Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

1976 "Introducing The Dog Who Launched 1000 Stars."
4.8| 1h32m| en| More Info
Released: 26 July 1976 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.

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whitesheik I knew if I came here I would see review after review telling me this is funny and a lost gem. It's not funny. It's not a lost gem. It doesn't matter whether you were in high school when you saw it, or whether you were eighty or whether you were six - it is truly one of the unfunniest comedies ever made, perhaps the unfunniest of all time. The dog is great. Madeline Kahn and the large cast of cameos are fun. Bruce Dern - not exactly Mr. Comedy. Michael Winner - the man who made Death Wish - that's who I'd hire to direct a comedy. The script is horrible, Winner is a Loser, and I just marvel at the deluded people who come to post at the IMDb. I know there is no accounting for taste, but when a movie is this bad, this blatantly bad, then one's mind is boggled reading these ridiculous comments. I was around Paramount at the time this film was released - they were really on a roll with terrible comedies - this, The Big Bus, and not only their comedies, but all their films save for one or two. Perhaps that's what happens when an Production Designer is made the head of a studio (Dick Sylbert). I didn't really think I could find this film worse than when I saw it on its original release, but having just watched the DVD, it is indeed worse. An all-time bomb. The critics and audience of the time were right - the delusional here are completely wrong.
Dominick Mazza Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood is by far a comedy masterpiece, but it stars the lovely Madeline Kahn in a truly hysterical performance. She rises so above the material. She possesses the same kind of movie magic of the screwball comediennes of the 30's and 40's and even comes off much better. I think if Madeline Kahn were a star in those days we would have had at least 100 films starring her. But when she made her film debut in 1972 she was a true Hollywood find. After all her first four movies are all now classics and two considered masterpieces. Not to mention two Oscar nominations. But with all that greatness the movie studios offered her parts in so-so comedies. I mean she made some more very good films, but not up to her first four. She was as beautiful and extremely talented as all her peers of the day. I always felt she was one day going to get her Academy Award in her older years, but unfortunately she died much too soon. Bruce Dern, Art Carney, Teri Garr, Phil Silvers, Ron Liebman, Nancy Walker and so many stars from the past appear in this take off on Rin Tin Tin. Paramount has yet to release it on DVD. 2006 is here today and its the films 30th anniversary. I wish they would release it for us all to enjoy and cherish a underrated performance from Madeline Kahn.
Gavno EVERY movie nut has a few in his collection that he hides from his friends... films that "aren't cool", trashy films with no redeeming social value, outrageous films with no importance whatever. Films that you secretly watch from time to time just because they're FUN!I'll come clean here... ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, POOTIE TANG, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, CANDY and ROCK & ROLL HIGH SCHOOL are among MY Guilty Pleasures.An outstanding member of my back-of-the-shelf collection is WON TON TON, THE DOG WHO SAVED Hollywood.This one is DEFINITELY for those folks whose knowledge of American cinema goes back a LONG way... back to the Mack Sennett comedies, and to the days before Hollywood became a multibillion dollar Money Machine. It's a sort of Love Letter to the silent screen stars of the 1920's; they appear in a copious number of cameos here. If you don't know who the Ritz Brothers were, you won't get this film!Madelein Kahn literally steals the show from a somewhat dopey German Shepard, a MAJOR achievement for ANY actor or actress! There's an old stage saying that one should NEVER work with kids or animals; they'll steal your scenes every time without even trying. Kahn MORE than held her own, even successfully stealing scenes from the pooch. Check out the scene where the roast chicken falls off of the delivery truck, and Kahn and Won Ton Ton fight over possession of it. She just DUSTED the dog, and overall HE comes off as the comedic straight man!The only other recent actor that comes close to this level of thespian gallantry and sheer talent is Jim Bellushi in his performance in K9... he's ANOTHER screwball comedian who can pull it off successfully.Bruce Dern's performance is somewhat wooden. Dern's persona literally radiates instability and danger... NOT good for comedy. He's gamely going through the motions here; it quickly becomes painfully apparent that Dern, as fine an actor as he is, has NO potential in comedic roles.Art Carney does his usual masterful job of playing a curmudgeonly movie producer, constantly shooting down Dern's half baked movie ideas ("There's this little girl in Kansas, see, and a tornado takes her and her house to this magic land, somewhere over the rainbow...").One of the unsung heros here is Ron Liebman; he shows a flair for subtle comedy that's totally unexpected.It's not a film for everyone; a LOT of folks will HATE it. But.. if you love the REALLY old movies, and you can FIND it, WON TON TON is good for an evening's entertainment.
AnnieP I thought it was a kick - but then I've been watching movies that date from 1917 and know a little about the pictures. This romp combined cameos and bits by folks from Hollywood's good years (which I define as when they used people instead of digital simulation) as well as familiar faces from TV and pictures from the 50's and 60's.It's a GO for my money (but then I wasn't in high school when I bought it). Don't see it unless you love pictures!