National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1982)

User Rating:

3.1/10   

Directors:

Bob Giraldi
Henry Jaglom

Writers:

Tod Carroll (written by) and
Shary Flenniken (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 November 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A parody of film genres composed of three shorts, spoofing personal growth films, glossy soap operas, and police stories.

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Reference To Take My Wife Please Joke | National Lampoon Series

Cast

Peter Riegert	...	Jason Cooper ("Growing Yourself")
Diane Lane	...	Liza ("Growing Yourself")
Candy Clark	...	Susan Cooper ("Growing Yourself")
Teresa Ganzel	...	Diana ("Growing Yourself")
Schnootie Neff	...	Jennifer Cooper - 'Growing Yourself'
Andy Shakman	...	Josh Cooper - 'Growing Yourself'
Tamar Howard	...	Judy Cooper - 'Growing Yourself'
Ian Fried	...	Jeffrey Cooper - 'Growing Yourself'
Barry Michlin	...	Fireman - 'Growing Yourself'
Trinidad Silva	...	Carlos - 'Growing Yourself'
John Lawlor	...	Mr. Haggis - 'Growing Yourself'
Susan Krebs	...	Lady Who Beats Her Plants - 'Growing Yourself'
Nedra Volz	...	Old Lady - 'Growing Yourself'
Stanley Lawrence	...	Sanitation Man - 'Growing Yourself' (as Stan Lawrence)
Ann Dusenberry	...	Dominique Corsaire ("Success Wanters")
Robert Culp	...	Paul Everest ("Success Wanters")
Titos Vandis	...	Nixos Naxos ("Success Wanters")
Bobby Di Cicco	...	Nicholas Naxos ("Success Wanters")
Joe Spinell	...	Agent / M.C. ("Success Wanters")
Margaret Whitton	...	First Lady Lousille Fogerty - 'Success Wanters'
Fred Willard	...	President Robert Fogerty - 'Success Wanters'
Olympia Dukakis	...	Helena Naxos ("Success Wanters")
Gary Cookson	...	Jeff Steele ("Success Wanters")
Mary Woronov	...	Secretary ("Success Wanters")
Dick Miller	...	Dr. Hans Kleiner ("Success Wanters")
Deanna Tyndall	...	Stripper - 'Success Wanters'
Ben Hartigan	...	Walter Steele - 'Success Wanters'
Harry Raybould	...	Lecherous Dairy President - 'Success Wanters'
George Dickerson	...	More Lecherous Dairy President - 'Success Wanters'
Billy Kay	...	Even More Lecherous Dairy President - 'Success Wanters'
Leland Sun	...	Margarine Factory Digentary - 'Success Wanters'
Zale Kessler	...	Lawyer - 'Success Wanters'
Tommy Koenig	...	Wastrel Son - 'Success Wanters'
Jimmy Briscoe	...	Small Masseur - 'Success Wanters'
Jake Steinfeld	...	Bodyguard - 'Success Wanters'
Peter Schrum	...	Greek Priest - 'Success Wanters' (as Pete Schrum)
William Washington	...	Gendarme - 'Success Wanters' (as Bill Washington)
Lee Donn	...	Senator Edminston - 'Success Wanters'
Christina Cummings	...	Senator's Wife - 'Success Wanters'
John Jiler	...	Press Secretary - 'Success Wanters'
Robby Benson	...	Brent Falcone ("Municipalians")
Richard Widmark	...	Stan Nagurski ("Municipalians")
Christopher Lloyd	...	Samuel Starkman ("Municipalians")
Barry Diamond	...	Junkie ("Municipalians")
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Mousy ("Municipalians") (as Elisha Cook)
Julie Kavner	...	Mrs. Falcone ("Municipalians")
Sam Gilman	...	Sergeant ("Municipalians")
Henny Youngman	...	Lawyer ("Municipalians")
Bill Kirchenbauer	...	Crazed Husband ("Municipalians")
Irene Forrest	...	Crazed Wife - 'Municipalians'
Harry Reems	...	Vice Squad Cop ("Municipalians")
Michael Guccione	...	Italian Cop - 'Municipalians'
Rockne Tarkington	...	Black Cop - 'Municipalians'
Kurt Sjoberg	...	Suicide Cop - 'Municipalians'
Robert Hewes	...	Cop of Unknown Origin 'Municipalians'
Daniel Ades	...	2nd Cop of Unknown Orgin - 'Municipalians' (as Danny Ades)
Mark King	...	Vice Squad Cop ("Municipalians")
Spo-De-Odee	...	Preacher - 'Municipalians'
Martin Harvey Friedberg	...	Dispatcher - 'Municipalians'
Rita Rogers	...	Spanish Prositute - 'Municipalians' (as Rita Rogers Aragon)
Geraldine Papel	...	Brandy - 'Municipalians'
Rhea Perlman	...	Little Jewish Prostitute - 'Municipalians'
Denyse Diane	...	Big Blond Prositute - 'Municipalians'
Jomo Burton	...	Kid Drummer - 'Municipalians'
Robby Williams	...	Timmy Falcone - 'Municipalians'

Directed by
Bob Giraldi		(segments "Growing Yourself" and "Success Wanters")
Henry Jaglom		(segment "Municipalians")

Writing credits
Tod Carroll		(written by) and
Shary Flenniken		(written by) and
Pat Mephitis		(written by) and
Gerald Sussman		(written by) and
Ellis Weiner		(written by)

Produced by
Kenneth Charles Dennis	....	associate producer
Matty Simmons	....	producer
Michael David Stotter	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Andy Stein

Cinematography by
Charles Correll		(segment "Municipalians")
Tak Fujimoto		(segments "Growing Yourself" and "Success Wanters")

Film Editing by
James Coblentz
Bud S. Isaacs

Casting by
Bob Edmiston

Art Direction by
Alexander A. Mayer

Set Decoration by
Bruce A. Gibeson

Makeup Department
Susan Germaine	....	hair stylist
Gloria Montemayor	....	hair stylist
Nadia	....	makeup artist
Jack Wilson	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Leonard Bram	....	production manager
William Green	....	unit production manager
Ephraim 'Red' Schaffer	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andy Anderson	....	second assistant director (as Anthony Anderson)
Jerry Ballew	....	first assistant director
Anthony Brand	....	first assistant director
Kenneth Charles Dennis	....	second unit director
Irwin Marcus	....	second assistant director
Charles H. Siegel	....	dga trainee

Art Department
Vic Culina	....	property master (as Victor William Culina)
Robert Dottini	....	lead man
David Evans	....	property assistant
Walton D. Hadfield	....	construction coordinator (as Walton Hadfield)
Kurt V. Hulett	....	lead man
Peter Samish	....	assistant art director
Vincent Shelton	....	property master

Sound Department
John S. Coffey	....	boom operator
Robert Deschaine	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dan Dillon	....	sound re-recording mixer
David Dockendorf	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Dave Dockendorf)
Jack A. Finlay	....	sound effects editor (as Jack Finley)
James L. Honore	....	sound supervisor (as James L. Honoré)
Bonnie Koehler	....	dialogue editor
James LaRue	....	production sound mixer
Phil Mitchell Jr.	....	boom operator
Charles M. Wilborn	....	production sound mixer

Special Effects by
Arthur Dixon	....	special effects
Richard Lea	....	special effects

Stunts
Jesse Wayne	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Chavez	....	assistant camera
Don Duffield	....	grip (as Donald Duffield)
Rod Helzer	....	second company grip (as Rodney Helzer)
Pete Martinez	....	vtr operator
Melton Maxwell	....	gaffer (as Mel Maxwell)
David Morton	....	best boy
John T. Ramsey	....	grip
Dwayne Redlin	....	second company grip
Peter Santoro	....	assistant camera
Dennis E. Shelton	....	best boy (as Dennis Shelton)
Michael Simpson	....	camera operator
Ken Spencer	....	gaffer (as Kenneth Spencer)
John Toll	....	camera operator
Patricia Van Over	....	assistant camera (as Patricia Vanover)

Casting Department
Jackie McNamara	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Nedra Rosemond-Watt	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Marilyn McMahon Adams	....	assistant editor (as Marilyn McMahon)

Music Department
Rick Gleitsman	....	music editor
Ron Saint Germain	....	music mixer
James Yannatos	....	conductor

Transportation Department
Rodney Berg	....	transportation captain
Clair E. Leucart	....	transportation captain (as Clair Leucart)
Wayne Williams	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Steve Danton	....	production assistant
Maureen Dooling	....	production coordinator
Pete Emmet	....	unit publicist (as Peter Emmet)
Tink Ten Eyck	....	production accountant
Joyce King	....	script supervisor (as Katharyn King)
Luca Kouimelis	....	script supervisor
Paula Montgomery	....	production coordinator
Faye Poliakin	....	fashion consultant
Rima Risziewicz	....	assistant: Mr. Jaglom
Casey Silver	....	production assistant
Jeff Tuttle	....	location manager
Lupe Valencia	....	production secretary
Milton Zolotow	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Matty Simmons

Distributors

• United Artists

Other Companies

• Gomillion Sound  sound re-recording
• Panavision  camera and lenses

Also Known As:

National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #26432) | Iceland:12 | Canada:14A | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Matty Simmons

Trivia:

A fourth segment was made for the film by Henry Jaglom, a disaster movie parody called "The Bomb" starring Kenneth Mars, Allen Garfield and Marcia Strassman. Images from the segment appeared in press materials, but it was deleted from the finished film.

Quotes:

Kid Drummer - 'Municipalians': Hey man, get outta my face.
Brent Falcone: I didn't - I didn't mean to.... Be in your face.
Brent Falcone: How 'bout we just bop over to my place, look around the garage, I bet we could set up a set of drums just for you.
Brent Falcone: [Kid drummer shots Falcone, leaving him staggering back to the squad car] Hey Stan, a little kid shot me.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Betsy (1978)

Soundtrack:

Feelings

Yep, it's that bad

Wow. I read about this movie and it sounded so awful that I had to see it, and my gosh, I can smell it in St Louis. Where do I start? National Lampoons was trying to follow up 5 years later on the success of Animal House, but they completely missed the mark. I'll go chronologically with these short flicks.

Short Film #1

Poor Peter Riegert (Boon from Animal House). Apparently, he wasn't working back then, so the boys at National Lampoons probably called and said "hey, we're making a c**ppy movie, wanna be in it?" Peter was like "well, I'm not doing much these days, why not?" He was a great side character in Animal House, but he couldn't carry this sorry short flop for 5 minutes.

POSSIBLE SPOILER The premise is funny enough, with Jason Cooper (Riegert) telling his wife to leave him, she needs to find herself. It's too weird that they're actually in a happy marriage. So he chases her off, there she goes, and Cooper is in charge of the kids. This, off course, leads to him burning the house down, losing several of the kids, and sleeping with an assortment of New York bimbos (including an ever so young Diane Lane). Then the wife comes back, wants the kids, and the film ends with a coin flip that'll decide the fate of the children. The idea was actually somewhat clever, but the director stunk. The characters all seem like they're falling asleep, they HAD to be doped up. Sorry Boon, your legacy was tarnished with this flop.

Short Film #2

MORE SPOILERS

Enter Dominique Corsaire. Pretty girl, recently finished college, not sure what to do with her life. So she becomes a slut, starts sleeping around with some mega rich guys, takes their money when they die, and she doesn't stop until she beds the most powerful man in the world, Fred Willard (Ooops, I mean the president of the United States). Once again, it could have been funny, and though I was happy that Corsaire (Ann Dusenberry in real life) wasn't afraid to bare all, her acting was horrible. What a waste of time.

Short Film #3

I can't believe I made it this far. Here's the rookie cop Brent Falcone (Robby Benson) with veteran Stan Nagurski (Richard Widmark). Falcone is young, naive, thinks he can really help people, though he becomes cynical after being shot several thousand times. Nagurski, really, has just given up caring. He watches muggings, assaults, you name it, and never intervenes. He figures the world is lawless and he'll probably get sued if he does anything. Even Christopher Lloyd (at the end of Taxi's run) gets in on the action, getting the police called on him, committing a crime, but having his lawyer there to protect him. God bless America!!

Once again, could have been funny, the performances were intentionally campy, but goodness, no energy whatsoever. Henry Jaglom and Bob Giraldi should be ashamed of having their names on this schlock. I think the writing wasn't bad, the ideas were there, but the execution was pulled off as well as the rescue attempt in the Iranian hostage crisis. If I had been a part of this film, I would want my name removed, it's horrible. Then again, that's why I watched it.

The only good thing about this garbage is that Dr John did the film score (repeating "Going to the Movies" over and over again) and the film isn't much longer than an hour and a half. Show this one in film classes with the heading "what you should NEVER do in film-making." This script should have been left on the shelf because yep, it's that bad.