Directed by ???
 

I just found out something interesting...anyone know the significance of "Alan Smithee"?

Yes i do,

It is when a director refuses to put his name to a piece of work, OR well this is the same thing, but sometimes a cut version of a movie will not have the directors name as they feel it is not their movie, but the uncut version will have the directors name, so they use that name kinda like john d.

kermie

Good on ya, Kermie!

I also heard that there are a few more names used by studios now...since "Alan Smithee" is becoming known as a sign of production problems. I don't know the other names...anyone?

Umm yeah i have heard a few more.

There is Elane Smithee (female version).
John Smith, Peter Smith and George Lucas.

These names usually mean the movie will be a complete stinker, either by being poorly made or bad production problems.

Ohh it is also a common fact that when a producer or exec producer gets the final front line credit after the director, he/she (director) has been fired before the movie was finished, or not allowed to sit in with the editing and the producer has supervised that.

kermie

<<<-- Originally posted by Kermie Klien : Umm yeah i have heard a few more.

There is Elane Smithee (female version).
John Smith, Peter Smith and George Lucas.

kermie -->>>


BWAAAAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
lol :)
Good shot at Lucas, Kermie!

Anyone see a movie called "Burn, Hollywood Burn?" It was a mockumentary about the REAL Alan Smithee, and involved him stealing his movie or something. It was really quite crapulent.

There's also a new Alan Smithee parody movie coming out soon with Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone, and Whoopi Goldberg.

I thought that every Steven Segal production was an Alan Smithee movie...

John Locke,

That was it! What do you mean coming out soon? That was out like three or more years ago. I rented it.

Three years ago! Geez..you gotta be kidding! Movies don't get to Japan very quickly from the States. "Star Wars - Episode Two" just came out here...and "Serendipity" is just now starting. And a lot of non-blockbuster movies just never make it.

Someday, when I return to the States, I'll have to lock myself in a cabin with a VCR for a couple of months and just catch up on all the great movies (a cabin next to a Blockbuster).

Make that DVD player and home theatre :)

kermie

Okay...but then you have to amend that to
Sheesh...it'll be so expensive moving back, I'll be lucky to have electricity.

Oopsy. Was not aiming for disrespect. . .the Japan part of your mini-profile did not reveal itself to my eyes. My bad. Yeah, it's old. It's bad too. I heard it was voted worst movie of the year somewhere or other. Maybe it was bad cause I couldn't follow the "plot?"

No worries, Josh. I can't imagine how many films I've missed out on in my seven years in Korea and going on one year in Japan. Korea tends to get U.S. movies within 3 months or so, but they only like blockbusters...and then all of those tend to be action movies. They're not much for "Remains of the Day" as a culture.

Also, the movies I have seen have been cut to pieces. I knew a guy in Korea who was one of the official censors. I asked him what criteria they use in editing films. He said that "upper" nudity was okay for women, but no "lower" nudity for either, all violence is okay, but that they also tended to cut out the "boring parts" of films. I asked him what they consider to be "boring." He said "You know...where people talk too much...or when there are things that Koreans don't understand or like from a cultural standpoint." Egads! I've already seen a couple of movies in Japan that I saw earlier in Korea and have noticed entirely new scenes. The Korean version of "Pulp Fiction" supposedly had 40 minutes cut out of it...just because it dealt with so many cultural taboos.

I also remember going to the theater with a friend to see "Up Close and Personal." There's one scene where Redford is telling Pfeiffer that he was married before and had a baby that died within a few days. At that point, the whole audience laughed. I was shocked! I asked my friend what they had written in the translation. She said it said something along the lines of "I can't hold on to my women." She figures they did that because the audiences there wouldn't want to hear about both a divorce and a baby dying.

Finally, one thing that irked me royally was how, at the movie theaters, they would simply turn off the projector with the last frame of the movie. They rarely showed the credits.

So, to make a long story short...I've missed out on a lot as far as movies go...which is too bad since I'm a movie fanatic.

Feel lucky for the freedom of choice and expression there. Too many Americans take that for granted.

*This public service announcement was brought to you by RVRC (Recent Victims of a Repressive Culture)

I find that amazing about the disection of movies in Korea/Japan. Having chunks cut out of movies because 'its boring' is just hard to fathom in a modern society, but I suppose if it happens there, it could happen elsewhere also.

So if you were to see a 'full' flick in Korea without censorship - would that be considered 'illegal' or an underground movie? I like action movies just as much as the next person, but to leave in violent scenes and cut away/revise scenes such as you described (the baby dying and a divorce), doesn't seem logical, but hey - it's their country!

I will not take for granted watching movies here again! Even with the babies crying, the cell phones ringing, people talking to the screens, walking in ten minutes into the picture, etc. - but at least we still show the credits!!!

Good luck!

John, what about now that you can download feature length full version films off the internet? Not sure if that's your thing or not, or if you can bear watching them on a computer monitor, but it seems like it would help your movie problem.

Here in Japan, movies aren't diced and sliced so much really. Korea was just an extreme example. But they do cut a bit here. I was watching "The Last Picture Show" last night with a friend and they cut out the entire scene on the pool table and a lot of the swimming pool scene. So, if I hadn't seen it before, it would have been a bit confusing to follow.

The biggest thing in Japan is the time lag before movies make it here. Never understood why that is...I guess they've just clamped the lid on "outside" competition in movies and only let select movies in.

Downloading from the web is one idea...but I have to admit I'm not too keen on watching a whole feature length movie on a computer monitor. What I've been doing the past seven years is having friends that go home, or when I go home, picking up lots of DVDs and bringing them back...or ordering through Amazon. Of course, that's limited by how many I can afford to buy.

The one advantage over here, though, is the "all region" DVD player I have...I think they're not so common in the States. Could be wrong now, though.

John,
I have one of those all region DVD players also, they are great, I picked up a copy of Death Race 2000 and Dogtown and Z-boys on DVD when I went back home.

Although the movies get over late, you forgot to tell people how you can order a draft beer at the snack bar. When I saw a movie the first time in Japan, back in '91, I got a nice cold beer in a glass from the snack bar, they now serve them in paper cups. You could even walk in with a pizza and the staff wouldn't blink. I've walked in carrying a large bag of Micky D's and while eating a burger as I gave the staff my ticket. But I do miss the Raisenets, but I found an import store near the theater so I buy a bag of chocolate covered raisins, can't see a movie without them.

I'm getting my 12mb ADSL modem today, so I'll be downloading more stuff off the net, so far I've been downloading episodes of the new star trek series, Enterprise. I burn them to a cd and pass them to my other trekkie friends. Recently got a AVI to Quicktime converter for OS X so I can finally see AVI movies if I really need to see something. which reminds me now I can download several other tv shows since most are put out as AVI files.

But seeing a whole movie on my computer doesn't go well with me, I'd much rather try to get the movie on DVD and then watch all the extra stuff they put in, interviews, making of, etc...

See http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Smithee,%20Alan

Okay now, here's a relatively easy trivia question for you... one of our DV Info Net Community moderators, the spry and agile Mr. Charles Papert, SOC, was the Steadicam operator on an Alan Smithee film. IMDB will not readily reveal the answer. Name it!

chorizo most dvd-rips or episodes or whatever on the net are in DIVX format, which is wrapped by .avi.

http://www.divx.com has the codec for PC and MAC, so no conversion needed.

kermie

Oooooh...ooooh (John waving his hand from the back of the class)...I know!

American History X! What do I win?

Thaaat's right, John... the correct response is American History X. Tell him what he's won, Gene!

"A trip to Japan!"

Thank you for playing!

Well, as I remember the director of American History X (Tony Kaye) wanted to remove his name, but he disqualified himself from being able to do so. The DGA apparently has specific guidelines about this sort of thing, one of which being that the director should not bad-mouth the producers or the film publically which he most certainly did, so they would not allow him to take his name off. Incidentally, he was pushing to have his credit read "Directed by Humpty-Dumpty". He's nuttier than a fruitcake, that guy.