Movies With Dan Aykroyd Jekyll and Hyde Together Again

Jekyll and Hyde…Together Again (1982)

Rated:R

Directed by: Jerry Belson

Format: Betamax

by Isabella Acuña

Once a upon a time in the early 80'south …

… there was a show on ABC called Fridays and information technology appeared every Fri at midnight to rival NBC's Saturday Night Live, which at the time, was suffering from low ratings.

At that place were also a few other sketch comedies that appeared in that era such every bit Commencement'due south Bizarre , SCTV ,and HBO'southward Not Necessarily the News..

SNL was more nearly cultural and political humour, while Bizarre was more near sex jokes, Not Necessarily the News was more than about news spoofs ,and SCTV was more most television station and motion picture spoofs. What made Fridays different is that it concentrated more than on…drug jokes. Thirty years ago it seemed drugs were more socially adequate, especially during the postal service-Disco, end of the Vietnam War era of the early eighty's. Disco was ,sort of, still in but information technology was dying in 1982. Enter New Wave, Synthesizers, Aerobics, Skinny Ties, Atari 2600, and…COCAINE.

Some bandage members of SNL were known for doing coke. I'm not certain about the members of Fridays though ,only they did feature a sketch in their 1980 season that showed a mitt puppet snorting a line of coke. Sat Dark Alive during it's tertiary season starred Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi,Jane Curtin,Garrett Morris,Bill Murray, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner …merely…but… Friday's third season starred Larry David (afterwards more famously known equally the co-creator and author of Seinfeld) ,Bruce Mahler,Michael Richards(also afterwards of Seinfeld), Darrow Igus ,Melanie Chartoff ,Rich Hall and Stuart Pankin (both of whom were in Not Necessarily the News a year afterwards),Maryedith Burrell,Brandis Kemp,John Roarke and Marking Blankfield. The testify too guest starred the infamous Andy Kaufman in a few episodes(ironically he
and Mark Blankfield had the same manager during that time,and information technology was also very ironic that he also guest stared in Saturday Night Live,Fri'southward master rival show). Of course anybody remembers the famous episode when Andy caused a fight on the set by pissing off Michael Richards enough for Michael to walk off the fix and throw the cue cards in front of Andy. Turns out the fight was fake but it really tripped people out when first aired,peculiarly considering the skit was nigh two couples going to a eating place and sneaking into the restroom each to fume a joint. Andy Kaufman purposely broke character and said he can't play stoned considering he felt information technology was stupid. Anyways it took me awhile to discover out that ane of the waiters in this skit is Mark Blankfield.

At the time Mark Blankfield was very famous for his crazy pharmacist "Drugs 'R' Us" sketches that appeared on Fridays. 1980-1981 saw the peak of Fridays every bit their ratings soared higher than SNL's at the time. The "Drugs'R'Us" sketch was ane of the about or perhaps the nearly popular sketch from Fridays during this time. Then around early 1982, ABC executives decided to pull the plug on Fridays.

Fall 1982.The early on lxxx's…a time when, it was still okay to smoke cigarettes indoors,in arcades, in shopping malls,even in motion picture theatre lobbies(there was even a smoking section in McDonald'southward for crying out loud ,that so wouldn't happen today). A time when a brand new VHS tape cost $60 to $100. eight-tracks were still in fashion. Hall & Oates had some hitting songs on the radio. People were trying to figure out the Rubik's Cube. Also the post-Disco era saw people snorting and then much coke it's non fifty-fifty funny. People were snorting cocaine like they were buying Thriller albums. Seemed like a actually groovy thought to put Marker Blankfield in a starring role, in his ain movement picture, to ride on his so current popularity coming off the "Drugs 'R'The states" Fridays sketches. I can imagine it, the iii writers of this film hanging out late one hazy early on 80'due south morning time in Studio 54, snorting fat lines, and thinking…

"Hey let's make a movie based on uhhh..snorrrrrt..the Robert Louis Stevenson novel and combine it with glorifying cocaine employ and starring Mark Blankfield!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Enter: Jekyll and Hyde…Together Again.

Release engagement:October 1982.

I start heard almost this movie while watching old footage of eighty's commercials from a local cult,defunct Bay Surface area Television receiver station called KBHK aqueduct 44.

The commercials I saw were aired during the fall of 1982. Following the cheesey OP clothing velcro commercial, the A&W Family Restaurants Burger commercial (the i that featured "The Wuppets" promo),the K-Tel Records, and the Toyota '82 commercials came this movie advert of a film I don't always retrieve seeing earlier. The movie commercial had what looked like a young Cistron Wilder(people oftentimes confuse Marker Blankfield with Gene Wilder for some reason,most likely because of their similar physical comedy style and that curly early on 80's afro perm!),who looked like a mad scientist and Krista Errickson (from the tv show Hello,Larry) playing Pac-Human while this crazy mad scientist looking guy with a crazy afro yelled at her ear, "I AM THE DOCTOR!!!!!!!", and then the girl saying , "You need a Dr.!!!!",and then the movie title on the screen, Jekyll and Hyde…Together Again ! Then the announcer maxim it played at Daly City,CA's Plaza Twin and Geneva Drive-In theatres!? The Geneva Drive-In is famous for being mentioned a few times past Hunter Due south.Thompson in some of his stories,and it was infamous for the rowdy drug crazed crowds information technology had. I tin can imagine some early fourscore's stoned disco hippies going to see this pic in Daly City,CA and then right later on going for a Papa Burger at A&W'due south (I grew upwardly in that town.I think in that location was an A&Due west in that location in the fourscore's).

After watching that commercial I idea to myself……"What the hell was THAT!?!?!!? Ooooh what did I simply see!?!?!?". Upwards until that indicate, I oasis't e'er recalled seeing that flick in the 80's(or fifty-fifty in the 90's). It looked like ane of those screwball early 80's comedies that featured some sort of mad doctor. Luckily I just got a good Betamax VCR recently with the woodgrain and a re-create of this film !

Starting off, the movie has a real Aeroplane like quality to it. Lots of one-liners,visual gags, lots and lots of slapstick. Marker Blankfield as the shy PhysicianDaniel Jekyll working equally a vivid nimble fingered surgeon in an L.A. hospital chosen Our Lady of Pain and Suffering. His fiance is played by Bess Armstrong (who a yr later starred in Jaws 3-D) ,and she plays Mary Carew the girl of Jekyll's boss at the infirmary,played past Michael McGuire (as Dr.Carew).

Anyways, Jekyll tells everyone in the operating room that he's going to quit the profession to further his studies for something that volition help all of mankind,something that will replace the need for surgery. One of the doctors asks him what is information technology that he'll replace surgery with ,and Jekyll's reply? "DRUGS". Then the whole roomful of doctors showtime throwing political party confetti around while an appearance by Cassandra Peterson (famous for Elvira) is notable hither equally a nurse. Anyways the fact that he wants to quit the profession worries his boss Dr.Carew then much that nosotros and then see a subplot forming. Dr.Carew wants Jekyll to do a life saving surgery on the world's wealthiest man, some decrepit looking old guy by the proper name of Hubert Howes( a pun on Howard Hughes) played by veteran actor Peter Brocco .Hubert Howes needs a transplant for every organ in his torso in order to alive longer. During one scene, Jekyll and DoctorCarew argue about whether Jekyll should do the life saving organ donor functioning for the erstwhile rich man or not.

And so at i signal Jekyll remarks , " Hubert Howes can go stick it up his donkey!!", so Dr.Carew says…

" He doesn't have an ass!!! That's one of the things we need to transplant!!!!!!!!"

OHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Very,very,very funny. One of the funniest lines I've heard in a movie lately.

Also appearing in this is Tim Thomerson(best known in Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn[1983]) as a crazy plastic surgeon by the name of PhysicianKnute Lanyon. So there's a scene of Jekyll talking to his fiance Mary while walking through the hospital corridors through a serial of gags ,and over the infirmary intercom at ane point you hear a woman'southward vox maxim…

"Please come to the Emergency Room, at that place'southward an Asshole waiting…"(!? HAHAHAHA!!).

After that nosotros see him going into his lab to chop up some coke on a mirror and write notes on a chalkboard. A nurse knocks on the door suddenly and asks Jekyll that he must come to the ER immediately because…because… a young woman has a Foreign Object stuck in her errr…V-A-Chiliad-I-N-A…exactly as how the nurse spelled it out embarrassingly to Jekyll equally he misunderstands what she says ,and and so has to write it down on the chalkboard. What the hell!?!?!?!?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay and then he so goes to the ER ,and so we see a half naked Krista Errickson (who plays the character of Ivy Venus ), sitting on the table, and Jekyll asks "So where is this foreign object???",and all of a sudden we meet this Asian man pop out from between her legs ! Too what sounds like him speaking in rather gibberish Mandarin Chinese.

This moving picture is filled so far with political incorrectness information technology'south not even funny. Very typical of early 80's screwball comedies.

So then Jekyll is in the ER room lonely with Ivy equally she's putting on her dress and she complains about a pigsty getting in her only classy pair of pantyhose. Then Jekyll gives her ten dollars to replace the pair ,and she immediately assumes it's for sexual practice piece of work, (wow $10 must have been alot of money back in 1982!!! awwwww the early lxxx's). The obviously painfuly shy Dr. Daniel Jekyll then looks nervous,every bit he mispronounces his own proper noun when she asks him ,and then she gives the obviously horny looking Jekyll her torn pantyhose ,and then tells him to bank check her out at this Chinese restaurant she works at called "Madame Woo Woo's".

Following that scene,nosotros then run across him in his lab as he's chopping upward what looks like a white powder (coke!?!?) on a mirror. Supposedly the film is saying PhysicianJekyll invented cocaine!?! HAHAHAH!!!! No Sh-t. All of sudden the doctor falls asleep accidentally with a straw upwardly his olfactory organ and it luckily somehow lands in the sparkly shiny white powder.

"SNORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT……."

Of a sudden we see some cool psychedelic special furnishings circa 1982 in the film and what looks similar a mad scientist lab complete with bubbling,foaming beakers. Later on snuffing the white powder , Jekyll falls to the footing ,and all of a sudden…expect for it…wait for it…….Jekyll grows an afro, dons a Disco dancing pimp suit complete with open chest pilus,70's polyester shirt, gold chains with a razor, and grows a coke fingernail on his pinky !

Okay and then this is when the film really starts to option up. Suddenly it has turned into Airplane meets Nice Dreams of early 80's cocaine glorification films. It has a existent heavy early lxxx's temper with an old time feeling of when things felt dirtier and grittier, and jokes were very unapologetic. Mr.Hyde so puts the amorphous of white powder in his pocket , and heads right out the door proverb …

"Let's git dowwwwn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

Suddenly he carjacks what looks similar a '79 Oldsmobile so there's some more cool psychedelic special effects equally he'south driving effectually super coked out in L.A. causing car crashes. During this scene I noticed the music is actually really cool,almost has a Devo-like vibe to it. Makes me wish there was an official soundtrack for this movie. Then he parks the car right in front end of this Chinese restaurant called Madame Woo Woo'due south and starts disco dancing and chirapsia upwards people as he walks toward the place. (During this scene even there's an actual brief cameo by Pat Smear of The Germs and Nirvana fame).As Mr.Hyde walks into the restaurant we meet these early 80'south type punk rockers moshing around and doing the pogo while then he is greeted by some Japanese Sushi chefs.

They say to him"HAI!!!HAI!!", then Mr.Hyde waves back and says"HIIIIIIIII!!!!!" ….Hahaha!!!!!! (Oh gawd past this betoken in the movie I am laughing my booty off). Mr.Hyde then says to the chefs:

"Give me some Chicken Sushi!!! I said………..GIVE ME SOME Chicken SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So the Sushi chefs complain in frustration in their own native linguistic communication, "Craven Sushi!? Ay!! Bakayaro!!!". And then suddenly Mark Blankfield as the coked out Hyde retorts back,imitating the Japanese chef while making some jerky body movements…

"AYYYY, BAKAYARO, BAKAYARO!!!!!"

Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh wow that is like one of the funniest give-and-take exchanges in a picture show I've ever heard. Totally hilarious. Political incorrectness to the max. Today there wouldn't be a picture show like that. Today people would complain. It doesn't stop from there though, this whole film is filled nonstop with gags like these. Following the Chicken Sushi scene we see Mr. Hyde snorting up some wasabi and and then telling some poor guy to get lost on his chair. Then Madame Woo Woo, the owner of the Chinese punk stone bar/eating place with Japanese cooks, herself announces on the stage the adjacent band coming up as Ivy & the Shitty Rainbows!!!!

Nosotros and then see Ivy (Krista Errickson) in this weird eighty's jumpsuit outfit with Christmas lights all over her ,wearing a blonde afro wig, and singing a punkish sounding New Wave number called "Light Upward My Body" ,which was really written by Peter Ivers, who interestingly plenty is also famous for composing the Eraserhead(1977) soundtrack. Peter Ivers also hosted the famous New Wave Theater show on the United states of america Network on cable Boob tube during the early 80'due south. He also composed about of the music for this movie along with Barry De Vorzon(who composed the music for The Warriors[1979]). No wonder this soundtrack rocks everyone'due south ass !!! Anyways during this scene ,Mr.Hyde is starting to have the hots for Ivy while all these punk rockers are moshing and po-going effectually ,wearing ruby-red flower pots on their heads like Devo.

And so after that she then takes him into her flat loft which appears to be in the aforementioned building as Madame Woo Woo'due south restaurant. We then larn that aside from working for Madame Woo Woo as an entertainer ,she is also a hooker. She then asks Blankfield how he wants it and then he replies " I Want IT ALL Means!!!" while spilling his fat bag of cocaine-like powder all over the floor in front of her. Then they commutation names…

"What's your name?"

"Hyde!!!!"

"What'south your outset proper noun?"

" I don't have one….my parents lacked imagination."

So Mr.Hyde tells Ivy…

"Your dazzler is classic and I know course…"

…And then he snorts up the spilled white powder on the rug. Lots of cocaine references throughout. More crazy slapstick humor and Airplane like gags(some of which actually rivals Airplane'due south profoundly). Mark Blankfield was known for his corking physical comedy on Fridays, that even one of the creators of that show remarked that he was the 80's generation version of Buster Keaton. I kinda concur. This is definitely Blankfield'due south epic comic tour de forcefulness. This was Jim Carrey before Jim Carrey.

It'south sad that not alot of people retrieve this film and he should have blown upwards big with it. Film wise I would say this is a very Underrated 80's gem. After it's release it faded somewhat into obscurity. Mark Blankfield is actually more well known for his co-starring roles in several Mel Beck'south films of the early 90'due south(ironic since he is often compared to Gene Wilder who has also collaborated with Mel Brooks), and infamously played a blind graphic symbol in an ill-fated 1991 Television receiver evidence that starred Teri Garr chosen Proficient and Evil ,that got cancelled midway through it's first season because people complained he was making fun of blind people. He also appeared in smaller supporting roles in Television set shows similar Saved by the Bong and even in the current popular Arrested Development. Afterwards that, never heard from him again after 2003. Discussion of mouth says he retired from acting and has become a high school teacher(!?). Like Rick Moranis, I hope Marking Blankfield comes dorsum to interim i day.

There'southward alot of great scenes in this film that I beloved. Scenes that involve Mr.Hyde looking for Ivy in a supermarket(stuff in that scene look sooo 80's). There'south also a scene in an early on 80'southward videogame arcade, the scene where Ivy is playing Pac-Man.

Throughout the film we meet Mr.Hyde turning back to the wimpy MedicoJekyll and back again,and fighting his urge to snort more lines. His goody two shoes fiance ,Mary Carew, also hilariously lament that he's and then tiresome in bed. Then somehow the film's plot goes to England where, as information technology appears, Jekyll is supposed to recieve some kind of medical accolade. This is when we see some special early 80's shenanigans in filming that is deliberately supposed to not be very believable. Mr. Hyde takes an airplane ride not within the plane…just on acme of the plane!!!! Also Ivy taking a train to England (!?) with Raiders of the Lost Ark-esque arrows pointing across the Atlantic Bounding main type graphics. Some of the film's score fifty-fifty reminds me of Airplane's. Information technology's those late lxx's "suspense" sounding danger horns!!!! Then then nosotros meet Mr.Hyde crashing his own party, taking the stage emceed past George Chakiras of Westward Side Story fame himself ,snorts some powder at the podium,and and so busts into this disco number called "Hyde's Got Nothin' to Hyde" while accompanied past 3 lovely black girl redundancy soul singers. I actually Honey this scene and the vocal.

This is the highlight of the moving-picture show for me and it's really really campy , and also that vocal really rocks. Wouldn't feel out of place in say, Doctor Detroit (1983). This scene is really the epitome of screwball cult films for me. This is the part of the movie where I turn up the volume because I dearest that song,information technology'due south so hilarious and it rocks,and Blankfield'southward torso movements are funny as hell. Also who happens to be in the audience while Mr.Hyde's singing that funky disco song??? None other than MedicoKnute Lanyon(Tim Thomerson) and Mary Carew(Bess Armstrong) looking shocked as f#ck with their mouths wide open in disbelief wondering who the hell is that crazy looking mad doctor disco pimp is on the phase.HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That look on Mary'south face is priceless. Slap-up acting I have to say. I'm non gonna spoil the ending though.

This film has alot of good balance in the acting and roles. Two good strong female leads(one crazy punk chick and the other the goody 2-shoes), a spectacular physical comedy operation by Mark Blankfield equally the shy surgeon turned coked out disco dancing mad doctor, and some very funny performances by Tim Thomerson and Mike McGuire as well.

This pic takes the early 80's way screwball sexual activity humor of Porky's, the drug humour style of Overnice Dreams(which was released a year prior to this and coincidentally as well has a funny scene in a Chinese restaurant), the mad md blazon humor of the original Nutty Professor, the spoofiness of Airplane, and rolls information technology all up into one film with a touch of those times: Disco,New Wave,Videogames and Cocaine trends. I kinda feel this film has almost everything. This is definitely an fourscore's cocaine film, even during the opening credits the master title is snorted. I do not condone the use of hard drugs yet, simply it does make for some good laughs. Skillful to spotter sober or stoned. Rated 'R'. Definitely not for kids nether 18 (unless their parents are like crazy early 80's disco hippies). Funny I've read about some people who grew up watching this movie in the 80'south and they wondered how their parents even allow them watch this moving picture in the first place.

Watching this on Betamax adds to the nostalgia gene for sure. At that place'southward fifty-fifty a really funny sypnosis on the back of the Betamax record box that says:

" Nodding off one day, Dr. Jekyll (Mark Blankfield) accidentally snorts a sampling of the snuff which quickly transforms this shy,sensitive human into a wild,wide eyed disco deviant with New Wave tendencies. To the shock of his dominate Dr. Carew(Michael McGuire) and Jekyll'southward fiancee, Mary (Bess Armstrong) ,spoiled girl of the caput medico,Hyde takes over past taking to nymph chasing and disco blazing.
But the richest and sickest patient in th world is admitted
and needs Jekyll to survive. Will Jekyll show upwardly? Or will
he go on to discover more than perverse pleasures subconscious in his Hyde?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dear it.

This is a really rare find in Betamax record collecting really,and I'm glad to have a copy of it myself. It's also available on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. Some of the DVD'southward and Blu-ray versions are a carve up disc with another early fourscore's cult spoof film called Pupil Bodies(1981). I will definitely exist watching this movie over again a few times more soon.

This film needs a bigger cult following. Allow'south brand it happen!!!! Major props to this Chicken Sushi hawkin', classy pantyhose coke snortin',politically incorrect,Disco dancing screwball of a sexploitation early fourscore'south one-act flick! It does have some modest flaws though(nothing's perfect) and not for people who hate the 80's,only if you dearest movies like Airplane(1980) and Cheech & Chong'southward Prissy Dreams(1981) , and then you'll probably honey this motion-picture show. Hell, I'll even go as far as to say it's BETTER than fucking Star Wars AND Lurid Fiction…

🙂

My side by side review will be:

The Incredible Shrinking Adult female (1981) on Betamax. !!!!

HAVE A NICE NIGHT AND A PLEASANT TOMORROW

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Source: https://swingin8trackchick.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/jekyll-and-hyde-together-again-1982-betamax-movie-review/

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