kelvin@ut-sally.UUCP (Kelvin Thompson) (07/09/85)
Beware of French Rip-Offs!!
by Kelvin Thompson
What the Japanese have done to American automotive and electronics
industries the French are now attempting to do to the American
entertainment industry. The French film industry is trying to undercut
high-quality, American-made movies with cheap imitations.
For exapmle, just as the major comedy of the summer,
_The_Man_With_One_Red_Shoe_, is about to hit theaters on the heels of a
massive publicity blitz, a French imitation of the movie,
_The_Tall_Blond_Man_With_One_Red_Shoe_, is showing up at video rental
houses and local "art" theaters. But this summer is hardly the first
time the French have pulled this devious trick to add a few dollars to
the U.S. trade deficit.
For years Frech industrial spies have somehow been able to infiltrate
American movies in production, pilfer rough drafts of scripts, get them
across the Atlantic, and then crank out low-budget imitations in
soundstage sweatshops along the Rivera. Big-budget movies like
_Superman_III_ and _Dune_ are able to spend enough on stringent security
measures to keep French spies from nabbing plot, dialog, and
characterization. But smaller-budget movies -- often light-hearted
comedies that are America's most special contribution to world cinema --
simply cannot stave off determined French infiltration.
And so the profits of these smaller films are seriously eroded.
Sometimes the French change the name of the film, as they did with
_Pardon_Mon_Affaire_, a blatant rip-off of Gene "Willie Wonka" Wilder's
amusing _The_Woman_in_Red_. But usually they have the gaul to use
virtually the same title as the American-made original. Hence we have
the French _Dear_Inspector_ undermining Brenda "Midnight Cowboy"
Vacarro's brilliant performance in the TV-movie _Dear_Detective_; an
ineffectual rendition of Richard "American Gigolo" Gere's _Breathless_ in
the French movie of the same name; and finally the _Red_Shoe_ fiasco this
summer.
How can Americans detect these imitations in the future? Occasionally,
as with _Pardon_Mon_Affaire_, the title of the movie is badly misspelled,
indicating hasty post-production. And almost invariably the actors speak
so incoherently in the movie itself that the filmmakers are forced to
place captions at the bottom of the screen (even the best French actors,
like Francois Truffaut and Catherine Deneuve, are able to get only bit
parts in American movies).
Inventiveness and originality have always been uniquely American traits
-- it is "Yankee Ingeniuity" that has made the American film industry the
greatest in the world -- and American audiences should show their
appreciation of these traits by making an effort to see movies in their
original forms. American audiences may be tempted by the lower prices of
video rental stores and run-down art theaters, and they may think they
are getting the same product inside a similar wrapping, but by viewing
tawdry copies of Original Art, Americans are only undermining the very
values they hold dear.
lsmith@h-sc1.UUCP (Liz Smith) (07/09/85)
> > > Beware of French Rip-Offs!! > > by Kelvin Thompson > Thanks Kelvin, for making me laugh (at 9am yet) once again. I'm glad to see that those all-too-serious netlanders haven't chased you away. Liz Smith
tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler) (07/10/85)
Also watch out for "The Man Who Loved Women". I found these two side by side at the video store last week. One French, the other US. Its Burt Reynolds vs. Francious Truffo(whatever). TCW
rance@cornell.UUCP (W. Rance Cleaveland) (07/10/85)
> > > > > > Beware of French Rip-Offs!! > > > > by Kelvin Thompson > > > > Thanks Kelvin, for making me laugh (at 9am yet) once again. I'm glad to see that > those all-too-serious netlanders haven't chased you away. > > Liz Smith Hear, hear! Rance Cleaveland
knf@druxo.UUCP (FricklasK) (07/13/85)
--> "Also watch out for "The Man Who Loved Women"... Yeah, watch out for the Burt Reynolds version, the Truffaut(sp?) version is MUCH better... '`'\' Ken '`'`'
dahlback@uiucdcs.Uiuc.ARPA (07/15/85)
With one RED shoe, no less! Considering the sequels to THE TALL BLONDE MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE (two, aren't there?) we should have the man with the black shoe meet the man with the red shoe at some approprate location.
csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) (07/16/85)
In article <481@wdl1.UUCP> jrb@wdl1.UUCP writes: >A. It's _The Tall Blonde Man with One BLACK Shoe_ > >B. The "Tall Blonde Man" films are French to begin with. Another victim of the "Kelvin" syndrome. I think "Kelvin" knew that the film you mention was french, but _The Tall Blond Man with One RED Shoe_, an american film, was just released. It's a joke. Ha ha. Get it? Never mind... I didn't laugh either. -- Charles Forsythe CSDF@MIT-VAX "Don't get bogged down with details, just eat the stupid peice of paper." -Rev. Wang Zeep
cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) (07/19/85)
[] Kelvin Thompson's "warning" against French "rip-offs" is a typical example of American insensitivity to the political problems of the Eastern Hemisphere. In this case, he has failed to understand the heroic struggle of French culture against the imperialism of the Anglo-Saxon countries. For many years, the French have had to fight off "franglais," which refers to the contamination of their language with English words (e.g. "Le Drugstore"). More recently, they have had to withstand the onslaught of American movies like E. T. which have extorted huge box-office receipts from the French public. Who can blame the French film-makers for responding? Regards, Chris -- Full-Name: Christopher J. Henrich UUCP: ..!(cornell | ariel | ukc | houxz)!vax135!petsd!cjh US Mail: MS 313; Perkin-Elmer; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 Phone: (201) 758-7288
jrb@wdl1.UUCP (08/05/85)
A. It's _The Tall Blonde Man with One BLACK Shoe_ B. The "Tall Blonde Man" films are French to begin with. John R Blaker UUCP: ...!fortune!wdl1!jrb ARPA: jrb@FORD-WDL1 and blaker@FORD-WDL2