Sorry if this is short notice for you or if you see it too late. Here I am once again to tell you about an interesting movie that's airing on Turner Classic Movies. Please note that I am not saying this is a good movie. I leave that to you to decide. I'm just telling you it's interesting.
In the early eighties, Paramount Pictures paid a lot of money for the rights to turn the best-selling book, The Joy of Sex into a movie. They did this even though no one there had the foggiest notion of what that movie might be…a condition that persisted through dozens of pitches and scripts and development deals. If you'd been in the industry during those years, there was about a one-in-three chance you'd be asked if you had a concept via which to turn The Joy of Sex into a movie. At the time of John Belushi's death in 1982, Paramount had semi-convinced him to star in an as-yet unwritten picture with that name.
One of many folks who had tackled the challenge was the actor, Charles Grodin. For some reason, they asked him if he had an idea…and he pondered for a while and decided he did. It was hilarious, thought Grodin, that a big studio had paid all this money for The Joy of Sex and didn't know how to make a movie out of it. So he wrote a screenplay for a movie about a big studio that pays a lot of money for The Joy of Sex and doesn't know how to make a movie out of it.
Many people thought Grodin's screenplay was brilliant but these were all people who didn't work for Paramount. The ones at Paramount didn't see the humor in the situation and added it to the towering pile of rejected Joy of Sex scripts. Grodin reacquired it and spent many years of his life trying to place it elsewhere. Finally, because a lot of big star friends agreed to appear it in for low money, he got it made as a low-budget independent. William Asher directed.
Among the big stars in it (some not for long) were Steve Martin, Penny Marshall, Gilda Radner and Grodin himself. Walter Matthau had the lead. He was a last-minute replacement when Grodin's first choice — I'm not sure who it was — failed the insurance physical they make you pass if you're going to star in a movie. Given that cast, you'd think it would have a big opening in many theaters but MGM/UA, which was then in a heap of internal trouble, decided they had a flop on their hands and released accordingly. It only played in a handful of houses in a couple of cities and didn't do much business. A few critics loved it. A few more hated it. The majority probably never got around to seeing it…but you can.
Movers and Shakers runs on one of the Encore channels (Encore Love, for some reason) very early tomorrow morning. It's 4:05 AM on my satellite. I have no idea if you'll like it or not. I'm not even sure if I like it or not. But it sure is interesting.