Why do you suppose they chose to give Jacques dialogue?
With the three characters obviously being sendups of Groucho, Harpo, and Chico, why do you suppose the made this one glaring change? Especially since most of his lines were the unnecessary and were the kind of thing that Harpo would easily mime.
Is it just that Bob Nelson simply isn't as talented a mime as Harpo was?
Also, does anybody know why the Zucker Bros left this project before completion?
It's not a carbon copy. Flakfizer didn't sport a mustache, either. I think they were trying to emulate the essence of the Marx Brothers.
What I found interesting about Jacques is that he talks, but almost nothing he says is of any consequence. In that way, he fills the "Harpo" role well.
His best line is when Flakfizer tells him he should go back to school. His reply? "I hated teaching!"
JLT
The Zuckers were approached by Fox for a movie deal. They were interested, but Paramount wanted them to stay. The brothers left Paramount after Brain Donors was finished filming. The people at Paramount were not happy.
As a result, the film's release was delayed, twenty minutes were cut out, the marketing campaign was scrapped, a chunk of the original music score was removed and replaced with Mark Mothersbaugh's cues and theme, the title became Brain Donors, and it had a very limited release in theaters.
What Paramount did was ridiculous and highly unnecessary, considering that the Zuckers didn't make any films with Fox and the deal fell through. Plus, they returned to Paramount for Naked Gun 33 1/3.