie that, literally, looks like it was made for $1.99 with the presence of a coupon relayed the story of a bunch of losers in down-town Manhattan and the mysterious man-eating plant that would change their lives and bring them fianacial success for the price of a few dead bodies. It was crude, rude and terribly made and the duo saw an opportunity to take something that almost nobody remembered and breathe a splash of musical audacity into it and make it their own. The results? It worked. The bizarre little musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1982 and Ashman received the Drama Desk Award that same year. Lines formed around the block of the Orpheum Theatre and buzz around the city likened the play to something that needed to be seen to be believed.
What is truly amazing about the film version of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is that none of its stage origins get lost on film. Made in the studios of the Warner Bros. lots in both California and England, it retains the intimacy that made the play such a rousing success. The story plays like the arguments heard from the windows of closely situated tenement buildings and you almost feel a little uneasy as it seems like your eavesdropping on someone else’s private conversations. The plot is now legendary. Seymour Krelborn is a schmuck working and living in the Mushnick flower shop. An orphan as a child, Seymour was taken in by the old Jewish florist and “given shelter, a bed, crust of bread and job” and, basically, held hostage for the rest of his life as slave labor. He longs to get out and away from the city and follow his dreams. However, as he knows nothing else but plants and tending to them, and because he’s paralyzingly smitten with the shops only female employee, a ditzy, blond-headed slut with a voice so dainty you’d think that Jerry the mouse walked in behind her and placed an order, the poor guy is stuck. At least until a big break comes along and whisks him and his fantasy girl out of the gutter and into his dream world of white picket fences and conservative suburban life of the early 1960’s.
ENTER: A TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN
The villian of the piece is the supposed big break of Seymour’s unchallenged title for most wasted life in the world. It comes to the poor slob in the guise of a peculiar bulb that Seymour happens upon while walking through the flower district of Chinatown (uh, by the way, there is NO flower district in Chinatown, at least there is none now or I’ve never been able to find it in the thousands of times I walked through it. Give Menken and Ashman the credit for this made up detail) during a moment when the sun is blotted out by an early moon. Supernatural, or should I say ALIEN, forces go to work in those few minutes and what looks like a peculiar plant really has its roots in places of origin for the likes of little green men from outer space and Regan MacNeil from THE EXORCIST. The little bulb grows (well, it grows after being baptised with the red drops of blood seeping out of Seymours hand after he accidentally cuts himself) and suddenly all of New York City is fascinated by this strange little plant that seems to get bigger and more bizarre looking every day. Seymour gets thinner and more pale as he’s reduced to squeezing pint after pint of plasma from his fingers when he realizes the best food for this plant cannot be found at Home Depot in the gardening section. Several days later when the plant, now named Audrey II and has grown so big it can barely be contained in the shop, taps Seymour on the shoulder and reveals it can speak, the insidious plot of this gargantuan is layed out. Success of any imagining is Seymours for the taking. The plants price? Bring Audrey II the bodies of the freshly killed for consumption.
Frank Oz, a former puppeteer for Jim Henson and the voice of dozens of characters seen on the long running kids TV show SESAME STREET was just the right guy to take the films directing chair. With an acute knowledge of how to balance big musical numbers with a live-action cast and state-of-the-art special effects and infusing his own gritty sensabilities into the fabric of the already gritty story (after all, he knew something of the streets as SESAME STREET also took place on a down-town New York City corner populated by the bizarre), the film retains every confined nuance and gesture of the play. Oz opens up the the first, second and third wall but never allows us to believe that we’re ever anyplace other than the Orpheum theatre back in the beginning of the decade that birthed the stage sensation. There is a gritty feel to the streets and the details of city life are brought magnificently to the foreground by top-notch set and production design. It’s New York City of the 1960’s but not really. It’s more like New York City of the 1960’s on the stage and dirtied up even more. What it really is is the bottom of the barrel in a fevered dream in what we think is the city. Here, anything is possible and as Seymour and Audrey sing about the boundaries of a world like this we get the feeling that something magical will really get to them and free them of their bonds. What they, and we, aren’t expecting is that their freedom will come in the green-thorned coils of a monster unlike anything seen (or heard of) in movie musical history.
Now, like every truly great lark of a musical, the music is paralleled with biting and observing humor. SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN had its plot cemented in the bizarro stories of the birth of talkies to the motion picture industry, GREASE used the cool lingo of teenagers circa the late 1950’s and made comical use of the it’s slickness and, here, with LITTLE SHOP, the duo of Ashman and Menken liven the musical elements with humor based on sadomasachism, over-the-top ethnic character refrences and back-street homocide. Jules Dassin could have overseen this production or directed it and it wouldn’t have come out any different.
I recently had the good fortune of meeting one of WONDERS IN THE DARK’s supreme authors and bloggers last night at an evening showing of Godard’s BAND OF OUTSIDERS at the Film Forum movie house in the West Village of New York City (I was also joined by Sam Juliano and Joel Bocko). Bob Clark revealed himself a delightful and supremely knowledgable personality whose interests could steer any conversation in any one of a million directions. When telling him about my assignment for writing this review he quickly jumped in and said that he believed that LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS should be looked at as the base film that revitalized the current fascination movie audiences have with screen musicals and that no two people in movies are more responsible for this revitalization than Menken and Ashman. He also firmly stated that the renaissance that Disney Animation grabbed in the late 1980’s and rode almost into the year 2000 would have continued even longer had the duo not been lost due to Ashman’s untimely death from complications brought on by AIDS in 1990. He believes they fueled the productions of the best films of that period for Disney and that their well of musical inspiration was only emmerging at the time of Ashman’s death. In this sentiment and theory, I really cannot argue. Looking at LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS again you can see the kind of staging and esthetic that films like CHICAGO and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA are borrowing from and paying homage to. As for the statement on Ashman and Menken, I think Bob was right on the money as well. Not since Disney had hit on songs like WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR in PINOCCHIO or the song-book written by the Sherman brothers for MARY POPPINS has the stage or the screen seen talent in song-writing like this.
But, I believe it goes further…
Listening to the songs in LITTLE SHOP, you can see a fusing of influences from the past invading the contemporary lyrics of the piece. Tina Turner, The Shirelles, Ronnie Spector and The Crystals all become jumping off points for the writing duo and I find it totally inspired, interesting and just damn neat that LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is really an original musical that takes Phil Spector’s WALL OF SOUND and stands it upside-down. It’s as if Ashman and Menken were saying thank you to those groups, singers and Spector himself for all the joy they brought to the airwaves and to them. My favorite moment, musically, in the film, is the tinkling of a piano, almost like a tinny Ragtime silent movie theatre accompanyment, that seques into the booming, almost gospel-fused Aretha Frankin-like delivery of an old woman walking through a rat infested alley on her way home from a long days work in the house of an up-town wealthy that probably doesn’t pay her enough for her efforts…
Alarm goes off at seven,
and you start up-towooooooooown.
You put in your eight hours
for the powers that have always been.
Till it’s five P eeeeeeee eeeeeemmmmmm…
From that moment, the screen comes to life with every dreg of society crawling out of the corners and shops of a dingy down-town neighborhood and them all, in song, lament about the troubles that plague them. But, rather than following along with the Ragtime opening that introduces the song, the number transforms itself into a full blown parody of The Crystals UPTOWN (here, entitled, DOWNTOWN), and it becomes a live action illustration of the invironment that the hero of the piece is doomed to stay in until his big break comes along. It’s a moment like this that reminds me, distinctly, of moments that start one way and end another, in films like SINGING IN THE RAIN (I’m immediately reminded of the flashback as Don Lockwood recalls his humble beginnings with Cosmo and the whole somber moment reveals itself in a fit of joyous splendor that becomes the breathtaking FIT AS A FIDDLE, complete with over-the-top acrobats in the tap dancing as both stars play violins at the same time).
Visually, the film is a stunner with Frank Oz guiding Robert Paynter’s camera in places you’d never think a cinematographer can go. I remember laughing out loud the moment the camera focuses on Steve Martin’s maniacal dentist from the inside of one of his patients mouths as he gets ready to drill the shit out of some poor elementary school kids mouth without Novacaine. It’s a detail that most directors wouldn’t take the time out to invest in but adds a much needed shot of adrenaline to a film that could have been lost in the mundane without it. Refrences are not just found in the music but in the look of the film as well. Shades of the setting sun during Scarlett O’Hara’s famous “I’ll never go hungry again” speech are seen during the big finale of the SUDDENLY, SEYMOUR number that bonds the hero to the heroine and the use of back projection photography behind Steve Martin and he motor-cycles to work are straight out of the MARIA number from Robbins and Wise’s WEST SIDE STORY.
Finally, though, it’s the cast of the film that brings everything perfectly knitted together. Calling in favors for work that he provided to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE during it’s fledgling first season, Oz caught the loyalty of many an SNL and SCTV performer. Rick Moranis has the role of his career as the nerdy hero of the piece, Seymour. His curly hair, ugly facial attributes and thick glasses hide a smoldering desire just busting to get out. John Candy is achingly funny as Wink Wilkenson, the duck-assed hair-do’d radio shock jock that scares an interview from Seymour about his WEIRRRRRRRRRD plant, and Bill Murray practically steals the show as a dental patient whose love for pain masks the homosexual turn-on it brings him (his moments with Steve Martin are so funny you’ll find yourself gasping for breath. Fuck GROUNDHOG DAY, this turn and his performance in RUSHMORE are what I’ll remember Murray for).
But, if the film is remembered for any of its performances then there are two that stand taller than the rest.
Ellen Greene, who brought her performance from the stage to the screen is an utter delight as Audrey. Her perfect hourglass frame and gigantic bosom are packed into the skimpiest of dresses, she’s a total sex bomb, and betraying what one would think would be a breathless whisper of a sensual voice is replaced by one of the funniest running gags in the film that is a peeping reminiscent of someone stepping on a squeeking mouse. However, Greene didn’t just get the role for being funny because when it comes to singing she’s a veritable powerhouse of high and low octaves that could shatter glass on either register. Her solo number, SOMEWHERE THAT’S GREEN shows off so much vocal range that it reminds us that Barbra Streisand isn’t the only one that could make short shrift of a musical role reliant on overcoming a heavy New York accent (I’m referring to her Oscar Winning portrayal of Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL).
However, if the film belongs to one performer that is SEEN (I’ll ge to the one that isn’t in a moment) on screen, then the movie belongs to Steve Martin. For a long time an untapped performance virtuoso, Martin is FINALLY allowed to do everything he is truly good at and all with one character. As Orin Schrivello, DDS, Martin relishes the chance to show off his supreme vocal skills while effortlessly whizzing through some pretty tough dance choreography. He’s gotta dance but make it look like he’s ripping through his dental office the way a busy doctor would and all the while inflicting pain on his patients and anyone that steps in his way. Watch carefully as he enters the waiting room. He removes his jacket, hangs it on the coat rack, punches out his receptionist by accident and then, during a vocal flourish relishing in his penchant for pain, twists off the head of a little girls doll as he exits the room and all of this is done within the space of 30 seconds. In a lesser talented actor or comedians hands (and Martin is a supreme actor and comedian) this number would come off as an embarrassment of bad taste, but Matin sells it the moment he glares at the audience over the handlebars of his Harley.
WHAT ABOUT THE VILLIAN, DENNIS???
Well, I was getting to that when I mentioned performances SEEN on screen. Now for the one NOT SEEN on screen…
Holding together a movie about something that could never happen and making that thing a major character of the film kudos has to go to the special effects team that brings Audrey II to life. Seemlessly, this wonder of puppetry and mechanics is blended into the frame with the main players and it’s got personality to spare with every glare and movement it makes. The two main petals that make up her bulbous mouth move exactly the way a human mouth does and in her vocal and singing moments we can see every syllable formed and every lyric sung. But, the illusion of life would go for nothing unless Audrey II had a voice and it was a stroke of both genius and luck that Oz coaxed Motown’s FOUR TOPS lead vocalist, Levi Stubbs to take on the words of the “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space”. His booming bass voice shakes the house when speaking to Seymour and, literally, shakes the house down to the ground when he’s singing for his dinner. It’s a bold, hard, mean, and sometimes seductively hypnotic voice performance that brings the unbelievable to believable life. Having a major vocal star like Stubbs in the recording studio, one can believe that he inspired the rest of the singing cast (including the films on-screen Greek Chorus, three street tuffs named Chiffon, Shirelle and Crystal) to even greater heights.
To me, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is that rare film that works like the best musicals of the heyday of musicals. Like SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, GOLD-DIGGERS OF 1933, ON THE TOWN and TOP HAT, it effortlessly threads its music within the fabric of great comic story-telling and comes out a full bodied movie/music experience. I saw LITTLE SHOP when it first came out and I remember walking into a local home-town bar afterwards with the friend I just saw it with and having people laughing at us from behind their beer mugs at the idea of two college kids singing the praises of a movie about a singing man-eating plant. The funny thing was, most of those same naysayers saw the film a few month later on illeagal cable piped into that same bar and all of them were apologetic to me and my buddy after they saw what we had been talking about.
Sometimes amazing things come in really bizarre packages.
This essay is dedicated to the memory of and the music created by Howard Ashman (1950-1991).
God has another Angel up there making heavenly music for him.
How ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ made the Elite 70:
Dennis Polifroni’s No. 28 choice
Greg Ferrara’s No. 53 choice
Judy Geater’s No. 56 choice
Marilyn Ferdinand’s No. 61 choice
Sam Juliano’s No. 61 choice
A LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS smorgosborg, done with the trademark Dennis Polifroni excitement and completism. To say it’s extraordinary in every sense is to state the obvious, of course, but it must be said nonetheless. Dennis’s abiding love for Ashman and Menken is woven into the entire essay, which appropriately should be underlined the central matter of the excellent score for this film. It’s a vibrant, score that compplements the dance sequences, and the lyrics are full of wit and dark humor, while retaining that inimitable blend of soaring operatic refrain and an acute intimacy. It’s a film and an essay tailored made too for Dennis Polifroni’s own sensibilities.
I saw a KidsTheatre production of the this musical film last year in Manhattan, and it showcased the score with some amazing young high schools reprising the on-screen roles. It reminded e how underrated this has always been.
Anyway this piece takes it’s place among the best yet written for the musical countdown.
And what a loving remembrance of Ashman.
I really didn’t know where t go with this essay, and as time was running out I latched on to anything to guide me through the writing of this thing.
I appreciate the kind words and it’s gratifying to see you all liked it as I literally finished this essay minutes before the deadline. Of course, SAM, maybe if you had answered the emails I sent asking you for the deadline date I wouldn’t have had to rush through it….
Ah, hell, what am I bitching about? Sam is Sam and that’ll never change….
Thank you so much for the kind words on this one Schmuleeeeeee. I kinda liked it myself….
Man, what a blast from the past! One of my absolute favorites as a kid, but I’m sad to say I probably haven’t seen it since I was 12 or so. The horror fan in me at the time just relished in Steve Martin’s demented sadist dentist, and the turn genuinely scared me. I need to see this again.
I’ve always been of the opinion that Rick Moranis was pretty underrated, a very funny man.
Oh, and as Sam said this goes without saying but great job Dennis.
I saw this one when it first came out, stoned with a friehnd of moine of the same age, and it just SANG to us. Bioth of us were fans of the original Roger Corman quickie, bith of us were horror film fans and both of us were tired of seeing the commercuials that advertised the original stage play when it first hit, again and again and again and again.
We were came out of this filmn buzzing with smiles and couldn’t stop talking about it for hours. I remember it being one of those few films that got me laughing so much it became uncontrollable (partly from the weed as well I’d amagine) andd that we were aching when we got back in the car to head to the bar after the film was over.
Steve Martin’s turn is a mini-masterpiece of over-the-top comic characterization and I honestly believe that it’s the one role that allowed him to take advantage of every one of his full range of talents (well, everything but playing a banjo) nd I don’t think another actor could have done the turn with as much comical bravado as he did. I really and truthfully think his 15 to 20 minutes in the film steal the show from everyone else (and that’s something considering they’re all good in this pic) and I am guessing but am pretty sure that Martin just knew what he had here when he read the script.
Thnak you so much for the kind words, Jamie. That really meant alot to me.
Dennis, what a great guided tour through and around this film. I’ve only seen the stage version, but your vivid presentation makes me eager to see this movie.
Not taking away from the intimacy of the stage productions, but you really do yourself a disservice by not seeing this film. If for nothing else the performance of Steve Martin as the demented dentist will floor you and have you calling the paramedics for oxygen. It’s that funny.
Wow I never would have guessed that this film would make the countdown. I see that most of the panel liked it enough to include it on the tabulation list. Many years have passed since I viewed this film, and can barely remember specific details. I do recall (as a young kid) wishing the actors would stop singing and going into song mode lol. I was looking for a straight up horror movie or creature feature it would suggest. I could chalk up my frustration to a youthful emerging aversion to musicals, but that would then not explain my profound love of March Of The Wooden Soldiers. Either way a very nice essay by Dennis that continues his winning streak.
As a kid I always felt musical numbers were embarrasssing and also craved the action of the special effects that would follow. Now, I want it the opposite way. What get me about this movie and NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and, in fact, all of my favorite musicals, is that the music slowly emmerges from the rythms of the dialogue, sounds in the background and a flow of the visuals, they don’t just jump at you and say “TAAA-Daaa!!! HERE”S A MUSICAL NUMBER”. The organically thread through the rest of the film or stage production and become a natural progression, like the breathing of air. One of my favorites that does this seemlessly is Lars Von Triers DANCER IN THE DARK where sounds in the factory are just that, sounds in a factory. But, slowly, and without any himt of the result, a bolt drops to the floor and makes a sound. Then a rivet makes a noise, and then again, and again. A woman drops a pan and that compliments the sounds of the rivets and that becomes a repetative rythm that will build, along with other sounds to a melody and… Well, you get the picture.
All my favorite musicals have bizarre underpinnings in story and character and, when least expected, the music just flows out.
LITTLE SHOP is one of those rare musicals where it just all came together for me.
I, like Maurizio, would have never expected this one to make the list either. I just never thought much of it, and I think I saw it on tv a long time ago. I guess I’ll have to give it another look-see.
Dennis, a beautifully written but in no way stilted expression of your enthusiasm for this film, the rare extended post that really justifies its length. I especially like the way you dealt so thoroughly with the music–its writers, its Phil Spector girl-group Wall of Sound influences, its vocalizations, you really made the music the focus of the post, and how appropriate for a review of a musical film–and also the milieu, “the bottom of the barrel in a fevered dream in what we think is the city” (just one of many lovely turns of phrase in the piece). The only thing I would take exception to is the statement that hardly anyone remembered the original movie. That’s not true of kids who watched bottom-of-the-barrel Sat. afternoon movies in the early 60s, where “Little Shop” and “A Bucket of Blood” were cult favorites of kiddies with a taste for the bizarre, like my little brother and me, who remembered both films fondly! I suspect this was the fan base upon whom the popularity of the later musical and film musical were built, plus a new generation of kids with a similar taste for the weird.
R.D.-I know exactly what you are saying but I think you and I and your brother and boys and girls of the time would have remembered Corman’s original, but the majority of kids in the theatre the night I saw this one, and every generation after that probably didn’t. And, that’s a shame as I always like Corman’s schlocky little quickies because they were funny and weird and bizarre. BUCET OF BLOOD was also a favorite of mine as was X-THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES with Ray Milland and Don Rickles.
As for the music, Ihave read countless write-ups on this film for a general consensus idea of what the published critics thought. The majority loved the film and praised the muasic and the performances. But, NOT ONE spoke of the influences the girl groups and, particularly PHIL SPECTOR had on Ashman and mentkens song score. To me, this was evident the moment you heard the first big number, DOWNTOWN, and from there its just a matter of picking off which Spector mentored hit they were going to for the next number and the next one after that and so on and so on and so on….
Thanks for the praise, I’m really glad you liked the piece…
Wow, Dennis, I remember you griping about having to struggle to finish this in time for the countdown last night – who could have guessed it was flow so beautifully; I think this might be your best piece to date! Finch is right – this is a long post but damn, it just flies by. Like Jamie, I haven’t seen this since I was about 12 but I used to love it and watch it all the time. Now you’ve made me want to see it again. And great tribute to Menken/Ashman – in the past year or so I’ve come to the conclusion that they were both what was vital and what was best about the Disney Renaissance – and it’s kind of nauseating how suits like Katzenberg tried to take credit for it. As I believe some of the animators have said, it was the music and particularly Ashman’s passionate presentation of it that spurred them on to some of their best work.
Well, it’s comparatively short if you compair it to my last one on NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and it’s a short story when you hold it up to that version of WAR AND PEACE I wrote for NOSFERATU last year for the Horror Film Count conducted by Jamie Uhler.
I was frightened by the prospects of finishing this thing or missing a deadline (which would have seen me catch crazy casternation from SAM, even though it was HIS fault for not reminding me of the due date-I know this will cause a food fight tonight at his house! LOL!) and I was concocting a dozen different paths in my head the whole time you and I and Bob Clark and Sam where chatting at the diner last night.
But, as it happens, a little thing sparked off a big idea and it was BOB CLARKS comments to me in front of the Film Forum theatre about the influence of Howard Ashman on the revitalization of Disney Animation and the newfound interest in the film musical that laid the seeds for this essay. I cannot thank Bob Clark enough for, unknowingly, seetting off my mind and putting me in the right direction for this one.
I don’t think it’s my best review. I have a soft spot for NOSFERATU. But, I am glad that so many people connected with this one and, hey, maybe they’re right and I’M wrong….
No worries.
It was funb to write, if not draining, and it’s nice to field so many nice compliments for it…
It was a blast meeting you last night. I finally got to put a face to the written voice on the blogs…
That credit format atop the piece looks familiar. Can’t place it, however.
Some people should realize that imitation is the highest form of flattery. That, and I’m a stickler for order, organization and something graphically pleasing to the eye.
Dennis,
Great background leading up to a colorful essay on the musical version. Martin is superb as is Ellen Greene. Your enthusiasm is infectious! I want to run out and get a copy of the film which I remember enjoying so much upon its initial release. And I also agree with you on the great Levi Stubbs as the voice as Audrey II, a crowning touch. I always liked the Corman cheapie too with the unknown Jack as Wilbur Force.
I love the Corman quickie as well. It’s up there with some of my favorite guilty pleasures of all time.
As for this version and me, Martin steals the show and, as I stated above in the essay, this was the first time 90% of all of the talent he has in his body was allowed to pour out. I remember, years ago, seeing an episode of Saturrday Night Live and the host was Gregory Hines. Hines, at the time, was considered one of the two or three best tap dance artists in the United States. Somehow, and I don’t remember the circumstances, Hines and Steve Martin were put up on stage and they were to match each other step-for-step in a tap dancing competition. They were running up walls, doing back flips, dancing on tables and dwon flights of stairs and, when the music came to a halt, the two shook hands. Hines was exhausted. BUT STEVE MARTIN HADN’T EVEN BROKEN A SWEAT.
Since LITTLE SHOP, Martin has had a series of hits and misses and I still think many director and writer don’t really know what to do with him. of his hits I’ll cite stuff like his dramatic turn in THE SPANISH PRISONER, his retelling of CYRANO DE BERGERAC with ROXANNE, and his tour-de-force straight-man pairing with the maniacal John Candy in the brutally funny TRAINS PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES ( a film that, despite who the director is, is one of the mnost achingly funny screwball comedies in recent decades).
When I saw this film I was entranced on how much I liked it, I loved the sets, Audrey II, the songs, the acting, the whole concept of the film was simply amazing, I mean any song featuring Audrey II is an instant classic for me, amazing in every sense, and this writeup makes it complete justice in every aspect I’ve mentioned (and those I haven’t). I might have thought this was the best campy-horror-musical I’ve seen (I don’t consider Sweeney Todd campy… except for Pirelli), until I saw this.
Sorry, but not having this in the countdown was just a crime, for me, no disrespect for people who have participated so far… that’s all, signing out.
Jaime I’m with you as well. I love Rocky Horror and really wished this was on the countdown too. It’s probably the greatest camp film of all time, and a darn-good musical too. It would be in my top 20 musicals in fact.
I couldn’t agree with you guys more.
I remember first seeing ROCKY HORROR in a midnite show when I was in Philadelphia for college and a friend and his girl took me to see it. I didn’t know what to expect and then, suddenly, someone on screen holds up his glass and makes a toast…
And everyone in the theatre was throwing buttered toast across the auditorium!!!!!
I don’t know, maybe ROCKY was too far out there to make the cut????
Dennis,
I’m thinking for the blogosphere, there’s not too much that would be too far out there. I think Rocky is really fun. Maybe it’s something a lot of people don’t want to admit that they like publicly?
A truly great piece of writing that bursts out with all kinds of information and insight. You never leave the glass half full Dennis. I like the film too, though maybe a little less.
I haven’t seen this since 1986 and now I want to see it all over again. I remember with a big smile Ellen Green tripping along the sidewalk repeating ‘Yeth docta, yeth docta, yeth docta.’
I like both this film and the movie version of Rocky Horror and did vote for them both, but to be honest I think they both work better on stage than on the screen – though that may partly be because I saw them on stage first. The first sight of the plant on stage in a production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is always an amazing moment. Although I agree Steve Martin is great as the dentist, for me Rick Moranis’ performance as Seymour is the one that sticks in my mind the most. Anyway, great stuff, Dennis.
Frank Oz directed this movie at just the right time in his career, having worked under the likes of Jim Henson and George Lucas (forget Yoda, we should not) long enough to build up his own sense of directorial style, and fueling it with his legendary talent with puppetry. There’s a great cartoon-like manipulation and choreography of even the smallest live-performer detail that an ordinary filmmaker would miss without his time clocked in with the Muppets, and I love the observation about the film’s New York setting (different from the Corman film, isn’t it?) and how it ties into Sesame Street (one could imagine a tamer version of Audrey II as a pacifistic subnbathing plant and fitting in right at home). It’s easier to see the subversive side of Ashman & Menken here, but it’s really no less present in their Disney musicals, as well.