Ishtar is a 1987 comedy film, directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke", a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff. It also starred Isabelle Adjani and Charles Grodin and was shot by Vittorio Storaro. The songs in the film were written by Paul Williams, with additional help from Hoffman and May.
The film was a notorious failure at the box office; as of 2009, it has yet to be released on DVD in North America, although it has been released in this format in Europe.
Production
Ishtar began shooting in 21 October 1985 and wrapped on 24 March 1986. Having Oscar winners Warren Beatty (1981 - Reds) and Dustin Hoffman (1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer) in the starring roles, the filmmakers felt confident in the project. But the production was fraught with problems. Reshoots did not wrap until roughly June 1986, pushing the release date back to May 1987.[citation needed]
Of the film's songs, Paul Williams stated "The real task was to write songs that were believably bad. It was one of the best jobs I've ever had in my life. I've never had more fun on a picture, but I've never worked harder."[1] Paul has also explained "Elaine May didn't want me to sing the songs to her... She wanted to hear Dustin and Warren sing them... so for every song in the picture even if they're [sic] was only need of a couple of lines, I had to write the complete song and then teach it to the guys to sing."[2]
The movie ran significantly over budget in production, to $30 million, due largely to unanticipated problems with desert filming.[3]
Reception
1987
Ishtar was a financial flop, generating only $14,375,181 in North American box office receipts against its $30 million budget[4] (despite being #1 at that time).
Negative buzz about Ishtar and its outrageous budget was widespread in the press long before the film ever reached theaters, despite three successful previews. In an interview with Elaine May, Mike Nichols describes the bomb as "the prime example that I know of in Hollywood of studio suicide",[5] implying that Columbia's new chief executive, David Puttnam (who took over at Columbia halfway through Ishtar's shoot), sandbagged the project by leaking negative anecdotes to the media because he held a grudge against executive producer and co-star, Warren Beatty (and apparently, was on somewhat poor terms with Dustin Hoffman, as well).[6]
Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum surmised that the media was eager to torpedo Ishtar in retaliation for instances of Beatty's perceived "high-handed way with members of the press".[7]
The film was nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards, winning one for Worst Director. The movie received overwhelmingly negative reviews, and holds a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[8] "Ishtar" has since become synonymous with "box office flop".[6]
However, not all critics were hostile. Vincent Canby of The New York Times listed it as a runner up to his top films of 1987.[9]
Warren Beatty, who tried to defend the film, is quoted as saying "There was almost no review that didn't in the first paragraph deal with the cost of the movie. That was an eye-opener — about the business, and the relationship of the entertainment press to business. Ishtar is a very good, not very big, comedy, made by a brilliant woman. And I think it's funny."[10] Dustin Hoffman, who also tried to defend, stated that he would "do it again in a second."[11]
Subsequent reputation
Though notorious as a box office flop, Ishtar has acquired a cult following.[7] In one of Gary Larson's The Far Side comic strips, captioned "Hell's Video Store", the entire store is stocked with nothing but copies of the movie Ishtar. Larson later apologized, saying "When I drew the above cartoon, I had not actually seen Ishtar. ... Years later, I saw it on an airplane, and was stunned at what was happening to me: I was actually being entertained. Sure, maybe it's not the greatest film ever made, but my cartoon was way off the mark. There are so many cartoons for which I should probably write an apology, but this is the only one which compels me to do so."[12]
Cast
References
External links
