Editor’s note: When he ran Universal Pictures and after he left to partner with Ivan Reitman in Montecito, Tom Pollock was a favorite call for journalists. He was not only a humorous truth teller with a spine, but one of those rare people who left us walking away from a call always feeling smarter for it. Deadline’s former film editor Anita Busch remembers those experiences and what Pollock, who died Saturday, meant to her and those who worked for him.
It’s an odd feeling when you read obituaries printed about a man, and none of them actually captures the true nature of who that dynamic person was. So was the case with former Universal Pictures chairman Tom Pollock, who I came to know as a journalist covering the business for 30 years.
I honestly don’t remember what story we first met over, but I knew pretty quickly...
It’s an odd feeling when you read obituaries printed about a man, and none of them actually captures the true nature of who that dynamic person was. So was the case with former Universal Pictures chairman Tom Pollock, who I came to know as a journalist covering the business for 30 years.
I honestly don’t remember what story we first met over, but I knew pretty quickly...
- 8/4/2020
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline Film + TV
From theater to film, Apa literary talent agent, Ryan Saul, has seen the industry from a 360 degree perspective. Representing some of Hollywood’s best and brightest creative minds, Ryan knows a thing or two about the business of selling scripts and making movies.
Iae was fortunate to have caught up with Ryan to discuss his awesome career as a literary agent, and get some advice for aspiring screenwriters and directors.
Iae: Where are you from, what college did you attend, and how did you get into the film industry?
Rs: I’m from a very blue collar, rust belt town called Youngstown, Ohio. As a kid, I was always into theater and sports. I ended up going to Bradley University on an acting scholarship and majored in Theater. After graduating from Bradley, I had to decide if I would attend the University of Indiana’s Mfa program for Theater Directors,...
Iae was fortunate to have caught up with Ryan to discuss his awesome career as a literary agent, and get some advice for aspiring screenwriters and directors.
Iae: Where are you from, what college did you attend, and how did you get into the film industry?
Rs: I’m from a very blue collar, rust belt town called Youngstown, Ohio. As a kid, I was always into theater and sports. I ended up going to Bradley University on an acting scholarship and majored in Theater. After graduating from Bradley, I had to decide if I would attend the University of Indiana’s Mfa program for Theater Directors,...
- 8/27/2010
- I Am Entertainment Magazine
Taking its cue, but virtually nothing else, from the '60s TV series of the same name, "Mc-Hale's Navy" is one botch of a movie.
An ill-fitting blend of action and comedy, this poorly written and assembled Tom Arnold vehicle goes so wrong so quickly that it's a wonder Universal bothered with the expense of a theatrical launch when a direct-to-video send-off would have made more sense.
Playing the part originally as-signed to Ernest Borgnine (who makes a few brief appearances here), Arnold is Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale, a retired Navy man turned entrepreneur who returns to his post in San Ysidro, Calif., when the maniacal East German Maj. Vladakov (Tim Curry) invades a neighboring island.
Back in action, McHale and his motley crew are determined to take Vladakov down while having to answer to the newly assigned Capt. Wallace Binghampton (Dean Stockwell) and the icy Lt. Penelope Carpenter (Debra Messing).
Arnold is miscast as the lovable, devil-may-care McHale, while the rest of the cast all appear to be off doing their own thing (not that they've been given much to work with) -- from Curry's incessant eye-rolling to Stockwell's curious Maxwell Smart impression.
Elsewhere, there's David Alan Grier as groveling Ensign Charles Parker (the part played by Tim Conway on the old series) and Tommy Chong, who generates a few of the picture's rare laughs as a Cuban black marketeer.
Working from a shell of a script, director Bryan Spicer ("Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie") applies a haphazard approach to the comedy and the constant barrage of pyrotechnics that seems to belong in another picture. On the other hand, if the explosions are intended to distract attention from the waterlogged state of this enterprise, they are indeed a most welcome diversion.
McHALE'S NAVY
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
and the Bubble Factory present
A Sheinberg production
A Bryan Spicer Film
Director Bryan Spicer
Screenwriter Peter Crabbe
Story Peter Crabbe and Andy Rose
Producers Sid, Bill and Jon Sheinberg
Executive producers Lance Hool, Perry Katz
Director of photography Buzz Feitshans IV
Production designer Gene Rudolf
Editor Russell Denove
Costume designer Michael T. Boyd
Music Dennis McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Lt. Cmdr. McHale Tom Arnold
Maj. Vladakov Tim Curry
Capt. Binghampton Dean Stockwell
Ensign Charles T. Parker David Alan Grier
Lt. Penelope Carpenter Debra Messing
Happy French Stewart
Virgil Bruce Campbell
Cobra Ernest Borgnine
Armando/Ernesto Tommy Chong
Running time -- 109 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
An ill-fitting blend of action and comedy, this poorly written and assembled Tom Arnold vehicle goes so wrong so quickly that it's a wonder Universal bothered with the expense of a theatrical launch when a direct-to-video send-off would have made more sense.
Playing the part originally as-signed to Ernest Borgnine (who makes a few brief appearances here), Arnold is Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale, a retired Navy man turned entrepreneur who returns to his post in San Ysidro, Calif., when the maniacal East German Maj. Vladakov (Tim Curry) invades a neighboring island.
Back in action, McHale and his motley crew are determined to take Vladakov down while having to answer to the newly assigned Capt. Wallace Binghampton (Dean Stockwell) and the icy Lt. Penelope Carpenter (Debra Messing).
Arnold is miscast as the lovable, devil-may-care McHale, while the rest of the cast all appear to be off doing their own thing (not that they've been given much to work with) -- from Curry's incessant eye-rolling to Stockwell's curious Maxwell Smart impression.
Elsewhere, there's David Alan Grier as groveling Ensign Charles Parker (the part played by Tim Conway on the old series) and Tommy Chong, who generates a few of the picture's rare laughs as a Cuban black marketeer.
Working from a shell of a script, director Bryan Spicer ("Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie") applies a haphazard approach to the comedy and the constant barrage of pyrotechnics that seems to belong in another picture. On the other hand, if the explosions are intended to distract attention from the waterlogged state of this enterprise, they are indeed a most welcome diversion.
McHALE'S NAVY
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
and the Bubble Factory present
A Sheinberg production
A Bryan Spicer Film
Director Bryan Spicer
Screenwriter Peter Crabbe
Story Peter Crabbe and Andy Rose
Producers Sid, Bill and Jon Sheinberg
Executive producers Lance Hool, Perry Katz
Director of photography Buzz Feitshans IV
Production designer Gene Rudolf
Editor Russell Denove
Costume designer Michael T. Boyd
Music Dennis McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Lt. Cmdr. McHale Tom Arnold
Maj. Vladakov Tim Curry
Capt. Binghampton Dean Stockwell
Ensign Charles T. Parker David Alan Grier
Lt. Penelope Carpenter Debra Messing
Happy French Stewart
Virgil Bruce Campbell
Cobra Ernest Borgnine
Armando/Ernesto Tommy Chong
Running time -- 109 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 4/21/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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