Matinee (1993)

A small-time film promoter releases a kitschy horror film during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Director:

Joe Dante

Writers:

Jerico (story), Charles S. Haas (story) (as Charlie Haas)

Stars:

John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Goodman	...	Lawrence Woolsey
Cathy Moriarty	...	Ruth Corday / Carole
Simon Fenton	...	Gene Loomis
Omri Katz	...	Stan
Lisa Jakub	...	Sandra
Kellie Martin	...	Sherry
Jesse Lee Soffer	...	Dennis Loomis (as Jesse Lee)
Lucinda Jenney	...	Anne Loomis
James Villemaire	...	Harvey Starkweather
Robert Picardo	...	Howard the Theater Manager
Jesse White	...	Mr. Spector
Dick Miller	...	Herb Denning
John Sayles	...	Bob
David Clennon	...	Jack
Lucy Butler	...	Rhonda

Storyline

A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalises on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie.

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Plot Keywords:

film within a film | movie theatre | cuban missile crisis | b movie | mother son relationship | 

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Taglines:

Lawrence Woolsey presents the end of civilization as we know it. Make that... Proudly Presents!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language, and for mild violence and sensuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Matiné

Filming Locations:

Key West, Florida Keys, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$9,532,895

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,Renfield Productions,Falcon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kevin McCarthy and William Schallert who both starred in the movie-within-the-movie MANT, starred together in segment 3 of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" which was also directed by Joe Dante.

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Goofs

Gene and Jesse are shown watching a television program when it is interrupted by the bulletin of President Kennedy announcing the presence of the missiles in Cuba. They also show surprise at the interruption. The actual broadcast of the President's address took place at 7pm on October 22nd, and preempted the start of any regularly scheduled programs. It had also been widely announced in media outlets earlier and throughout the day that the President was going to be making an important address at 7pm, and the networks had their news anchors on the air several minutes before the address commenced. So it is highly unlikely that the address would have interrupted the middle of a program as shown, or that anyone watching would have been surprised by the interruption.

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Quotes

Lawrence Woolsey: Herb's an interesting guy. He used to be kind of, uh... dishonest: shakedown artist, strong arm. Someone sent him to collect money from me just when I needed an inexpensive actor. Isn't it fun to know these things about your favorite stars?

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Crazy Credits

After the credits are complete, we are treated to a quick snippet from "MANT" with the Cathy Moriarty character pining, "Oh, Bill".

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Connections

References Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955)

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Soundtracks

Main Title
from Son of Dracula (1943)
Arranged and Conducted by Dick Jacobs
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Mant- Half-Man, Half Ant All Show

"This is Lawrence Woolsey and ...." starts this movie in great style as a 1960's style of movie promo. The movie starts starts very well and only gets bogged down late in the film when a couple of kids get shut into a bomb shelter by mistake.

This film portrait of the 1960's schlock entertainer Woolsey (as portrayed by John Goodman) continues to be his best film role. Goodman who is now one of the spokes people for Duncan Donuts (quickly putting Starbucks out of business), is perfect for the role of Woolsey. He is surrounded by a lot of old time talent & some younger folks who manage to put over an active film story.

Two coups of this are the film within a film setting which is employed successfully with the cutting between them being made smoothly without losing the plot line and the melding of some old timers into the film in support. William Schallert is used very effectively in the MANT film within the film. Jesse White is just as effective as the guy who is trying to evaluate Woolsey's show.

The film is a send up of lots of themes from Civil Defense, to the Missile Crisis, to movies in general, to sci-fi 1950's films, to spoofing life itself. There are even spoofs of characters within the film including a broad send-up of two Liberal Parents and their attitude towards raising their daughter.

This film is loaded with everything including the theater sign which has now failed, "Fight Pay TV". If you like John Goodman, this is his best role to date outside of Dan on Roseanne, a must see film for the Goodman fan.