Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Captain Pete Pettigrew is a tall and thin man who just retired from the Navy and was listed in the reserve.

This time Ronald applied to the Navy and asked him to come and serve as a technical consultant for the crew, which was actually a bridge of communication between the crew and the Navy.

Pettigrew wore a Navy jacket and a Gun Flight School hat and was very talkative. Ronald asked him if he really shot down a MiG-21 during the Vietnam War. He just smiled and said that practicing his own flying skills was more important than anything else.

In response to some revisions to the script from the Navy received by Ronald, Pettigrew quickly gave his "personal suggestions".

Some of the review opinions were actually unreasonable. They were just an instinctive reflexive opposition to any part of the script that might cause them to be "responsible" within the slow-moving bureaucratic system.

For example, the early models of the F-14 were prone to stalling horizontal spirals in high-angle attack conditions. In fact, this problem has been well improved in the improved models after the F-14 was equipped with the Navy.

Not exposing this early problem would not cause leaks. Even if the alliance saw the plot of this movie and made corresponding tactical preparations, they would be surprised by the reaction of the American Navy after the equipment was improved.

However, other issues that touched on the military's pre-set regulations, such as dating active-duty soldiers and violating traffic rules, were indeed inappropriate. Pettigrew hoped that the crew could make changes on these issues.

Otherwise, Pettigrew, who had been a squadron leader and flight school instructor, could not imagine how much more difficult it would be to manage the recruits if they all adhered to the attitude shown in the movie.

In addition, the flying sickness of the "Jaguar" is a problem that every fighter pilot will encounter. Although the probability is very small, the Navy has not had a good solution after it happened. Pettigrew proposed that the crew should not emphasize this disease too much, for fear that the pilots would worry too much after watching the movie, and instead induce vertigo under certain circumstances.

Seeing that Pettigrew was very sincere and could tell the real reason for the Navy's opposition. Ronald and the two producers agreed with his opinion and asked the two screenwriters to continue to modify according to his ideas.

Ronald and the two producers thanked him.

Pettigrew just said modestly, "I am only here at the invitation of the Navy to make some comments that they are not convenient to say. In fact, my task is to ensure the correctness of some plots related to fighter flight. I don't want this movie to be made into a musical by you."

"Ahem..." Ronald was a little embarrassed. It turned out that in the eyes of the Navy's elite pilots, the movies he shot were typical Hollywood movies that were far from the facts. It seemed that they deviated far from the real world for the sake of drama.

Temporarily getting the real intention of the Navy, unexpectedly, the two screenwriters were very dissatisfied with the revision.

Their trouble was that without the two typical plots of speeding and falling in love with a female officer, the character of the protagonist "Lone Ranger" would be incomplete. From the initial young man who only knew how to show off his bravery and fierceness to the final flight school instructor with a mature personality, the personal transformation of "Lone Ranger" was not convincing.

Ronald actually agreed with their opinions to some extent, but film is an art of compromise, and the opinions of all parties need to be respected. Ronald ignored the screenwriter's dissatisfaction and handed this headache to Don Simpson to solve.

Ronald went to Roger Corman's banquet. This is his usual practice. After the first successful movie of the directors who came out of the New World was released, he would solemnly invite them to a banquet and express his expectations.

Cameron and Gail had arrived at the Greek restaurant in advance. They attached great importance to Coleman's banquet.

Ronald came forward to congratulate them. "The Terminator" unexpectedly won the box office championship for the second week. This not only surprised Hollywood, but even the Chicago film critic duo, Cisco and Albert, specially commented on Cameron's debut on the TV show.

The two especially mentioned the inheritance of "Terminator" from black movies, which was already very popular. The explosion scene. They said a lot of good things. But they also pointed out that "Terminator" took advantage of the schedule. When the new movie was released, their box office championship streak might be about to end.

"Gail, Jim, Ronnie." Roger Corman and his wife Julie also arrived at the restaurant. They sat in a relatively quiet corner and started eating.

"Among the last batch of directors who came out of the New World, you two make me most satisfied." Roger Corman believes that Cameron and Ronald are directors who have inherited his spirit of making exploitation films.

"But Jim and Ronald are obviously making films with a budget of 6 to 8 million, so why are they still making exploitation films?" As a producer, Gail did not quite understand Corman's evaluation.

Corman made a point, "Whether an exploitation film is or not does not depend on whether it is a low-cost production, but on whether the money you spend is on the screen and the audience can see it."

"Ronald's action shots, Cameron's big explosions, the audience sees that they are the kind of productions where you know where your money is spent."

"Hahaha", Gail was very happy and raised his glass to celebrate.

Ronald also laughed. Gail may think that Roger Corman particularly likes Cameron's movies, so he praised him by saying that he made a great new world production.

But Ronald knew in his heart that Roger Coleman's statement made sense. What the audience can see is nothing more than the elements of explosions, movements, dances, or fighter jets fighting each other, rather than the superb acting skills of any actor.

This type of film that enhances certain characteristics of the film is, in the final analysis, the spirit of the exploitation film, exploitatively using all the elements that are popular, all for the purpose of entertaining the audience, rather than the self-entertainment of the actors and theater directors.

As for critics, how other directors and actors evaluate their own films is secondary. Students taught by Roger Corman all have box office as their first goal. They must sell well first to recoup their investment. Think about other things.

After several people finished dinner, they were waiting at the door of the restaurant for the doorman to bring the car.

Ronald was attracted by the program playing on the TV hanging on the wall by the door. Today happens to be the second TV debate between the President of the United States and Mondale, the candidate of the Donkey Party.

The moderator asked the question that all the viewers who had watched the first debate wanted to ask the commander-in-chief, "Sir, you are already the oldest commander-in-chief in history. I remember that Commander-in-Chief Kennedy was in charge of the Cuban Missile Crisis. At that time, you could only sleep two or three hours a day. Do you have any doubts in your mind whether you would have enough energy to deal with it if you encountered a similar crisis?"

"Oh, let's see how he answers." Gale looked at the TV screen with great concern. Cameron also raised his head and stared at the commander in the TV camera.

"Not worried at all."

The commander-in-chief easily negated the doubts of the host and all the audience with his non-stick demeanor. He has this magic power that makes people believe that what he says is sincere.

"I would also like to state here," the leader continued in a relaxed tone, "I will not use age as an issue in this election campaign, and I will not exploitatively use age as an issue in the election campaign for political purposes. ”

The camera captured the former deputy commander and candidate of the Donkey Party, Mondale, with a serious expression. The T\u0026T leader has a tendency to accuse the Donkey Party of using age to make immoral attacks.

"I will not deliberately exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience to attack him."

"Hahahahaha..." Everyone in the restaurant laughed.

Mondale, the Donkey Party candidate in the camera, couldn't help but be amused.

This revolving door attack was a hundred times more effective than Ronald's words. The commander-in-chief was a natural joke teller. Mondale's smile also officially declared that any suspense in the re-election campaign was over on the spot.

"Mr. Host, if there is still time, I would like to say a few more words." The commander continued to stab his opponent, "Cicero of ancient Rome said that if the old people do not point out and correct the mistakes of the young people, then There is no successful country.”

"Hahaha... The Commander is indeed an actor who came out of Hollywood. His ability to tell jokes is really top-notch." Gale did not forget to mention the Commander's years as an actor.

"Hmm...", when everyone was laughing, only Ronald saw the look in the commander's eyes as he picked up the water cup and drank water, the sharp look in the eyes of an experienced old hunter after he shot the vital part of his prey. "Plus his killer instinct."

Ronald added silently in his mind.

"The jokes are not afraid of getting old, and the plot is not afraid of being stale. As long as it is released at the moment that the audience is expecting, it will achieve good results."

"The two screenwriters resigned." Don Simpson found Ronald again the next day and informed him of the latest revision progress of the script.

"What? Why?" Ronald was puzzled.

"They feel that their labor has not been respected, and they feel that our agreement with the Navy's opinions is really nonsense. This kind of movie is like a two-hour big v movie with all fragmented stories and it is impossible to succeed. So they no longer serve as As a screenwriter, of course according to the rules of the Screenwriters Guild, their names must be written on the script.”

Jerry Bruckheimer was on hand to explain why.

"Without these two butchers, wouldn't we be able to eat steak?" Ronald waved his hand indifferently.

"Why, can you take action yourself?" Don Simpson asked quickly. This is the best solution.

"I feel like it doesn't matter whether I write or not. This is a high-concept movie, a fighter version of a classic western. Who the hell is still looking for profound meaning of life and superb acting skills in John Wayne's movies? What? We already have Tom Cruise. As long as the aerial combat is exciting and the love between him and the heroine is heart-warming, I think there will be no problem.”

Ronald expressed his thoughts after chatting with Coleman and watching the presidential debate yesterday, "Even if it's a big V, I can make the audience extremely excited."

"Hahaha, I just like how heroic you are." Don Simpson was very happy. Ronald had similar ideas to him. In fact, the story of this kind of high-concept commercial film should be as simple as possible. The key is that the director makes people feel comfortable visually.

"What's more, the story is simple and the jokes are old. As long as you grasp the key rhythm, it can be convincing." There is still something unsaid in Ronald's heart. Even a second-rate Hollywood actor like the commander can perform effectively in a debate. , there is no reason why you can’t do it yourself.