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Movie Reviews
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Aykroyd keeps them laughing
The original “Saturday
Night Live” television
series was filled with many
wonderfully funny
moments. One of the
reasons for those
moments was Dan
Aykroyd.
Aykroyd began his
comedy career with the
legendary Second City
comedy troupe in 1973
and joined the Not-
Ready-for-Prime-Time
Players two years later. In
the five years Aykroyd
was on “Saturday Night
Live,” he created dozens
of hilarious characters and
participated in dozens of
hilarious skits. “The Best
of Dan Aykroyd, ” a new
release from Warner
Home Video, collects an
hour’s worth of some of
the best moments from
those five years.
Some of the best skits
from the old series came
when Aykroyd parodied
television commercials
and shows. Aykroyd tries
to sell the Bass-O-Matic, a
blender that turns fish into
a nice, chunky drink in
mere seconds. The Bass-
O-Matic skit might cause
some viewers to lose their
lunch. The Julia Child skit
is also a little sickening as
we see Aykroyd as the
French Chef trying to stop
the bleeding after she cuts
her hand while fixing
dinner.
Other commercial
parodies include Aykroyd
as Crazy Ernie, the man
who has slashed prices on
every appliance in the
store while his boss is out
of town, a man selling the
Pocket Pal, a new
electronic device that
warns airplane travelers of
mid-air collisions 10
seconds in advance, and
the famous Spanish
celebrity who admires the
rich leather interior of the
Corrida luxury car.
Aykroyd attempts to
sell the Dec-I-Bet to the
American public. The
Dec-I-Bet is a metric
alphabet that uses only 10
letters. The old A B C
song takes on a new twist
when sung in the Dec-I-
Bet style.
Former President
Richard Nixon receives
his lumps in the “Final
Days” skit Aykroyd is on
target with his
impersonation of Nixon
during the Watergate
incident.
Steve Martin and
Aykroyd are great as the
Festrunk brothers, those
wild and crazy guys from
Czechoslovakia who
await the arrival of the
American foxes they
picked up at the swinging
singles bar. Jane Curtin,
Laraine Newman, Bill
Murray and Gilda Radner
join Aykroyd for a skit
about the Conehead
family and its attempt to
celebrate Halloween by
giving fried eggs and six
packs of beer to the
neighbor’s children.
The finale of the tape
has Aykroyd as Elwood
Blues of the Blues
Brothers performing
“Rubber Biscuit ” The
song is interrupted by
short scenes from other
Aykroyd skits. You will
probably wish you could
see more of Aykroyd as
Jimmy Carter, Rod
Serling, Tom Synder and
the co-host of
“Point/Counterpoint. ”
“The Best of Dan
Aykroyd” is funny, but it
would get old after too
many viewings. The
$24.95 list price is a bit
too much to pay for
something you could only
watch about a dozen
times before you would
know all the skits by heart
and become bored with
the tape. It would
probably be best to rent
the tape from your local
video store whenever
you’re in the mood for
some good comedy.
—Review by Karl
Pallmeyer
Spielberg's 'American Tail' delights like Disney
Since the demise of Walt
Disney, the American film
industry has been in need
of great children’s films.
Steven Spielberg has
been trying to fill that gap
by making films like
“Goonies,” “Gremlins”
and“E.T.”Now
Spielberg has produced
his first animated film.
“An American Tail” is a
good animated film in the
tradition of Disney. It has
cute characters, a nice
story and some catchy
songs. Director Don Bluth
has fashioned a cartoon
that should please all
ages.
The film begins in
Shostka, Russia, in the
year 1885. The
Moskowitz family is forced
to leave its home when a
group of cossack cats
bum the village. The
family is looking forward
to moving to America, a
wonderful country where
there are no cats.
On the boat trip to
America, Fievel is
separated from his family
when he is blown
overboard. Mother and
Father Moskowitz think
Fievel is dead, but his
sister Tillie believes he
might still be alive.
Fievel does make it to
America but he has the
nearly impossible task of
finding his family. Henri,
the French eagle working
on the Statue of Liberty,
tries to help Fievel find his
family, but Fievel runs
into Warren T. Ratt and is
forced to work at a sweat
shop. With the help of
Tony, he escapes the
sweat shop and begins to
search for his family.
Despite all kinds of
trials and tribulations,
Fievel keeps searching for
his family. He comes up
with an idea to help rid
the neighborhood of all
the cats and becomes a
hero. Since this is a
children’s story, no one
should be surprised to
find that the ending is a
happy one.
“An American Tail” is a
cute and fun movie. Tiger,
the vegetarian cat, is
extremely cute and the
most lovable character in
the film. Fievel is also cute
and had already been
released as a stuffed doll a
full month before the
movie was released. It’s
obvious that Spielberg will
market the film for all it’s
worth.
The songs by Barry
Mann, Cynthia Weil and
James Homer are not bad
but are a bit too sugary.
The animation is excellent
but it doesn’t have that
innocent glow of the early
Disney films.
Although “An
American Tail” is a
childrens’ film, it might
not be fully appreciated
by some younger
audiences. Children might
wonder why the Jewish
Moskowitz family is forced
out of their Russian home.
Children might not
understand why so many
came to America or why
some children were
forced to work in sweat
shops. There are many
historical things that
parents might need to
explain to their children.
That may be good to get
children and parents
talking again.
—Review by Karl
Pallmeyer