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Originally Posted by Chatteaux
HWBL
Splendor in the Grass is it for me. And no one loves Ishtar more than me. I laugh and laugh everytime I see it. I might have to buy it.
Remember when he was sitting at the piano? I was crying from laughing so hard. My kind of silly humor.
Wardrobe of Love (lyrics and music by Williams)
She said come look there's a wardrobe of love in my eyes
Take your time look around
and see if there's something your size
Oh, and Reds. Reds....
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Hey Chatteaux,
Glad to see another person who understands and appreciates the insanely hilarious, self depreciating humor and - really - political and social commentary of Ishtar. I doubt it, though, that you could possibly love this fantastic movie more than me
It's one of my all time faves.
For those of youse who only know from hearsay about Ishtar, that it's one of the worst movies ever made..... impossible, certainly if you've seen any movie starring the likes of Mariah Carey, J.Lo, Madonna, David Hasselhoff (hehe), Pauly Short. The reason why this movie, after leading the box office for two weeks, bombed was none other than a political game playing at the top of the studio that distributed it. There was a change in management, and the new boss had a personal issue with the movie's director Elaine May, stemming from years earlier and also had inherited a studio that needed to be streamlined. Ishtar, made by one of his least favorite people, was the perfect scapegoat, and all promotion was cut from the budget to set a new - financial/budget - standard for all productions to follow. Granted, May had gone overboard with her budget, but this movie was axed from within the studio that produced it. Favorable critiques in the first two weeks soon turned around and before the participants knew it, the movie was pulled and written off as one of Hollywood's greatest failures, with media soon parroting each other's "opinion", even of those who hadn't even seen it.
Ishtar is a fantastic, hilariously funny movie about two completely untalented "songwriters" and "Simon & Garfunkel" wannabes, Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman). Lyle is a borderline retarded, insecure, sweetheart of a big lug of a guy, married to his highschool sweetheart since they were 17, who moved to the big city so his career as a songwriter could take off. Until that happens, he's selling icecream. During one of his routes he comes up with this beauty:
"Hot fudge love, cherry rippled kisses,
lip smacking, back slapping, perfectly delicious...."
All sung in that wonderful kid's voice of his
Chuck Clarke is as big a loser as Lyle is, only he believes he's an underestimated and under-appreciated musical genius. He has a "living apart" relationship with a girlfriend he sees once a week, and he writes great songs for golden wedding anniversaries about old lovers, soon about to die and "leaving their love in their will" to the remaining partner.
They meet and click and soon are off on a whirlwind of inspiration, coming up with fantastic songs like:
Telling the truth can be dangerous business.
Honest and popular don't go hand in hand.
If you admit that you can play the accordeon,
No one'll hire you in a rock 'n' roll band.
But we can siiinnnngggggg - our hearts out (all night)
And if we're lucky, then no neighbors complain.
Nobody knows where the beginning part starts out (sing all right)
But being human we can live with the pain.
Because life is the way we audition for God;
Let us pray that we all get the job.
Cryin' out loud gets you pointed and laughed at
Be like a baby. Only babies should cry!
Somebody tell me how that rumor got started.
Some things I know that only God knows why.
But we can siiinnnngggggg - our hearts out (all night)
And if we're lucky, then no neighbors complain.
No body knows where the beginning part starts out (sing all right)
But being human we can live with the pain
Of course the creative process is quite long and hard to come to such a fantastic end result:
Discarded lyrics for Dangerous Business:
Telling the truth can be bad news
good news
bad idea
difficult problem
scary predicament
bitter herb
dangerous tunnel
dangerous business
why? because
if yourself
you don't know
if you don't know yourself then you don't know why
But I digress.
They get an agent and go to a talent show. After seeing them he tells them they have no act, no hook. They decide to make their "show" flashier, resulting in a hilarious version of "Little Darlin'" with the guys adding "dance" to their "show". But, the agent is right, the only place where anyone will ever be crazy enough to book them is abroad, either Honduras or Ishtar, a tiny country near Morocco. Since both their sweethearts have left them, because of their impossible dreams to make it big in showbiz, Chuck decides they should go on tour in Ishtar, because it's safer
What they don't know is that Ishtar is in the middle of a political uproar, the rebels are about to commit a coup against the Emir. From the first step they set on Ishtar soil, Chuck and Lyle are, unwittingly, right in the middle of political intrigue, even making the CIA keeping their eye on them. Through it all they remain blissfully unaware, idiots that they are.
It truly is an unbelievably funny movie for reasons like the hilarious lyrics, Warren's kiddie singing and speaking voice and outrageous dance moves, Dustin being the "hot, self assured, ladies man (in his own mind)" and Warren being the shy, unexperienced, near retarded farmboy.
One of my all time favorite scenes is the "schmuck" scene:
Lyle Rogers: What a smuck I was...
Chuck Clarke: Schmuck! It's not smuck. Schmuck!
Lyle Rogers: Smuck!
Chuck Clarke: [loud] Schmuck!
Lyle Rogers: Sssssssssmuck!
Chuck Clarke: Say "ssshhhh"
Lyle Rogers: Ssshhhhhh.
Chuck Clarke: Now say "muck".
Lyle Rogers: [soft] Muck.
Chuck Clarke: Now say "ssshhh" and "muck" together real fast.
Lyle Rogers: Smuck!
Chuck Clarke: ...Closer.
Lyle Rogers: You really know the lingo.
I watch my DVD regulary, only wish it would have outtakes. I know Dustin and Warren had a hilarious time making it and it secured their deep friendship that lasts to this day! All clickable images! Warren was 50 and Dustin 49 when they shot the movie. Co-starring Isabelle Adjani (then Beatty's girlfriend) and Charles Grodin, funny as ever!
