{"id":1220,"date":"2006-07-05T18:30:23","date_gmt":"2006-07-06T01:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2021-03-30T23:57:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T06:57:45","slug":"melvin-and-howard-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1220","title":{"rendered":"Melvin and Howard (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Howard Hughes sang Melvin Dummar&#8217;s song. He sang it!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22491\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Poster.jpg 341w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA well-meaning but luckless dreamer (Paul Le Mat) gives billionaire Howard Hughes (Jason Robards) a lift in the desert one night, and years later finds himself named a contested heir in Hughes&#8217; will. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Inheritance<\/li>\n<li>Jason Robards Films<\/li>\n<li>Jonathan Demme Films<\/li>\n<li>Marital Problems<\/li>\n<li>Mary Steenburgen Films<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;No One Believes Me!&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Paul Le Mat Films<\/li>\n<li>Underdogs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nBased on a true story, this &#8220;genial, sad-eyed comedy&#8221; (directed by Jonathan Demme, and winner of a Best Screenwriting Oscar for Bo Goldman) seems to be a favorite with many reviewers, including Peary &#8212; and there&#8217;s much to recommend it, including &#8220;first-rate&#8221; performances, plenty of quirky humor, and numerous heartfelt moments. It&#8217;s ultimately a character study about <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Melvin_Dummar\">Melvin Dummar<\/a>, a &#8220;nice, well-meaning guy&#8221; who&#8217;s &#8220;not very smart or realistic&#8221;, &#8220;hasn&#8217;t any money&#8221;, and who &#8220;lives for his dreams&#8221; of &#8220;striking it rich&#8221; and &#8220;becoming a songwriter&#8221; &#8212; and as such, it hits its stride. However, I couldn&#8217;t help feeling cheated by how little time Robards (as Hughes) is on-screen: other than the opening scene and occasional flashbacks, he never shows up again. Perhaps I&#8217;m unduly fascinated with Hughes after seeing Scorsese&#8217;s recent biopic <em>The Aviator<\/em> (2004), but it doesn&#8217;t seem right that this notoriously eccentric billionaire shares top billing with Le Mat&#8217;s Melvin Dummar in the title, yet disappears 15 minutes into the film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mary Steenburgen as Lynda Dummar<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2-1024x565.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"353\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2-1024x565.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2-768x424.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2-1536x847.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Steenburgen2.png 1717w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Robards in a criminally small role as Howard Hughes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards-1024x561.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"351\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards-1024x561.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards-768x421.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards-1536x841.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Robards.png 1729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Robards and Le Mat singing &#8220;Bye, Bye Blackbird&#8221; together as they drive across the desert<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird-1024x552.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"345\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird-1024x552.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird-768x414.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird-1536x827.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melvin-and-Howard-Blackbird.png 1721w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. While beloved by many, it&#8217;s not must-see viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0081150\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1980\/09\/26\/archives\/melvin-and-howardopens-festival-tonight.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/melvin-and-howard-1981\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Howard Hughes sang Melvin Dummar&#8217;s song. He sang it!&#8221; Synopsis: A well-meaning but luckless dreamer (Paul Le Mat) gives billionaire Howard Hughes (Jason Robards) a lift in the desert one night, and years later finds himself named a contested heir in Hughes&#8217; will. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Comedy Inheritance Jason Robards Films Jonathan Demme Films Marital Problems Mary Steenburgen Films &#8220;No One Believes Me!&#8221; Paul Le Mat Films Underdogs Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Based on a true story, this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1220\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1220"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70947,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions\/70947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}