Released on Feb 20, 1998 |
A beleaguered film editor steps away from the Steenbeck for what should be his smashing directorial debut, but the set becomes a battlefield between his pushy producer and the studio suits. As the production spirals out of control, the director considers changing his credit to “Alan Smithee”–but, unfortunately, that’s actually his name! So what’s he to do but steal the negatives, polarizing all of Tinseltown with the scandal? Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas’s ostensibly comic poison pen letter to the industry, so bitter it compelled this film’s own director to adopt the “Alan Smithee” pseudonym.
| Starring |
Ryan ‘O Neal, Coolio |
| Director |
Alan Smithee, Arthur Hiller |
| Run time |
DVD: 1 hr 26 mins |
| Certificate |
 |
| Genres |
Drama |
Plot
A director by the name of Alan Smithee (played by Eric Idle) has been allowed to direct Trio, a big-budget action film starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jackie Chan. However, the studio recuts the film, and when Smithee sees the results (which he describes as being “worse than Showgirls“) and realizes that he cannot use a pseudonym (because the only one allowed is “Alan Smithee”) he steals the film and goes on the run, threatening to burn it.
Released on Jan 31, 1997 |
In Sammo Hung’s MR. NICE GUY, Jackie Chan plays a popular TV chef (also named Jackie) who accidentally saves a reporter pursued by two warring gangs–one that looks like the standard Cosa Nostra types, the other a group of upstarts who could have been cast in THE WARRIORS. After the two gangs decide to come after Jackie, he drops his nice guy image and fights back.
Originally slated to be the fifth movie in Chan’s POLICE STORY series, the film is filled with Chan’s trademark physical comedy and stunts–one of which went awry and briefly confined him to a neck brace. A battle at a construction site recalls the best Keystone Cop gags, and the finale involving a 120-ton truck tops the hovercraft sequence in RUMBLE IN THE BRONX for sheer destructiveness. Filmed in English, this is the second collaboration between director Sammo Hung and Chan in the 1990s and the first time Hung directed Chan since DRAGONS FOREVER (1987). Taiwanese singer Miki Lee makes her film debut as Chan’s girlfriend, and there are cameos by Hung; his wife, Joyce Godenzi; and the Pepsi Corporation.
| Starring |
Jackie Chan, Richard Norton, Sammo Hung, Barry Otto, Joyce Godenzi, Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Peter Houghton, Miki Lee, Peter Lindsay, Karen McLymont, Vince Poletto |
| Director |
Sammo Hung |
Plot
Television journalist Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) manages to record footage of a cocaine deal gone wrong, between the Italian mob and a street gang known as the Demons. The footage shows mob boss Giancarlo (Richard Norton) killing the Demon’s leader. Diana’s partner is captured and she bumps into TV chef Jackie (Jackie Chan), who helps her escape from the gangsters. Diana later accidentally switches the videotape of the drug trade with one of Jackie’s cooking videos from a box of tapes. The mob, knowing that the tape is still out there, tracks Diana down to her home to force her to give them the tape.
The gangsters search for Jackie but are unable to capture him, so they destroy his home and kidnap his girlfriend Miki (Miki Lee). Unauthorized to partake in the kidnapping issue, Jackie is told not to interfere by the police, but does not listen. Jackie is later captured and taken to Giancarlo, and forced into an unfair fight whereby Jackie’s arms and legs are restrained with ropes held by the henchmen. After taking a serious beating, Giancarlo orders his men to kill Jackie at a construction site outside his home.
Jackie escapes and destroys the gang boss’ home by driving through it in a 120-ton mining vehicle from the nearby construction site. The authorities arrive, including Richard, but the police decided to state that they did not witness anything and that it was all just a gang battle, so Jackie goes free whilst the mobsters are arrested for possession of cocaine.
The cars destroyed during the filming of this motion picture included a Ford LTD, BMW 7-Series Mercedes-Benz SLC, two Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I cars, Cadillac Fleetwood, Lamborghini Countach Replica, Porsche 911 Carrera Targa, and a Lincoln Town Car Limousine.