The state of the 1982 movie Annie on DVD plus 1 comment regarding Follow That Bird

Sincerely, I only claim credit for the stuff I really did. And there's a ton of stuff I don't or can't talk about. (Much of it really, really bad.) I generally only will jump in when somebody says, "hey, this looks really bad," just so I can explain the story. I also credit many other mastering engineers who did good work, because they got no on-screen credit and deserve accolades for what they do.

In many cases -- in audio and video -- when something gets released on CD or DVD and is done badly, there's a good reason why. (Beyond somebody being cheap, incompetent, or both.) I've done some jobs where the client says, "hey, we lost all the elements, and all we have is this piece of crap, and you have to finish it in three days." You get what you get.

 

Attached is the Rolling Stone review of the movie "Annie" from back in 1982 and this link is for the NY Times review for it: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C07E5D71038F932A15756C0A964948260

 

The NY Times review of Follow That Bird: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9901EEDF1038F931A3575BC0A963948260 (Rolling Stone did not review Follow That Bird)

 

BTW, Aileen is proud of her "Annie" legacy to this very day, in spite of the harsh reviews of the movie at the time and the Razzie award for "Worst Actress" for "Annie."

 

For those who wish to see the original making of Annie documentary called Lights, Camera, Annie, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTemcf2K-8E&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL43688DB1D17B02D0

Vintage commercials starring Aileen can be found at http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...95l0l39303l25l23l0l11l2l1l243l2115l0.7.5l12l0

Her current singing voice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQrptqgmoiY

 

I agree with "Rolling Stone" a lot more than the "NYT". I have a feeling you feel differently!

 

Exactly. Different strokes for different folks and there are millions of fans of the movie. Reviews as you know only provide one person's perspective and the reviews of Annie at the time were mixed as those 2 major reviews at the time have proven.

 

It's worse than they say it was. Here's the original 1982 trailer (beautiful, recent HD transfer):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiM8S9VLjvU&

I think the studio's idea was, "this can't miss! It's a movie version of a huge hit 1977 Broadway play; it's got big stars like Carol Burnett and Albert Finney; it was directed by the great John Huston, and produced by Ray Stark, who had previously done hit musicals like Funny Girl. How could it miss? I think Columbia expected it to be an enormous hit... but like a lot of musicals of the 1970s, it didn't do too well. Columbia was so sure it would be a hit, studio chief David Begelman paid $8 million for the rights, but then had to wait five years to make the film, because the musical was still running on Broadway.

In fact, IMDB says the movie cost an incredible $35 million (!), which doesn't seem possible, but I know it was an enormous bomb. I'm glad Huston lived to make one more good film, Prizzi's Honor, which did well critically and financially.

 

I remember seeing Annie at the Fort Worth Opera House in its first run, and being blown away by the film. But then I'm huge on musicals.

 

FWIW, I lived briefly in a dorm at the college campus that doubled as Daddy Warbucks estate.

The place (Monmouth College, now Monmouth University in Long Branch, NJ) was at one point in time the home of a US President. I forget which one. If I had to guess, I'd say Woodrow Wilson.

There are specific parts of the movie that are clearly recognizable as the University.

 

The reason why Lights, Camera, Annie is not on any of the DVD releases of "Annie" is because it is claimed that Columbia Pictures has lost the original print of the documentary. If that's the case, they ought to have looked through the vaults of many of the larger PBS stations that aired it and used a Broadcast print of it to see if a station still has it in their vault.

 

You are right that it was Woodrow Wilson. http://www.monmouth.edu/wilson_hall/default.asp. BTW, Aileen for a while was a professor at Wilson Hall teaching theater but now, she's back in Los Angeles pursuing a comeback in acting and has a rockabilly band called the Leapin' Lizards.

 

If you have an all region DVD player, you ought to relive those memories by buying the Region 2 DVD from Amazon UK, eBay, etc. If you don't have an all region DVD player, order yourself the 2000 Region 1 DVD from Amazon Marketplace US sellers.

 

Guess what, there is an Amazon.com (US listing) for the R2 DVD at http://www.amazon.com/Annie-Special-Anniversary-Albert-Finney/dp/B0000WSTKQ/

 

Annie was a bomb? I had no idea. As a kid I remember it being advertised and featured all over the place and seeing it ad infinitum at school on rain days and what not. Not that I followed box office totals in grade school...

 

Yep, it was a huge bomb at the time, and in fact, won a Razzie and did not win an Oscar. The movie did gross $57,059,003 though but the net amounts didn't go so well.

 

I found Roger Ebert's synopsis quite amusing:

"It's like some kind of dumb toy that doesn't do anything or go anywhere, but it is fun to watch as it spins mindlessly around and around."

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19820101/REVIEWS/201010304

 

IMDB claims it made $57 million, which surprises me - that seems high. According to an inflation calculator I used, $57 million in 1982 would equal about $127 million today - that's not BIG money in today's market, but it's far from "bomb" territory.

I remember it seemed like a box office dud back in 1982. Maybe I remember wrong, or maybe this perception was because $57 million was much lower than Columbia hoped to earn for such a heavily hyped flick...

 

Yep, that's what it was. Approx. $50,000,000 was what it cost to make it. Columbia hoped it would make much more money than it did.

 

Maybe I'm remembering the hype, which in my recollection was higher than that for Empire!

 

Indeed it was higher than that for Empire back in 1980 and you were remembering the hype. Now, Annie has a much bigger following than it had back then.

 

In spite of the following, the soundtrack album to the 1982 movie is OOP on CD here in the US, where people are paying $20+ for used copies of it. It is still in print on CD in the UK for very cheap though.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Annie-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundt/dp/B0000277FJ/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000277FJ/

The cheapest US widescreen DVD on Amazon Marketplace is $10.

 

The soundtrack to Follow That Bird sells for $15-20+ on Amazon and eBay on original vinyl but the CD is cheaply found used on Amazon.

 

It's a great soundtrack. Lots of catchy songs. Well worth picking up. I guess it's gone out of print on CD?

 

Yep, Follow That Bird is OOP on CD altogether but the CD can be found cheaply on Amazon as a used item.