NEWS, July 3, 1999 The reviews are in, and they don't look good! Go HERE for a site that lists all the reviews from the major, and not so major, critics. Robert Conrad has finally made comments about the movie, so look below in the NEWS section for his recent interviews.
Before you start reading this section, please be aware that "here there be POSSIBLE spoilers"!!! This "NEWS" section is a list of information on the movie taken from many sources. Some of it may be right, some may be wrong.
WHY I HATE THIS MOVIE
By ADAM BUCKMAN
TV TOUGH guy Robert Conrad doesn't like the new "Wild Wild West" movie. He hasn't seen it - and he has no plans to see it, either.
"Will I go see the movie? Not in this lifetime!" declared Conrad, who originated the role of government agent Jim West in the"Wild Wild West" TV series.
Will Smith stars as West in the new movie, a $160-million summer blockbuster that opened to mostly negative reviews on Wednesday.
The combative, 64-year-old actor - who once dared viewers to knock a battery off his shoulder in a famous series of Eveready commercials - is preparing to take on the movie's producers over money he says they owe him for merchandise related to the film.
He says he signed a contract that allows him to share the profits from the toys and other products based on the "Wild Wild West" characters. "There's a gray area there that I'm satisfied is not gray," he told The Post in an exclusive interview. "I'm satisfied it's very black, meaning 'in the black'."
Conrad is miffed at the movie's producers - Jon Peters, the hairdresser-turned-movie mogul, and Barry Sonnenfeld, who produced Smith's last big hit, "Men in Black."
He says they spurned his offer to help them develop the movie based on his intimate knowledge of the TV series. At a meeting, Conrad recalled, "Barry Sonnenfeld said, 'I have to make this my film.' Well, Barry, you succeeded because it ain't a film I can identify with."
In addition, Conrad says he has a long-standing feud with Peters. "There was something specific and personal and I threatened to kick his ass - and in hindsight probably should have," Conrad said. "Jon Peters gave us 'Batman' and now he's given us 'Wild West.' Fortunately he can fall back on what he does best - he's a hairdresser!"
Conrad emphasized that he has no beef with Smith. "He's young, he's cool and my kids have his CDs," he said of the rapper-turned-actor.
He says Smith may save the movie from disaster, following the drubbing it received from critics this week. "The reviews put this thing in jeopardy," Conrad said. "But if it does do big numbers, one guy should take the credit: Will Smith."
Conrad says he's offended by several plot elements, including racial confrontations between Smith, who is black, and white characters, and the casting of British actor Kenneth Branagh in the role of the evil Loveless, who was played in the original series by little person Michael Dunn.
"There are so many actors who are dwarfs, midgets, little people who could have qualified for that role. How dare you!" he said of Branagh, who plays Loveless as a legless man confined to a wheelchair.
The original "Wild Wild West" - about a pair of secret agents sent out West by President Grant to fight rogue enemies of the United States - aired from 1965 to 1969 on CBS.
Robert Conrad: Oh, that character was light years away from me. I'm not debonair. I'm not suave. I did wear tight pants, though, because I found out that it worked. I think we were selling, at that time, not any different than they're selling today. You know, this whole thing about Ricky Martin, and how successful that young man is. He's 27, I was 29. I mean, we merchandised conditioning and sex [too]. You can do all the things with innuendo. You don't have to show me things I don't really need to see. It's so much sexier to be subtle, to maybe have tight pants and take your shirt off and see these beautiful women on the train every week.
[clip from the TV Show]
It was just so elaborate and so luxurious. We had every gadget imaginable. You know, I had the little gun that came out [of my sleeve], and I had the little gun in the heel of the shoe. You name it, we had it. It won't happen again. You're not going to duplicate this show.
[announcer mentions new movie]
Robert Conrad: To be candid with you, I'm disappointed. I don't care about Will, I don't want to... Will, God bless him, he's a hit, go for it. Well, I mean as an actor, what young actor wouldn't want to do that? But I think Barry Sonnenfeld let his ego go out of control. He told me in a meeting that he had to do something to make it his film. Well, Barry, it's your film. So if it rises or falls, you're the man.
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On page 165 of his book Television Series Revivals 1993, Lee Goldberg writes:
"In January 1992, Variety reported that Warner Bros. was planning to produce a theatrical version of The Wild Wild West, directed by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and starring Mel Gibson as James West. Two months later, Mel Gibson announced his intention to star in a movie version of Warner Bros. Maverick series as well."
MOVIE UPDATE Dec.1995
There is indeed a movie under discussion... It is in the development stage, with actor Tom Cruise mentioned as the lead. More info as it develops..
Stay tuned for more "RUMORS" as they come in....
The following links are pages dedicated to YOUR comments about the upcoming movie... I will add them, without names, as they come in. If you would like to add a comment, please send me email at: glambert@zoo.uvm.edu
Page maintained by Gary Lambert, glambert@zoo.uvm.edu. Copyright(c) 1999. Created: 5/1/97 Updated: 7/1/99