Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993 TAG: 9308060178
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By IVOR DAVIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
And television spun off series from hit films: "M*A*S*H," "9 to 5," "Baby Boom," "Private Benjamin."
Now the switch seems to have been thrown into reverse: A slew of "made FROM television" films will hit cinemas this summer and fall and right through next year.
The movie to watch is "The Fugitive," a $40 million thriller that stars Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones and Sela Ward. It opens today in Roanoke.
The movie is based on the soapy drama that ran on television for four years beginning in 1963. It in David Janssen played Dr. Richard Kimble who was wrongly accused, tried, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife.
While on his way to prison to be executed, the train he was riding derailed and he escaped.
As an innocent fugitive, Kimble was forever evading his pursuers and perpetually searching for the elusive one-armed man he saw murder his wife.
If the buzz around Hollywood has it right, "The Fugitive" could be the biggest movie of the summer - and that's in a summer that has already served up several box-office bonanzas.
Fueled by a brilliant marketing campaign and Ford's tremendous draw, millions are expected to line up to see Kimble take to the road again.
If "The Fugitive" delivers as expected, studio executives will be burning the midnight oil, tapping into the seemingly inexhaustible well of '50s, '60s and '70s TV series that could be fodder for blockbuster movies.
They may find, however, that the well has been drained.
The success of "The Addams Family" (1991) proved that if a retread served up stars such as Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia, it could be pure gold.
Since then everyone has been getting into the remake act.
20th Century Fox made "The Beverly Hillbillies." Scheduled to open in late fall, it stars Jim Varney, Cloris Leachman, Dabney Coleman, Lea Thompson and Lily Tomlin.
Steven Spielberg, not dissuaded from the genre by the failure of his "Twilight Zone - The Movie" (1983), is trying again with the megabudgeted "Flintstones," starring Elizabeth Taylor, John Goodman and Rosie O'Donnell. It is currently in production.
Mel Gibson can hardly wait to strap on a gun and spurs to play "Maverick" on the big screen. His co-star James Garner, who was the lead in the late-'50s TV series, is along for the ride in a small part.
Producer Robert Evans ("Sliver," 1993) of Paramount wants to relaunch "The Saint" as a movie. The smooth British sleuth from this 1960s TV series gave Roger Moore his start in show business.
And there's more: "Gilligan's Island" is currently in development at Columbia, New Line Cinema bought the rights to "F Troop" and "Hawaii Five-O" is being eyed by Disney for the big screen.
No wonder producers are scouring old episodes of "Bewitched" for possible movie spin-offs.
"My Favorite Martian," "Mission: Impossible," "The Avengers" and "The Love Boat" are just a few of the shows being talked about as possible features.
Even good old "Sergeant Bilko" is getting attention from Imagine Entertainment, an independent production company - though how they think they could manage it without the incomparable Phil Silvers is anybody's guess.
So why the sudden mania for shows that, with the exception of maybe "Twilight Zone," were not exactly works of genius in the first place?
The answer, in a word (or two), is baby boomers. They're not all working in Clinton's administration in Washington. Some are running Hollywood.
Back in the '70s, when these folks were home watching television, the airwaves were full of these shows in syndication.
And the boomers' taste - or some would say lack of it - is back. That is, the '70s are back - in fashion, in music, so why not in movies?
Does this trend shore up the appalling dearth of creativity in present-day Hollywood, as some critics have charged? Is it simply the boomers' nostalgic hankering for simpler times? Or is it purely a business proposition?
One studio executive from Universal was recently quoted as saying, "I'm astounded and embarrassed that this is happening, but I understand it completely. The tried and true sells."
Some Tinseltown observers say that in a nervous time, insecure studio executives take the path of least resistance and go for presold brand-name goods.
The producer of "The Fugitive," Arnold Kopelson, who last brought moviegoers Michael Douglas in "Falling Down" (1993), disagrees.
If this is the easy way, he says, then he never wants to make a film the difficult way.
He first targeted "The Fugitive" as a winner for the big screen in the early '70s, when he was an attorney representing Quinn Martin, the producer of the small-screen show.
Just beginning to get into film, Kopelson asked Martin to sell him the rights. But they had already been sold.
The rights didn't became available again until the mid-'80s. Five long years of development and 14 scripts later Kopelson had a star and a film ready to go.
Ivor Davis is a Los Angeles free-lance writer.
by CNB