A Disappointing Continuation

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I never saw Won Ton Ton when it was released (although I was certainly old enough). The reviews were so damning that, in spite of a chance to see some of my favorites (The Ritz Brothers, Joan Blondell, Fritz Feld, Terri Garr and a host of former stars), I put it off until I bought the DVD and played it tonight. Perhaps the direction could have been better; certainly the camera-work wasn't consistent, but we thought it far funnier and more clever than many other 1970s movies that were better-received. The dog (or series of dogs) in the title role was (were) brilliant, even in extended shots. Harry & Jimmy Ritz (who, contrary to the IMDb cast list, WERE billed) showed, 40 years after their prime, why they were comedians' comedians. Art Carney didn't disappoint. I like Madeline Kahn but am not the fan that many are, and rather wish Terri Garr had the opportunity to play the lead. Rob Liebman and Fritz Feld gave topnotch comic performances. And Bruce Dern brought energy and comic sense to his lead role. It was a delight to watch the many former stars who, in a few moments of screen time, still knew how to nail a character and a scene. I wish Joan Blondell, now recognized as one of the finest and freshest actors of Hollywood's studio era, had been given a larger role. Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood isn't a comic masterpiece, but it is far better than its reputation. More important: it is fun!

If you're a stargazer and like those films with all those names of yesteryear coming on for a brief walk on, then Won Ton Ton is your kind of film. It was nice to see a lot of those old familiar character actors and a few leads from days gone by do a brief appearance. Some of them might have needed a paycheck, I can think of one who probably did, but I won't say.Told in flashback by tour guide Dennis Morgan, one of those names of the past it's the story of that great silent film star who spoke not a word, but barked on cue, Won Ton Ton. He starts out as a poor, but honest stray dog escaped from the pound and hooks up with hopeful Madeline Kahn who just wants a break in the film business. They in turn hook up with Bruce Dern a man who drives a tour bus, but when the bus makes a studio stop, Dern always rushes in to see producer Art Carney with yet another story idea. He has some good ones like a giant shark terrorizing a New England beach or a young adolescent girl possessed by the devil, just a bit ahead of the times.The rest of the film is simply boy and girl meet dog, boy and girl make dog a star, boy and girl lose dog. But for the rest you have to see the film.Dern, Kahn, Carney, and Won Ton Ton are wonderful and the Hollywood satire is funny. One thing however has lost its humor for me over the years. That's Ron Leibman playing the cross dressing Rudolph Valentino star of the silent screen. Knowing what I know now about transgender people and the struggles they face that whole character has lost the humor for me. Not ten years earlier Albert Dekker was found in women's clothes having hung himself and Jeff Chandler may or may not have been a cross dresser depending whether you believe Esther Williams's memoir. These people were in a lot of pain in their lives, so a cross dressing star isn't all that funny any more for me.Overlooking Leibman's character the rest of the film is nice and a great treat for those who want to see some stars of yesterday take another curtain call. For a few this was their last moment on the big screen.

Strictly for fans of all things Old Hollywood and bad movie buffs. For some reason, Hollywood was caught up in big Tinseltown wave of nostalgia in mid-Seventies (Gable & Lombard, WC Fields & Me, Day of the Locust,etc.--ultimately none of them very popular) so this must have seemed like a way for Paramount to hedge its bet--tapping into Hollywood nostalgia by way of Mel Brooks-style humor.Doubtful Mel himself (who also dipped into the Old Hollywood genre himself with Silent Movie) could have done much with a feature-length satire on Rin Tin Tin, the kind of thing that might, at best, have made an okay 10-minute sketch on The Carol Burnett Show. The dog--easily the most compelling character in the film, but in a Lassie sort of way--isn't even funny and during last reels, when he's required to attempt suicide in a variety of "comic" ways, movie really becomes not only unfunny but downright distasteful. Talents of human co-stars Madeline Kahn, Bruce Dern and blink-and-you'll-miss-her Teri Garr are totally wasted although Late Late Show fans may get a perverse kick out of seeing umpteen dozen former big-name and B-list stars of yesteryear who show up in embarrassing last-gasp career cameos. Filmic Parvo.

Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood is by far a comedy masterpiece, but it stars the lovely Madeline Kahn in a truly hysterical performance. She rises so above the material. She possesses the same kind of movie magic of the screwball comediennes of the 30's and 40's and even comes off much better. I think if Madeline Kahn were a star in those days we would have had at least 100 films starring her. But when she made her film debut in 1972 she was a true Hollywood find. After all her first four movies are all now classics and two considered masterpieces. Not to mention two Oscar nominations. But with all that greatness the movie studios offered her parts in so-so comedies. I mean she made some more very good films, but not up to her first four. She was as beautiful and extremely talented as all her peers of the day. I always felt she was one day going to get her Academy Award in her older years, but unfortunately she died much too soon. Bruce Dern, Art Carney, Teri Garr, Phil Silvers, Ron Liebman, Nancy Walker and so many stars from the past appear in this take off on Rin Tin Tin. Paramount has yet to release it on DVD. 2006 is here today and its the films 30th anniversary. I wish they would release it for us all to enjoy and cherish a underrated performance from Madeline Kahn.