Maurice Jarre (1925-2009)

Maurice Jarre, the great composer, has passed away.

This may be his most famous composition.



David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

And there was also:



DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.

He worked regularly with Lean, as well as Peter Weir, with his memorable scores for WITNESS and DEAD POET'S SOCIETY as well as THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.



Love this selection from DEAD POET'S SOCIETY. I only saw the film once, but listening to this, I want to see it again right away.

There was also FATAL ATTRACTION, GHOST, heck even MANDINGO, FIREFOX and YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE. He did it all.

But that score for LAWRENCE was the perfect companion to Lean's images. One of the greatest films of all time, and one of the greatest scores.

Maurice Jarre will be missed. His music will never be forgotten.

FORGOTTEN FILM: ESCAPE (1990)

ESCAPE is a film that I don’t know if anyone has heard of. As I often ask, can it be forgotten if it was never seen in the first place?

It has been listed in video guides for years, as being the last film starring former Disney star Kim Richards. Released in 1990, it was her sole adult role.

Most believe 1985’s TUFF TURF was her final film. But not only did Kim star in ESCAPE, she also produced it, with a script written by her then husband. Her sister Kyle also appears. And, while I’m sure she didn’t let the Disney lawyers know, the title, along with some plot points (including the fact that Kim and her brother have sort of telepathic powers), could be shameless ways to tie in with two of her most famous films.

The story opens with a journalist witnessing a woman being attacked by three men on a bridge in a small North Carolina town. When he tries to intervene, he is killed.

The journalist’s sister, played by Kim, goes to the town to find out what happened. Was her brother killed by “hobos” as the locals say? Was it by the spirit of Lydia (Kyle Richards), a ghost who haunts the bridge? Or did the evil land baron, Gabriel LaFontaine (Judson Earney Scott of V), have something to do with it?

Soap opera star Kin Shriner motorcycles through town and helps her. Oh yeah, there is also a “special” townsperson named Zoka (Kim Milford) who wanders around like RAIN MAN.

This is one of those films that, half an hour into it, I found myself picking up a book and quickly forgetting the TV was on. And this was even though I wanted to see it for 15 years. The story continued, there were chase scenes in the dark, through drainage pipes, and big explosions at the end, but I had no interest in it.

I can see why no one has heard of it. There really is no reason to see it, even for those curious as to what Kim would have been like as an actress if her career continued.

What is most interesting about the film is the fact that it has a 1988 copyright yet is listed as a 1990 film. It sat on a shelf for two years.

It was released theatrically (if it ever was) and on VHS by Quest.

Quest is a company that I’ve been familiar with as they set up shop at Universal Studios Florida when it first opened in 1990. They began filming movies on the Orlando lot. On tours of the studio in the early days, you would often see one of their films being made (I saw part of the Dedee Pfeiffer film KING'S RANSOM aka SHOOT being filmed on one trip).

Only one of these, the killer monkey film SHAKMA with Christopher Atkins, has made it to DVD. Maybe that was because of the title (which for years after release was mocked in the Orlando Sentinel). Two of the studio's other big films, THE DREAM TRAP with Kristy Swanson and THE SPRING, are still MIA on DVD.

Living in Florida in the early 90’s, I was always hoping that the studio would take off. But, it didn’t. ESCAPE, which was not shot in Orlando, was one of their last films. It must have been a completed film they picked up for distribution.

Quest had a pretty poor VHS release history. I never saw any of their films for rent in stores, but have seen many of them in the years since on Ebay or on the used section of Amazon. They all open with the old commercial for Universal Studios Florida. If only they had been a success.

And one other thing, check out that video cover at the top. I guess that is supposed to be Kim. Does it even look like her? She didn’t change that much in appearance since TUFF TURF. They just found some generic blond girl and put her on the cover. I don’t think that is Kin Shriner either.

Come to think of it, if that is how Quest handled VHS releases, no wonder they are out of business.

While I wish I could say ESCAPE is a forgotten gem of the past, it isn’t. I guess it is safe to call TUFF TURF Kim’s final film, at least before the recent resuming of her acting career.

FORGOTTEN TV: HELLO LARRY (1979-1980)

HELLO LARRY had one of my favorite theme songs in TV history.

Well, Hello Larry
Hello Larry
You talk to people all day for a living
Hello Larry
But all those easy answers you are giving
Are you really living your life that way?
Portland is a long way from L.A.
A long way

I never saw the show other than when it aired, for two seasons from January 1979 to April 1980. Yet, throughout the 80’s, into the 90’s, I found myself singing it.



The show starred McLean Stevenson. He left M*A*S*H to star. He played Larry Adler, a radio talk show host who moves to Portland from L.A. with his two daughters after being divorced. At the radio station, his producer was Joanna Gleason and the station’s engineer was George Memmoli.

The reason I watched was because one of his daughters, Ruthie, was played by Kim Richards. I think I saw her in this before any of her Disney films. Because of LARRY, she became one of my favorite actresses. (You can read more about Kim here in my "What Ever Happened To" story.)

His other daughter, Diane, was originally played by Donna Wilkes, who would later play ANGEL in the first of the vigilante hooker films. Like in the ANGEL films, she would be replaced in the second season. Krista Errickson took over the role.



The show was not a hit. For the second season, they brought in new characters. Meadowlark Lemmon appeared. John Femia (of SQUARE PEGS) also joined the cast.

NBC was always trying to do things to boost ratings. There were several cross-over episodes with DIFF’RENT STROKES, where Larry and his family visited the Drummonds. One was a Thanksgiving episode where the LARRY cast went to New York. In another, Mr. Drummond was buying Larry’s radio station, and the STROKES cast visited Portland. These episodes turned up in syndication, which is the main way people have seen the show.



Here is Kim Richards in 2005 talking about the series.

In all, 35 episodes aired. For some reason, episodes aired in South America in the 90’s. Sony has the rights, like they do with DIFF’RENT STROKES.

Maybe compared to MASH, it wasn’t a great series. But as far as 70’s sitcoms go, it wasn’t a bad show. It doesn’t deserve the disdain that is usually reserved for it.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: KIM RICHARDS

If you were a male who grew up in the 1970’s, chances are you had a crush on Kim Richards. She was one of the decade's most popular younger actresses.

Born in 1964, she began acting in the sitcom NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR in 1970. The show lasted three seasons and played in syndication long after.

She starred in many more TV series, including another series, HERE WE GO AGAIN in 1973. There were episodes of THE F.B.I., EMERGENCY, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO.


In 1975, she would be essentially adopted by Disney and become their star. That was the year ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN was released. It was a very popular film, playing for years after on TV. She also starred in the 1976 Disney film NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN (which seemed to play 24 hours a day in the early days of cable). There was also the 1978 sequel, RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN for the studio.

In between the Disney films, there were episodes of FAMILY, THE ROCKFORD FILES, JAMES AT 15 and POLICE STORY. She was also killed off early on in John Carpenter’s ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13.


In 1977’s THE CAR, the James Brolin and killer car film, she starred with her sister Kyle Richards. In 1978 there was the killer dog film DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL in which she appeared with her WITCH MOUNTAIN co-star Ike Eisenmann.



Since I never saw the WITCH MOUNTAIN films theatrically, I believe that I first saw Kim as Ruthie Adler, McLean Stevenson’s daughter in the 1979-1980 sitcom HELLO, LARRY. While it was not popular in the ratings, I never missed it because of her. There were tie in episodes with DIFF'RENT STROKES. (You can read my Forgotten TV story on HELLO, LARRY here).

After the show went off the air, she continued in TV with episodes of ALICE, CHiPS, THE LOVE BOAT, MAGNUM P.I., and THE DUKES OF HAZZARD.


In 1984 she starred in MEATBALLS PART 2. It was a pretty terrible sequel. Better was her next film, 1985’s TUFF TURF with James Spader and Robert Downey Jr. She was the best known of the three at the time.

She took a few years off before starring in a 1988 film written by her then husband called ESCAPE. Her sister Kyle also starred. The film was barely released in 1990 and even today is nearly impossible to find on VHS. (You can read my Forgotten Film story on ESCAPE here.)

And that was pretty much it.


So, What Ever Happened To Her?

Kim took time off to be with her family. She had her first child in 1986, during her first hiatus. Today, she has four children.

There is one interesting bit of trivia about her.

Her sister, Kathy Richards married Rick Hilton. She had a few children, one of them named Paris.

Yes, Paris Hilton is Kim’s niece.

After hearing that, I’ve found it hard to criticize Paris. I liked Kim so much I felt bad about making Paris jokes.

Now that her kids have grown, Kim has started to return to acting (which is one of the reasons why I am only writing this column now, since she hasn't disappeared).


She played Christina Ricci’s mom in BLACK SNAKE MOAN. As the director said on the commentary track, he was also a big fan of hers growing up and wanted her for the role. She agreed.

Kim will also appear in the upcoming RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN as a waitress.



Here is a very good interview with Kim from 2007.

EDIT 12-6-10: As I write this, Kim is a cast member of the current season of REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS! She and her sister Kyle appear.

She is now a single mom. It appears that she retired from acting when she had her first daughter.

The show is a must see for her fans.

FORGOTTEN FILM: MEATBALLS 3 (1987)

The original MEATBALLS was very popular. It aired frequently, even on network TV as a Movie of the Week, throughout the 80’s.

The sequel, MEATBALLS PART 2, while a terrible film (space aliens? Really?), also seemed to air quite often on cable.

1992's MEATBALLS PART 4 turned up on cable in the 90’s. Even worse than part 2, it had one funny line (at the end, star Corey Feldman yells “I was in GOONIES!”. Now you have no reason to see it).

MEATBALLS 1 and 4 are out on DVD. Part 2 isn’t on DVD, but has turned up on cable in recent years. I believe Sony has the rights.

What I wasn’t aware about Part 2 is, while the existing film is PG-rated, mainly geared to younger audiences (hence, the space alien), it was originally intended to be a hard R rated film. It’s IMDB page has a shot by shot breakdown of all the missing scenes. According to that listing, Richard Mulligan sued to have the film released in the PG version. I don’t know if that is true, but it is more interesting than the existing film.

If you know your math, you may realize that I have left out a film in the series. That would be MEATBALLS 3. Does anyone even know there was a MEATBALLS 3? The film is one of the truly forgotten films of the 1980’s.

I remember it playing theatrically in 1987. It played at my multiplex. I remember the poster hanging in the window and waiting in front of it for a ride home.

But, after playing theatres, and being released on VHS by IVE Home Video, it has disappeared. It didn’t get much of a cable run either. I once saw part of it on USA UP ALL NIGHT, but that was it. It hasn’t turned up on cable in recent years.

This is all surprising since the star of the film is current heartthrob Patrick Dempsey. He made this before CAN’T BUY ME LOVE, even though it is essentially the same character. There is even a denerdization make over montage.

Dempsey plays Rudy. Yes, the Chris Makepeace character from the first film (and you can read more about Makepeace here). He arrives at Camp Northstar, yes the same camp from the first. He is supposed to meet Tripper, yes, the Bill Murray character from the first film.

Sounds promising, right? At least they are building on the first film. I don’t think Part 2 had anything to do with the first other than being set at a summer camp.

Once he gets to camp, he finds out that Tripper has sold it. Tripper has gone off to fulfill his dream, managing a mud wrestling team That fits in with the Murray character, doesn’t it?

Well, that is about the end of anything of promise in the film.

There is no longer any camp. It is now a marina on a lake. Rudy gets a job pumping gas.

Ok, are you ready for the next part? If you thought the space alien in part 2 was bad, get ready for this.

Sally Kellerman appears as Roxy DuJour, an “actress” killed on the set of her latest film: “E.A.T. ME 2: THE SEXTRA TERRESTRIAL” (more space aliens, remember, E.T. was very popular). She arrives in heaven, only to be told that she has to do a good deed in order to make up for her life on Earth. So, she has to help Rudy meet a girl.

Instead of space aliens, we now have ghosts. Kellerman arrives and only Demspey can see her. She gives him tips on meeting women. Everyone around him, who can’t see her, just thinks he is talking to himself.

I could go on to describe what happens, but honestly, nothing does. It is a very dull film. Maury Chaykin plays the leader of a gang. Shannon Tweed plays “the love goddess”, the protected wife of the owner of the marina.

The movie poster openly proclaims that the film contains two songs by Loverboy. Even if you love the band (and I don't mind them) I don't think that is enough to get you through the film.

Of most interest is the fact that Caroline Rhea was an extra in the film. I didn’t notice her. I spent more time looking for her than caring about what was going on in the film. Although, it was the IMDB that said she was in the film. The IMDB also says that Charles Durning was St. Peter, only uncredited. He wasn’t. In fact, the St. Peter character was credited to Al Waxman.

The film was released to theatres by the long defunct Moviestore. It was a Canadian production. Director and co-writer George Medeluk has done a lot of work in TV since.

Interesting to note, another of the writers of the film is Michael Paseornek. Paseornek would go on to create Cinepix Film Properties in the US. CFP later became what is now known as Lions Gate Films. He is the President of the company.

Lions Gate has the rights to many old IVE Home Video releases, I might think that they have the rights to this. Paseornek may very well be keeping this off of DVD. I can’t imagine he is all that proud of it.

With Patrick Dempsey starring, and it being a MEATBALLS film, I would think that it might have some audience that would buy it blind. The fact that it isn’t on DVD may be a good thing.