March 9 - Splash

Image copyright Touchstone

On this day, in 1984, the first film to be released under the Touchstone Pictures banner, Splash, hit theaters. Earlier in the year, recognizing a dire need for Disney to break out of its G-rated box while at the same time preserving the family focus of the Walt Disney name, CEO Ron Miller had created a new brand, Touchstone. While an ingenious move on his part, it didn’t keep him from losing his job later in the year. Brian Grazer, Splash’s producer, had been trying to get the film made at every studio in town with zero luck. It wasn’t until he changed his pitch from “mermaid learning to live on land” to “ordinary New Yorker falls in love with mermaid” that Miller agreed to finance the picture and decided it was perfect to launch the new label.

Only the third film directed by Ron Howard, Splash stars Tom Hanks (in his second film role), Daryl Hannah, John Candy and Eugene Levy. And because Ron loves his family, you can see his dad Rance Howard, near the beginning yelling at Tom Hanks about cherries and his brother, Clint Howard, at the wedding, being yelled at by Tom Hanks. The movie was a hit and launched Hanks’ career right towards his next blockbuster, Big. On a budget of only $8 million, Splash grossed almost $70 million by the end of its initial run. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and won Daryl the Saturn Award for Best Actress.

Image copyright Touchstone

Besides just being a fun movie to watch, it’s the little things about Splash that amuse me. Daryl’s tail, for instance. It was so hard to get into and out of that she would usually just stay in it during meal breaks, but costume designer Robert Short really knew his stuff. Daryl was able to swim so quickly in it that she regularly outpaced the production team. Then there’s the name Madison. At the time of filming, it really was basically just a street name but because of Splash’s popularity it grew in popularity in real life. Shortly after Splash, it was the 216^th most popular girl’s name. Five years later it held the 29^th spot and by 2000 was third. Which I guess makes it a real name now. But my favorite tidbit is this: the beach where Tom and Daryl’s characters first meet has become a permanent part of Disney. The island in the Bahamas where that scene was filmed, formerly known as Gorda Cay, is now called Castaway Cay and welcomes guests of the Disney Cruise Line several days a week. I haven’t heard of any mermaid sightings from there just yet, but you never know…

November 16 - The Rescuers Down Under

Photo lifted from imbd.com

On this day, in 1990, Walt Disney Pictures' 29th animated feature, The Rescuers Down Under, opened in theaters. The movie was the second film released during the so called Disney Renaissance, but is rarely seen as being on par with the pictures surrounding it. The Rescuers Down Under is notable for a number of reasons, though. It was the first time a sequel to a Disney animated movie had been produced. It was the first film to be done entirely using the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). This means it was the first completely digital Disney animated feature. Everything was still hand drawn, but it was scanned into a computer to be inked, painted and sequenced. No cameras were used in the production. Down Under was also the first Disney movie since Bambi to promote the environment and advocate for animal rights.

The Rescuers Down Under faced an uphill battle from its conception. America went crazy for movies either set in Australia or featuring Australians after the success of Crocodile Dundee in 1986. Unfortunately, by the time this movie opened, the craze had pretty much disappeared. Couple that with the fact that it premiered the same weekend as Home Alone and it's not hard to see why it had to fight for every dollar of 3.5 million it opened with. The studio was so disappointed, Jeffrey Katzenberg killed all further advertising and let the movie limp along to a 27.9 million dollar finish. The fact that Down Under was also a non-musical (and not just in that characters didn't sing songs but that there were no songs period) didn't help, especially coming after The Little Mermaid.

Photo courtesy of villains.wikia.com

The critical reception wasn't actually too bad. Most reviewers agreed that the story was nothing special but was still an improvement over the original film. They generally liked the production values, especially the action sequences and thought the voice talent was good. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor, in her final film role, reprised their roles. George C. Scott was brought in as the villain McLeach and John Candy replaced the late Jim Jordan as the flying albatross.

The company's disappointment with The Rescuers Down Under, however, has continued in the handling of the film in the home video market. The first release on VHS saw the original film being included in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection, but not Down Under. It did make it into the Gold Classic Collection for the DVD release, but by the time Blu-ray came along, Down Under would get tacked on to the same box as its older sibling.  It apparently wasn't worth getting its own packaging. The lasting legacy of this, like it or not, mostly forgotten movie, is that sequels can be economically viable.

October 31 - John Candy

On this day, in 1950, comedian John Franklin Candy was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. After graduating high school, John enrolled at Centennial Community College to study journalism. Instead he was bitten by the acting bug.

In 1973, John made his big screen debut in a completely forgettable film, Class of '44 (the only notable thing about the film is, in fact, that it's John's debut). Several other bit parts in Canadian films would follow that one, the most impressive of which would be in The Silent Partner starring Elliott Gould. John's career wouldn't really get started until 1976 when he joined the Toronto branch of a little theater group called Second City.

Performing alongside the likes of Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Harold Ramis and many others, John began to gain national acclaim. When the television series SCTV hit the airwaves, and NBC began broadcasting it in 1981, he gained international acclaim. John's gift for mimicry led to dozens of impersonations on the show, everyone from Julia Child to Orson Welles to Tip O'Neill. His original characters, like Leutonian clarinetist Yosh Shmenge, would not only delight on television but occasionally spill over onto the big screeen. John would also share in two Emmy wins for his writing contributions to the show.

During the run of SCTV, John's film career also ramped up. He made appearances in 1941, The Blues Brothers, Stripes, National Lampoon's Vacation and Going Berserk. After SCTV's last curtain fell, John's television days would be few and far between as he  moved onto the big screen almost exclusively. The remainder of the Eighties would be busy for John, if not always successful. His better roles would include Spaceballs, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors and Uncle Buck. His misses include Speed Zone, Hot to Trot and Volunteers.

John's contributions to the Disney family were consistently good. His first role for the studio was in 1984 for the very first film to be released under the Touchstone Pictures name, Splash. Playing Freddie Bauer, the womanizing older brother of Tom Hanks, John provided some of the best humor in the movie (I'm thinking of the scene where he impersonates a Swedish scientist). In 1990, he would be the voice of Wilbur in The Rescuers Down Under. Wilbur was the brother of Orville, the albatross in the original Rescuer movie who had been voiced by the late Jim Jordan. John's last turn with Disney was also the last film released during his lifetime: Irv Blitzer, the disgraced coach of the Jamaican bobsled team, in 1993's Cool Runnings.

Throughout the early Nineties, John's career kept chugging along. From small roles in films like Home Alone and JFK, to starring in Only the Lonely, he kept trying to prove he was more than just a lovable oaf. Unfortunately, his final two films wouldn't successfully prove that. On March 4, 1994, John's body would be discovered one morning during the filming of Wagon's East! in Mexico. Having suffered from weight issues his entire life, John had apparently had a fatal heart attack, although an autopsy was never performed. The makers of Wagons insist that they were nearly done filming John's parts, but, if you've ever had the misfortune to see it, he's barely in it and his character is mostly seen from far away and from the rear. The minute bits with John in it are fine; the film as a whole is so terrible it enjoys a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. John's final film to be released, Canadian Bacon, was only marginally better (a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and basically convinced its director, Michael Moore, to stick to documentaries. Thankfully, John's legacy was already cemented by this point and we'll all fondly remember him as a shower curtain ring salesman or as the Polka King.