W.C. Fields and Me (1976)

Director:

Arthur Hiller

Writers:

Bob Merrill, Carlotta Monti (novel),

Stars:

Rod Steiger, Valerie Perrine, John Marley

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rod Steiger	...	W.C. Fields
Valerie Perrine	...	Carlotta Monti
John Marley	...	Studio Head Bannerman
Jack Cassidy	...	John Barrymore
Bernadette Peters	...	Melody
Dana Elcar	...	Agent Dockstedter
Paul Stewart	...	Florenz Ziegfeld
Billy Barty	...	Ludwig
Allan Arbus	...	Gregory LaCava
Milt Kamen	...	Dave Chasen
Louis Zorich	...	Gene Fowler
Andrew Parks	...	Claude Fields
Linda Purl	...	Ingenue

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

vaudeville comedian | film making | movie comedian | interurban railway | father son reunion | 

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Taglines:

Even a man who hates children and dogs has to love someone.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 1978 (France)

Also Known As:

Frenesi de Glória

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only actual incident from Carlotta Monti's book that was used in the movie was when Monti sprayed a hose on W.C. Fields' tin roof to simulate the sound of a waterfall.

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Goofs

The siren of the ambulance transporting W.C. Fields to the hospital is a modern electronic version, not the air driven type that would have been in use in the forties when he last lived.

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (2002)

User Reviews

One of the two panned-and-banished 1976 Universal star bios..worth another look.

In 1976, Universal spent significant money to bring two golden-age Hollywood biopics to the screen: Gable and Lombard and W.C. Fields and Me. Both were panned, gave little return on the money spent, and have been relegated to rarely seen, not-on-video status. I haven't seen Gable since the year of its release, but caught up with W.C. on cable awhile back. It's imperfect, but certainly interesting, well-acted and worth another look. (I'd like to see Gable again, too, to see if it's worse or better than I remember.)

Steiger gives a good interpretation of Fields, though unable to channel the unique comic gifts that he possessed. It was always good to see Perrine onscreen in her too-few roles, and Jack Cassidy was effective in one of his last roles prior to his untimely death. The design and technical work result in a great look, unfortunately panned and scanned in the TV version that is seen today (when it's seen at all.)

Interestingly, the Fields portrayal can be traced back to the memorable serial killer Steiger portrayed in 1968's No Way To Treat A Lady, adapting several disguises and voices, one of which evoked Fields. Universal has been pretty good about releasing older films of theirs to DVD at a good price; how about a couple of widescreen editions of these flawed but interesting biopics?