In the 80’s Steve Guttenberg was a top-grossing movie star. His movies from the decade grossed over $500 million dollars. That’s over half a billion dollars not adjusted for inflation. Guttenberg could do it all; comedy, drama, talking robot movies. But something happened as the eighties came to an end. When the nineties rolled in, a lot of actors who were best-known for their work in the 80’s suddenly found themselves struggling. Just a few years after the biggest hit of his career, Guttenberg became irrelevant. Or worse, a punchline.
What the hell happened?
When Guttenberg was just getting started, he began sneaking on to the Paramount lot. In his autobiography, The Guttenberg Bible, Guttenberg says that when he was stopped by a security guard, he claimed to be the step-son of then-chairman, Michael Eisner. Once he learned how to get on the lot, Guttenberg found an abandoned building and set up an office for himself. He even requisitioned furniture from the prop shop by filling out a false requisition slip for the TV show Happy Days.
“It seemed to me that sneaking onto a lot and finding an office, it wasn’t premeditated. I never thought, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go get an office at Paramount.’ I just was walking around and walking around, and I found this old building, the Lucille Ball makeup building, that nobody was using. And I just thought, “How great.” I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to do that. Why not? It was empty for 30 to 40 years. Why not use it?”
Guttenberg’s first job was a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken featuring Colonel Sanders himself. Guttenberg said he learned the secret to being cast in commercials was to smile. Armed with that knowledge, he landed a lot of commercials including this one for the Welcome Back Kotter board game:
Guttenberg’s John Travolta impression got him cast as a look-a-like. When he told his parents he got a job on a commercial for the Welcome Back Kotter board game, they thought he was cast on the actual TV show.
Guttenberg got his first film role in the disaster movie, Rollercoaster. In an uncredited role, Guttenberg played a messenger who delivers plans for a rollercoaster to George Segal and Richard Widmark. He only had one line to deliver, but Guttenberg’s nerves and inexperience got the better of him. He was very nearly fired from his first movie, but Widmark intervened. Just as James Goldstein was preparing to have Guttenberg removed from the set, Widmark protested: “The kid will be banged up for life. Lose his confidence. Can’t fire him, Jimmy, not here, not in front of me.”
Goldstein said the crew needed to break for lunch or else they would face union penalties, so Widmark got the shop foreman to agree to waive the fee to give Guttenberg another chance. About fifteen minutes later, Guttenberg finally delivered his line correctly.
Guttenberg’s first starring role was in a teen sex comedy called The Chicken Chronicles. Guttenberg played a high school student trying to impress a cheerleader played by Lisa Reeves. The story is set in 1969, so he is also worried about being sent to Vietnam should he flunk out of school. The title comes from the fact that his character works in a fast food chicken joint.
Scenes from the movie were shot in the childhood home of Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. According to Weiner, the film company “ripped his parents off”. He says the production destroyed his families furniture and lied to them.
Early on in Guttenberg’s career, he was landing commercials left and right. Thanks to the 21st century magic of YouTube, several of these have been preserved for our enjoyment. Here is a commercial for Stanley Tools from 1977:
In 1978, Guttenberg appeared in the 1978 Nazi-themed thriller, The Boys from Brazil in which he starred opposite Gregory Peck and Lawrence Olivier. Quite an auspicious beginning, don’t you think?
After a fairly successful debut, Guttenberg considered leaving Hollywood to study dentistry.
“When I was doing Boys From Brazil, I got done with it and I was going back to school, and I got a call from CBS to come do a television series in L.A., and I guess there was a little moment where I said, ‘Gee, I’m gonna go back there and try again, take some more. Go back there and carpetbag it again. Go out there and see what I can do and then come back.’ I don’t think I ever thought I was going to keep doing it. I always thought at one point, I just wouldn’t want to be in that atmosphere my whole life. I tried to quit after the first year. “
In 1980, Guttenberg starred opposite the Village People and Bruce Jenner in the infamous Can’t Stop the Music. Can’t Stop the Music was a musical retelling of the rise of the Village People, the disco-era music group known for including a cowboy, a biker guy and an Indian who sang about the joys of staying at the YMCA.
The Gute described the over-the-top atmosphere on the set:
“Money was no object, and it was this incredibly vulgar, exciting set to be on. Somebody wanted caviar from Japan, boom, it was flown in. Those people don’t feel good that day, boom, we’re not gonna film that day. There were allowances. I think when we made that movie, the budget was $23 million, which was one of the highest budgets ever in 1977 or ’79, and it was just fantastic to me to be in the company of the Village People—who I thought were all straight. But so did the country, right? So did everybody who bought their albums.”
Believe it or not, everyone did think the Village People were straight. Well, straight people did.
You would think a Village People musical could ride the wave of disco mania to box office success, right? It probably would have if it had been released a few years earlier. But by 1980, not only was disco no longer popular, there was a huge “disco is dead” backlash.
As a result, the 23-million-dollar musical earned a paltry 2-million dollars at the box office. The reviews were unanimously terrible.
Most telling of all, Can’t Stop the Music was the recipient of the first-ever Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture. John J.B. Wilson was inspired to create the awards for bad movies after sitting through a double feature of Can’t Stop the Music and Xanadu. Yep, that’ll do it.
The next year, Guttenberg appeared in the TV hockey movie, Miracle on Ice. He returned to the big screen in style in 1982 as part of Barry Levinson’s ensemble comedy-drama, Diner.
Diner was a dream job for a young actor in the 80’s. Although it was only a modest success at the box office, critics lavished it with praise. It helped that Levinson’s script was nominated for an Oscar. And the cast was a who’s who of up-and-coming actors including Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin and Paul Reiser. The Gute got top billing.
Although Diner was a small movie, it has had a lasting impact. In 1983, it was adapted by Levinson into a short-lived TV show. Reiser was the only returning cast member. The cast of the TV show included Michael Madsen and James Spader. Unfortunately, the show never got past the pilot stage.
Currently, Levinson is adapting Diner for Broadway with pop singer Sheryl Crow.
Diner gave Guttenberg’s career a bump. But as part of an ensemble, Guttenberg had to share the spotlight with a talented cast. In 1983, Guttenberg followed up Diner with a starring role in the invisible man comedy, The Man Who Wasn’t There.
The poster for The Man Who Wasn’t There included the tagline, “Being invisible will get you into spy rings, diplomatic circles and the girls’ locker room.” I think this tells you everything you need to know about the movie. There are two upsides to starring in The Man Who Wasn’t There. One, Guttenberg had the lead role. Two, he was invisible for much of the film.
Later that year, Guttenberg returned to TV for the ABC movie The Day After. I usually don’t spend a lot of time talking about TV movies. But The Day After scared the living crap out of me and every one I knew in 1983.
It seems quaint now. But in the 80’s Cold War America was scared silly of nuclear war and the Russians. When ABC aired The Day After it was seen as a realistic depiction of the aftermath of nuclear war which could happen without notice at any minute.
Check out what the Cold War did to the Gute:
I remember having classroom discussions about it in school. We were encouraged to watch the broadcast. And the next day every single kid in school was scared shitless. Worst recess ever.
In 1984, Guttenberg starred in Police Academy. Policy Academy was one of the many slob comedies released in the 80’s in the aftermath of National Lampoon’s Animal House.
The movie assembled a cast of oddballs with Guttenberg as the straight man at the center. It was Stripes-lite as Guttenberg’s blander Bill Murray enrolls in Police Academy instead of the army.
Roger Ebert had this to say about Police Adacemy, “It’s really something. It’s so bad, maybe you should pool your money and draw straws and send one of the guys off to rent it so that in the future, whenever you think you’re sitting through a bad comedy, he could shake his head, and chuckle tolerantly, and explain that you don’t know what bad is”.
I think Ebert is beating up on Police Academy unfairly. Yeah, it’s dumb. It’s supposed to be dumb. And no, it’s not especially funny. But as the sequels would go on to show, you can do a whole lot worse than the first Police Academy movie.
Against all odds, Police Academy was a hit that would go on to spawn a franchise that still has life in it today. To date, there have been 7 Police Academy movies, a live action TV show and a kid’s cartoon!
Of course Warner Brothers wanted a sequel to Police Academy as soon as possible. The films were quick and easy to make. So the very next year, Guttenberg and most of the cast returned for Police Academy 2.
Critics didn’t like the sequel any better than the original. But audiences still flocked to theaters for cheap laughs.
That summer, Guttenberg also appeared in Ron Howard’s sci-fi movie, Cocoon. Cocoon tells the story of a group of senior citizens who reclaim their youthful energy after swimming in a pool filled with alien cocoons.
The cast was stocked with respected actors like Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Jessica Tandy. But the closest thing it had to a box office draw was Guttenberg as a ship captain who unwittingly aids the aliens in an attempt to save some of their own.
Cocoon was an extremely unlikely hit. How much credit for that belongs to Guttenberg is debatable. I doubt many people bought a ticket to Cocoon to see Guttenberg. But his amiable presence helped make a science fiction film starring senior citizens palatable to the masses.
Guttenberg finished out 1985 on a low note with the Bad Medicine.
The Gute played a lovable loser who couldn’t get into med school. So he goes to Latin America to learn medicine. Alan Arkin plays an instructor, Julie Hagerty (Airplane!) was the love interest and Curtis Armstrong (Revenge of the Nerds/Risky Business) played the comic sidekick.
Bad Medicine attempted to do for medical students what Police Academy did for police recruits. However, without the wacky supporting cast of the Police Academy movies, Bad Medicine failed.
In 1986, Guttenberg completed the Police Academy trilogy with Police Academy 3: Back in Training which finally answered all of the burning questions from the first two Police Academy movies.
Critics still hated it. Audiences continued to ignore the critics.
Later that year, Guttenberg also appeared opposite Brat Pack refugee Ally Sheedy in John Badham’s talking robot comedy, Short Circuit.
Guttenberg and Fisher Stevens played scientists who invent a series of prototype robots. One of the robots, Number 5, is struck by lightning and somehow becomes sentient. He escapes the military facility where he is being held and meets an animal caretaker played by Sheedy. She mistakes the robot for an extra-terrestrial life form (which is understandable because Short Circuit is an E.T. rip-off) and she introduces him to the pop culture of the mid 80’s. When the military reclaims Number 5, he fears deactivation. Slapstick robot escapes follow.
Reviews were mixed. Some critics gave Short Circuit credit for being better than other movies in the same vein. But Siskel and Ebert both gave Short Circuit thumbs down. Ebert wrote the movie off as a “kid’s movie”. He allowed that “quite possibly the kids will like it. But they’ll have to be fairly young kids.”
Short Circuit opened in first place at the box office and grossed over $40 million dollars. That may not sound like a lot today, but it was enough to be the 21st highest grossing movie of 1986. With a budget under $10 million, Short Circuit was a hit.
Two years later, Stevens returned for a sequel. Sheedy had only a small voice cameo via a cassette recording. Guttenberg said he was asked to reprise his role without seeing the script. He declined but has said he regrets turning Short Circuit 2 down. Plans for a third movie were canceled after the sequel disappointed at the box office.
Also in 1986, Guttenberg appeared as Pecos Bill on Shelly Duvall’s cable TV series Tall Tales and Legends. Rebecca De Mornay co-starred as Slew Foot Sue. And that’sMartin Mull as the singing cowboy in a purple hat.
In 1987, Guttenberg was all over the place. He started the year with the sexy thriller, Bedroom Window. Bedroom Window was basically a rip-off of Hitchcock’s classic, Rear Window. It was written and directed by Curtis Hanson who would go on to greater things like LA Confidential.
Bedroom Window got mostly positive reviews. Unfortunately, it didn’t do much at the box office. But it developed a cult following on video over the years.
Since Guttenberg’s Police Academy checks kept clearing, he starred in Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol co-starring Sharon Stone.
It’s easy to look back and criticize Guttenberg for appearing in 4 Police Academy movies. They were obviously crap. But audiences loved them and they provided Guttenberg with steady work for four straight years. Decades later, these are the films he is still best known for.
Police Academy 4 was Guttenberg’s last film in the franchise. With hits like Cocoon and Short Circuit, he no longer needed the safety net they provided.
In 1987, Guttenberg was part of the star-studded sketch comedy movie, Amazon Women on the Moon.
The movie consists of twenty-one skits directed by five different directors; Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis and Robert K. Weiss.
Guttenberg appeared in the sketch “Two I.D.s” which was directed by Horton. He is on a blind date with Rosanna Arquette who subjects him to a few unusual tests. You can’t be too careful when “the Gute” shows up at your doorstep.
Reviews were mixed to negative with critics complaining that the bad sketches outweighed the good ones. The movie bombed at the box office. It only played in 50 theaters and opened in 13th place.
He also appeared opposite Sally Field and Michael Caine in Surrender. It didn’t make much of an impact with critics or audiences.
Rounding out 1987, Guttenberg also appeared in Micahel Jackson’s star-studded music video for the song Liberian Girl off the album, Bad. The video features a cavalcade of celebrities from the late 80’s. The celebs are gathered for a video shoot, but Jackson appears to be a no show.
There are too many celebrities for me to list them all. Some of the bigger names include Whoopi Goldberg, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, Steven Spielberg, Billy Dee Williams, Danny Glover, Dan Aykroyd and Rosanna Arquette.
Guttenberg ended 1987 on a high note with Three Men and a Baby. Three Men and a Baby was a remake of the French farce, Trois hommes et un couffin. Guttenberg starred opposite Tom Selleck and Ted Danson as three bachelors whose lives are turned upside down by a baby.
This is the kind of movie Guttenberg was born to do. For a guy who made his name in comedies, Guttenberg was never especially funny himself. But he was extremely likable. He could flash his big, goofy grin as the baby wet her diapers or threw up on Tom Selleck. Or he could make sad eyes when it looked like the baby might be taken away from them.
The reviews were mostly positive for Three Men and a Baby. But more importantly, it was a monster hit. It did so well, that it established Leonard Nimoy as a legitimate film director outside of the Star Trek franchise.
Seeing as how Guttenberg made 4 Police Academy movies, you can hardly blame him for appearing in the 1988 Cocoon sequel, Cocoon 2: The Return. Just about the entire cast of the original film returned for the sequel. Unfortunately, director Ron Howard did not.
Cocoon 2 received negative reviews and disappointed at the box office.
Guttenberg ended 1988 with the supernatural comedy, High Spirits opposite Peter O’Toole and Darryl Hannah. High Spirits was written and directed by Neil Jordan. It also co-starred a pre-fame Liam Neeson. But the ghostly romantic comedy was a miss with critics and audiences.
Short Circuit 2 also came out in 1988. And somehow, Guttenberg wasn’t in it.
Guttenberg entered the 90’s with a mullet in the romantic comedy, Don’t Tell Her It’s Me opposite Shelley Long and Jami Gertz. I am going to let the picture speak for itself on this one.
Since Three Men and a Baby was such a run-away hit, it’s no surprise they attempted a sequel with 1990’s Three Men and a Little Lady. And since Guttenberg can’t say “no” to a sequel until the fifth film in the franchise, it’s no surprise that Guttenberg returned for it.
As it turns out, a sequel to Three Men and a Baby completely misses the point. That movie was all about seeing men in over their heads trying to take care of a baby. It hinged on diaper humor. Since the baby has now grown into a “little lady” the sequel lacked the main selling point of the original. In other words, no one peed on Tom Selleck this time.
Amazingly, there is talk of a third film in the franchise!
After 1990, “The Gute” just disappeared. After working steadily throughout the 1980’s, Guttenberg wouldn’t make another movie for 5 years!
“I decided I’d like to work when I want to work. Wanting to work is a luxury; having to work is not. If you’re an artist, an actor, and you don’t have to work, then you do work that you wanna do. So I did theater that I really wanted to do, and I did some small independent movies that I really wanted to do, and I wrote and I painted and I got to see my parents all the time.”
There aren’t a lot of reasons given for Guttenberg’s disappearance. Although Guttenberg himself admits that he let fame go to his head. In his autobiography, The Guttenberg Bible, Guttenberg admits to bedding hundreds of women and generally not being a very nice person.
I think most people are less surprised by Guttenberg’s disappearance than the idea that Guttenberg was ever a star to begin with. The thing Guttenberg had going for him was that he was non-threatening. He was just a goofy, somewhat handsome guy. Men didn’t want to be him and although women apparently wanted to be with him, they’d have rather been with Tom Selleck.
In 1995, Guttenberg came roaring back out of nowhere. First, he appeared in the soccer comedy, The Big Green.
Guttenberg also appeared in the 1995 holiday comedy/drama, Home For the Holidays.
The movie was directed by Jodie Foster who did not appear in the movie. Holly Hunter starred as a recently unemployed woman who returns home for Thanksgiving. Her eccentric family was played by Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Cynthia Stevenson and Claire Danes.
Finally, Guttenberg starred opposite Kirstie Alley and the Olsen twins in It Takes Two.
You may be surprised to learn that It Takes Two was not a direct-to-video release like so many other movies starring the Olsen twins. It Takes Two was actually shown in theaters
Three movies in one year and none of them sparked a comeback for “The Gute”.
In 1997, Guttenberg starred in the dolphin/dog family film, Zeus and Roxanne. Guttenberg and Kathleen Quinlan play single parents and neighbors who just might make a mismatched couple.
Reviews were mixed and the movie was ignored at the box office.
Guttenberg’s descent into straight-to-video hell would have to wait until 1997’s Casper sequel, Casper: A Spirited Beginning.
Casper 2 answers the question, “Who do you call when Bill Pullman won’t come back for a sequel?” The answer: Steve Guttenberg. Since they stopped making sequels to movies he appeared in, he apparently started making prequels to other people’s movies.
Not surprisingly, Casper 2 also has a Full House connection in the form of co-star Lori Loughlin. Somewhat more surprising are appearances by Rodney Dangerfield and Michael McKean.
That same year, Guttenberg also starred opposite a young Kirsten Dusnt in the TV movie Tower of Terror based on the Disney theme park attraction.
The ride it is based on is themed to the Twilight Zone TV show. The TV movie is basically just a commercial for the ride. The ride is incredibly awesome. The TV movie, not so much. But the Gute sure does look happy to be collecting a paycheck, doesn’t he?
In 2002, Guttenberg directed and starred in PS Your Cat Is Dead which was based on a novel and play of the same name.
Here is something I have learned writing these articles. Once you have achieved a certain level of fame, you will always be able to find work if you want it. It may be writing, directing and starring in PS Your Cat is Dead, but you will find work somewhere. Even a good decade plus after Guttenberg passed his prime, someone was willing to fund a movie he wrote, directed and starred in!
In 2005, Guttenberg appeared in a TV-remake of The Poseidon Adventure. Not to be confused with Wolfgang Petersen’s 2006 remake, Poseidon which starred Kurt Russell and was actually released in theaters.
This version starred Rutger Hauer, Adam Baldwin (no relation to Alec), Bryan Brown and C. Thomas Howell.
From 2005-2006, Guttenberg appeared on the cult TV show, Veronica Mars. Guttenberg played a character named Woody Goodman which is definitely a name a character played by Guttenberg should have. Guttenberg appeared in eight episodes.
In 2008, Guttenberg finally bottomed out appearing in the Private Benjamin rip-off, Major Movie Star. One can only hope the title was intended to be ironic.
It is also known as Private Valentine: Blonde and Dangerous.
With most of the subjects I have written about, it’s easy to forget just how big of a star they used to be. But with Guttenberg, it has gotten to the point where people forget he was ever a star at all. Even though Guttenberg appeared in a lot of big hits in the 80’s, he was never the most memorable thing about them.
He was the audience surrogate. Audiences might not be able to relate to the zany characters in Police Academy, but they can hang with the Gute. They may not be willing to buy robots who come to life or aliens who give the elderly eternal life. But somehow, it’s easier to swallow when the Gute is there smiling and assuring the audience it’s okay to buy in to the premise.
Guttenberg wasn’t a big star in the sense that he sold a lot of movie tickets. He was just a likable guy who happened to be in a lot of popular movies. Like he wandered in off the studio tour and somehow ended up in the shot. But then he took a break from the biz. And when he came back, audiences had moved on. He was no longer our 20-something buddy. He was an old guy with a 90’s mullet. He wasn’t cool any more except in the ironic sense.
Fortunately for Guttenberg, he knows how to take a joke. And he continues to make the most out of his ironic brand of cool to this day.
Of course it should be noted that The Simpsons floated another theory on the rise and fall of Steve Guttenberg…
Wow. Just wow. I have literally never heard of a single film you mentioned after 1990.
You used the two most important terms to describe Steve…likable and non-threatening. I can’t think of another attribute.
On a side note: Remember what created Johnny Five in ‘Short Circuit’? And how far movies have come in the last 20 years? The don’t have dumb premises like that anymore, right? Take a wild guess what caused EDI to become sentient in the 170 million dollar bomb, ‘Stealth’. Go ahead, take a guess.
My wife’s favorite ride in all of Walt Disney World is the Tower of Terror. They sell copies of the movie in the gift shop as you exit the ride. That is the only reason I am remotely familiar with Guttenberg’s work post 80s. I am embarassed to admit I somehow saw Three Men and a Little Lady at the theater twice. I don’t know how I allowed that to happen. Also, in spite of sitting through it twice, I don’t remember a damn thing about it. I can’t watch Short Circuit without thinking about the fact that Fisher Stevens… Read more »
I just did an article about Stealth, mainly because I paid 20 bucks for the DVD. I’m such a sucker.
I liked Fisher in his day, a lot more than Steve. He had a show set in Miami, and that blonde chick from ST: NG left the series to be in Fisher’s show…but I can’t remember anything other than that. Also, I didn’t know about him and Pfeiffer. Used to have such a crush on her.
Stealth crap movie below.
http://sdanielshortwintercom.blogspot.com/2012/08/film-cemetery-case-study-16-where-we.html#more
Ouch. Yeah, $20 for a DVD like Stealth leaves you with an axe to grind.
Fisher used to appear on the Letterman show all the time back in the day. And Dave spent half the time making a big deal out of the fact that a relatively average looking guys was living with Michelle Pfeiffer. They were actually a couple for 3 years, a very long time by Hollywood standards.
I can’t decide who lucked out bigger in the 80s, Fisher Stevens or The Gute.
Yeah, Gute was a mostly forgetable actor who made his money but never really qualified as a movie star per se. I did enjoy P.A. #1 though I have to admit. Just good, silly fun as I remember. Don’t have much to say other than that about Gute. Main reason I posted was to share this article I read today. Since we spend some time here talking about ‘A’ listers, I thought this was an interesting perspective on the stars of today. Don’t know if we can definitively say this article is correct yet, but I do have to agree… Read more »
Thanks for the link. (WordPress will let you get along with 1 per comment before marking it as spam. 2 is iffy. 3 and you will definitely get spammed.) The stars are definitely getting smaller. I think that is because movies are getting more high concept in the CGI world we live in. Chris Evan and Chris Hemsworth may have starred in hit movies, but everyone knows Captain America and Thor were the stars of those films. Samuel L Jackson is the highest grossing actor in history. But everyone knows that’s because he appears in sure-fire franchises like Star Wars… Read more »
And the biggest problem with what you are describing is whomever is in charge of casting these days are only interested in the next pretty face and hot body. Forget acting skills and mastery of a craft. Result being you get Meagan Fox because she has fine tata’s and Shia Lebouf (sp?) because he is the next big thing and slap them in a lame series based on an average cartoon from the 80’s. Ugggg. Truth is I can name a handful of actors/actresses I do enjoy and think have chops but for everyone of them there are 10 wholly… Read more »
You’re touching on some things I have been intending to write about for a while now. If I respond to all your points, it’ll turn into a post. So instead, I’ll just promise to write up a post with my thoughts on this as soon as possible.
Well? How about an article about Fisher? Your post about Steve was very well done. The problem is he’s just not…interesting. The Gute is – was – about as vanilla as you could get.
Thanks. I’ll probably get around to Stevens eventually. Not in this series, because he never even approached the A-list. But eventually, I’ll get around to character actors like him. I have noticed of late that aside from Val Kilmer, the articles about actresses seem to be more popular. I’m not entirely sure why that is. I definitely don’t expect the Guttenberg article to be among the top hit-getters. I’ve got a couple ideas for who to feature next. I try to alternate between male and female stars. So the next one will most likely be an actress. Suggestions, as always,… Read more »
I think the word you’re looking for is “simpatico”. You can’t call Jack Bonner perving through a spyhole in Cocoon, “vanilla”. But even at that moment, you can smile at, or even with, him.
I am a big fan of “Diner,” so I’ve made every effort to ignore the rest of Guttenberg’s output ever since it became clear what it was going to be like. When did that happen for me? Hmmm… 1986? That’s probably not entirely fair, but it is the truth about what my relationship with his work has been.
I’m with you. I have an guideline that I follow that I usually only write about actors and actresses that I was at one point a fan of. I broke that rule for The Gute. I never disliked him. But I was certainly never a fan. However, I thought his sudden disappearing act plus the fact that he starred in the first movie ever to win a Golden Raspberry made up for my lack of interest in his work.
I do the same thing, and it’s embarrassing when an older article starts to get attention, isn’t it? Volvo is thinking of advertising on my site, and what was the very first article they looked at? My very first CTWNM post about a Saab! Gads!
I personally like both the female and male posts that you do. Kilmer has always fascinated me, because he’s such a talented douche. On the other hand, I had serious crushes on Ryder and Shue. I honestly didn’t know you only stuck to A-list stars. Was Mia Sara A-list?
I’ve got the WTHH articles and everything else. The WTHH article bring in around a thousand hits a day. The Disney articles get a lot of “likes” but not nearly as much traffic. Anything else may generate a brief spike in traffic. But the WTHH articles are evergreen so I feel the need to keep them up to date. How funny about the potential sponsorship. I guess that’s a good probelm to have. Being that this is a free WP site, advertising isn’t an option for me. Kilmer is on a level all his own. He is the undisputed King… Read more »
The real question to me is: what did he do to piss the Stonecutters off? I mean, something had to get them to stop making him a star.
Like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ov-Cbpf4M
The Sacred Parchment will never be the same!
What about Johnny Depp? That guy was on TV and a couple of movies, and then just disappeared.
Seriously, you could take any of the ensemble movies of the 80s, like Rumble Fish, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Lost Boys, etc., and find tons of stars to do. C. Thomas Howell, Anthony Michael Hall…. Patrick Swayze… um…. Corey Haim…. Dana Plato…
For a long time, Depp was my #1 example of an actor who kept getting work despite never having starred in a hit. Obviously, things changed.
I try to keep these articles to A-listers. At least for the time being. So, Swayze will probably happen eventually.
I think there are quite a few “missing” actors before we get to C. Thomas Howell (who I actually saw play a major villain on Criminal Minds)
Dana Plato? Well- I think most of us know that really sad story….
Yeah, I don’t really want to do a write-up on Dana Plato. 1. Everyone knows her story already. 2. It’s tragic. I like to keep the tone light.
C. Thomas Howell is on my list. Not sure when I’ll get to him. But I wouldn’t be too surprised if he shows up sooner rather than later. There’s not a lot of rhyme or reason to the order around here.
WTF Happened to JOHNNY DEPP?
I agree about Kilmer…what a waste. As for site hits, I get a lot of ‘Amanda Bynes fat face’ and ‘Kiera Knightly’s tits’. This is in response to a post I did stating I didn’t to see these actresses boobs because I watched them grow up on screen. Weird, eh? My most popular posts are Batman’s machines. By far. But Film Cemetery is doing very well, too. I make it a point to never poach ideas…or compete with friends like you or Jalopnik. As for advertising, I thought, why not? I work hard, and try to improve every time I… Read more »
I do enjoy the Film Cemetery articles. Great stuff. I’ll have to check out Batman’s machines. Since this is purely a hobby for me, I don’t really worry too much about traffic. But I do try to send hits to friends whenever possible. I figure my readers are likely to like the same blogs I do. So I figure it’s a win/win for everyone when I send readers to blogs I enjoy. I have considered switching the site to one that could run ads. But frankly, I just haven’t had the time to figure out how it all works. Someday… Read more »
I like what I see…but I don’t know what Fetch means. And you mentioned Eric Bana in the post about Daniel Craig. Please do something on him! I just watch a doc on his racing career…talk about a guy that God gave every single gift…and he’s modest and very nice.
By the way, just finished a post in which ‘The Gute’ is a form of currency
I’ve never been real happy with the “Fetch” name. It’s a reference to “Mean Girls”. If you haven’t seen it, the name seems random. I had some other titles like “Almost Famous” and “Never Was”, but I never found one I loved. And “So Fetch” tickled my funny bone. So I went with that.
Honestly, Guttenberg seems a bit out of place in this series. He was never really a big star. The POLICE ACADEMY franchise raked in a lot of dough, and he was there for it, but that’s pretty much it. Guttenberg just missed the end of the disco trend with CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC, and almost missed the heyday of the slob comedy, too, but the first POLICE ACADEMY hit right before it ended, and became its last big hurrah. Ebert can sneer at that one all he likes–it was a damn funny movie, and of a breed of comedy that,… Read more »
Over time, I have loosened my requirements for inclusion in the series. Having said that, I do think Guttenberg was A-list. But he was one of those guys who had an asterix by his name. Because he was involved in the Police Academy movies, Cocoon, Short Circuit and Three Men and a Baby, the studios treated him like an A-list talent just in case. In retrospect, it’s easy to look back and say that The Gute was in the right place at the right time. He wasn’t really packing the house. But people did pay to see his movies. When… Read more »
A good Guttenberg comparison might be Paul Rudd- not identical- but both likable guys who have been in funny movies- they also can play the romantic lead a bit. No one goes to the theater to see a Paul Rudd movie. Hopefully Paul Rudd won’t have his career fall off a cliff like Gutes- I think he has more dramatic range.
Comparisons never work 100%. To me, Rudd has a lot more acting talent than Guttenberg. Rudd is a funny guy. Guttenberg was never really funny on his own. He was just standing off to the side smiling his big, inoffensive grin standing in for the audience. On the other hand, the Gutte starred in some really big hits. Rudd hasn’t really had his Cocoon or Three Men and a Baby. But I see what you’re getting at. Rudd kind of has the same goofy grin appeal. Neither of them is really a box office draw. I think Rudd will have… Read more »
I read a comment elsewhere from somebody who said that the main problem with Steve Guttenberg is that he had a certain facile, shallow, insecure quality as an actor.
Another observation in that same conversation stated that while Steve was a good looking guy, he was more “cute”. What I mean is that he didn’t really have what you could call a leading man type of face or personality. I guess that’s what the remark about women being more drawn to Tom Selleck while watching Three Men & a Baby then they would with Steve Guttenberg.
I do wonder how Steve Guttenberg would’ve fared as Scott Lang had an Ant-Man movie been made during his prime. I mean, Guttenberg did have that sort of rouge-ish charm, which I think the Scott Lang character has.
Yeah, bad way to start the week. Tony Scott really was my very favorite director. I feel awful for ripping on his films, but it was all in fun. I still feel really, really bad today, though.
I was always a Tony Scott fan. I think my first Tony Scott film was The Hunger which I enjoyed quite a bit. But, he was always a guilty pleasure. It’s a damn shame that he took his life. I feel for everyone who knew him. As a fan, I consider it a loss to film. But, I don’t feel bad for being critical of his work. He was all style and sometimes very little substance.
I agree about the style over substance. But I have always said that films should entertain us. That’s why we go to the theater…for a couple of hours of escapism. I just did a post on Con Air. There is really nothing redeeming about this movie, except that it’s mindless fun. Sometimes, mindless fun is not such a bad thing. Tony Scott was the king of empty-headed escapism…kinda like Michael Bay, but with a plot.
I almost made the Bay comparisson myself but did not want to insult the departed. But I agree, he was like Bay + talent. You could usually count on Tony Scott for mindless entertainment plus a little something more.
You put that better than I could. To take my mind off of things, I’m working on a post about the Tatra 603 in Lemony Snicket. I don’t mind talking to you about Tony, but I’m not going to post anything else about him. It doesn’t seem right. We’re about the same age, right? Do you remember being shocked by the little girl’s potty mouth in ‘Last Boy Scout’? And afterward, Tony’s films took on a much more reverent tone, it seemed, like he was sorry he’d done that. It also seemed that he was asking deeper and deeper life… Read more »
Now I’m left wondering which actor/actress in today’s crop of A-listers will be getting a whatever happened to article in 10 years.
My money is on Channing Tatum. But I don’t think it will take 10 years.
Kristen Stewart?
Good call.
I would have argued a few months ago that she was not A-list. But Snow White probably established her as a bonafide player. But I don’t think her career will survive this scandal.
It’s rather like the Meg Ryan situation, don’t you think?
Definitely!
What? Why? Seems like a funny guy. I liked 21 jump street
To be honest, I have never seen a Channing Tatum movie. My pick was almost completely at random. But based on the commercials for his movies, he strikes me as an untalented meathead. It is an admittedly uninformed opinion.
Ms. Stewart will be with us for decades to come, I hope. Her performances heartfelt, sincere, and….sorry…laughing too hard
lmao
You should check out Jump Street then, because I was sincerely surprised. The guy can poke fun at himself, and not many meatheads can do that
21 Jump Street dialogue sample:
Tatum: (to biker meth dealer) “Come on! I”ll beat your dick off!”
Biker: “Umm…what?”
Hill: “I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way.”
Tatum: “Come on! I’ll beat your dick off with both hands!”
My wife is a big Tatum fan (despite not being sure of his name). She really wanted to see 21 Jump Street (despite not really knowing what it’s about or who else is in it) so I imagine I will see it eventually.
I have heard some good things about it. Your sample dialogue jibes with what I have heard about it being a fun, raunchy comedy.
Sorry about that. Tell the kids to cover their eyes