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Oh no! Such a vibrant performer in movies and on Broadway.
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Posted: |
May 15, 2021 - 12:48 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Ann Reinking had limited exposure on screen. She made her feature film debut in producer-director Stanley Donen's 1978 "double feature" film MOVIE MOVIE. The first film, "Dynamite Hands," was a boxing story. The second film, "Baxter’s Beauties of 1933," was a backstage Broadway musical. Most of the principal cast (including George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Red Buttons, and Eli Wallach) played two roles in film. Reinking appeared only in the first segment.
Actor George Burns appears onscreen in an explanatory prologue introducing the two movies. The two mini-films are separated by a mock preview of a third picture entitled “Zero Hour,” starring George C. Scott as a World War I flying ace.
In “Dynamite Hands,” deli delivery boy “Joey Popchik” (Harry Hamlin) impresses boxing trainer “Gloves Malloy” (George C. Scott) when he knocks out a high-ranking contender. Although Joey has no interest in being a professional fighter, when he learns that his sister “Angie” (Kathleen Bellar) needs a $25,000 operation to save her eyesight, he agrees to box just long enough to pay for Angie’s surgery. Joey wins nearly every fight but after six months, he has earned only $300. One night, while relaxing at a nightclub, Joey begs his trainer to get him a match at Madison Square Garden so he can earn significant money, but Gloves insists Joey is not ready for the venue. Overhearing the conversation, Gloves’s rival, promoter “Vince Marlowe” (Eli Wallach), claims he can get Joey a fight at the Garden in just three months. After Joey agrees to Vince’s terms, Vince introduces Joey to the club’s glamorous female headliner, “Troubles Moran” (Ann Reinking). Later, Joey resumes training with Gloves but has Vince book all the fights and begins dating Troubles.
Ann Reinking in MOVIE MOVIE
Initially budgeted at $5-6 million, MOVIE MOVIE recouped its $6 million cost prior to opening, due to advance television and foreign sales. The film made an additional $1.9 million at the U.S. box office.
Ralph Burns scored the film and wrote the songs for the musical segment. The songs were released on an LP from Filmscore Records, but it has not been re-issued on CD.
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Posted: |
May 15, 2021 - 12:31 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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ALL THAT JAZZ follows "Joe Gideon" (Roy Scheider), a successful, workaholic director-choreographer, who divides his time between two productions in New York City. After auditioning dancers for an upcoming Broadway musical titled, NY/LA, he rushes to supervise the editing of The Stand Up, his feature film about a comic played by the actor "Davis Newman" (Cliff Gorman).
Among the multiple connections between the film’s director, Bob Fosse, and lead character “Joe Gideon” was the primary similarity of suffering a heart attack while juggling directing duties on two major projects. Fosse was hospitalized while simultaneously preparing the Broadway musical “Chicago” and completing the feature film LENNY about comedian Lenny Bruce. Casting actor Cliff Gorman to play stand up “Davis Newman” reinforced the reference to Bruce, since Gorman played the real-life comic on Broadway in “Lenny.”
The character “Audrey Paris” (Leland Palmer), Joe Gideon’s ex-wife in the film, evoked Fosse’s ex-wife Gwen Verdon. Ann Reinking, who had been involved in a romantic relationship with Fosse for five years, but had separated by the time production on the film began, played a version of herself in the role of Joe Gideon’s girlfriend “Kate Jagger.” When Fosse experienced a more serious heart attack in the hospital, she was present and felt that the corresponding scene in the film was an accurate depiction of Fosse’s real agony and the nurse’s disbelief. However, in contrast to the self-destructive Gideon, Reinking said that Fosse was a “model patient” and unlike her character in the film, she never dated other men while he was hospitalized.
Ann Reinking in ALL THAT JAZZ
Reinking also commented that, regardless of her former romance with Fosse and their earlier collaborations on Broadway, she had to earn the role of Kate in auditions. Shirley MacLaine, who had starred in Fosse’s film SWEET CHARITY (1969), was also considered for a part. Reinking took a leave of absence from the Broadway musical “Dancin’” to begin rehearsing for the film.
The film was a week away from finishing production when the studio, Columbia, decided against financing the musical finale, which was estimated to cost $500,000, as well as other scenes. By then, the production budget had escalated from $6 million to $9.5 million. Executive producer Daniel Melnick arranged a last-minute deal with Twentieth Century-Fox to guarantee completion. After viewing eighty minutes of footage, Twentieth Century-Fox President Alan Ladd, Jr. agreed to invest $5 million and to acquire distribution rights, while sharing in the profits as an equal partner with Columbia. ALL THAT JAZZ was the 14th highest grossing film of 1979 at the U.S. box office, with a $52.6 million take.
Ralph Burns arranged and conducted the vocal music for the film, winning an Oscar in the process for “Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score.” Burns also provided the uncredited underscore, some of which appeared on the Casablanca Records soundtrack LP. The album's CD releases have all been outside the U.S., from Casablanca and Spectrum Records.
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Posted: |
May 16, 2021 - 1:16 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin, creators of the original stage play, asked $5 million for film rights to ANNIE, and requested an additional $1 million for Mike Nichols to direct. It was announced in December 1977 that Columbia Pictures had acquired the property for $9.5 million, reportedly the most expensive deal ever made for film rights to a stage musical to date.
In early 1980 it was reported that Sean Connery was in negotiations to star as “Oliver ‘Daddy’ Warbucks.” Daily Variety broke the news of Albert Finney’s casting as Warbucks on 10 July 1980, although Cary Grant had been the studio’s top choice. Ann Reinking was cast as “Grace Farrell,” the private secretary to Wall Street billionaire Warbucks.
Ann Reinking and Albert Finney in ANNIE
Columbia Pictures announced that a nationwide casting search for “Annie” had been underway since 22 May 1980, with a panel of former child stars acting as advisors. After training finalists at “Annie Academy,” Columbia expected to run screen tests and announce the winner by December 1980.
On 17 October 1980, the New York Times announced that Carol Burnett was officially cast as “Miss Hannigan.” While various sources reported that Jack Nicholson, Mickey Rooney, and Mick Jagger, were all considered to play “Rooster,” Tim Curry was ultimately cast in the role.
In January 1981, Columbia announced that nine-year-old Aileen Quinn would make her motion picture debut in the title role after competing against over 8,000 other girls in twenty-two U.S. cities and London, England. The principal cast was now set. During all this time, John Huston replaced Mike Nichols as director.
Aileen Quinn and Ann Reinking in ANNIE
Some changes to the script and music were made during filming. In the play, Grace Farrell brought the adoption papers to the orphanage. Since the film script had Daddy Warbucks do it, Carol Burnett and Albert Finney lobbied the songwriters for a song to sing together to flesh out the only meeting between Warbucks and Hannigan. Their duet, "Sign," was written in two days.
PBS scheduled charity galas around showings of the film in over 100 cities between 17 May and 17 June 1982. The film then expanded to 1,000 more screens in June 1982, followed by an additional 1,000 in July 1982. The Avco Theatre and Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles charged $6 per ticket for regular screenings, which set the record for the city’s highest-ever movie admission fee to date.
Although production notes indicated a final budget of over $35 million, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner estimated a cost of $40 million with an extra $9 million for advertising and prints. The Los Angeles Times calculated over $42 million and $10-13 million advertising, declaring ANNIE one of the most expensive movies ever made at that time. However, costs were offset by the film’s numerous merchandise promotions with companies including Crayola, Random House, Marriott hotels, Sears Roebuck & Co., Knickerbocker Toys, Procter & Gamble, and Ken-L-Ration dog food. When Columbia Pictures was taken over by Coca-Cola, this resulted in additional product tie-ins.
Ann Reinking in ANNIE
By September 1982, it was reported that the $50 million box office returns were still shy of a profit. However, years later, in 1997, the Hollywood Reporter conceded that ANNIE was not a commercial disappointment, since the musical ultimately returned more than twice its cost to Columbia.
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories of Art Direction and Music (Original Song Score and its Adaptation –or– Adapted Score). Ralph Burns lost the score adaptation award to Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse for VICTOR, VICTORIA. ANNIE's song score was released on a Columbia Records LP, and was re-issued on CD in 1990.
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Posted: |
May 16, 2021 - 12:22 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Ann Reinking made her final feature film appearance in MICKI + MAUDE, about a Lothario TV host, reporter “Rob Salinger” (Dudley Moore), caught between his pregnant wife, workaholic attorney “Micki” (Reinking), and his pregnant girlfriend, cellist “Maude” (Amy Irving). He then marries the latter to keep her happy, only to find that bigamy means more trouble than he bargained for.
MICKI + MAUDE reunited director Blake Edwards and actor Dudley Moore, five years after their hit, “10” (1979). Unlike most of Edwards’ previous productions, he did not originate the script, which represented playwright Jonathan Reynolds’ screenwriting debut. Reynolds was initially concerned that the concept, about a bigamist with two pregnant wives, was “unworkable.” To give “Rob Salinger” more appeal, Reynolds emphasized the character’s affection for children and his devotion to his two marriages. Reynolds also noted that Blake Edwards contributed more sweetness to the script, reduced the farce’s brisk pace, and moved the setting from New York City to Los Angeles, where shooting was less expensive.
Ken Olfson, Ann Reinking, and Dudley Moore in MICKI + MAUDE
The role of “Micki Salinger” marked Ann Reinking’s first time playing a non-dancing character in a feature film. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category of “Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy,” and Dudley Moore received the Golden Globe for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.”
Lee Holdridge’s score has not had a release. The 1984 film landed in the top 40 films of the year at the box office, with a $26.1 million gross.
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