| The Adventures of Ford Fairlane | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Renny Harlin |
| Produced by | Joel Silver Steven Perry Michael Levy Suzanne Todd |
| Written by | Rex Weiner (characters) James Cappe & David Arnott (story) Daniel Waters and James Cappe & David Arnott (screenplay) |
| Starring | Andrew Dice Clay Wayne Newton Priscilla Presley Lauren Holly Gilbert Gottfried Maddie Corman David Patrick Kelly Brandon Call Special Appearance By Vince Neil Morris Day Sheila E. with Robert Englund and Ed O'Neill |
| Music by | Boris Blank |
| Cinematography | Oliver Wood |
| Editing by | Michael Tronick |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | July 11, 1990 (USA) |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $21,413,502 (USA) |
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a 1990 American action/comedy film starring comedian Andrew Dice Clay as Ford Fairlane, a "Rock n' Roll Detective," whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles. The film was directed by Renny Harlin.
Contents |
Ford Fairlane is seen sitting on a beach smoking as the film opens. A flashback initiates, showing a roaring crowd at a concert given by fictional popular heavy metal band The Black Plague. Lead singer Bobby Black (Vince Neil) makes an eccentric entrance down a zip-line onto the stage and begins performing. Shortly into one of the band's songs, Bobby Black collapses on stage and dies.
After The Black Plague singer is murdered onstage, shock-jock Johnny Crunch, (Gilbert Gottfried) an old friend who came west with Fairlane, hires Ford to track down a mysterious teenage groupie named Zuzu Petals who may have a connection to Bobby Black's death.
Soon after hiring Fairlane, Crunch is electrocuted on the air. The world's hippest detective soon finds himself trading insults with a ruthless record executive (Wayne Newton), a clueless cop and former disco star (Ed O'Neill), a merciless hit man (Robert Englund) and countless ex-girlfriends out for his blood. Aiding and abetting Fairlane in this whodunnit is loyal assistant Jazz (Lauren Holly) and a hip musician (Morris Day) at the head of a bizarre lineup of suspects, victims, beautiful women and a koala as he finds himself hip-deep in the case of his life.
The macguffin of the film is three data CDs which, when read simultaneously, detail the illegal dealings of Julian Grendel, who murdered Bobby Black when he found out Black had acquired them.
The first disc was with Colleen Sutton, the second with Zuzu Petals, and the third disc was hidden under the star for Art Mooney on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Music being central to the plot of a film about a private detective who specializes in cases arising from the music industry, the soundtrack featured a diverse group of artists. The official soundtrack release had the following tracks:
The film's soundtrack includes Idol's "Cradle of Love", the video for which was shown often on MTV in 1990. The song also appeared on Idol's 1990 album Charmed Life. In the video, a young woman, played by Betsy Lynn George, taunts an uptight neighbor with her advances as she dances to the music. The video also featured footage from the film playing on a television in the neighbor's home, although none of the footage features Clay (at least not his face). This may be due to the infamous ban of Clay from appearing on the music network. Alternate versions of the "Cradle of Love" video eliminates the film footage when the video is usually aired on MTV.
Sambora's contribution to the soundtrack was a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song. EMF's "Unbelievable" samples bits of dialogue from the film, but did not feature on the soundtrack. A number of the musicians featured on the soundtrack also appeared in the film itself, including Morris Day, Sheila E., Tone Loc (as Slam the Rapper), former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo appears playing the Black Plague concert during the flashback at the beginning of the film and Vince Neil, the lead singer of Mötley Crüe (who appeared as Bobby Black, the lead singer of the fictitious band, Black Plague). Black Plague's lead guitarist was played by Quiet Riot's axeman Carlos Cavazzo. Not appearing on the soundtrack is "Booty Time", the song that Ed O'Neill's character performs during the film.
Yello is credited with the film's "music score", and an early cut of their album Baby is used as the film's incidental soundtrack.
The film received mostly negative reviews upon release and holds a "rotten" 26% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[1] Critic Roger Ebert called the film "loud, ugly and mean-spirited".[2]
It was not a financial success during its original theatrical release, making just over $21 million in the U.S.[3] Clay has claimed in interviews that the movie had a successful first week before being pulled from theaters under pressure from the politically correct.
The film won numerous Razzies at the 1990 Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Actor (Andrew Dice Clay), Worst Picture (Joel Silver & Steve Perry - tied with Ghosts Can't Do It) and Worst Screenplay (Daniel Waters, James Cappe and David Arnott). It was also nominated for Worst Director and twice for Worst Supporting Actor (for both Gilbert Gottfried and Wayne Newton).[4]
Billy Idol's recording of "Cradle of Love" was named one of the "Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures" by the ASCAP.[5]
The film achieved cult status in a number of European countries, as distributors used well-known personalities to voice Fairlane. In Hungary the movie had a cult status in the 1990s, marked by widely circulated illegal copies. The popularity was a result of Fairlane's dub by rock singer Feró Nagy, whose hoarse voice and personality differences resulted in a totally mismatched character. In Norway the movie soon became a phenomenon after it was released on VHS in 1992. Catchphrases quickly became hugely popular and the movie received cult status during the 1990s. After huge demand from Norwegian audiences, the movie was released on DVD in the early 2000s. Ford Fairlane also became quite popular in Spain, as the protagonist's dubbing was made by popular singer, actor and comedian Pablo Carbonell. The voiceover also included some references to music bands from that era like Alaska y Dinarama, and some catchphrases or insults like "menosmola" (Cool-less).
DC comics released a 4 issue series that chronicled Ford's earlier adventures.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Star Trek V: The Final Frontier |
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture
(tied with Ghosts Can't Do It) |
Succeeded by Hudson Hawk |
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