In his comments about the remake of THE GOONIES, Joe Valdez mentioned that the original would never be as good as a book like John Fitzgerald's THE GREAT BRAIN.
And, he is right.
THE GREAT BRAIN was very popular back in the late 70's and early 80's. Like the Beverly Cleary books and the Encyclopedia Brown books, I loved them all.
I also remember some time in the early 80's during vacation, going to a school in another town where they had a showing of a film version of THE GREAT BRAIN. All I remember about it was it starred one of the Osmonds (Jimmy) and I believe there was a scene where someone stepped on a nail and died or almost died from infection. It has been quite a while so the details are hazy.
Yet, other than that showing in 16mm in a school auditorium, I never saw the film again. I don't think it ever was released on VHS or DVD. And, I never saw it on TV.
There is hardly anything on the IMDB page for the film. There are rumors in the message boards that there were legal reasons why it never aired again.
I found a movie poster of it on Ebay (it is copy protected so I can't post it here). It looks like it was an Osmond family production, with a few members of the family starring and producing. I don't see any movie company listed, so they might have self distributed it.
It is funny that a film like this, based on a very popular book, would disappear.
Maybe this would deserve a remake more than THE GOONIES. If only to get people reading the books again.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
FORGOTTEN FILMS: THE GREAT BRAIN (1978)
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7 comments:
I saw this movie when I was a kid. It was great. I've looked everywhere for a copy and have had no luck. It's too bad. I'd have liked to get it for my kids/grandkids to watch.
I never saw the film, but, I, too, loved those books. I believe it wa part of the Dell Yearling paprbound books series (like Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, etc.), and I lived for those Yearling books when I was a kid. I still enjoy collecting thme now (I know, pretty sad... :))
Many (five? ten?) years ago, I mentioned my love for these books and that movie. Being only computer semi-literate, my friends checked for the movie on EBay for me. The only thing they found was a reel-to-reel version of the movie. Maybe I should have pulled the trigger.
It just so happens that in 1978 I was 15 years old and played the role of Basil Kokovinis in The Great Brain. It has shown a few times here in Utah since then but I have never been able to find a video version of it of any kind.
I just wrote this column on The Great Brain and include info about the movie at the end. Doug Gibson
http://www.standard.net/live/opinion/topofutahvoices/177671//
And I went to school with Tim that played Basil and John Bishop. I remember the movie. Too bad it isn't available. Guess I'll have to add the books to my library again.
I think I have a copy of this on VHS from a TV broadcast. I will try to find it. I loved the books and remember waiting all week to see the movie when I saw it listed in the TV Guide. As I recall, the movie was not bad but lacked the verve and comedic timing of Fitzgerald's prose.
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