John Landis: 80's Auteur? Great Filmmaker?
I’m managing him as my genre director in the 2011 Director’s Cup.
The first three here are top-notch films in their category, and the others are great to some extent as well.
An American Werewolf in London
The Blues Brothers
Animal House
Kentucky Fried Movie
Trading Places
Spies Like Us
Three Amigos!
Coming to America
I would choose Carpenter over Landis because I think his horror captures the 80s politically and socially. But then again I tend to seriously devalue comedies in general and only like two Landis films. If all of Landis’ films were as sharp as Trading Places then I think he would have been an important 80s auteur for sure.
Few movies have ever been as funny as Animal House. The Blues Brothers is a one-of-a-kind classic. Trading Places isn’t quite as great as the other two, but pretty damn close.
Three great movies = great filmmmaker.
The first two being products of the seventies, however, I don’t particularly associate him with the eighties.
It’s hard to decide what film killed his career – his Sylvester Stallone crime comedy Oscar, his vampire film Innocent Blood (not that bad as I recall), Beverly Hills Cop III, his Tom Arnold vehicle The Stupids, or his Blues Brothers 2000. What an unbelievably impressive string of crap. If filmmakers had licenses, his would have been permanently revoked for serious malpractice.
I think “80s [Hollywood] filmmaking” is probably way too broad to represent with a single filmmaker (or even a few filmmakers). I’d sort of lump Landis in with a group of directors that would include Zemeckis, Joe Dante, John Hughes, Rob Reiner, “Savage” Steve Holland, and a few others.
Not even remotely a great director, he’s had a couple of pretty good movies. There’s no denying the brilliance of ANIMAL HOUSE, but his later work has been uneven, with only flickers of interest — nothing else he’s done comes within light years of ANIMAL HOUSE.
I have a hard time judging the artistic merits of Landis’ films because I find them a bit juvenile and crass at times (and not very funny). On the other hand, there is a certain zaniness that is interesting and a campy/trashy quality that might make his films artistically interesting and successful.
Would some of you see him in a similar vein as say, John Waters, John Carpenter or even the Marx Brothers?
@Brad S
What makes those films great for you?
@Roscoe
What separates Animal House from the other films?
@ Jazz – The Marx Brothers are the perfect analogy. Their formula was to bring an ethnic sensibility of chaos into an upper crust “sophisticate” environment. Landis, along with Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis and the original SNL crew followed in that tradition, but replaced Jewish immigrants with the youth drug culture of the seventies.
Note that the first thing Animal House does is set up the austere setting of the university. It’s not a wacky place. It’s taken seriously, so that when the anarchists invade, it means something. Ditto the golf course in Caddysahck, the army in Stripes and Wall St. in Trading Places. The Blues Brothers has the added element of fantastic music.
What it all comes down to though is, how funny are the comedians? John Belushi is nothing short of brilliant in Animal House in a way that Adam Sandler can never hope to be. (think of the ladder scene!) Trading Places remains the best showcase of Eddie Murphy’s talents on film.
What it all comes down to though is, how funny are the comedians?
I think you’re on to something here. I think this is the reason I like Bill Murray in those Reitman(?) directed films (Stripes, Ghostbusters and Meatballs) more than some of Landis’ stuff. (I do think the sensibilities of Landis, Reitman and Ramis are very similar.)
I don’t know if I agree that Murphy was funniest in Trading Places. I might like him more in 48 Hours.
FWIW, of Landis’ films, I think American Werewolf in London is the most interesting. I like the blend of horror and comedy. I also like the way the film is content with not being very long.
American Werewolf was probably the first time I called a film my favorite film .. when i was younger. :)
Matt Parks’ post ^ petty much hit the nail on the head. I would add Ivan Reitman and Stuart Gordon to that list.
@Matt
For some reason, I don’t think of Reiner as an “80’s” director. I don’t think his films capture the 80’s in a way that some of the other directors you mention did. I don’t think I’ve heard of “Savage” Steve Holland. What did he do?
I think John Hughes might be a better choice (better in terms of overall quality and overall ability to capture the times). How many films has Zemeckis made? Besides Back to the Future, I don’t think of his films as having an 80’s quality to them. (Besides, Gremlins, what else has Joe Dante made?)
@Danger
What are some of the films of Stuart Gordon
An American Werewolf In London is pretty much flawless and one of the best movies of the 80’s.
Reiner made This is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand by Me_, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally during the ’80s . . . all of which seem quintessentially ’80s to me.
Zemeckis:
Used Cars (1980)
Romancing the Stone (1984)
Back to the Future (1985)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Joe Dante:
The Howling (1981)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Gremlins (1984)
Explorers (1985)
Innerspace (1987)
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
The ’Burbs (1989)
Dante is particularly interesting as a point of comparison to Landis, I think, because they both made werewolf films in ’81 and later each directed segments in Twilight Zone: The Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon.
I agree with Paule also, I would toss Ivan Reitman into that pile.
Dante and Zemeckis (not to mention Zucker) are the real hip 80s comedy directors
Landis was decent in the 80s but is turning out some good documentary work these days
Jazz — I think ANIMAL HOUSE has a terrific script that manages to be smart and funny. The cast is first rate — this is one of those weird films that shouldn’t be as good as it is. It is head and shoulders above everything else Landis has ever done — certainly better than the bloated BLUES BROTHERS. TRADING PLACES is amusing on one viewing, but very very easily forgotten. AMERICAN WEREWOLF has moments, yes, but it fizzles out pretty badly at the end. THRILLER has the distinction of being the very lamest professionaly made music video ever to become some kind of classic.
I’d say that Joe Dante is a far more interesting filmmaker than Landis. His HOWLING, GREMLINS, EXPLORERS and episode of TWILIGHT ZONE are far funnier and more anarchic and interesting than anything Landis came up with after ANIMAL HOUSE.
Yeah, if I was listing in order of preference, Dante would be at the top of the list for me.
that being said House KF Movie would almost certainly get a vote from me.
@Matt
Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally don’t feel like 80’s movies to me. They seem more like 90’s films, or not really connected to any time period (This is Spinal Tap feels more like a 70s film.)
Hmm, of the Dante films, I’ve only seen Gremlins.
I think Zemeckis might be more talented filmmaker than Landis, but Landis seems to have a stronger identity. (I personally prefer Zemeckis over Landis.) I think I could say the same about Reitman and Landis (again, I personally like Reitman more than Landis).
@Roscoe
It’s been so long since I’ve seen Animal House, so it’s hard for me to say much about it. Plus, it’s not my type of humor, but from what I remember I think it is a good film (even if it doesn’t appeal to my sense of humor as much).
American Werewolf works on several levels, and does anything but fizzle in the end. It ends as it should and sits comfortably in line with classic films in the same genre.
I also love The Howling, which has a nice satiric edge going through it. They’re both rather mean and brutal films, while still being funny and completely embrace their genre.
And if we’re talking about an American director that defines the 80s in a pop-cultural way, it’s John Hughes, though that’s not how I was approaching this thread.
You should seek out the Dante films, Jazz. He’s made some really good stuff in the ’90s (some of it for TV) as well—Matinee, and then the more overt political satires like Small Soldiers, The Second World War, his “Homecoming” installment of Masters of Horror (Looney Tunes: Back in Action not so much).
Murphy, Ackroyd and Curtis were at the height of their considerable charms in Trading Places, sure it was a throw away comedy but it was very funny and has aged very well.
American Werewolf I never cared for and The Howling was outdone by many of its sequels.
Three Amigos is a nice commentary on the silver screen and its projected heroes.
The Howling sequels were progressively more and more awful, and none had the attention to character and effects as the original.
Saw Gremilns with my daughter last year and it holds up perfectly for what it is.
DAMMIT! I FEEL OLD and Nostalgic all of a sudden. I think I’m gonna head over to my local video store and rent TEEN WOLF and PORKY’S … in BETAMAX! :D
@Matt
I’ve seen Small Soldiers. Was that really a satire? I’m probably going to have to watch that again keeping that in mind.
John Landis holds his own as one of the most consistent 1980s Hollywood comic directors. “An American Werewolf in London” is an amazing film—those special effects, no computers!—and a fine blend of comedy and horror. To suggest otherwise, I’m sorry, is ludicrous. Some people get bummed over the ending—a downer? So friggin’ what?
Just remember, before ANY OF YOU hang crap on “An American Werewolf in London”, just think of the horrendous abortion of a sequel that followed, one of the WORST films I have endured (not even Julie Delpy’s ta-tas and cute fuzzy pits could save this one)…
How do you say “crap” in French?
As for Joe Dante, I really do recommend seeing “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” on the big screen (difficult, I know, but at least then you’re assured of the Hulk Hogan “film-within-a-film” joke cameo appearance). It’s a 1990s film, but he wrote and directed it (as opposed to just helming it, as he did with the first “Gremlins” flick). It’s much more comical than the first and has more than a few shades of Charles Chaplin’s “Modern Times” in it, maybe even inspired by Jacques Tati’s “Playtime” (I’m referring to the super-duper space age Clamp Corporation building that acts as the setting for the film). I quizzed Mister Dante about this when he visited Melbourne, straight after a screening, and the whole attack on the way modern conveniences actually become inconveniences, the overdependence on technology, was of course intentional on his part, and his main “statement” in the movie (apart from wanting to simply make an entertaining comic horror).
With the films that HOL mentioned, it is VERY difficult to not call him a great filmmaker. I would even go as far as to say that ALL the films he listed are great in their own manner, and I would even submit ‘Innocent Blood’, a fabulous concept, and a fairly enjoyable final product as well…
Considering how many fantastic movies he HAS directed, I find it odd how few people acknowledge his strengths as a filmmaker.
As for Joe Dante, I agree with Mark… A wonderful moviegoing experience, it was also scarily prescient in a lot of the things it parodied (monster cable companies). Oh yeah, it was also possibly the greatest send-up to big budget sequels ever made (Dante was obviously acknowledging how ludicrous the idea of a big time remake of ‘Gremlins’)…
With the films that HOL mentioned, it is VERY easy to not call him a great filmmaker. I would even go as far as to say that ALL the films he listed are entirely adequate in their own manner.
Great filmmakers: Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Buster Keaton, William Wyler, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Chuck Jones, etc. etc. etc.
There’s just no way that John Landis is in that league. Still, he made one really good movie that manages to delight decades after its initial release. Puts him ahead of Clint Eastwood.
“Great filmmakers:….Francis Ford Coppola…”
Yeah, sorry to bust in but if Coppola is a great filmmaker, woe to the ignorance of the many. Just like Animal House and Blues Brothers don’t make Landis a “legend”, same goes for Coppola and his epics. An Apocalypse Now and a Godfather II are NOT enough. (and that’s in spite of my love for all these 4 films…FILMS, not filmmakers)
Jazzaloha
I watched Into the Night over the weekend (It had a promising start, but then went sort of downhill afterward.), and while watching the film I wondered if Landis would be a good director to choose to represent 80’s filmmaking. I’m not a big fan of his films, but I do seem to have a consistent style and approach that warrant calling Landis an auteur. If John Carpenter made comedies, it might be a lot like Landis’ films. They both have a low-budget, campy quality to them.
Anyway, do you think Landis’ films are the best of 80’s Hollywood comedies? Who would you select instead? Do you consider a good, or even great, filmmaker? Why or why not?