Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

5/08/2022

Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

♥♥♥

A brightly colored, exciting array of characters and colors adorn this poster for Ron Clements and John Musker's Hercules

Little Hercules is born half man half god, and he gets bullied for his over-strong clumsiness, until he meets a creature who wants to train him - and a fair lady, who ignites his hormones.

Hercules is written by Don McEnery, Bob Shaw (A Bug's Life (1998), both), Irene Mecchi (The Lion King (1994)) and master filmmakers, co-writer/directors Iowan Ron Clements and Illinoisan John Musker (Aladdin (1992), both), whose 4th film it is. 13 more individuals are credited with contributing story elements.

The film is overloaded with references and wisecracks for adults that regrettably don't add up to many laughs but certainly make Hercules seem an early study for what later came to successful fruition with Shrek (2001). Danny DeVito (When in Rome (2010)) and James Woods (Nixon (1995)) are among the fine voice performers.

Hercules is stylistically a wildly diverging, almost messy mix visually. It is enjoyable but essentially little more than a colorful children's party of a film.

Ron Clements and John Musker: Top 10: Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Little Mermaid (1989) - The fantastic, romantic return of Disney animation

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 252.7 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.97 times its cost)

[Hercules was released 13 June (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Development began in 1992. Jack Nicholson was sought to voice Hades but didn't pan out due to his enormous salary demand. Production took place in California and in France. The film was opened in 1 and then 2 theaters for its first two weekends before widening to open #2, behind Face/Off, to a 21.4 mil. $ first 'real' weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4), grossing 99.1 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). Though successful, the performance was disappointing in light of the preceding year's many Disney smash triumphs and Disney stock slipped 9.7%. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, for Best Song (Go the Distance by Alan Menken and David Zippel), lost to My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion, James Horner and Will Jennings from Titanic. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. By summer 1998, the film had reportedly already brought in additionally 165 mil. $ in VHS sales and rentals. Clements and Musker returned with Treasure Planet (2002). Hercules is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

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Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

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William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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5/08/2022

Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

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