A good comeback is like a great third act in American lives; it's the triumphant return, the end of the story. James Cagney retired in 1961, then made a triumphant comeback in 1981 with Ragtime. But a good movie never deals with the aftermath of the comeback. Just as often as not, the comeback leads to nothing. Cagney died a few years after the hubbub. Though we all love a good comeback, the following is a list of comebacks that weren't the end of the story, and didn't provide the inspiring coda that they could have.

1. Sylvester Stallone in Cop Land (1997)
Stallone's is one of the most fascinating, dramatic careers in cinema. His fame is so huge that his name and face -- or at least his characters -- are known the world over. He had a fairytale rise to fame with Rocky (1976), complete with tales of writing it in a weekend. He has a lot of charisma, and earned an Oscar nomination for acting. He has directed eight feature films and contributed to the screenplays for nearly twenty. People whisper about how smart and savvy he is behind the scenes.

Resurrecting the dead with extraterrestrial ray guns may not be the best method to end nuclear escalation. Such is the only lesson that can be gleaned from 1959 Plan Nine from Outer Space.  Newly colorized by Legend Films, Ed Wood Jr.’s distinctive independent film was celebrated with a re-premiere at San Francisco’s Castro Theater March 11,  2006.

Popularly but incorrectly named as the worst movie ever made, Plan 9 ... has been a punching bag for nearly a half century. This folk-art version of The Day the Earth Stood Still has a daydreamy approach to a science fiction. It concerns a flying saucer attack by fey aliens (one played by an actor who rejoices in the name “Dudley Manlove”) who reanimate three lumbering cadavers: TV host Vampira, whose clutching digits give new meaning to the phrase “spirit fingers”; the massive wrestler Tor Johnson and a decrepit Bela Lugosi, who died during production.  Aspects of the film are legend: Wood’s behind-the-scenes transvestitism, for example. Wood is particularly beloved for his desperate attempt to cover up the death of one of his lead actors.  His solution: hiring a slumming chiropractor named Dr. Tom Mason to play the part of the late Lugosi, simply by having the actor cover his face with an opera cape.   

Just the as easy answer when naming the best movie ever made is Citizen Kane, the easy answer when naming the worst is Plan Nine From Outer Space.  The slander began with Harry and Michael Medved’s 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards. The brothers  claimed 393 voters elected it “worst film”, when responding to a poll in their earlier book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. In the unrelated if suspiciously similar 2004 documentary, The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made, director Brandon Christopher puts Plan Nine at third worst film.  Moreover, the 2004 film’s narrator, Carlos Larkin, snickers at the cardboard steering wheels in the airplane cabin sequence in Plan 9…just as decades ago, in 1982’s It Came from Hollywood (a forgotten cine-manque documentary) John Candy was crowing “Check out that dime-store shower curtain behind the pilots!” Currently, MST3K’s Mike Nelson, doing a narration on the colorized DVD, tries to squeeze a few more laughs out of Plan Nine's failures of art direction.  


 

When I went back to St. Louis to visit my family over the holidays, I stumbled upon a 20-something 7-11 employee whose forearms featured tattoos of horror legends: Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, and Bela Lugosi all held places of pride. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, we chatted about all the crap that's made these days, and the lack of respect for the movies those men made. I mention that guy at this particular moment because I know he's having a rage-filled morning: Universal is remaking The Wolf Man.

Originally made in 1941 with Lon Chaney, Jr. in the title role (not to mention the supporting talents of A-list names like Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, and a dude named Bela), the film is "stylishly-made" and incredibly entertaining, despite its solidly B-movie status. Though the remake will share the original's Victorian England location, but since Universal can't leave well-enough alone, it will also feature new characters and plot elements "that take advantage of cutting-edge visual effects technology." Yippee, CGI!

Wolf Man fan Benicio Del Toro will star and co-produce, and the "new" screenplay is being written by Andrew Kevin Walker.

[via Dark Horizons]

Seventy-five years ago today the film version of Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi debuted. While my estimation puts the number of Dracula movies made since then at about roughly twenty-seven gajillion, Lugosi's portrayal of the blood-sucking vampire still remains the most recognized. The role brought the Hungarian-born Lugosi much success, and he appeared in several other horror films including The Black Cat (both the 1934 and 1941 versions) and The Wolf Man. Ultimately, his new found fame led to typecasting, and eventually obscurity appearing in a handful of Ed Wood's films. In the quarter of a century that has passed since then, and perhaps thanks to Martin Landau's compassionate portrayal of the actor in Tim Burton's Ed Wood, people today have a more accurate perception of the actor and his contribution to the world of cinema. So yeah, the title reads "Happy Birthday, Dracula," but I'm raising a glass of Type A negative to the great Lugosi, as well. Cheers.