It is a revision of wilsons earlier the book of the breast, first published by playboy press in 1974, which contained many images not present in the current version. Designed and packaged for mass audience appeal, few 80s films. We are still planning to use some of your comments in the documentary. Director elaine may genres action, adventure, comedy, thriller, music rating 4. It was such an enormous failure that it put elaine may out of work and subjected her to senseless vitriol from people who all believed the films failure was her fault.
The archaeologist hero, kenton, receives a mysterious ancient babylonian artifact, which he discovers contains an incredibly detailed model of a ship. I first saw the film on its original release, and have returned to it many times over the years, always with pleasure and delight. Ishtar 1987 is widely considered to be one of the worst films of all time, having flopped horribly upon its release and sitting in hells video store ever since. With warren beatty, dustin hoffman, isabelle adjani, charles grodin. The weird world of hollywood finance film the guardian.
In the listing, the movie came in at number 44 a ranking that is, in my opinion, much lower than what the film deserves and was described by the narrator as a box office bomb, a film that would prove to be the end of a career for its director, elaine may. Check back in for little gold mens film disaster time line. The story revolves around a duo of incredibly untalented american songwriters who travel to a booking in morocco and stumble into a fourparty cold war standoff. Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the cia, the emir of ishtar, and the rebels trying to. Desperate to make a name for themselves, they accept a job that takes them. Trailer for the 1987 comic thriller ishtar, staring warren beatty, dustin hoffman, isabelle adjani, charles grodin and directed by elaine may. Green lantern, fight club, and more flops that topped their opening weekends scott mendelson senior contributor opinions expressed by forbes contributors are their own. Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the c. Ishtar 1987 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The film is quoted by the crew when the name ishtar is brought up in the croning ceremony tape. As for waiting for ishtar, we are nearing completion of a rough cut of the film, which we will be taking to some producers who have expressed an interest in helping us release the movie. Green lantern, fight club, and more flops that topped. There is so much talent involved in this movie, what happened.
Usually ships in 12 days from the united states via usps wtracking. The sound of the summer has been the crash of boxoffice records being broken with a run of big opening weekends for films. Ishtar is a 1987 american actionadventurecomedy film written and directed by elaine may and produced by warren beatty, who costarred opposite dustin hoffman. Ishtar 1987 warren beatty, dustin hoffman the movie title. Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the cia, the emir of ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime. Jul 08, 2008 trailer for the 1987 comic thriller ishtar, staring warren beatty, dustin hoffman, isabelle adjani, charles grodin and directed by elaine may. Ishtar is a good movie, but you cant help but wonder if, lurking somewhere in those cans of outtakes, there isnt a great movie, too. Why the goddess went to hell and what to expect now that shes returning, is a book by robert anton wilson published in 1989. The dvd is encoded ntsc region 0 playable worldwide, digitally remastered. You could be forgiven for believing elaine mays ishtar was one of the five biggest financial disasters in hollywood the others being michael ciminos heavens gate, waterworld with kevin costner, gigli with ben affleck and the bonfire.
Ishtar is a 1987 american actionadventurecomedy film written and directed by elaine may and produced by warren beatty, who costarred opposite dustin. If you or someone you know have borrowed or are waiting to borrow the muchmaligned 1987 film ishtar from the toronto public library within the past 2 years, i want to interview you. Is ishtar better years after it failed at the box office. Reconsidering box office bombs years after the fact the new. This month, ishtar, elaine mays 1987 road comedy starring dustin hoffman and. The films listed below have been cited by a variety of notable critics in varying media sources as being among the worst films ever made. Elaine may, the director, has mounted a multimilliondollar expedition in search of a plot so thin that it hardly could support a fiveminute tv sketch. As a film it is not only well scripted, well acted, and beautifully shot, it is consistently funny. Ishtar 1987 is an action, adventure movie starring warren beatty. Ishtar was released in summer 1987, where it underperformed and. Uncreative loser duo chuck clark and lyle rogers dream of making it big, but their songs leave something to be desired. And beatty and hoffman, good soldiers marching along on the trip. Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy.
Aug 03, 2012 i first noticed ishtar a while back when it got a mention in imdbs the 50 worst movies ever made. Beatty is lyle rogers, a dimwitted songwriter who befriends and partners with chuck clarke, who is only. Folks like comedies to be small, scrappy and agile, like an ace leadoff. Fans will be happy to learn the bluray offers a pleasant highdefinition. The pairing of dustin hoffman and warren beatty failed to attract audiences and repelled critics, but the biggest casualty was the career of.
Ishtar is a 1987 american action adventure comedy film written and directed by elaine may and produced by warren beatty, who costarred opposite dustin hoffman. Ishtar 1987 the name ishtar 1987 has become synonymous with box office bomb and illustrative of hollywood excess. Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a. I first noticed ishtar a while back when it got a mention in imdbs the 50 worst movies ever made. Ishtar dvd 1987 shop the best classic films movie buffs. I was surprised to enjoy as much as i did in it, but was certainly disappointed the film fizzled out before it was over. Compare it fairly with any of the old hopecrosby road movies, to which it pays tribute, and it. A dizzy spell casts kenton onto the deck of the ship, which becomes a fullsized vessel sailing an eternal sea. Ishtar has been subjected to a smear campaign ever since it broke its production budget, something that is totally irrelevant to its value as a film. The best that can be said for ishtar is that warren beatty and dustin hoffman, two of the most intelligent actors of their generation, play dumb so successfully that on the basis of this film theres no evidence why theyve made it in the movies. Feb 21, 2014 american film institute 217,892 views.
Ishtar is a 1987 american actionadventurecomedy film written and directed by elaine may and produced by warren beatty, who. See the article in its original context from may 19, 1987, section c, page. Ishtar 1987 con warren beatty dustin hoffman trailer cinematografico duration. Ishtar 1987 is an action, adventure movie starring warren beatty and dustin hoffman. Today marks thirty years since mays last stand premiered in stateside theaters, and a few decades worth of perspective have provided some flattering clarity to the film. Columbia pictures and writerdirector elaine mays fourth and final feature film, ishtar 1987, was a very expensive flop and sometimes funny comedy film, starring warren beatty, isabelle adjani and dustin hoffman who won an oscar the next year for rain man 1988. It is not the most underrated film ever, but it may be close. According to the 15 may 1987 lahexam, may shot approximately between 450,000 to 500,000 feet of film although only 10,000 feet went into the final film, a ratio of fifty to one. As noted in the 19 may 1987 nyt, during postproduction, there was a period where three different teams of editors worked around the clock. Ishtar 1987 elaine may synopsis, characteristics, moods.
Aug 30, 2001 the sound of the summer has been the crash of boxoffice records being broken with a run of big opening weekends for films. The decade of the 1980s tended to consolidate the gains made in the seventies rather than to initiate any new trends equal to the large number of disaster movies, buddy movies, or rogue cop movies that characterized the previous decade. The ship of ishtar was reprinted in fantastic novels in 1948. It was such an enormous failure that it put elaine may out of work and subjected her to senseless vitriol from people who all believed the film s failure was her fault. Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the cia. Financial analysis of ishtar 1987 including budget, domestic and international box office gross, dvd and bluray sales reports, total earnings and profitability. For the curious who havent seen it, id recommend viewing it, but if uninterested, dont bother. The movie was mercilessly panned and declared one of the biggest boxoffice disasters of the 1980s. Theres always the danger that a little fugitive intelligence will sneak out of a sideways glance and give the game away.
Big birds big break 2018 tv episode mentioned in dialogue. The cast and crew have a combined lifetime 61 oscar nominations and 16 wins. It hardly seems possible that elaine mays ishtar 1987 is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Examples of such sources include metacritic, roger eberts list of mosthated films, the golden turkey awards, leonard maltins movie guide, rotten tomatoes, the stinkers bad movie awards, the cult tv series mystery science theater 3000. Movie typography from the film ishtar 1987, directed by elaine may, starring warren beatty, dustin hoffman, isabelle adjani, charles grodin. This weekend saw rules dont apply, warren beattys first film in fifteen years. He has been nominated for fifteen academy awards, including four for best actor, four for best picture, two for best director, three for original screenplay, and one for adapted screenplay winning best director for reds 1981. Get ishtar dvd and bluray release date, trailer and movie stats. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly transcribed using the screenplay andor viewings of ishtar. Finally, the ishtar script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the movie starring warren beatty and dustin hoffman.
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