In
retrospect, it is hard to believe the 1989 Oscar ceremony produced by Allan
Carr was so poorly received at the time, but we live in a post-Uma-meet-Oprah,
Anne Hathaway-awkwardly-co-hosting-with-James Franco world. So, there was a
Snow White musical number that didn’t land? So what? However, there is nothing
that can mitigate the train-wreck that was Can’t
Stop the Music. Yes, he produced that too, but he also had a few successes.
Jeffrey Schwarz chronicles his career ups and downs in The Fabulous Allan Carr (trailer here), which releases
today on VOD.
Although
he didn’t come out and say it, Carr was pretty open about his sexuality,
especially for the 1970s. After college, he soon found his way to Hollywood,
because he had a fondness for old school Golden Age glamor. He initially worked
as a manager, doing quite well for his clients, including legends like Bette Davis
and previously under-represented talents, such as Ann-Margaret. Eventually, he
hooked up with powerful British producer-impresario Robert Stigwood, who backed
him when he decided to take the Broadway musical Grease to the big screen—and the rest was history—rocky tumultuous
history.
Schwartz
covers the full scope of his life, using Sean Nadeau’s sly animation to liven
up the early years, but he primarily focuses on four projects: Grease, Can’t Stop the Music, the
original Broadway production of La Cage
aux Folles, and the disastrous Oscar telecast. There is also some
discussion of his work producing revues for Ann-Margaret, the much-maligned Grease 2 (sort of a Can’t Stop the Music-lite), and the teen sex comedy remake of Where the Boys Are—’84, but Cloak and Dagger, which so many kids
watched on HBO back in the day, is sadly overlooked.
Still,
the material on Can’t Stop the Music,
the Village People bio-musical the world didn’t know it wanted, because it didn’t,
is worth the price of admission on its own. It is the kind of stranger-than-fiction
show business lore that makes you shake your head in disbelief. Cheers to Steve
Guttenberg for discussing his not-so prestigious star-turn (but jeers to John
Travolta and Olivia Newton-John for their absence).
At
this point, Schwarz ranks as one of the best documentarians of Hollywood
history, having previously helmed Spine Tingler!: The William Castle Story (the folks at Shudder really ought to
consider picking that one up) and Tab Hunter Confidential. In many ways, Fabulous
shares elements of both prior docs, as well as the brisk up-tempo pacing to
all three.
Sadly,
Carr passed away in 1999, but unlike his producer brethren, he was not shy
about promoting himself on talk shows, so Schwarz had quite a wealth of
archival footage to cull from. As a result, the film will also be a real nostalgia
trip for anyone with hazy memories of Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and late-1970s-early-1980s
pop culture in general. Sometimes raucously funny and sometimes quite poignant,
The Fabulous Allan Carr is very highly
recommended for a wide gamut of movie buffs. It releases today on VOD
platforms, including iTunes.
