{"id":1418,"date":"2024-07-29T21:53:22","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T21:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:32:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:32:43","slug":"matilda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/29\/matilda\/","title":{"rendered":"Matilda (1978)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Matilda<\/strong> (1978) American International\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 91 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated G (comic violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Daniel Mann\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Timothy Galfas\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerrold Immel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jack Woolf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 22, 1978 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Elliott Gould, Clive Revill, Harry Guardino, Roy Clark, Karen Carlson, Art Metrano, Lionel Stander, Roberta Collins, Larry Pennell, Gary Morgan, Robert Mitchum, Lenny Montana, Frank Avianca.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

NOTE TO READERS: The following is NOT a review of the 1996 comedy about the little girl with psychokinetic abilities. I\u2019ll cover that one another time. Meanwhile, let\u2019s take a look at one of the nuttiest movies of the 70s.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If nothing else, the 1978 comedy Matilda<\/strong> proves irrefutably that everybody in Hollywood was on drugs in the hedonistic 70s. It\u2019s the only logical explanation as to how it got made. Get this. It\u2019s about a boxing kangaroo. Yep, you read that right, a boxing kangaroo. No surprise, it\u2019s as silly as it sounds. And it\u2019s stupider than you can imagine.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Daniel Mann (Come Back, Little Sheba), Matilda<\/strong> is based on a novel by sports writer Paul Gallico. Believe it or not, he also wrote the books that would be adapted into The Pride of the Yankees and The Poseidon Adventure. I can\u2019t say whose brainchild it was to turn his 1970 book into a major motion picture, but stranger things have happened in Tinsel Town. Five words, John Wayne as Genghis Khan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Matilda<\/strong> was supposed to be a hit. Producer Albert S. Ruddy (The Godfather) had high hopes for it. His plan to make it the box office smash of summer \u201978 included an unprecedented number of product tie-ins including a certain fast food joint easily identified by the pair of golden arches in its logo. He also made clear that it wasn\u2019t just a kid\u2019s movie even though it was suitable for all ages. In his words, it was \u201cpossibly the most sophisticated film to ever get a G rating\u201d. The proper response to his claim consists of two letters that don\u2019t stand for bird seed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In any event, everything changed when Matilda<\/strong> failed to win the hearts of test audiences. To say the brief trial runs went poorly is a vast understatement. One San Francisco theater reported zero attendance on opening night. No lie, literally NOBODY showed up to see it. They ended up having to run it for the staff on duty that night. Upon realizing they had a potential bomb on their hands, American International cancelled its wide release and all promotions. It quickly and quietly sank into obscurity. Come fall, nobody was talking about the pugilistic marsupial.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I first saw Matilda<\/strong> on video in early \u201999. Found it while scanning the shelves at a West Coast Video frequented by my then-girlfriend. Naturally, I snatched it right up. I\u2019d wanted to see it since I read about it in The Golden Turkey Awards, my go-to reference book for bad movies written by Harry and Michael Medved. It was nominated in \u201cThe Worst Film You Never Saw\u201d category, but lost to Billy Jack Goes to Washington which I\u2019ve still never seen. It was bad alright, but that\u2019s what made it so much fun to watch. I just watched it for the second time (on Tubi) and my feelings remain exactly the same. It\u2019s funny for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The makers found the perfect way to let audiences know what they were in for with Matilda<\/strong>. Actually, it\u2019s more of a warning. It opens with a song by that most wholesome of father-daughter duos, Pat and Debby Boone. They\u2019re accompanied by a children\u2019s chorus, of course. It\u2019s called \u201cWhen I\u2019m With You, I\u2019m Feelin\u2019 Good\u201d. Two words, sap and treacle! Diabetics, consider yourselves duly warned.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Next, we\u2019re greeted by a little English guy who owns a pub in New York. His name is Billy Baker (Revill, Avanti!) and he has quite a tale to tell. He was a boxing champ in his youth, but his true happiness came from his association with Matilda, a 6\u2019 11\u201d kangaroo with a talent for boxing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s hit pause for a moment to talk about Matilda. First, he\u2019s a he despite having a girl\u2019s name. Second, it\u2019s NOT a real kangaroo. It\u2019s an actor (Gary Morgan of Pete\u2019s Dragon) in a kangaroo costume that won\u2019t fool anybody over the age of three. I guess there aren\u2019t too many real roos registered with SAG.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Getting back to Matilda<\/strong>, Billy and his pouched pal run into trouble almost immediately after arriving in the US. The sight of a kangaroo hopping down the streets of New York creates bedlam and causes the cops to take the sweet-natured animal into custody. In need of quick cash, Billy goes to see small-time talent agent Bernie Bonnelli (Gould, The Long Goodbye) who sees big money in a boxing kangaroo act. He springs Matilda from pet prison and sets his new clients up as a carnival act. That\u2019s where the fighting roo KOs heavyweight champ Lee Dockerty (Pennell of TV\u2019s Ripcord) with a single punch. It makes him a star, but brings all sorts of problems raining down on Bernie\u2019s thick head.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Not everybody is cheering for Matilda. ASPCA official Kathleen Smith (Carlson, The Octagon) wants to pull the plug on their act on the grounds that it\u2019s cruelty to animals. Would you be shocked if I told you she and Bernie end up falling for each other? I didn\u2019t think so. Crime boss Uncle Nono (Guardino, Dirty Harry) has it out for them too. It was his fighter that got knocked out. He keeps sending his guys to take care of things and they fail each time. What do you expect from a bunch of stereotypical dumb Italian hoods? A subplot has Bernie working with washed-up sports writer Duke Parkhurst to take down Uncle Nono. Duke is played by Robert Mitchum (Out of the Past) in the biggest \u201cwhat the hell is he doing in this?\u201d role of his career. Was he that hard up for a paycheck?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast also includes country singer Roy Clark as the NYC boxing commissioner (uh, okay), Art Metrano (Police Academy 2 & 3) as a cabbie who joins Team Matilda as a publicist, Lionel Stander (Hart to Hart) as Bernie\u2019s sleazy boss and brother-in-law Pinky and Roberta Collins (Death Race 2000) as Dockerty\u2019s girlfriend Tanya Six, a blonde bimbo nightclub singer with dreams of making it big in Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Matilda<\/strong> is too ridiculous to hate. It\u2019s legitimately bad, a dyed-in-the-wool stink bomb, a true cinematic gobbler. It damn near ended Gould\u2019s career. At one time, he was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. His pre-kangaroo resume includes Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, MASH, The Long Goodbye, California Split, A Bridge Too Far and The Silent Partner. His box office clout went way down after Matilda<\/strong> as did his credibility as a serious actor. Gould appears to realize it\u2019s all slipping away judging by the look of embarrassment he wears in every scene. For what it\u2019s worth, he manages to go the distance with his (fake) kangaroo co-star.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It seems unnecessarily harsh to criticize the acting in Matilda<\/strong>. Why should I? Nobody involved in this idiotic venture thinks they\u2019re doing Shakespeare. Surely the Bard could write a better screenplay than this. In his only solo outing as a writer, cinematographer Timothy Galfas (Rhinestone) ignores trivialities like plot, character development and logic. Who needs any of that when you have a boxing kangaroo? That\u2019s what audiences really want to see, right? WRONG-O! Add in some particularly sloppy direction by Mann and you have a movie nobody will line up to see.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, I can\u2019t make myself come down too hard on Matilda<\/strong>. It\u2019s completely sincere in its efforts to tell a heartfelt story with characters who all change for the better by the time its impossibly happy ending rolls around. Oops, I just spoiled the surprise ending! But yes, everybody gets a happily ever after here, even the bad guys. The worst that happens to them is being felled by a conk to the head or a swipe of the punchy protagonist\u2019s tail. What did you expect? There\u2019s not too much leeway where a G rating is concerned.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As one who appreciates bad movies, Matilda<\/strong> is a great deal of fun. Don\u2019t misunderstand, it\u2019s a terrible movie on every level. We\u2019re talking artistic, technical and everything in between. It is completely incompetent. It\u2019s also an insult to the intelligence of everybody that lays eyes on it. That\u2019s why I like it! It takes a special kind of talent to get it this wrong. You just don\u2019t see this level of dedication anymore. In closing, I\u2019d like to say I\u2019ll take a guy in a kangaroo costume over CGI any day.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matilda (1978) American International\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 91 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated G (comic violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Daniel Mann\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Timothy Galfas\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerrold Immel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jack Woolf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 22, 1978 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Elliott Gould, Clive Revill, Harry Guardino, Roy Clark, Karen Carlson, Art Metrano, Lionel Stander, Roberta Collins, Larry Pennell, Gary Morgan, Robert Mitchum, Lenny Montana, Frank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Matilda-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/2000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}