Post by Jay Rambo on Sept 21, 2008 11:03:07 GMT -5
TRIVIA & FACTS
Movie Body Count: 240 christians (and not) are shot to death, stabbed or burned alive. 30 people are gunned down and knifed within the first five minutes of the film, during the infamous P.O.W camp scene.
The car chase was filmed on main street in Saranac Lake (Adirondack Woods).
"McBAIN" grossed $456,127 (USA). I know nothing about the estimated budget - but I guess the movie tanked. Some of the shots seem extremely expensive, too. I suppose it became somewhat of a cult movie in Europe, since the DVD UK release is still selling very well... In the end, I really don’t care about it, because the movie definitely rules and the American box office system sucks so badly. Those are the only things which truly matter.
Some interesting bits related to the release of the movie in other countries. In Italy, "McBAIN" was aired for the very first time in 1996, on RAI DUE, one of the biggest and most successful channels. Following its first introduction to Italian masses through a high quality and popular TV schedule, "McBAIN" has been reprised by RAI TRE at least two more times, each obtaining very good ratings.
In Spain, "McBAIN" was rechristened "McBAIN – O Guerreiro Moderno" (McBain: the modern warrior). I like it!
Time to make some useful observations. The movie is in short a fictional history tale if you want. Kinda of a Ridley Scott's "GLADIATOR" situation, where things and happenings didn't get the way portrayed by the movie itself, and it requires to viewers a notable suspension of disbelief in order to experiment the piece of "history" they’re watching on.
If I have to say it all, still today most of the viewers fails to see that "McBAIN" was clearly planned to be a Comic-Book War-Movie. You shouldn’t take some of the events and even some of the extravagant scenes as seriously intended, because they aren't. That’s why "McBAIN" is one of the coolest movies out of there. More important, this picture portrays one of the greatest and appealing characters who ever graced thescreen, Mr. Robert McBain himself, whose key of success is Christopher Walken and his incredible talent as actor and man. The top-notch comic-bookish flavour, the timeless charm, the poignant features of the story and the sympathetic lead character contribute to create a sort of unique magic. Of course, the reviewer Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times who is quoted on the "McBAIN" video jacket as saying: 'A macho action fantasy... a provocative revolutionary epic' is right. It’s one hell of an action movie, a visual rollercoaster, a well-crafted and utopistic fantasy which makes us reflect upon some important social issues. On the other hand, Robert McBain is the unknown hero and the beautiful person everyone in "our reality" should aspire to become, strong and resolute but also strangely sensitive and empathic... in nuce, an extraordinaire human being.
In the extremely popular 1989’s "THE SIMPSONS" cartoon series, there’s a fictional character called "McBain". The show production was forced to drop the character's name for some time ("a number of years" as reported by Internet Movie Database) due to legal difficulties generated by the release of the "McBAIN" action movie. That’s why the Simpsons – and many other supporting characters in the show - referred to the character by his actual name, Rainer Wolfcastle, until the issues with the film had been settled down.
As Wikipedia nicely reports: "for a short time in 1991, The Simpsons could not use the McBain name due to the fact that a movie of the same name (unrelated to the Simpsons character) was released starring actor Christopher Walken. During this time the movie's producers refused to give Twentieth Century Fox and Matt Groening's production company clearance to use the McBain name".
Even if Springfield’s famed McBain resembles actor/governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, there’s much of flesh-and-bone McBain in its cartoon D.N.A. His biggest nemesis is a powerful latin drug kingpin named Mendoza, and he is often seen killing many yellow-skinned, popped-eye "Colombian mercenaries" (so, there's a "Colombia" in Simpsons' universe too). Does it sound familiar?
For further infos on Simpsons' McBain: www.kidmoe.com/mcbain/
However, the "McBain" surname is not uncommon. The first person who comes in mind is skilled thriller-writer Ed McBain, who penned such best-selling masterworks as "PSYCHO".
James Glickenhaus, talented creator, writer and director of "McBAIN", made a name for himself when he wrote and filmed the cult-movie "THE EXTERMINATOR" in 1980. In "McBAIN" Glickenhaus also played a nice cameo as the Cigarette Boat Driver. He is born 24 July 1950, New York. His sons are actors Jesse and Veronica Cameron-Glickenhaus. Unfortunately, after "McBAIN", his career went almost to nowhere. The last movie he did was "TIMEMASTER" (1995).
In 1990, during the shooting, Christopher Walken was 47 years old. He was born March 31, 1943 in Astoria, Queens, New York. Real Name: Ronald “Ronnie” Walken.
Christopher Walken (Robert McBain) played strictly war-related roles in other three movies: Nick in “THE DEER HUNTER” (1978; starring Robert De Niro as lead – Walken won the 1979 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance); Shannon in “DOGS OF WAR” (1981); Sgt. Toomey in “BILOXI BLUES” (1988). Finally, when temporarly confined in the cameo department, he became Capt. Koons in “PULP FICTION” (1994). At last but not the least, he was involved into another combat-movie, “DEADLINE” (1987), as journalist Don Stevens, and gave a priceless vocal performance as Colonel Cutter in the computer graphics-generated wonder “ANTZ” (1998).
In 2001 Walken starred in a movie called “Scotland, PA” as Lieutanant... McDUFF.
All great movies have a d**n BATMAN LINK in them - either slight or heavy - and "McBAIN" is not an exception !!! ALICIA SILVERSTONE (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000224/) made her big screen debut in "McBAIN". Lately, both her and Christopher Walken would star in a Batman movie: Walken will be Max Schrek in Barton's "BATMAN RETURNS" (1992) and Silverstone will take the Batgirl mantle in the ill-fated "BATMAN & ROBIN" (1997).
Anyway, Walken and Silverstone's association did not end here. They co-starred in Marco Brambilla's "EXCESS BAGGAGE" (1997) which Alicia also co-produced (even if uncredited).
Walken and Michael Ironside (Frank Bruce) starred each in a mind-blowing David Cronenberg movie. Walken played visionary esper Johnny Smith in the critically acclaimed “THE DEAD ZONE” (1980; a movie adataptation of Stephen King’s novel), while Ironside gave an outstanding, unforgettable performance as mutant telepath Daryl Revok in the box-office sensation “SCANNERS” (1981), arguably Cronenberg’s best film.
Ironically, both Walken and Victor Argo (El Presidente) starred in Abel Ferrara’s masterpiece “KING OF NEW YORK” (1990), Walken as lead character Frank White and Argo as enemy Roy Bishop. Argo died in April 2004; he was 69. His portray of El Presidente is unforgettable, but he played in countless successful movies and TV series and - in the end - many people’d remember of him by them.
Cult-actor Steve James (Eastland) always seemed well-confortable while playing military roles... indeed, long time before he would co-star in “McBAIN”, James interpreted a long streak of soldiers, like Sergeant Curtis Jackson in the infamous Sam Firstenberg’s “AMERICAN NINJA” saga (featuring Micheal Dudikoff as lead; James appeared in three chapters out of five; unfortunately not all of them were written and directed by Firstenberg). His professional relationship with Glickenhaus started in the early eighties, when he became Michael Jefferson in the director’s signature film “THE EXTERMINATOR”. Steve James died at age 41 of pancreatic cancer, in November 1993. His figure and characterizations will be missed forever.
For further infos on "McBAIN": www.imdb.com/title/tt0102422/