Alan Smithee Films

[AlbertV]

Okay, this is not a thread about the film BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN, but this is a thread about films directed by those who had used the pseudonym Alan (or Allen) Smithee.

We know the filmmakers were not happy with their final products, but are there any you found to be a liking or had a liking to? I have two that pop up in my head that I like to this day.

Morgan Stewart's Coming Home (1987) - filmed actually in 1985, the film's original director, Terry Winsor, was replaced by Paul Aaron, who was not happy with the result of the film and used the famous pseudonym.

I'm sorry, but I actually like this film. Jon Cryer plays a senatorial candidate's son who returns home after seven years in boarding school and finds his world turned upside down. He is a horror movie fanatic, even having a "Tobe Hooper-signed chainsaw". When his domineering mother can't stop him from acting like a teenager, she conspires with her hubby's campaign manager to send him to military school. Of course, he finds love with a female horror movie fanatic (their shower scene (not totally nude) is funny as they both wear masks and scare the crap out of his mother). It's a fun film IMO.

Shrimp of the Barbie (1990) - the original director was MANNEQUIN helmer Michael Gottlieb. The film stars Cheech Marin as a Mexican-American in Australia trying to start life anew. He is given a chance to co-own a struggling Mexican restaurant run by MAD MAX's Bruce Spence and can get the money from an heiress if he poses as her fiancee. He must get down to his dirtiest so her father can pick the man she really wants, a rugby star played by ROAD WARRIOR's Wez himself, Vernon Wells.

The scene where Cheech is brushing the hair of the heiress (and of course future love interest)'s cousin is the most hysterical thing in the film. She is fixated on horses and when he speaks Spanish, she goes ballistic in a "rapist wit" kind of way.

Here is a list of the Alan Smithee films:

Fade-In / Iron Cowboy (1968), directed by Jud Taylor

Death of a Gunfighter (1969), directed separately by Robert Totten and Don Siegel

City in Fear (1980), directed by Jud Taylor

Fun and Games (1980), directed by Paul Bogart [11]

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), The Second Assistant Director credit for the first segment of the film, in which actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed in a helicopter accident during production. Rare instance where the "Alan Smithee" credit was taken by an A.D. (Anderson House according to the IMDb)

Stitches (1985), directed by Rod Holcomb

Let's Get Harry (1986), directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Morgan Stewart's Coming Home (1987), directed by Paul Aaron and Terry Windsor

Ghost Fever (1987), directed by Lee Madden

The Shrimp on the Barbie (1990), directed by Michael Gottlieb

Solar Crisis (1990), directed by Richard C. Sarafian

The Birds II: Land's End (1994), directed by Rick Rosenthal

National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995), directed by Kelly Makin with a segment credited to Smithee

Raging Angels (1995)

Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), directed by Kevin Yagher

Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off (1997), co-directed by Steve Langley

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998), directed by Arthur Hiller

Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes (1998), directed by Cass Paley

River Made to Drown In (1999), directed by James Merendino

Woman Wanted (2000), directed by Kiefer Sutherland

The MPAA ended the use of the pseudonym after Women Wanted.