People kept telling me how great this movie is. One even said it would be in my top 10 after I saw it. It may be in my top 10 all-time worst films. A lousy script with few laughs. The acting was horrible, led by the guy who played Dante. I'm sure it happended somewhere, but cited for selling ciggarettes to a 4 year old? Come on.
Reviews
4 Reviews
The Flamingo Rising
(2001 TV Movie)
Enjoyable family movie
4 February 2001
The movie is the story of Abraham Jakob Lee, an adopted Korean child. His father, Hubert T. Lee, owns and operates the largest drive-in theater, The Flamingo, located on the eastern shores of North Florida. It sits next to Turner Knight's funeral parlor/house. Hubert and Turner feud over the Flamingo, while Abraham falls for Turner's daughter, Grace. Brian Benben (as Hubet), received third billing, yet carries the film with his humor.
As goes with most movies based on novels, the book was better. The author, Larry Baker, admitted that he was not pleased with the screenplay. The screenplay certainly lacked depth, but what's new with TV movies?
Some of the characters names were changed. The author was not happy, but he said the writers couldn't get permission from people of the same names. The Knights names were changed from the Wests. Abraham's middle name in the book was Isaac.
The movie was also cleaned up since it was a Hallmark production. There was plenty of sexual interaction between the kids who worked at the movie theater which also would have provided a better understanding of why Abe and Alice were close. There was also NO smoking on the set, which is ironic since it was 1968.
The movie was shot on location in Marineland and St. Augustine. (Marineland is a city in Flagler County, FL, and has a park of the same name.)
As goes with most movies based on novels, the book was better. The author, Larry Baker, admitted that he was not pleased with the screenplay. The screenplay certainly lacked depth, but what's new with TV movies?
Some of the characters names were changed. The author was not happy, but he said the writers couldn't get permission from people of the same names. The Knights names were changed from the Wests. Abraham's middle name in the book was Isaac.
The movie was also cleaned up since it was a Hallmark production. There was plenty of sexual interaction between the kids who worked at the movie theater which also would have provided a better understanding of why Abe and Alice were close. There was also NO smoking on the set, which is ironic since it was 1968.
The movie was shot on location in Marineland and St. Augustine. (Marineland is a city in Flagler County, FL, and has a park of the same name.)
Midnight Madness
(1980)
Not quite as good as remembered
4 February 2001
I remember HBO running this movie all the time. A friend and I had looked into buying it in 1996 and it was about $70. Borders had it in 2001 for $10 so I got it. If anybody but Disney had done this movie, this would have a been a great flick. It's wholesome enough for a kid, but not for a teen or young adult. There are prime opportunties for cursing and nudity.
Taxi
(1978–1983)
One of the classics
18 December 2000
Without a doubt, one of the funniest tv shows ever. This show is one of the precursors to Cheers and then Seinfeld. The show was character driven and the actors played them to perfection. One of the most amazing things about the show was how there was so much sexual talk and yet the words "have sex" were almost never mentioned (a la the Contest Seinfeld episode where the word masturbation was never used). To correct a previous review, Louie was the dispatcher, not the owner. I believe Mr. McKenzie was his boss.
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