Director Series - John Landis

 So, it's been a while since I wrote about any directors on this blog.  Now that I have stopped perusing all social media sites, I find that I have some time on my hands.  Hence, the resurrection of my "Director Series".  In past posts, I have written about Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers and Alfred Hitchcock.  Below are links to those posts in case you're at all interested in reading them:

Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, The Coen Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock

Those five, or six depending on how you look at it, directors are most likely the ones for which I've seen a vast majority of the films they made.  As the series goes on, the list of movies I've actually seen from each director will most likely shrink.  So I ask of you, dear reader, to tell me your thoughts on some of the movies I have yet to see...should I, shouldn't I?  I hope you enjoy these posts and, as always, if you would like to be notified when I've completed another, just subscribe.  And now on to...

John Landis

Birth Name: John David Landis

Birth Date: August 3, 1950

Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois

Features Directed: 19

Features I've Seen: 14 (74%)

Although born in Chicago, Landis' family moved to California when he was just 4 months old.  As a young boy he marvelled at movies and wondered how they were made and who made them.  When he was around eight years old, he watched the film The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad and knew he had to be involved in movie-making.  He began his career in the mailroom at 20th Century Fox in the late 1960's.  Soon he would be working on sets of movies at different studios, getting his break when the assistant director of Kelly's Heroes fell ill.  Landis jumped at the chance to film the scenes needed and an assistant director's job was soon his on many American films being filmed in Europe.  He helmed his first movie, Schlock, at the age of 21.  Landis would become known for his slapstick style comedies, along with his own cameos and getting director and musician friends to appear in his films.  (That list includes David Cronenberg, Roger Vadim, Paul Mazursky, Don Siegel, Amy Heckerling, Frank Oz, Terry Gilliam, Joel Coen, Sam Raimi, B.B. King, Carl Perkins, David Bowie, just to name a few!)  His big break came in 1978 when he was chosen to direct the John Belushi vehicle National Lampoon's Animal House.  The great success of that film allowed Landis to write and direct just about anything he wanted to, with his next film being the wildly successful The Blues Brothers, starring Belushi and Landis' frequent collaborator Dan Aykroyd.  Animal House and The Blues Brothers are indeed two of my very favourite movies, having watched them dozens of times each.  Needless to say, John Landis became a favourite director of mine.  He also directed what was at the time the most expensive, and possibly still most famous, music video of all time; Michael Jackson's Thriller.  As an 11-year old addicted to Much Music in Canada, that was a pretty big deal!  Landis has become known for using the phrase "See You Next Wednesday" in his movies.  Its a reference to a script he wrote when he was 15-years old.  It became a lot of fun for me to figure out where the phrase would be in all of his films (billboards, posters, name of films within films, etc.).  What follows is a list of John Landis' movies I've seen, listed in three different categories, chronologically.  (imdb.com score in brackets):

MUST SEE

National Lampoon's Animal House - 1978 (7.5): A definite comic classic that may not be for everyone.

The Blues Brothers - 1980 (7.9): Great comedy, great music, just a great time!!  I know every word. 

An American Werewolf In London - 1981 (7.5): A wonderfully crafted horror movie laced with dark comedy.  And the special effects were revolutionary!

Into The Night - 1985 (6.5): One of my faves from Landis.  Action packed, darkly comic, tons of cameos.

Innocent Blood - 1992 (6.2): A great vampire tale!  Robert Loggia steals the show.  Very underrated.

NICE TO SEE

Schlock - 1973 (5.7): First feature film shows signs of slapstick humour Landis would perfect later.

Kentucky Fried Movie - 1977 (6.5): More slapstick fun from the guys that brought us Airplane!

Trading Places - 1983 (7.5): Very early Eddie Murphy comedy that is silly but hilarious at times.

Spies Like Us - 1985 (6.4): Aykroyd and Chevy Chase play very well off of each other.  

Three Amigos - 1986 (6.5): Incredibly silly, but has some good laughs.  Chase, Short, Martin...gold!

Amazon Women On The Moon - 1987 (6.2): Segmented slapstick that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

Coming To America - 1988 (7.1): Many laughs, a sweet story.  Easy and fun viewing.

NO NEED TO SEE

Beverly Hills Cop III - 1994 (5.6): Absolutely awful!!  Never should have been made.
Blues Brothers 2000 - 1998 (4.9): So, so bad!  Why this was ever thought up I'll never know.

HAVE NOT SEEN...YET

Oscar - 1991 (6.5): Sylvester Stallone.  I think I've seen it, but I don't remember it.
The Stupids - 1996 (4.3): Tom Arnold.  I don't think I can do it.
Susan's Plan - 1998 (5.2): Nastassja Kinski.  Again, I may have seen this one.
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project - 2007 (7.7): Documentary.  Would love to see!
Burke & Hare - 2010 (6.2): An English comedy that looks interesting.

That's John Landis.  Next will be Francis Ford Coppola, the director I was supposed to write about after Alfred Hitchcock...oops.