BuckHenry Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When Cinematical staff first discussed the "Montages We Love" series, the image that popped into my head was a classic: the from-bed-to-pool montage in the 1967 film The Graduate. This is my favorite part of the Mike Nichols-directed movie -- yes, even better than the "plastics" line and the bit with Buck Henry and that iconic scene at the end.

The montage is a triumph of clever editing, thanks to Nichols and editor Sam O'Steen, whose other credits include Cool Hand Luke, Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. It begins with Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) lazing in his parents' swimming pool, then as he leaves the pool and pulls on a shirt, he's revealed to be in a hotel room with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and then "April, Come She Will" play in the background as Ben shifts from his bed to the pool to the hotel, drinking beer and looking passive and bored, or with his expression masked by sunglasses. The scene ends with Ben pushing himself off the pool's raft -- and into Mrs. Robinson's arms on the hotel bed.

During the opening of Get Smart, the new big-screen re-visitation of the '60s spy spoof TV show created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, we're shown a montage detailing the mighty workings of the modern intelligence apparatus; covert microphones, satellite communications intercepts, frantic translation, secretive meetings. As top analyst Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) walks the streets of Washington to the hidden headquarters of the secret agency where he works, listening to intercepted conversations to better understand the plans and thoughts of America's enemies, his iPod switches over ... to Abba's "Take a Chance on Me." Spies, it seems, are people too.

And pause here to think about the challenges facing any director who wants to make a spy comedy in our modern times. If you depict spies as too competent, the audience unconsciously fears for their civil liberties; depict spies as too incompetent, the audience unconsciously fears for their lives. Make the film's threat to the free world too credible, and the film's more scary than silly; make the threat to the free world too fantastic and foolish (as in the earlier Get Smart big-screen project, 1980's The Nude Bomb) and the film's more goofy than gripping. The makers of the new Get Smart seem to have thought about this, and have transformed the character somewhat from Don Adams's nasal know-nothing in the '60s TV show; as played by Carell, Smart is a bright, dedicated, insightful analyst for the secret agency CONTROL who dreams of being a field agent. And Max learns he's passed the field agent's exam with flying colors; still, his boss The Chief (Alan Arkin) rejects Max's request for transfer to field work because he needs Max behind a desk.

Why We Can't Wait to See It: Because in pretty much every film he's made -- big, boring, insipid not-quite-sequels excepted -- Steve Carell brings the funny. The trailers look surprisingly solid, and the cast -- including Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp -- is top-notch.

Why It Might Do Well: Because people just plain like Carell -- and the film's plot pitch where a secret agency's having their top people exposed forces them to shove unknown agents out into the field is, in fact, a solid story-driven reason for an incompetent like Max to placed in harm's way. ...

Why It Might Not Do Well: We may be a little tired of Baby Boomer-era nostalgia TV getting splashed up on the big screen; anyone else remember how well I Spy turned out?

Fun Fact: Get Smart was created by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks -- yes, the men behind The Graduate and Young Frankenstein.

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It had been awhile since we heard anything about the Get Smart movie, and I was kinda hoping that it wasn't actually being made. But as Erik reported almost a year ago, Steve Carrell is in fact bringing Maxwell Smart to the big screen in an adaptation directed by Peter Segal and written by Matt Ember & Tom J. Astle. Now Agent 86 might have a partner, as Anne Hathaway is about to be cast in the role of Agent 99. And production is set to begin in March, just as soon as Carrell is done shooting the current season of The Office, which picks up in January after the actor finishes up on Dan in Real Life (the guy apparently never takes a vacation).

With both Mel Brooks and Buck Henry still alive, I can't believe that this movie could really be written by a duo other than them -- not that I think they'd write it. I just simply can't imagine that it will have any of the zany tone that the TV show had. That said, I am pretty happy with the casting so far. I can't think of a better pair than Carrell and Hathaway to play the characters originated by Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, respectively. They better not mess it up with whoever they get for The Chief.

I guess there's not much chance of the movie being as bad as the '90s Get Smart series starring Andy Dick (and Adams and Feldon) nor could it be as awful as the Inspector Gadget movie (the cartoon was like a spin-off of Get Smart and featured Adams' voice).