Pod Stallions 107: Movies based on TV Shows

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RSS for PodStallions Get PodStallions on Spotify “Pop quiz: What do The Flintstones, The Wild Wild West and Car 54, Where Are You? have in common? Is it that they could ALL have used more Victor Buono? Well, frankly, YES. But more importantly, they’ve all had big screen re-makes/re-imaginings for this episode! Yes, as usual, […]
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[Falstaff13]

On the topic of Wild Wild West--Victor Buono was alive when they made the two tv-movies. He's in the second one but not as Count Manzeppi. He plays someone in the US Government, while the villain is a mad scientist played by Jonathan Winters. They did have Paul Williams as Miguelito Loveless, Jr. in the first one, and that was misguided in its own ways.

That film was doomed in many ways from the start. It took a long time in development, and at the time I was on a listserv for fans of the show. Those fans, who might have been the most receptive and supportive to get this on the big screen, were instantly against almost all of the casting announcements made. They were even lukewarm initially about Kevin Kline (their consensus was Gary Sinise), but they did warm up. The decision to make a dwarf a paraplegic was a poor one in many ways, so that of course didn't help, but there was also utter hatred against Will Smith based on his race. Given the nature of the show, having a black agent wasn't impossible, but they began "citing" history as a reason this was not a good call. To me, Smith at that time fit the same kind of brash character Robert Conrad often played, and having what was then Smith's great box office magic (he was coming off both Independence Day & Men in Black) should have been a positive. Instead, they awaited the film by saying "this isn't the show we like," sight unseen, and when that group wasn't going to watch the movie, it was destined for poor reception. And then the tinkering with the film confirmed it.