An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998)

User Rating:

3.3/10   

Directors:

Arthur Hiller
Alan Smithee

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

20 February 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The movie Hollywood doesn't want you to see

Plot:

Filmmaker Alan Smithee finds himself the unwilling puppet of a potentially bad, big budget action film which he proceeds to steal the reels and leave the cast and crew in a frenzy.

Plot Keywords:

Box Office Flop | Hollywood California | Fake Documentary | Amazing Grace Hymn | Film In Film

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Ryan O'Neal	...	James Edmunds
Coolio	...	Dion Brothers
Chuck D.	...	Leon Brothers
Eric Idle	...	Alan Smithee
Richard Jeni	...	Jerry Glover
Leslie Stefanson	...	Michelle Rafferty
Sandra Bernhard	...	Ann Glover
Cherie Lunghi	...	Myrna Smithee
Harvey Weinstein	...	Sam Rizzo
Gavin Polone	...	Gary Samuels
MC Lyte	...	Sista Tu Lumumba
Marcello Thedford	...	Stagger Lee
Nicole Nagel	...	Aloe Vera
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Bill Bardo
Erik King	...	Wayne Jackson

Also Known As:

An Alan Smithee Film (USA) (working title)
Burn Hollywood Burn (UK) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language and some sexual humor.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Singapore:R(A) | UK:15 | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

La Brea Tar Pits, Hancock Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinergi Pictures Entertainment

Trivia:

After Arthur Hiller had his credit changed to Alan Smithee, the Director's Guild of America unregistered the name Alan Smithee, therefore this film is the last film to ever bear that pseudonym.

Quotes:

Alan Smithee: [beating his head] I cut the picture. They cut the picture. I didn't cut the picture. They cut the picture...

Movie Connections:

Features Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)

Engagingingly funny, but for a limited audience

If you are in the feature film industry, what makes this picture so funny is the close parody... some of the characters appear to be modeled on real people. It would not be too far a stretch of the imagination to believe that two of the characters are parodies of Peter Guber and John Peters of Sony Pictures. Read the true story of these two guys' careers, documented in the book, Hit and Run, then watch Burn Hollywood Burn again. You will probably find the film twice as entertaining as the first time you watched it. After having last watched the film 7 years ago, I bought the DVD this week because I wanted to see if I could grab the title track that I liked, and I also clearly remembered (and liked) the graffiti art that was drawn for the movie title. Once I got the DVD in my hands, though, I watched the film all the way through again, and enjoyed it every bit as much as the first time I saw it.