Adapted From Television
With the upcoming Land of the Lost movie, and maybe because I watched the recent Get Smart remake this weekend, I started thinking about other film adaptations of classic television shows. While a lot of them miss the mark there are a few that I have enjoyed multiple viewings of. I have picked my three favorites as well as three I wouldn’t watch if I was trapped in my home and they were the only form of entertainment. I would literally rather stare at a blank wall than watch these movies again. So grab a glass of Bosco and a Lucky Strike cigarette and let’s get to it.
The Bad
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver took the sitcom concept of the American family and showed it through the eyes of a young boy, much like Boy Meets World. The show followed the adventures of Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, your average 1950′s ten year old boy. Aside from the occasional innuendo, the show was wholesome and many lessons were learned. To this day the show still stands as one of my favorites, also like Boy Meets World.
How They Fucked Up The Movie
What made Leave It to Beaver so enduring at the time was the originality and sincerity of it. In the 40-some years between its original run and the film, there have been so many shows which revolve around a child, such as Boy Meets World, Silver Spoons, Punky Brewster, Full House, and about a hundred others. Due to this over saturation, and the filmmakers’ lack of effort to capture the true essence of the series, the film came across as an hour and a half episode of a family sitcom featuring bastardized versions of familiar characters.
One Thing I Did Like
Christopher MacDonald. I would imagine if Ward Cleaver was a 90′s guy trying to raise two mischievous boys in the 90′s he would have to be more like the bad guy in Flubber.
My Favorite Martian
My Favorite Martian featured one of the first uses of a sitcom staple: the incredible secret only a select few know about. In this case Burton Timmer is a martian and only Dr. David Banner knows it. Hilarity ensues as the martian attempts to adapt to the planet all while keeping his true identity a secret.
How They Fucked Up The Movie
The great thing about these old television shows was the subtlety in which gags were executed. The joke of hiding the martian’s true martianness when others were around, or watching him learn about the planet was funny because it was subtle. The movie lacks this. The movie was made broad and obnoxious. Filled with a lot of physical comedy – wacky, slapsticky, loud kind of physical comedy – it misses the mark and completely.
One Thing I Did Like
I got nothing. Even the comedic stylings of Doc Brown and Harry Dunne can’t save any part of this movie.
Bewitched
Another example of hiding a secret. The sexy Samantha throws out the classic ugly witch formula by being unspeakably hot as she attempts to live a normal life in the suburbs married to a lawyer or advertising exec (I was never completely clear what Darren did) and raising a daughter. America tuned in week after week to watch Samantha’s mom put a spell on Darren. Darren doesn’t know what’s going on and bumbles around the episode to the amusement of everyone.
How They Fucked Up The Movie
I will give the filmmakers credit on their attempt here. Instead of just throwing the characters in their same situations in a modern time, they have people attempting to make a Bewitched movie but by mistake they hire a real witch to play the part of Samantha. On paper this seems like a good idea, but in execution it goes over like a lead balloon. The resulting movie is just confusing.
One Thing I Did Like
Steve Carell does an incredible impersonation of Paul Lynde. It is spot on in every way. It shows the filmmakers were pretty familiar with the show, and it also showcases yet more comedic gold from Carell.
The Good
The Brady Bunch
This was the story of a lovely lady who had three very lovely girls; all of them had hair of gold like their mother, the youngest one in curls. It was also the story of a man named Brady who was busy with three boys of his own. They were four men living all together, yet they were all alone. Then one dad the lady met this fellow and they knew it was much more than a hunch. This group must somehow form a family, and that’s the way they became the Brady Bunch. And Ann B. Davis as Alice.
How They Did The Movie Right
The Bradys were the perfect family, to the point that it was nauseating. The filmmakers understood this and wanted to keep that wholesomeness in the 90′s. The only way such wholesomeness would exist in the 90′s is if the family was exactly the same as it was in the 60′s. So that’s what they were, a 60′s family living in the 90′s. The only reason this works though is because it is played straight. All the actors over exaggerate their characters and completely embrace the 60′s family wholesomeness.
What I Don’t Like About the Movie
Shelley Long. This dame has annoyed me for a long time. I can’t recall a character she has played that has been drastically different than Diane Chambers. I see Carol Brady, but I know it’s Shelley Long existing merely to piss me off.
The Addams Family
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, Mysterious and spooky, They’re all together ooky, The Addams Family. I have no idea what “ooky” means. The Addams family was the epitome of weirdo neighbors. Their bizarre lifestyle, mixed with out weird desire to watch the morbid and unusual made this show so popular.
How They Did The Movie Right
The movie kept true to the show by keeping the Addams a completely eccentric family, but they toned down some a lot of the cheese factor from the original cast. They gave the whole thing a darker feel and grounded the characters more. Not to say that the comedy is gone, but it is enhanced by making the characters more realistic.
What I Don’t Like About The Movie
Grandma Addams. I never liked this character in the show, and I didn’t like her in the movie. She is the one character I think didn’t get the same grounding the others got and it ruins the illusion set by everything else.
The Fugitive
Dr. Richard Kimble was framed for the murder of his wife. Now, while running from the authorities, he is out to prove his innocence by catching the one-armed man who killed his wife.
How They Did the Movie Right
For several years after this film was released I didn’t even know it was based on a TV show. Since then I have seen a couple episodes, but others I have talked to said the movie followed the original story really well. So it’s got that going for it, which is nice. But this shows that you didn’t have to be a fan of the show to understand and appreciate the movie. Brilliant performances by Han Solo and Two Face didn’t hurt the movie either.
What I Don’t Like About The Movie
The fact that I end up watching it every damned time it is on TV, which is a fuckton. I have wasted so many hours on this movie that if applied those hours to flight classes, I could have a pilot’s license by now.
I thought they did a good job with Get Smart, and since Land of the Lost was a pretty shitty show to begin with, they can only improve on that right? I guess time will tell but I’ll be waiting for cable to check that one.
This has been a Sherwood Schwartz production.
See ya in TV Land…
lee.s.hart@crujonessociety.com
19 May 2009 Lee S. Hart