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Arkin's potential career killer?


Alan Arkin went from The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming to this useless waste of celluloid. I must say that when I watched this movie back in 1980 I said that this was undoubtedly the worst movie ever made. Well, after 25 years I will say that this was undoubtedly the worst movie ever made! I have forgiven Alan, but it took 25 years. I was scarred forever after seeing this fiasco. Come on, does anyone at all like this mess? Scene77

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I agree 100%! Horrible piece of trash...

Jesse Taylor...
Movie Afficionado!

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Prior posts are complete *beep* This is a comedy gold. The Orange Julius bit alone is is an absurd piece of genius. "I want that recipe!"

"My throat is parched drier than a popcorn fart in a whirlwind." --Spencer

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I'm sorry, Ms. 77, but you do not know what you do not know. By now you should be able to admit that you're a toaster.

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I remember, "Poor Simon. We make humans the way humans make toasters..."

Hilarious

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"Truth is for suckers, Johnny boy."

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My favorite line is: "The alien is still at large after his initial gas attack."

~OR~

"I invented the penicillin resisting strain of gonorrhea, nobody could figure it out."

The scene of Simaon recreating the stages of evolution is pure comic genius, and Madeline Kahn was never better or sexier than in this film.

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The evolution scene alone is worth the price of admission and there are many many other moments of comic genius. I saw it '80 and loved it. Saw it again about 5 years ago and some of the material was dated but most of it withstood the test of time well. The think tank of evil geniuses was great ensemble comedy.

I especially liked Simon's initial tour of the facility, and his first emergence from the sensory deprivation tank.

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It's been so many years ... when do we get to see it on DVD??

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"Truth is for suckers, Johnny boy."

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Did you ever see Alan Arkin's performance as the original Inspector Cluseau?
THAT was his worst movie. "SIMON" is a cult movie that you either don't understand or you enjoy it for what it is.

And, for the record, "SHOWGIRLS" is the worst movie ever made.

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I'm impressed that anyone even knows about this film. Does not surprise me at all that someone who saw when it first came out hated it and still does.

Leonard Maltin hit the nail on the head; he says this movie sometimes doesn't seem like a comedy at all.

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I always liked this film. I hope it comes out on DVD soon!

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It seems this film is trying desperately to tell us something profound. What that is, I do not know.

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The smirking double entendres might have cracked them up in a Second City skit twenty years earlier, but this dated piece of crap leaves us flat. I was amazed when I saw it in 1981 how bad it is. Counterculture classic?? Yeah, for scrawny ex-hippies who once read a paperback by Foucault.

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I don't know either what this film is trying to tell us, but I find the message fascinating nonetheless.

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That's ok, sometimes Leonard Matlin doesn't seem like a film reviewer at all.

However, this film is not without it's flaws, it definitely loses it's way in the third act but it has enough superb set pieces of comic genius, such as the evolution of humanity sequence, and a brilliant ensemble cast to warrant repeated viewings. It's a shame that there are so few contemporary comedy feature films that live up to this film's potential.

Another little known comedy of brilliance, in which Alan Arkin not only appears but also makes his directorial debut, is Little Murders. More comic genius with Elliott Gould in the lead role.

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Count me among the people who like this "mess." This is a brilliant, bizarre satire that constantly takes unexpected turns, and we are all the better for it.

Certainly this film is not for everyone (which generally means it's for me), but anyone who has seen Alan Arkin's madcap performance here knows this is far from a career killer. It's the same comic genius that would later win him an Oscar for "Little Miss Sunshine."

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Alan Arkin went from The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming to this useless waste of celluloid.

To be fair, there were a few very fine films in between: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, Wait Until Dark, The Seven Per-Cent Solution and The In-Laws among them.

I have forgiven Alan, but it took 25 years.

I'm sure he'll be so relieved.

I was scarred forever after seeing this fiasco.

Really? What a life you must have had, that this is the kind of thing that scars you. I mean, not just a movie that you don't like, but, well, a movie, full stop. Apparently the emotional equivalent of hemophilia.

Come on, does anyone at all like this mess?

Apparently, yes.

Frankly, if you're looking for potential career killers from Arkin's career, you'd do better checking out Jerky Boys, North, Bad Medicine, Big Trouble or Chu Chu and the Philly Flash.


"My brain rebelled, and insisted on applying logic where it was not welcome."

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Favorite line:

"Lisa, a lady is dancing with a pot holder!"

My wife and I saw this in 1980 and we were the only ones in the theater that "got it" - we were ROFL and no one else was even chuckling. Their loss.

Sure wish this was on DVD.

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If this movie, which I can now candidly admit is not my favorite movie with Alan Arkin, did threaten to kill his career, it must have failed.

For a guy whose career is supposedly dead, he's sure doing well for himself with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

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So the OP didn't like the movie, big deal. I loved it and so did others. What I find hilarious is that people like the OP have to make such a huge deal out of the fact that they didn't like the movie and make such obviously nonsensical claims about it.

Sorry, OP, but whatever dark stuff was going on in your life when you saw this movie doesn't actually have much to do with the movie itself.

I've seen bad Alan Arkin movies before (Inspector Clouseau, Fire Sale, etc.) This movie was not one of them.

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What ho! Funny meeting you again.... I watched Simon years ago after a teenage night in the pub and laughed so much that I nearly dropped my curry. I'll never forget the old bloke pooh-poohing Somon's suggestion that politicians are so ridiculous that they should be forced to dress as clowns then lifting his head up to reveal a rotating bow tie...

I also fell in love with Madeleine Kahn.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMHWOI2JyR4

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

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Thanks for the link. Still making me laugh after 30 years...

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My memory played me false, it wasn't a bow tie but a party hat.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

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"Lisa, a lady is dancing with a pot holder!" <---What does it mean?

http://www.cgonzales.net &#x26; http://www.drxcreatures.com

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