The Fantasticks and How To Succeed in Business movies

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 1:40pm

I was wondering what people thought of these two movies. I got them both for Christmas. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the Fantasticks. With Joey McIntyre... ya just never know. In How To Succeed they left out a lot of good songs... come to think of it, they did in the Fantasticks too. What did you guys think?

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 1:54pm

I think both are missed opportunities to have done really great film versions of two great shows. "The Fantasticks" just cut way too much out, and "Succeed" changed too much of the award-winning, witty script, and cut too many songs.

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 2:00pm

The Fantsticks movie is anything but fantastick. In fact, although they gave the studio the green light to do what the pleased with it, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt were not proud of the results...

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 2:08pm

lol I am apparently a really bad judge of what a good movie is... I even like A Chorus Line... and all of you would probably want to shoot me for that. I have seen limited shows on stage, and I haven't seen any of the three of these. So, I don't really know what they could be... unfortunate.

[LaeloftheLakes]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 2:11pm

To be perfectly clear, the Fantasticks is one of my favorite shows of all time. The movie butchered it beyond compare, purely and simply. They went more mainstream in an attempt to appeal to more people, thereby taking out much of the magic of it. Also, I thought a few of the parts were horribly miscast, and not to mention the changing of "Rape" to "Abduction," a lame, sad affair.

Much worse than the adaptation of Chorus Line.

[peggysawyer]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 2:45pm

Joe Mcintyre is sexy and great!

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 2:47pm

On the DVD they have the rape song how they originally choreographed it... it was kept the same as the stage show. Don't know why they changed it... I really like Jean Louisa Kelly though... she should come back to Broadway. She is extremely talented.

[Derek]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 3:50pm

How To Succeed was a decent movie, but not nearly as great as Guys and Dolls or some others. I think if it was created today, maybe as a tv movie, it would do fairly well.

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 4:35pm

brdwaybaby17, if you like it, that's all that matters. Popular doesn't equal good, it just equals popular. Film, stage, tv, etc., are all personal things. That's what's so wonderful about them. Not a single person on the face of the earth has to like it, except you! I can easily list over a hundred films and shows that I love, that most people I know hate. And, I can list about a thousand that would be the reverse. But, so what? I like what I like and that makes them good to me.

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 5:25pm

The Fantasticks was an ok movie if you didn't know the stage show. I knew the stage show when I saw it and i thought it was screwed up.

How To Succeed wasn't a great adaptation of the WONDERFUL stage script, but was alright(it was good if you didn't know the stage show)

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 5:28pm

how to succeed is enjoyable until you've seen it on stage, or read the script. i couldn't believe that they cut happy to keep his dinner warm, coffee break, and love from a heart of gold

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 5:33pm

and "Paris Original". Although, they did film "Coffee Break", and even used it in their art work for the film. There was a great effort, at the time of the film's release on laserdisc, to find "Coffee Break" and restore it in the film; but nobody could find it. Not even director David Swift, who certainly recalled filming it!

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 6:02pm

i knew i left a number out..thanks, i never liked that they basically completely eliminated rosemary's solos save the i believe in you reprise (even though it was put before finch's in the film)

[cturtle]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 6:17pm

the HOW TO SUCCEED movie is well worth the watch to see charming ROBERT MORSE as the original PONTY

[borninaditch]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 7:08pm

My high school actually did Fantastics last year. I watched the movie w/a friend and liked it a lot. It helped a lot when it came time to do the show

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 7:33pm

I have H2$ on video. I got it in the $2 bargain bin at Meijer. I enjoy it though I am sure the stage show is much better. (Haven't seen it yet though.) I did not enjoy The Fantasticks movie though. It dragged too much and it just wasn't engaging to watch.

"How To Succeed was a decent movie, but not nearly as great as Guys and Dolls or some others."

Guys and Dolls is not a great movie in my opinion. I know some people love it, but I earnestly hope that the idea for a remake that has bounced around for a while comes to fruition. It falls flat for me. It just does not do the show justice. While I love Sinatra, he was a terrible Nathan Detroit.

[Think_about_the_sun]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 9:35pm

The Fantasticks killed me... I love the musical, and I was really hoping to see a good movie of it. I thought they completely wrecked Luisa. Maybe it's because I've only ever seen it that way, but I imagine Luisa as being a dramatic and over-the-top teenager, but I thought they gave her too much of the misunderstood heroine character - I hope I'm making sense here. They cut out the whole monologue before 'Much More', which bothered me and made the song a lot flatter. I thought the movie fell far short of the stage production. I guess they were trying to make it accessible to the non-musical obsessed public, but it seems to me that the way to do that is to make it spectacular, not just water it down.
Edit: sorry LaeloftheLakes, I just realized I wrote more-or-less the same thing about the mainstream audience as you did - I guess I should read all the posts before I post...

Updated On: 1/18/05 at 09:35 PM

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:49pm

Just a clarification,

The lyric for "It Depends on What You Pay" (the "rape" song from the FANTASTICKS) was changed in the stage show before the film was shot, and remained that way until the very last performance of the show at the Sullivan Street Playhouse. Jones and Schmidt were apparently struck with a case of political correctness sometime in the early 90's.

I've never liked the new version of the song, and much prefer the original.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:53pm

The Fantasticks movie is pretty much a disaster.

But How To Succeed, despite its cinematic flatness, is a pretty good record of the show and captures the indisputable charm and star power of Robert Morse, a unique and thoroughly captivating performer.

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 1/19/05 at 12:03am

I don't hate the film version of "How To...", but I would never call a movie that severely alters a Pulitzer Prize-winning script and cuts numerous musical numbers, "a pretty good record of the show." I adore the original play, and was even disappointed in the alterations done to the stage revival. I agree about Morse, but when I saw the original show, my favorite person in it was Michele Lee. Imagine my disappointment when I saw the film and, while she was in it, her role was cut to shreds!

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/19/05 at 3:46am

As much as I admire the singular score, I can't say I missed any of the numbers besides Coffee Break. Perfect, it may not be but the movie communicated the show so much better than the style-free "revisal," so I'll stand by my statement.

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 1/19/05 at 7:38am

Perfect, it may not be but the movie communicated the show so much better than the style-free "revisal,"

I certainly agree with that!

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/19/05 at 8:12am

I've never seen "the fantasticks" but I've heard the score, so i can't really comment on it.

I'm only familiar with "How to Succeed" because of the movie. I know Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee reprised their original stage roles for the screen, and even though Michele Lee was in the movie she wasn't the original "Rosemary". Bonnie Scott originated the role. I was always under the impression that it was faithful to the original source material.

I'm hoping to get a copy of the original book to see how it was altered. It happens to be one of my favorite movies.