Word: valentino
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...plot--broken up by newsreels, dramatic profiles of famous American figures from a ruggedly moralistic Eugene V. Debs to Rudolph Valentino and assorted other collage skits and "cut-outs"--centers on the life of J. Ward Moorehouse, Dos Passos' version of The American Success story...
...PLOT CONCENTRATES on the problems of a Milwaukee baker (played by Wilder) who must compete with the screen idol Rudolph Valentino for the admiration of his young wife Annie (Carol Kane). To prove himself to her and also to escape the confinement of his job, Wilder changes his name to Rudy Valentine and moves to Hollywood to compete for the "World's Greatest Lover" role in a studio ad campaign. The couple's proximity to the real Valentino is too much for Annie, who leaves her husband to track down her dream lover at Paramount Studios...
Valentine's consequent attempts to win his wife back are both funny and touching. With the help of the real Valentino, Wilder convinces Annie that the real screen idolis a fellow who "only likes boys." But his charade fails to alter her illusions, and only then does the baker realize that the secret to gaining his wife's love lies in being himself. In these scenes Wilder displays a dramatic sensitivity which his more recent Mel Brooks roles have not allowed him to develop. The comedy and conflicts generated by this situation might have been sufficient material for a light...
Although her film Valentino did a quickstep into oblivion, Actress Michelle Phillips isn't ready for a fadeout. She has just signed up for a starring role in Chicago Girl, a movie in which she will play an actress who impersonates a prostitute. "It's fun to go through a complete metamorphosis from a well-dressed and sophisticated woman to a tacky, slutty one," allows Michelle. Not that the ex-Mama (of the Mamas and the Papas) has been lounging around between films. The former offstage leading lady to ex-Papa John Phillips and Actors Dennis Hopper, Jack...
Like all the Brooks-Wilder-Feldman efforts, this one is about old movies. Wilder plays Rudy Valentine, a shnook from Milwaukee who goes West when a film company announces a search for a new star to compete with Valentino. Once the hero hits Hollywood, predictable gags ensue at an alarming rate. There are the usual send-ups of silent movies and film-company yes men, not to mention the now obligatory asides about Valentino's ambiguous sexuality. Rather than recapture the high spirits of Brooks' Silent Movie, this movie more often looks like an overbudgeted tribute...