Dick Chudnow Movies
The first of several sight gag and slapstick-rich comedies he produced without the team of Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, this lowbrow comedy from executive producer and star Leslie Nielsen suffers by comparison to his work with the "ZAZ" team. Nielsen plays Dick Steele, secret agent WD-40, called out of retirement to stop the world-conquering plans of his old nemesis, General Rancor (Andy Griffith), an armless madman determined to avenge himself upon Steele (who is responsible for Rancor's lack of appendages). With the help of Russian agent Veronique Ukrinsky (Nicolette Sheridan), Steele prepares to battle Rancor at his tropical island lair, where the daughter of Steele's long-ago love is being held captive. Along the way, such films as True Lies (1994), Speed (1994), Jurassic Park (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) are spoofed. Director Richard Friedberg had previously directed Nielsen in a series of automobile rental commercials and goofy "how-to" golf videos. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Nielsen, Nicollette Sheridan, (more)
- 1983
- PG
During the peak of the slasher-movie boom of the early '80s, there were numerous attempts at Airplane!-style horror parodies, all of which fell considerably short of their comic targets and vanished into cable-TV obscurity. Hysterical, an abortive vehicle for the questionable comic talents of the Hudson Brothers, is perhaps the weakest of the lot. Bill Hudson plays Fred Lansing, a writer vacationing at a rustic lighthouse in the deceptively idyllic Oregon fishing town of Hellview, where he is tormented by the apparition of Venecia (Julie Newmar), a local woman who killed herself one hundred years ago. The lovelorn Venecia wishes to use Fred's body as the vessel for the spirit of her dead husband, Captain Howdy (Richard Kiel, once again typecast as a great big guy), and isn't particularly interested in Fred's opinion on the matter. When Howdy apparently grumbles to life, several townspeople are subsequently murdered in ghastly ways, leading a pair of bumbling detectives (Mark Hudson and Brett Hudson) to investigate the horrific history of the Hellview lighthouse and generally make nuisances of themselves. Filled with insipid puns, tired sight gags, silly musical numbers, and unfunny cameo appearances from the likes of Bud Cort and Charlie Callas, this inept spoof has perhaps three genuine laughs scattered throughout its ninety-minute runtime, amounting to only one decent joke per half-hour of wasted film. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Hudson, Mark Hudson, (more)
- 1982
- R
Off the Wall is a moderately funny comedy about two young men who end up in a Tennessee jail and then find romance and/or adventure from there. Randy (Patrick Cassidy) and Rico (Billy Hufsey) are hitchhiking through the South when they are picked up by the pretty daughter (Rosanna Arquette) of the governor of Tennessee. Through no fault of their own, the young woman abandons them after a car accident, and the two are put in jail for six months, where Randy falls for the warden's daughter Jennifer (Brianne Leary), and Rico comes to the attention of the jail's top wrestler. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Sorvino, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
