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What the Hell Happened to Steve Guttenberg?
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TMC
Mar 4, 2013, 4:38:22 AM3/4/13
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http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/08/18/what-the-hell-happened-to-steve-guttenberg/
Posted by lebeau
This may come as a shock to some of you. But a long time ago, this
guy was a movie star. Back in the days of Reaganomics and Rubick’s
Cubes, Steve “The Gute” Guttenberg was A-list. And then, 1990 came
and took it all away.
Steve Guttenberg’s first significant role was in the 1978 Nazi-themed
thriller, The Boys from Brazil in which he starred opposite Gregory
Peck and Lawrence Olivier. Quite an auspicious beginning, don’t you
think? Well, it’s all downhill from there…
Because in 1980, Guttenberg starred opposite the Village People and
Bruce Jenner in the infamous Can’t Stop the Music. Can’t Stop the
Music was a musical retelling of the rise of the Village People, the
disco-era music group known for including a cowboy, a biker guy and an
indian and introducing America to the YMCA.
You would think a Village People musical could ride the wave of disco
mania to box office success, right? It probably would have if it had
been released a few years earlier. But by 1980, not only was disco no
longer popular, there was a huge “disco is dead” backlash against all
things disco.
As a result, the 20-million-dollar musical earned a paltry 2-million
dollars at the box office. The reviews were as bad as you would
expect.
Most telling of all, Can’t Stop the Music was the recipient of the
first-ever Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture. John J.B. Wilson was
inspired to create the awards for bad movies after sitting through a
double feature of Can’t Stop the Music and Xanadu. Yep, that’ll do
it.
The next year, Guttenberg appeared in the TV hockey movie, Miracle on
Ice. He returned to the big screen in style in 1982 as part of Barry
Levinson’s ensemble comedy-drama, Diner.
Diner was a dream job for a young actor in the 80′s. Although it was
only a modest success at the box office, critics lavished it with
praise. It helped Levinson’s script was nominated for an Oscar. And
the cast was a who’s who of up-and-coming actors including Guttenberg,
Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin and
Paul Reiser.
Although Diner was a small movie, it has had a lasting impact. In
1983, it was adapted by Levinson into a short-lived TV show. Reiser
was the only returning cast member. The cast of the TV show included
Michael Madsen and James Spader. Unfortunately, the show never got
past the pilot stage.
Currently, Levinson is adapting Diner for Broadway with pop singer
Sheryl Crow.
Diner gave Guttenberg’s career a bump. But as part of an ensemble,
Guttenberg had to share the spotlight with a talented cast. In 1983,
Guttenberg followed up Diner with a starring role in the invisible man
comedy, The Man Who Wasn’t There.
The posted for The Man Who Wasn’t There included the tagline, “Being
invisible will get you into spy rings, diplomatic circles and the
girls’ locker room.” I think this tells you everything you need to
know about the movie.
There are two upsides to starring in The Man Who Wasn’t There. One,
Guttenberg had the lead role. Two, he was invisible for much of the
film.
Later that year, Guttenberg returned to TV for the ABC movie The Day
After. I usually don’t spend a lot of time talking about TV movies.
But The Day After scared the living crap out of me and every one I
knew in 1983.
It seems quaint now. But in the 80′s Cold War America was scared
silly of nuclear war and the Russians. When ABC aired The Day After
it was seen as a realistic depiction of the aftermath of nuclear war
which could happen without notice at any minute.
I remember having classroom discussions about it in school. We were
encouraged to watch the broadcast. And the next day when every single
kid in school was scared shitless, we talked about it further.
In 1984, Guttenberg starred in Police Academy. Policy Academy was one
of the many slob comedies released in the 80′s in the aftermath of
National Lampoon’s Animal House.
Roger Ebert had this to say about Police Adacemy, “It’s really
something. It’s so bad, maybe you should pool your money and draw
straws and send one of the guys off to rent it so that in the future,
whenever you think you’re sitting through a bad comedy, he could shake
his head, and chuckle tolerantly, and explain that you don’t know what
bad is”.
I think Ebert is beating up on Police Academy unfairly. Yeah, it’s
dumb. It’s supposed to be dumb. And no, it’s not especially funny.
But as the sequels would go on to show, you can do a whole lot worse
than the first Police Academy movie.
Against all odds, Police Academy was a hit that would go on to spawn a
franchise that still has life in it today. To date, there have been 7
Police Academy movies, a live action TV show and a kid’s cartoon!
Of course Warner Brothers wanted a sequel to Police Academy as soon as
possible. The films were quick and easy to make. So the very next
year, Guttenberg and most of the cast returned for Police Academy 2.
Critics didn’t like the sequel any better than the original. But
audiences still flocked to theaters for cheap laughs.
That summer, Guttenberg also appeared in Ron Howard’s sci-fi movie,
Cocoon. Cocoon tells the story of a group of senior citizens who
reclaim their youthful energy after swimming in a pool filled with
alien cocoons.
The cast was stocked with respected actors like Don Ameche, Wilford
Brimley and Jessica Tandy. But the closest thing it had to a box
office draw was Guttenberg as a ship captain who unwittingly aids the
aliens in an attempt to save some of their own.
Cocoon was an extremely unlikely hit. How much credit for that
belongs to Guttenberg is debatable. I doubt many people bought a
ticket to Cocoon to see Guttenberg. But his amiable presence helped
make a science fiction film starring senior citizens palatable to the
masses.
Guttenberg finished out 1985 on a low note with the Bad Medicine. Bad
Medicine attempted to do for medical students what Police Academy did
for police recruits. However, without the wacky supporting cast of
the Police Academy movies, Bad Medicine failed.
In 1986, Guttenberg completed the Police Academy trilogy with Police
Academy 3: Back in Training which finally answered all of the burning
questions from the first two Police Academy movies. Critics still
hated it and audiences still didn’t care.
Later that year, Guttenberg also appeared opposite Brat Pack refugee
Ally Sheedy in the sci fi comedy, Short Circuit. Short Circuit was
about a robot who gains sentience in an electical storm. It was one
of the many ET rip-offs from the era. But unlike Mac and Me, Short
Circuit got decent reviews and was a moderate hit at the box office.
Short Circuit is significant in Guttenberg’s career. Up until this
point, he had been in his share of hits and relatively few misses.
But it is hard to credit Guttenberg with his success. Although he was
the star of the Police Academy films, it was really the cast of
crazies that made those films hits.
His other hit movies were ensemble films like Diner and Cocoon. It’s
easy to forget that Guttenberg was even in them. But “The Gute” is
undeniably the biggest star in Short Circuit. It’s success shows that
Guttenberg could carry a film on his own.
In 1987, Guttenberg was all over the place. He started the year with
the sexy thriller, Bedroom Window. Bedroom Window was basically a rip-
off of Hitchcock’s classic, Rear Window. It was written and directed
by Curtis Hanson who would go on to greater things like LA
Confidential.
Bedroom Window got mostly positive reviews. Unfortunately, it didn’t
do much at the box office. But it developed a cult following on video
over the years.
Since Guttenberg’s Police Academy checks kept clearing, he starred in
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol co-starring Sharon Stone.
It’s easy to look back and criticize Guttenberg for appearing in 4
Police Academy movies. They were obviously crap. But audiences loved
them and they provided Guttenberg with steady work for four straight
years. Decades later, these are the films he is still best known for.
Police Academy 4 was Guttenberg’s last film in the franchise. With
hits like Cocoon and Short Circuit, he no longer needed the safety net
they provided.
In the fall of 1987, Guttenberg was one of many actors in the sketch
comedy, Amazon Women on the Moon. He also appeared opposite Sally
Field and Michael Caine in Surrender. Neither film made much of an
impact with critics or audiences.
Guttenberg ended 1987 on a high note with Three Men and a Baby. Three
Men and a Baby was a remake of the French farce, Trois hommes et un
couffin. Guttenberg starred opposite Tom Selleck and Ted Danson as
three bachelors whose lives are turned upside down by a baby.
This is the kind of movie Guttenberg was born to do. For a guy who
made his name in comedies, Guttenberg was never especially funny
himself. But he was extremely likable. He could flash his big, goofy
grin as the baby wet her diapers or threw up on Tom Selleck. Or he
could make sad eyes when it looked like the baby might be taken away
from them.
The reviews were mostly positive for Three Men and a Baby. But more
importantly, it was a monster hit. It did so well, that it
established Leonard Nimoy as a legitimate film director outside of the
Star Trek franchise.
Seeing as how Guttenberg made 4 Police Academy movies, you can hardly
blame him for appearing in the 1988 Cocoon sequel, Cocoon 2: The
Return. Just about the entire cast of the original film returned for
the sequel. Unfortunately, director Ron Howard did not.
Cocoon 2 received negative reviews and disappointed at the box office.
Guttenberg ended 1988 with the supernatural comedy, High Spirits
opposite Peter O’Toole and Darryl Hannah. High Spirits was written
and directed by Neil Jordan. It also co-starred a pre-fame Liam
Neeson. But the ghostly romantic comedy was a miss with critics and
audiences.
Short Circuit 2 also came out in 1988. And somehow, Guttenberg wasn’t
in it.
Guttenberg entered the 90′s with a mullet in the romantic comedy,
Don’t Tell Her It’s Me opposite Shelley Long and Jami Gertz. I am
going to let the picture speak for itself on this one.
Since Three Men and a Baby was such a run-away hit, it’s no surprise
they attempted a sequel with 1990′s Three Men and a Little Lady. And
since Guttenberg can’t say “no” to a sequel until the fifth film in
the franchise, it’s no surprise that Guttenberg returned for it.
As it turns out, a sequel to Three Men and a Baby completely misses
the point. That movie was all about seeing men in over their heads
trying to take care of a baby. It hinged on diaper humor. Since the
baby has now grown into a “little lady” the sequel lacked the main
selling point of the original. In other words, no one peed on Tom
Selleck this time.
Amazingly, there is talk of a third film in the franchise!
After 1990, “The Gute” just disappeared. After working steadily
throughout the 1980′s, Guttenberg wouldn’t make another movie for 5
years!
There aren’t a lot of reasons given for Guttenberg’s disappearance.
Although Guttenberg himself admits that he let fame go to his head.
In his autobiography, The Guttenberg Bible, Guttenberg admits to
bedding hundreds of women and generally not being a very nice person.
I think most people are less surprised by Guttenberg’s disappearance
than the idea that Guttenberg was ever a star to begin with. The
thing Guttenberg had going for him was that he was non-threatening.
He was just a goofy, somewhat handsome guy. Men didn’t want to be him
and although women apparently wanted to be with him, they’d have
rather been with Tom Selleck.
In 1995, Guttenberg came roaring back out of nowhere. He starred in
the dolphin/dog family film, Zeus and Roxanne, the soccer comedy, The
Big Green and Jodie Foster’s comedy-drama, Home for the Holidays.
None of these films sparked a comeback for “The Gute”.
Guttenberg also starred opposite Kirstie Alley and the Olsen twins in
It Takes Two. I am singling this one out only because I was surprised
to learn that it was not a direct-to-video release as I had always
assumed. It Takes Two was actually shown in theaters.
Guttenberg’s descent into straight-to-video hell would have to wait
until 1997′s Casper sequel, Casper: A Spirited Beginning. Casper 2
answers the question, “Who do you call when Bill Pullman won’t come
back for a sequel?” The answer: Steve Guttenberg. Since they stopped
making sequels to movies he appeared in, he apparently started making
sequels to other people’s movies.
Not surprisingly, Casper 2 also has a Full House connection in the
form of co-star Lori Loughlin.
That same year, Guttenberg also starred opposite a young Kirsten Dusnt
in the TV movie Tower of Terror based on the Disney theme park
attraction. The ride it is based on is themed to the Twilight Zone TV
show. The TV movie is basically just a commercial for the ride. The
ride is incredibly awesome. The TV movie, not so much.
In 2002, Guttenberg directed and starred in PS Your Cat Is Dead which
was based on a novel and play of the same name.
And in 2005, he appeared in a TV-remake of The Poseidon Adventure.
In 2008, Guttenberg finally bottomed out appearing in the Private
Benjamin rip-off, Major Movie Star. One can only hope the title was
intended to be ironic. It is also known as Private Valentine: Blonde
and Dangerous.
With most of the subjects I have written about, it’s easy to forget
just how big of a star they used to be. But with Guttenberg, it has
gotten to the point where people forget he was ever a star at all.
Oh well. At least we’ll always have the Village People.
Posted by lebeau
This may come as a shock to some of you. But a long time ago, this
guy was a movie star. Back in the days of Reaganomics and Rubick’s
Cubes, Steve “The Gute” Guttenberg was A-list. And then, 1990 came
and took it all away.
Steve Guttenberg’s first significant role was in the 1978 Nazi-themed
thriller, The Boys from Brazil in which he starred opposite Gregory
Peck and Lawrence Olivier. Quite an auspicious beginning, don’t you
think? Well, it’s all downhill from there…
Because in 1980, Guttenberg starred opposite the Village People and
Bruce Jenner in the infamous Can’t Stop the Music. Can’t Stop the
Music was a musical retelling of the rise of the Village People, the
disco-era music group known for including a cowboy, a biker guy and an
indian and introducing America to the YMCA.
You would think a Village People musical could ride the wave of disco
mania to box office success, right? It probably would have if it had
been released a few years earlier. But by 1980, not only was disco no
longer popular, there was a huge “disco is dead” backlash against all
things disco.
As a result, the 20-million-dollar musical earned a paltry 2-million
dollars at the box office. The reviews were as bad as you would
expect.
Most telling of all, Can’t Stop the Music was the recipient of the
first-ever Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture. John J.B. Wilson was
inspired to create the awards for bad movies after sitting through a
double feature of Can’t Stop the Music and Xanadu. Yep, that’ll do
it.
The next year, Guttenberg appeared in the TV hockey movie, Miracle on
Ice. He returned to the big screen in style in 1982 as part of Barry
Levinson’s ensemble comedy-drama, Diner.
Diner was a dream job for a young actor in the 80′s. Although it was
only a modest success at the box office, critics lavished it with
praise. It helped Levinson’s script was nominated for an Oscar. And
the cast was a who’s who of up-and-coming actors including Guttenberg,
Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin and
Paul Reiser.
Although Diner was a small movie, it has had a lasting impact. In
1983, it was adapted by Levinson into a short-lived TV show. Reiser
was the only returning cast member. The cast of the TV show included
Michael Madsen and James Spader. Unfortunately, the show never got
past the pilot stage.
Currently, Levinson is adapting Diner for Broadway with pop singer
Sheryl Crow.
Diner gave Guttenberg’s career a bump. But as part of an ensemble,
Guttenberg had to share the spotlight with a talented cast. In 1983,
Guttenberg followed up Diner with a starring role in the invisible man
comedy, The Man Who Wasn’t There.
The posted for The Man Who Wasn’t There included the tagline, “Being
invisible will get you into spy rings, diplomatic circles and the
girls’ locker room.” I think this tells you everything you need to
know about the movie.
There are two upsides to starring in The Man Who Wasn’t There. One,
Guttenberg had the lead role. Two, he was invisible for much of the
film.
Later that year, Guttenberg returned to TV for the ABC movie The Day
After. I usually don’t spend a lot of time talking about TV movies.
But The Day After scared the living crap out of me and every one I
knew in 1983.
It seems quaint now. But in the 80′s Cold War America was scared
silly of nuclear war and the Russians. When ABC aired The Day After
it was seen as a realistic depiction of the aftermath of nuclear war
which could happen without notice at any minute.
I remember having classroom discussions about it in school. We were
encouraged to watch the broadcast. And the next day when every single
kid in school was scared shitless, we talked about it further.
In 1984, Guttenberg starred in Police Academy. Policy Academy was one
of the many slob comedies released in the 80′s in the aftermath of
National Lampoon’s Animal House.
Roger Ebert had this to say about Police Adacemy, “It’s really
something. It’s so bad, maybe you should pool your money and draw
straws and send one of the guys off to rent it so that in the future,
whenever you think you’re sitting through a bad comedy, he could shake
his head, and chuckle tolerantly, and explain that you don’t know what
bad is”.
I think Ebert is beating up on Police Academy unfairly. Yeah, it’s
dumb. It’s supposed to be dumb. And no, it’s not especially funny.
But as the sequels would go on to show, you can do a whole lot worse
than the first Police Academy movie.
Against all odds, Police Academy was a hit that would go on to spawn a
franchise that still has life in it today. To date, there have been 7
Police Academy movies, a live action TV show and a kid’s cartoon!
Of course Warner Brothers wanted a sequel to Police Academy as soon as
possible. The films were quick and easy to make. So the very next
year, Guttenberg and most of the cast returned for Police Academy 2.
Critics didn’t like the sequel any better than the original. But
audiences still flocked to theaters for cheap laughs.
That summer, Guttenberg also appeared in Ron Howard’s sci-fi movie,
Cocoon. Cocoon tells the story of a group of senior citizens who
reclaim their youthful energy after swimming in a pool filled with
alien cocoons.
The cast was stocked with respected actors like Don Ameche, Wilford
Brimley and Jessica Tandy. But the closest thing it had to a box
office draw was Guttenberg as a ship captain who unwittingly aids the
aliens in an attempt to save some of their own.
Cocoon was an extremely unlikely hit. How much credit for that
belongs to Guttenberg is debatable. I doubt many people bought a
ticket to Cocoon to see Guttenberg. But his amiable presence helped
make a science fiction film starring senior citizens palatable to the
masses.
Guttenberg finished out 1985 on a low note with the Bad Medicine. Bad
Medicine attempted to do for medical students what Police Academy did
for police recruits. However, without the wacky supporting cast of
the Police Academy movies, Bad Medicine failed.
In 1986, Guttenberg completed the Police Academy trilogy with Police
Academy 3: Back in Training which finally answered all of the burning
questions from the first two Police Academy movies. Critics still
hated it and audiences still didn’t care.
Later that year, Guttenberg also appeared opposite Brat Pack refugee
Ally Sheedy in the sci fi comedy, Short Circuit. Short Circuit was
about a robot who gains sentience in an electical storm. It was one
of the many ET rip-offs from the era. But unlike Mac and Me, Short
Circuit got decent reviews and was a moderate hit at the box office.
Short Circuit is significant in Guttenberg’s career. Up until this
point, he had been in his share of hits and relatively few misses.
But it is hard to credit Guttenberg with his success. Although he was
the star of the Police Academy films, it was really the cast of
crazies that made those films hits.
His other hit movies were ensemble films like Diner and Cocoon. It’s
easy to forget that Guttenberg was even in them. But “The Gute” is
undeniably the biggest star in Short Circuit. It’s success shows that
Guttenberg could carry a film on his own.
In 1987, Guttenberg was all over the place. He started the year with
the sexy thriller, Bedroom Window. Bedroom Window was basically a rip-
off of Hitchcock’s classic, Rear Window. It was written and directed
by Curtis Hanson who would go on to greater things like LA
Confidential.
Bedroom Window got mostly positive reviews. Unfortunately, it didn’t
do much at the box office. But it developed a cult following on video
over the years.
Since Guttenberg’s Police Academy checks kept clearing, he starred in
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol co-starring Sharon Stone.
It’s easy to look back and criticize Guttenberg for appearing in 4
Police Academy movies. They were obviously crap. But audiences loved
them and they provided Guttenberg with steady work for four straight
years. Decades later, these are the films he is still best known for.
Police Academy 4 was Guttenberg’s last film in the franchise. With
hits like Cocoon and Short Circuit, he no longer needed the safety net
they provided.
In the fall of 1987, Guttenberg was one of many actors in the sketch
comedy, Amazon Women on the Moon. He also appeared opposite Sally
Field and Michael Caine in Surrender. Neither film made much of an
impact with critics or audiences.
Guttenberg ended 1987 on a high note with Three Men and a Baby. Three
Men and a Baby was a remake of the French farce, Trois hommes et un
couffin. Guttenberg starred opposite Tom Selleck and Ted Danson as
three bachelors whose lives are turned upside down by a baby.
This is the kind of movie Guttenberg was born to do. For a guy who
made his name in comedies, Guttenberg was never especially funny
himself. But he was extremely likable. He could flash his big, goofy
grin as the baby wet her diapers or threw up on Tom Selleck. Or he
could make sad eyes when it looked like the baby might be taken away
from them.
The reviews were mostly positive for Three Men and a Baby. But more
importantly, it was a monster hit. It did so well, that it
established Leonard Nimoy as a legitimate film director outside of the
Star Trek franchise.
Seeing as how Guttenberg made 4 Police Academy movies, you can hardly
blame him for appearing in the 1988 Cocoon sequel, Cocoon 2: The
Return. Just about the entire cast of the original film returned for
the sequel. Unfortunately, director Ron Howard did not.
Cocoon 2 received negative reviews and disappointed at the box office.
Guttenberg ended 1988 with the supernatural comedy, High Spirits
opposite Peter O’Toole and Darryl Hannah. High Spirits was written
and directed by Neil Jordan. It also co-starred a pre-fame Liam
Neeson. But the ghostly romantic comedy was a miss with critics and
audiences.
Short Circuit 2 also came out in 1988. And somehow, Guttenberg wasn’t
in it.
Guttenberg entered the 90′s with a mullet in the romantic comedy,
Don’t Tell Her It’s Me opposite Shelley Long and Jami Gertz. I am
going to let the picture speak for itself on this one.
Since Three Men and a Baby was such a run-away hit, it’s no surprise
they attempted a sequel with 1990′s Three Men and a Little Lady. And
since Guttenberg can’t say “no” to a sequel until the fifth film in
the franchise, it’s no surprise that Guttenberg returned for it.
As it turns out, a sequel to Three Men and a Baby completely misses
the point. That movie was all about seeing men in over their heads
trying to take care of a baby. It hinged on diaper humor. Since the
baby has now grown into a “little lady” the sequel lacked the main
selling point of the original. In other words, no one peed on Tom
Selleck this time.
Amazingly, there is talk of a third film in the franchise!
After 1990, “The Gute” just disappeared. After working steadily
throughout the 1980′s, Guttenberg wouldn’t make another movie for 5
years!
There aren’t a lot of reasons given for Guttenberg’s disappearance.
Although Guttenberg himself admits that he let fame go to his head.
In his autobiography, The Guttenberg Bible, Guttenberg admits to
bedding hundreds of women and generally not being a very nice person.
I think most people are less surprised by Guttenberg’s disappearance
than the idea that Guttenberg was ever a star to begin with. The
thing Guttenberg had going for him was that he was non-threatening.
He was just a goofy, somewhat handsome guy. Men didn’t want to be him
and although women apparently wanted to be with him, they’d have
rather been with Tom Selleck.
In 1995, Guttenberg came roaring back out of nowhere. He starred in
the dolphin/dog family film, Zeus and Roxanne, the soccer comedy, The
Big Green and Jodie Foster’s comedy-drama, Home for the Holidays.
None of these films sparked a comeback for “The Gute”.
Guttenberg also starred opposite Kirstie Alley and the Olsen twins in
It Takes Two. I am singling this one out only because I was surprised
to learn that it was not a direct-to-video release as I had always
assumed. It Takes Two was actually shown in theaters.
Guttenberg’s descent into straight-to-video hell would have to wait
until 1997′s Casper sequel, Casper: A Spirited Beginning. Casper 2
answers the question, “Who do you call when Bill Pullman won’t come
back for a sequel?” The answer: Steve Guttenberg. Since they stopped
making sequels to movies he appeared in, he apparently started making
sequels to other people’s movies.
Not surprisingly, Casper 2 also has a Full House connection in the
form of co-star Lori Loughlin.
That same year, Guttenberg also starred opposite a young Kirsten Dusnt
in the TV movie Tower of Terror based on the Disney theme park
attraction. The ride it is based on is themed to the Twilight Zone TV
show. The TV movie is basically just a commercial for the ride. The
ride is incredibly awesome. The TV movie, not so much.
In 2002, Guttenberg directed and starred in PS Your Cat Is Dead which
was based on a novel and play of the same name.
And in 2005, he appeared in a TV-remake of The Poseidon Adventure.
In 2008, Guttenberg finally bottomed out appearing in the Private
Benjamin rip-off, Major Movie Star. One can only hope the title was
intended to be ironic. It is also known as Private Valentine: Blonde
and Dangerous.
With most of the subjects I have written about, it’s easy to forget
just how big of a star they used to be. But with Guttenberg, it has
gotten to the point where people forget he was ever a star at all.
Oh well. At least we’ll always have the Village People.
Remysun
Mar 4, 2013, 3:51:27 PM3/4/13
to
On Mar 4, 4:38 am, TMC <tmc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Later that year, Guttenberg also appeared opposite Brat Pack refugee
> Ally Sheedy in the sci fi comedy, Short Circuit. Short Circuit was
> about a robot who gains sentience in an electical storm. It was one
> of the many ET rip-offs from the era. But unlike Mac and Me, Short
> Circuit got decent reviews and was a moderate hit at the box office.
>
> Short Circuit is significant in Guttenberg’s career. Up until this
> point, he had been in his share of hits and relatively few misses.
> But it is hard to credit Guttenberg with his success. Although he was
> the star of the Police Academy films, it was really the cast of
> crazies that made those films hits.
Moderate at the box office, mega hit on video and HBO.
> Later that year, Guttenberg also appeared opposite Brat Pack refugee
> Ally Sheedy in the sci fi comedy, Short Circuit. Short Circuit was
> about a robot who gains sentience in an electical storm. It was one
> of the many ET rip-offs from the era. But unlike Mac and Me, Short
> Circuit got decent reviews and was a moderate hit at the box office.
>
> Short Circuit is significant in Guttenberg’s career. Up until this
> point, he had been in his share of hits and relatively few misses.
> But it is hard to credit Guttenberg with his success. Although he was
> the star of the Police Academy films, it was really the cast of
> crazies that made those films hits.
Michael OConnor
Mar 4, 2013, 7:18:32 PM3/4/13
to
focused on Johnny Five and the Hindu guy from the first movie.
hislop
Mar 6, 2013, 4:48:58 AM3/6/13
to
On 4/03/2013 8:38 PM, TMC wrote:
> http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/08/18/what-the-hell-happened-to-steve-guttenberg/
>
> Posted by lebeau
>
> This may come as a shock to some of you. But a long time ago, this
> guy was a movie star. Back in the days of Reaganomics and Rubick’s
> Cubes, Steve “The Gute” Guttenberg was A-list. And then, 1990 came
> and took it all away.
>
He changed his name to Paul Judd (or something).
> http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/08/18/what-the-hell-happened-to-steve-guttenberg/
>
> Posted by lebeau
>
> This may come as a shock to some of you. But a long time ago, this
> guy was a movie star. Back in the days of Reaganomics and Rubick’s
> Cubes, Steve “The Gute” Guttenberg was A-list. And then, 1990 came
> and took it all away.
>
Martin Phipps
Mar 6, 2013, 9:49:01 AM3/6/13
to
What happened to Steve Guttenberg?
There you go. No career could survive that.
Martin
There you go. No career could survive that.
Martin
Michael OConnor
Mar 6, 2013, 6:49:23 PM3/6/13
to
>
> > In 1984, Guttenberg starred in Police Academy.
>
> There you go. No career could survive that.
>
I remember about 20 years ago I was at a comedy club and the Headliner
> > In 1984, Guttenberg starred in Police Academy.
>
> There you go. No career could survive that.
>
was none other than Bobcat Goldthwait. He was talking about the
Police Academy movies (or as he referred to them, Police Lobotomy) and
he said he stopped doing those movies when he got tired of Steve
Guttenberg getting all the funny lines, and at the bottom of the page,
the script would call for Bobcat to roar. I never saw any of the PA
sequels, so I don't know how much truth there is in that.
I do remember around 1985-86 he was about equal to Tom Hanks, both
were seen as coming stars and seemed interchangable; I'm sure there
were people who got them mixed up. I think it was when I watched
Nothing in Common when I realized Tom Hanks had dramatic range and was
going to have the better career of the two.
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