Hollywood, the plot of land that runs through Southern California from Western Avenue to La Brea has taken on a legend all of its own. Movies may have their premiers there but most are made elsewhere. The Oscars are held there (having been in other parts of the L.A. basin) and so when you discuss the movie industry, somehow the ideal of Hollywood comes up, an adjective rather than a location. In 1987, practically all of the movie industry showed up to pay tribute to the ideal of the movie industry if not the district.
This is less on the track of land and more on the history of movies, and it's jampacked with stars: legendary ones, notorious ones, flashes in the pan and now has-beens. At times, it seems to be headed into pretentious overload, only really purposeful as a fundraiser for the Motion Pictures Hospital and Home, giving Katharine Hepburn the chance to appear in a previously taped segment. A long tribute to "the duke", John Wayne, is moving, and tributes to stunt men, special effects, horror stars, comic masters and the message film are interesting and profound. But an overabundance of musical numbers makes this somewhat self congratulatory in their excess.
This is the opportunity to see Liza Minnelli sing and dance as Charlie Chaplin in the longest opening number ever. "Hundreds of Girls" from "Mack and Mabel" becomes the glue to hold together a tribute to Busby Berkeley. A lengthy parody of movie musicals is elegantly staged but overstuffed with TV personalities and has-beens. Then, Ann Miller and a bunch of talented male dancers shake the blues away, leading to a bizarre display of actors from TV and film, some of them appearing a bit tipsy. The over applause of the audience is distracting and even a bit obnoxious.
So if you want to catch brief glimpses of the hundreds of stars in various states of exposure (publicity for some of them in new films) this is a lengthy and often frustrating special. It succeeds in its efforts to entertain, but when you really think about it, the entire setup seems s lengthy "Happy Birthday to Me', "Aren't I special?" sort of feeling about it. After a while, it's a shameless plug and needs to stop putting so much emphasis on spectacular. Subtlety is not this special's high point.
This is less on the track of land and more on the history of movies, and it's jampacked with stars: legendary ones, notorious ones, flashes in the pan and now has-beens. At times, it seems to be headed into pretentious overload, only really purposeful as a fundraiser for the Motion Pictures Hospital and Home, giving Katharine Hepburn the chance to appear in a previously taped segment. A long tribute to "the duke", John Wayne, is moving, and tributes to stunt men, special effects, horror stars, comic masters and the message film are interesting and profound. But an overabundance of musical numbers makes this somewhat self congratulatory in their excess.
This is the opportunity to see Liza Minnelli sing and dance as Charlie Chaplin in the longest opening number ever. "Hundreds of Girls" from "Mack and Mabel" becomes the glue to hold together a tribute to Busby Berkeley. A lengthy parody of movie musicals is elegantly staged but overstuffed with TV personalities and has-beens. Then, Ann Miller and a bunch of talented male dancers shake the blues away, leading to a bizarre display of actors from TV and film, some of them appearing a bit tipsy. The over applause of the audience is distracting and even a bit obnoxious.
So if you want to catch brief glimpses of the hundreds of stars in various states of exposure (publicity for some of them in new films) this is a lengthy and often frustrating special. It succeeds in its efforts to entertain, but when you really think about it, the entire setup seems s lengthy "Happy Birthday to Me', "Aren't I special?" sort of feeling about it. After a while, it's a shameless plug and needs to stop putting so much emphasis on spectacular. Subtlety is not this special's high point.