The Great Muppet Caper
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| The Great Muppet Caper | |
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 The Great Muppet Caper DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Jim Henson |
| Produced by | David Lazer Frank Oz |
| Written by | Jerry Juhl Tom Patchett Jay Tarses |
| Starring | Jim Henson Frank Oz Dave Goelz Jerry Nelson Richard Hunt |
| Music by | Joe Raposo |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Editing by | Ralph Kemplen |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures Associated Film Distributors |
| Release date(s) | June 26, 1981 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Muppet Movie |
| Followed by | The Muppets Take Manhattan |
| IMDb profile | |
The Great Muppet Caper is the second of a series of live-action musical feature films, starring Jim Henson's Muppets. This film was produced by Henson Associates, ITC Entertainment and Universal Studios, and originally released in movie theatres in 1981. The movie was released shortly after the final season of The Muppet Show.
In the story, Kermit the Frog (performed by Jim Henson, who also directed the film), Fozzie Bear (performed by Frank Oz), and Gonzo the Great (performed by Dave Goelz) play the role of newspaper reporters for the Daily Chronicle and are eventually assigned to investigate the theft of a valuable diamond necklace from fashion designer Lady Holliday (Diana Rigg). They travel to London to interview her, but without any money for travel, they're forced to fly in the baggage hold of an aircraft and are thrown out of the plane as they arrive over Britain. They stay at the ramshackle (but free) Happiness Hotel, run and populated by the likes of Pops, Scooter, Rowlf, and the Electric Mayhem. When Kermit seeks out Lady Holliday in her office, however, he instead finds her receptionist, Miss Piggy and mistakes her for the fashion designer. Piggy masquerades as Lady Holliday, even going so far as to sneak into a ritzy highrise in order to impress Kermit with her dwellings, much to the surprise of the true British residents (one of whom is John Cleese).
In fact, the jewel theft was orchestrated by Lady Holliday's nefarious brother Nicky (Charles Grodin), assisted by Carla, Marla and Darla, three of her put-upon fashion models. Despite Nicky's instant attraction to Miss Piggy, they successfully frame her for the theft and proceed to steal an even more valuable prize--the coveted Baseball Diamond, which is on display at a local gallery, the Mallory Gallery. Kermit's crew, along with their friends from the Happiness Hotel, have no choice but to intercept and catch the thieves themselves in order to clear Miss Piggy's good name. Piggy, meanwhile, has escaped from prison and, in a bout of serendipity, finds a motorcycle which she uses to literally crash into the film's climax, knocking Nicky, who is holding Kermit hostage, out in the process. Carla, Marla and Darla confront Piggy, only to be quickly dispatched by a flurry of furious karate chops. The Muppets then return to America the same way they departed, being thrown out of the cargo hold and parachuting back to Earth as the credits roll.
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[edit] Trivia
- Gonzo's classification as a "whatever" was officially cemented in this film, as this is the label affixed to his shipping crate en route to Great Britain. This classification lasted until Muppets from Space. (He is also popularly known as a "weirdo" due to Muppet Babies.)
- A running gag throughout the film is that Kermit and Fozzie are said to be twins, though they look nothing alike and are different species. The resemblance only shows when both are wearing hats. Their father is shown in a photograph in the beginning, depicted as a bear who looks exactly like Fozzie, but is green.
- A live-action double plays the role of Miss Piggy during some of the scenes in which she appears to ride a motorcycle.
- The fourth wall is completely demolished by the Muppets during the course of the film. Fozzie comments on the opening credits as they appear on screen; Kermit talks directly to the audience about the roles that he and Fozzie and Gonzo will play; Piggy angrily tells Charles Grodin's character "you can't even sing! Your voice was dubbed!"; Kermit later reminds one of the guest stars (Peter Falk), after a meandering monologue, that they need to get back to the story; and at one point, Kermit and Miss Piggy break character and start arguing over her acting skills.
- The film boasts numerous star cameos, including those of John Cleese, Peter Ustinov, and Jack Warden. Muppet performers Henson, Oz, Richard Hunt, and Jerry Nelson (with his daughter) also make background appearances. Additionally, Oscar the Grouch of Sesame Street fame appears in the movie in a self-described "very brief cameo."
- The film is almost a "film within a film", a film being made by the characters from The Muppet Show. This is seen in the comments made by members of the cast about the credits, the script, and even the acting. The film takes place in an alternate reality from The Muppet Movie, as the characters are all meeting for the very first time.
- The film earned an Academy Award nomination for the song "The First Time It Happens."
- Two numbers referenced Fred Astaire and Esther Williams. The first was the number, "Lady Holliday", when Kermit, Fonzie and Gonzo are singing before Kermit's date. Kermit starts dancing with a hatrack, which is a parody from Fred Astaire's "Sunday Jumps", which Astaire danced with a hatrack in Royal Wedding. The other was "Miss Piggy's Fantasy," sung by Kermit and Nicky Holliday (was dubbed), when Miss Piggy started to swim in a large swimming pool with several female swimmers, which is a paordy to Esther Williams, who is famous for jumping, diving, swimming and doing numbers in pools in her movies. Highly choreographed musical numbers involving chorus girls in attractive geometric patterns were popularized in motion pictures by Busby Berkeley (who directed Esther Williams).
[edit] Plot Holes, Goofs, and Nitpicks
- When Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo arrive at the Happiness Hotel, they're told by Pops there's no kitchen anymore and the rats tell them there's no food. Yet later the next day, after Beauregard brings them back to the hotel, the Swedish Chef comes out of the kitchen with food.
- At the end when the crewmember of the plane starts throwing each muppet out one by one, they don't have chutes on, but the next scene from outside the plane shows chutes opening up with no chutes on them.
- In the scene during Miss Piggy's fantasy where she rises up out of the water with sparklers on her head, the water motion clearly shows that the scene was filmed backwards.
- At the end of the opening credits, Gonzo, hanging from his parachute, flash camera in hand, drifts toward the camera filming the scene and snaps a picture, as if photographing the theater audience. After the screen goes black, Gonzo's voice shouts "I'll send you all a copy". This last moment of the soundtrack was cut off by many theater projectionists, and has been absent from all television broadcasts and video releases.
[edit] Soundtrack album track listing
- "Main Title Theme" (2:49)
- "Hey, A Movie!" (2:42)
- "The Big Red Bus" (1:26)
- "Happiness Hotel" (3:05)
- "Lady Holiday" (1:12)
- "The First Time It Happens" (4:12)
- "The Apartment" (0:53)
- "Night Life" (2:57)
- "Steppin' Out With A Star" (2:31)
- "Couldn't We Ride" (3:07)
- "Miss Piggy's Fantasy" (3:58)
- "The Great Muppet Caper" (3:48)
- "Homeward Bound" (0:52)
- "Finale: Hey, A Movie! (reprise)" (1:30)
- "The First Time It Happens (reprise)" (1:30)
[edit] Quotes
Kermit: Excuse me...
Pops: What?
Kermit: We'd like a room.
Pops: Really?
Kermit: Yeah, we'd like to check in.
Pops: Hey, some-body's checking in!
Muppets: Somebody's checking in?!
Everyone is talking at once. All characters suddenly become silent except for Janice. Janice: ...Look mother, it's my life, OK? If I want to live on a beach and walk around naked- (notices other Muppets staring)Oh.
Kermit: Now we're about to embark on a potentially dangerous mission. There could be physical violence, there could be gun play, and there's the slightest chance that somebody might even get killed. So if anybody wants out, now is the time to say it.
-beat-
Floyd: I'm out.
Rowlf: Me too.
Bunsen: Ditto.
Beaker: Meep-meep.
Zoot: Hey, uh, don't we have a gig around here or something, or... somewhere.
Pops: Yeah, sorry I got a dental appointment.
Janice: It's like this Kermit, I have to go to work all day, and have alfalfa sprouts and all sorts of good things...
[edit] External links
- The Great Muppet Caper at the Internet Movie Database
- Muppet Wiki: The Great Muppet Caper
- Muppet Movies Lyric Archive
 Cinema of the United Kingdom |
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