The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers (WGA):

Rex Weiner (characters)
James Cappe (story) ...

Release Date:

11 July 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Music

Tagline:

Kojak. Columbo. Dirty Harry. Wimps.

Plot:

Ford "Mr. Rock n' Roll Detective" Fairlane is experiencing problems, and it's not with the opposite sex...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Koala | Rock 'n' Roll | Hearse | Rock Music

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Andrew Dice Clay	...	Ford Fairlane
Wayne Newton	...	Julian Grendel
Priscilla Presley	...	Colleen Sutton
Morris Day	...	Don Cleveland, Record Producer
Lauren Holly	...	Jazz
Maddie Corman	...	Zuzu Petals
Gilbert Gottfried	...	Johnny Crunch
David Patrick Kelly	...	Sam
Brandon Call	...	The Kid
Robert Englund	...	Smiley
Ed O'Neill	...	Lt. Amos
Vince Neil	...	Bobby Black
Sheila E.	...	Club Singer
David Arnott	...	Club Guy
Mark Goldstein	...	Club Guy

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba) | New Zealand:R18 | Spain:13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #30128)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Silver Pictures

Trivia:

The list of bands from Grendel's bogus "Fred's Condom Factory" company is: - Ellen Aim and the Attackers - Brain of the Scarecrow - Alba Varden - Heather, Corey, Heather Cory and Young - Todd Times Two - Black Plague - 5000 Schizophrenics - Hot Tub Johnny and his Feline Friends - Hamma Waters Sings the Blues - Nine Sisters - Horses on Fire - The Silver Belles - Fred and Ethyl - The Professor and Mary-Ann - The Nakatomi Boys Choir - The Doctor Bellows Funk Machine - The Redheaded Gardner and his Flower Also listed are the songs for the three "Black Plague" albums: - Tatoo (10/3/88) - Your Wow... - The Bio Nude - My Nazi Wench - Suck the Bunny - Hon, I Screwed the Kids - Bruce Poked Maud - Requiem of Paco the Shoe-Shine Boy by Wolfgang Binky - Devil's Ghost (2/3/88) - Auldbrass Antics - Objectionable Bimbo - Desecrated Diane - Polanski Nursery - Redheads on Fire - Cum to Me, Baby - Requiem of Paco the Shoe-Shine Boy by Wolfgang Binky - Requiem (1/1/88) - I Love You - Suck the Bunny - Teenage Suicide - Hot Juice - Sexual Pudding - Violation

Goofs:

Continuity: The level of juice in the mug Coleen Sutton drinks from during her visit.

Quotes:

Lt. Amos: See, that's the difference between a great investigator like me, and a piece of spam like you.
Ford Fairlane: Spam? You're a piece of spam. That's what I think of you.
Lt. Amos: No, I call you a piece of spam, 'cos that's what you are.
Ford Fairlane: Spam.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

THE WIND CRIES MARY

Clay that deserves to be thrown.

A comedy detective movie starring Andrew Dice Clay as the main private dick summarises this movie completely (and yes, I worded that EXACTLY as I felt most appropriate).

I like Renny Harlin. I have yet to see a movie from him that I hate and that includes the ill-received Cutthroat Island (before pirates were trendy again). So I watched this movie with mixed feelings. You see, I hate Andrew Dice Clay. The man sums up everything I dislike about dumb American comedy. I have nothing against American comedy, some of the better acts (Bill Hicks, Steven Wright, Steve Martin, Mitch Hedberg, Rchard Pryor, etc, etc) deserve to be right up there with the best of the bunch. But, sadly, many of the more popular acts seem to rely on a mixture of unsubtle punchlines recognised by the audience because they are LOUD or stale material mixed with flag-waving patriotism. Clay falls into the former group.

He's unfunny, he's brash and he's a complete dick. BUT that's fitting for the character he plays. Sadly, it doesn't make him any more enjoyable. It just means that I have to try to enjoy a Renny Harlin action comedy with one of the worst lead characters I've ever seen.

The sad thing is that the rest of the cast is a veritable goldmine. Gilbert Gottfried, Wayne Newton, Lauren Holly, Priscilla Presley, Vince Neill and Ed O'Neill all appear and all do well in their supporting roles. The movie is also helped by a script that is chock full of gems. Some of these lines are even delivered by Clay, which weakens their comedy kudos, but most of them just appear and make you chuckle instantly.

The plot hanging over everything is flimsy, nothing is too subtle and Clay is the biggest downside of the matter but Harlin walks the line between reality and cartoon incredulity far better than, for example, Sam Raimi in Crimewave. It's big, dumb fun and those who like Clay will derive a lot more pleasure from it than I did.

See this if you like: Andrew Dice Clay, Hudson Hawk, 1941.

NB, this review was adapted from the original written under my old RockySchlockyRobot ID that I have long forgotten how to access.