29 posts tagged “1981”

The stories are different enough that one could not accuse the Hong Kong film-makers of outright copying, but there is clear inspiration between the English Ooh, You Are Awful (or Get Charlie Tully), starring Dick Emery, and the first of the successful franchise 最佳拍檔 (Aces Go Places). The films are 10 years apart.
   The plot lines are similar: in the original, Emery has to find a Swiss bank account number, separately tattooed on four different girls’ behinds. In the later film, Sam Hui (the father of Canto-pop) and Karl Maka’s characters have to find a map reference, tattooed on two different girls’ behinds. The following is of two very similar scenes, one set at Waterloo Station in London, the other at a taxi company’s radio department, and subsequent scenes involving photographic booths, where one might be able to claim there was a fair amount of direct copying. Emery is more blue, while the later film is more slapstick with better pacing.
   And yes, that is the lovely Cheryl Kennedy in the first clip.
   In the 1970s and 1980s, it was highly unlikely for Hong Kong cinemagoers to have seen the Emery film.
   Head to 2.45 for the above scene in the first video; 0.43 in the second clip.

Chris Tarrant leaves Tiswas in 1981—goodness, when I compare him to those Millionaire repeats, he’s less intelligible here.

There’s a thread on Facebook on a New Zealand group, on the topic of advertising that we still quote. I volunteered this list:

Schweppes: ‘Alone Again, Naturally’; and Doris (drag queen)
2ZM (Wellington): ‘Fun, fun, fun in the big city’ (1978)
Territorial Part-Time Soldiers: done to the theme of ‘Born to Be Wild’
L. V. Martin & Son: Alan Martin
Ches & Dale (in colour!)
John Walker selling Fresh-up: ‘It’s got to be good for you’
Suzanne Prentice: ‘It’s cheaper, cheaper, cheaper at Wardell’s’
Leyland Princess 2: ‘It’s a triumph’
TV2: ‘Bringing the world to you / On 2’
Lands for Bags (of course)
AA Mutual: ‘Double-A-M-U-T-U-A-L / We’ll make sure you’re OK’
Sports and Recreation: ‘Try it now, do it more, things you’ve never done before’
Swim safety PSA with that guy from MASH
Fire safety PSA with Dick van Dyke (obviously made in the US and reused here)
And the karate ladies from Cut Price Stores (the real discounters)—‘Grocery prices must come down!’

And can add that ‘Bushell’s instant coffee puts the life in you.’ I still have a few of the above on video cassette, but, sadly, I cannot find them on YouTube.
   Any other Kiwis want to volunteer some memories?

This was a classic scene from Security Unlimited (1981), possibly Michael Hui’s finest film. Pity the English subtitles are totally wrong, but hopefully the Cantonese readers will get it and enjoy this scene. My mother said this really helped her learn to drive!

Three episodes of Ashes to Ashes have aired in the US—we were really lucky in New Zealand to have got the first series on Prime in the same year as the UK—and I read that Gene Hunt needs subtitles. Subtitles?
   One American viewer thinks it’s ridiculous and wonders:

It’s not even used for every line … How do they decide which lines to text? Is there some sort of focus group consisting of dimwitted Americans sitting in a room, raising their hands whenever they hear a phrase that frightens or confuses them?

   I have to agree. Surely most people who tune in to BBC America are predisposed toward British TV series and that many who watch Ashes to Ashes were quite capable of following DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars—not to mention the first two episodes of Ashes to Ashes that were shown there without subtitles.
   I don’t know a single American who wouldn’t have understood the dialogue.
   Taggart I can understand needing subtitles—my late mother, who was a fan, said she had trouble following all the utterances of Mark McManus as DCI Jim Taggart. But surely a Mancunian accent is not that difficult and if that needs subtitles, then I would have demanded them here for The Sopranos.

Not that I can see the article thanks to the Mirror’s redesign, but I take it that Philip Glenister will leave Ashes to Ashes after this second series. If the article ever loads from the ultra-slow Trinity–Mirror site, I’ll let you know what I find out.
   It’ll have been a good four years with the Gene Genie.
   The BBC may make it a three-series show, however, so how it will fare without DCI Gene Hunt for its final year remains to be seen. He is the star of the show and gets top billing.
   Hang on, it’s loaded, after four minutes.
   OK, the article seems to contradict itself as one paragraph begins:

Philip Glenister, who plays tough 1980s detective Gene Hunt, will be seen on screen with time-travelling cop psychologist DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) in a new series on BBC1 next month. And if that is as big a hit as the first—which got more than 7million viewers—he will make a third. But that will be the lot.

   So is he or isn’t he, or is his renewal conditional?
   Then the paragraph continues:

A BBC source said: “Philip has loved playing Gene and knows a lot of fans would like him to carry on. But he feels he's taken the role as far as he can. The makers were obviously disappointed …”

which suggests he is leaving.
   I guess it is a tabloid so we can’t expect any article to be in comprehensible English, but still, the Mirror has been pretty good on Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes gossip over the last few years.
   We need to wait for the Manchester Evening News’s Ian Wylie to give us a proper low-down.

From IGN, a bit more on the mythologies behind Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes in the UK (there is something behind it all) and the American version of the earlier show:

[Co-creator Ashley] Pharoah was asked if he had an overall plan for the mythology of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, and if it was leading to a big reveal at the end. Replied Pharoah, “There is a larger mythology. Right from the start, we knew how we wanted to end. When the whole franchise comes to an end, we have a terrific ending.” He added that this plan was, “Very different from the American Life on Mars,” revealing that he had gotten drunk with the producers of the American version and “Swapped stories in a bar – they know my ending and I know theirs.”

   This should be very interesting to follow.

Still enjoyable—seen it half a dozen times, but still enjoyable. And, critically, the editing was very good. As Prime had to trim some 13 minutes from the broadcast, what they chose this time made a lot of sense (e.g. Alex’s self-made phone call, Ray’s singing cut by two lines). They left in the entire scene with Tim Price turning into the Pierrot clown and from that point it ran (as far as I could tell) uninterrupted. On my four-by-three TV screen, however, I did miss that freaky final scene where the Pierrot clown appears on the mural at Luigi’s, which does bring into question what exactly is going on with Alex Drake.
   Also, the BBC has made announcements about the next series. SFcrowsnest has information on it.
   I saw about four minutes of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles on TV2. Nothing kept me glued to that channel, other than, ‘Hey, that’s Shirley Manson!’
   Manson and Lena Headey do very, very good fake accents.

Marshall Lancaster’s best line in last night’s Ashes to Ashes on Prime was cut. I can understand the need to cut for advertisements in New Zealand and we will always argue on what is appropriate and what is not, though if you are my age or older you may wonder why the last line was missing. I apologize in advance to anyone who finds this offensive: it is poking fun at the behaviour of a more homophobic time. [Postscript for New Zealand readers: the comments contain a spoiler. Do not read on if you do not want to know.]

It’s probably because Ashes to Ashes is new that I was able to identify where Prime made cuts to fit in the ads—but I have to compliment them because I don’t think they were as serious as what we lost on TV One with Life on Mars.
   I think around seven to ten minutes were cut whereas I am sure we lost over ten with Life on Mars.
   I watched it again tonight, partly to support the network for making a good move—they deserve as many viewers as they can get for not just buying a great series but showing it in the year it was first broadcast in the UK. I think for once we beat the Americans in getting a British series—maybe even the Australians. It’s a real treat to see a British 2008 copyright notice!
   Missing were a few scenes where the Pierrot clown chased Alex down the alleyway, Chris’s final apprehension and shooting of a villain, and entire conversation between Alex and Shaz about death and life flashing before her eyes, and this:

   I know it wasn’t integral to the plot since it was a dream sequence, and if cuts had to be made, I can understand why this went, but since Rainbow aired in New Zealand, too, it would have had some significance to people my age. Even my Dad asked me if there was a cut right there, so he noticed!
   Still, thank God for YouTube and a chance to share this bit with other Lifers in New Zealand.