Private Parts

Private Parts
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Betty Thomas
Produced by	Ivan Reitman
Written by	Len Blum Michael Kalesniko Howard Stern
Starring	Howard Stern Robin Quivers Mary McCormack Fred Norris Paul Giamatti
Music by	Rob Zombie Porno for Pyros Marilyn Manson The Dust Brothers
Cinematography	Walt Lloyd
Editing by	Peter Teschner
Studio	Rysher Entertainment
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	March 7, 1997 May 8, 1997 June 20, 1997 November 20, 1997
Running time	109 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
Gross revenue	$41,198,146 (USA only)

Private Parts is a 1997 biographical film directed by Betty Thomas from a script written by Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko.^[1] Produced by Ivan Reitman and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film is adapted from the 1993 best-selling autobiography of the same name by radio personality Howard Stern. It follows his life from boyhood to the cusp of break-out success in radio as a "shock jock."

The film stars Stern and members of staff on his radio show as themselves, including sidekick Robin Quivers, producers Gary Dell'Abate and Fred Norris and comedian Jackie Martling.

Plot

Following an appearance at the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards (as alter-ego "Fartman") Stern boards a flight to go home and finds himself seated next to an attractive woman visibly repulsed by him. In order to win her over, he begins to tell her his life story using his "radio persona" for a wedge. Howard begins with his childhood, explaining that his father (Richard Portnow) would continuously verbally abuse him, but would take Howard to work at WHOM, a radio station in New York City. Since then Howard dreamed of being on the radio. Time passed and he grew up as a quiet, socially awkward teen who in his own words was "hung like a three-year-old," so he started smoking marijuana. When confronted by his parents about what he wants to do with his future, he tells them he wants to be on the radio, at first his parents try to make him reconsider his decision but eventually give him their approval.

In his senior year at college, Howard gets the job of being the disc jockey for the WTBU, the college radio station, where he fails at keeping the show together. He also meets the girl of his dreams, Alison (Mary McCormack), and the two become close and begin dating. After graduating Howard gets his first opportunity as a disc jockey at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, followed by program director, allowing Howard and Alison to marry. Howard later leaves WRNW, and gets a job in Hartford, Connecticut as a disc jockey where he meets Fred (Fred Norris). Howard's radio skills seem to impress Fred and the two become friends. After a while the ratings begin to rise, and they get to interview with a celebrity named Brittany Fairchild. She invites them both to a red carpet première of her newest movie. During the movie the three leave to go to Fairchild's apartment where she strips down and gets in the bathtub. She persuades Howard and Fred to get in with her. Howard declines the offer but then decides to go in while wearing his underpants but before getting sexual, he quickly leaves, regretting what he has just done. He decides not to tell Alison but she eventually finds his wet underpants in the car and Howard confesses. She then leaves him.

Howard decides to leave town and gets a job at WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, promising Fred that they will reunite. When on air Howard seems to snap and makes up a black traffic copter character who in his voice reads a poem called "kill the white man." The radio show is failing and Howard is feeling miserable until Alison comes back to Howard and decided to forget about the whole incident with Fairchild. While spending time with Alison, Howard's boss Marvin meets up with Howard and tells him that their radio station is changing formats from rock to country. During a live broadcast, Howard announces that he quits. He then finds another job at WWDC in Washington D.C. where he meets Robin (Robin Quivers) the news woman for his program. During the broadcast Howard makes an open conversation with Robin about sex. She is hesitant to talk at first but eventually starts talking back to help him out. Dee Dee (Allison Janney), Howard's boss, tells them off for having conversations live on air, forbidding them to talk to each other. Both refuse to follow orders and keep talking. Howard's antics almost gets him fired until it is revealed that his ratings have gone through the roof, even having new sponsor requests. Howard then requests the hiring of Fred, which they do. Later on during a live broadcast Alison calls in and announces that she is pregnant with Howard's child, however afterwards they find out that it was a miscarriage. Howard then starts making fun of the fact on air which upsets Alison greatly, but they make up and announces she's pregnant again.

Howard, Robin and Fred are then hired at WNBC in New York City, in which management is upset about when he realises what Stern's show is like. In hearing this Kenny Rushton (Paul Giamatti), who Howard will be working for, assures them that he will keep Howard "in line" or make him quit by being strict. The two meet and instantly hate each other after Howard mocks him on air. After Howard, Fred and Robin disobey Kenny's orders about censorship, he retaliates by firing Robin, replacing her with another news man who is very boring on air. After putting up with Howard's antics for too long he quits. No one will take the news job so Howard begs to bring Robin back which they eventually they agree. After more of Howard's antics, Kenny gets fed up and cuts his show off early, which infuriates Howard, and he ends up getting into a physical altercation with Kenny.

The official ratings come in and it shows that Stern's show is the most popular show in the country. Kenny visits Howard's place to tell him the news. He then tells Howard that he's going to make sure Howard is happy in WNBC, insulted by Kenny's sudden change of heart due to his popularity, Howard tells him "fuck you", and shuts the door in his face. Howard then has a huge concert thanking all his fans for giving him support and has AC/DC perform live, during the performance Alison's water breaks and she is rushed to the hospital with Howard by his side.

It comes back to Howard on the plane telling the woman sitting next to her that they had a girl, he then says that she was probably repulsed by him at first but he says that he grows on people like a fungus, the woman than admits that this is the best flight she's ever been on. Howard then thinks that he could probably end up having sex with this woman, but he wouldn't as he is too loyal to his wife. When the plane lands, Howard meets up with his family, then introduces the woman on the flight to Alison and suggests a threesome between the 3 of them, which both women kindly reject.

There are three scenes during the credits. The first clip is Stuttering John Melendez giving a rant about how he was not even mentioned in the movie. The second clip is Mia Farrow announcing an award for best actor which Howard wins, while the audience is silent and confused, Howard comes down from the ceiling in his Fartman costume similar to the start, the wires suddenly snaps and Howard falls to the stage, which the audience applaud for. The third clip is Kenny explaining that he no longer works for WNBC and now is the manager of a successful shopping mall, he says he is happy but he suddenly flips out and starts blaming Howard about why he does not work for WNBC any more. During his outbursts most of the foul language is blocked out by jackhammer noises.

Cast

• Howard Stern as Himself
• Robin Quivers as Herself
• Mary McCormack as Alison Stern
• Fred Norris as Himself
• Paul Giamatti as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton.
• Gary Dell'Abate as Himself
• Jackie Martling as Himself
• Carol Alt as Gloria
• Richard Portnow as Ben Stern
• Kelly Bishop as Rae Stern
• Michael Murphy as Roger Elick
• Reni Santoni as Vin Vallesecca
• Allison Janney as Dee Dee
• Leslie Bibb as the WNBC Tour Guide
• David Letterman as Himself
• Mia Farrow as Herself (uncredited)
• Camille Donatacci Grammer as Camille the Card Girl
• Edie Falco as Alison's Friend (uncredited)

Cameos

• Ozzy Osbourne appears during the opening scene, commenting on Stern saying: "What a fuckin' jerk"
• Alison Stern (Howard's real wife) plays one of the receptionists at WNBC during the "Lance Eluction" segment

Production

Writing

Originally, producers considered Jeff Goldblum to play Stern, as well as Julia Louis-Dreyfus being Stern's wife, Alison. Louis-Dreyfus later backed out because she wanted to spend time with her family.

Filming

Stern, Quivers and the rest of the cast from The Howard Stern Show were still broadcasting five days a week during the production of the film. At the end of every show, they would immediately drive to the film's set. A few scenes during Stern's college years were filmed at CUNY Lehman College in The Bronx, New York City. For the scenes that featured Stern in high school, filming was done at Union High School (from which comedian Artie Lange, who would join the radio show in late 2001, graduated in 1985). The concert scene featuring AC/DC was filmed at Bryant Park in New York City in July 1996.

Release

Reception

The film premiered at the top of the box-office in its opening weekend with a gross of $14.6 million. It grossed more than $41 million in total, with a production budget of $20 million.^[2]

It received mostly positive reviews from critics, most notably from Siskel and Ebert, who were frequent guests of Stern's radio show. Some critics claimed that the film glossed over his use of sexual and racial humor.^[3]

For his performance, Stern won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Male Newcomer". The awards are given by the result of write-in votes from fans and Stern won by a wide margin. Stern was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy". He was also nominated for a Razzie Award for "Worst New Star".

Other versions

Rough cut

Alternate VHS cover

A substantially different version of Private Parts appeared on Internet fan sites devoted to Stern sometime in May 2006. The newly-found version is an early rough cut of the film with substantially different dialogue and music, several deleted scenes, and a very different ending. Some of the deleted scenes, such as Howard being fired and escorted out of WNBC, appeared in the film's original trailer and publicity materials before being cut. The picture quality of the Internet version is very poor with compression artifacts, VHS artifacts, and visible dust on the print.

USA Network version

For the film's basic cable premiere on USA Network in 1999, Stern appeared in new taped segments in which he occasionally pauses the film to comment on it. USA premiered the film even though no alternate scenes had been filmed to replace the nudity nor had any alternate dialogue been recorded to replace the profanity for television broadcasts. The nudity was simply pixelized and the profanity bleeped. In 2007, VH-1 began airing this version.

Universal HD version

The film premiered in 1080i High Definition on Universal HD on March 11, 2008. It is the uncut feature-film version with minor commercial interruptions.

Video cover

When the film was released on video, some store customers objected to the original cover featuring Stern with no clothes on. An alternate version of the cover was produced featuring Stern fully clothed.

Soundtrack

Private Parts: The Album
Soundtrack
Released	February 25, 1997 (1997-02-25)
Genre	Rock Pop
Length	63:41
Label	Warner Brothers
Producer	Peter Afterman Jeff Gold Rick Rubin
Professional reviews
Allmusic link

Private Parts: The Album is the title for the film's soundtrack. Released on February 25, 1997, the 29-track album features two that Stern himself provides lyrics, performing with Rob Zombie and The Dust Brothers.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2007)

• Alison Janney and Mary McCormack would later star on The West Wing.
• LL Cool J is featured on the film's soundtrack album with Red Hot Chili Peppers in the song "I Make My Own Rules". But he had not gotten Def Jam Records' permission to perform on it. His name was blanked out on the album's track listing but he is still credited as a composer under his real name "James T. Smith".
• In the film Stern drives a 1970 Plymouth Valiant four-door sedan.
• "Dee Dee", the WWDC Program Director portrayed by Allison Janney, was in reality Denise Oliver, but her real name was never spoken in the movie, probably for legal reasons.
• John Stamos stood in for Luke Perry for the Fartman MTV scene. Perry later admitted that he feared the movie would not be good and turned down the chance to play himself.
• The Private Parts film cover/poster bears a close resemblance to the album cover of The High and the Mighty (album) by American rock musician Donnie Iris.
• WNBC Program director Kevin Metheny is referred to as Pig Virus in the book and in real life,^[4][5] but is named Kenny Rushton and referred to as Pig Vomit in the film.^[1] Unlike his character counterpart in the film Metheny is still gainfully employed in radio, currently working for WGN-AM in Chicago.
• The last WNBC Program Director Howard Stern worked under, Dale Parsons, is not mentioned in the movie at all, although he was WNBC's Program Director at the time Stern was fired.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Private Parts

• Private Parts (film) at the Open Directory Project
• Private Parts at the Internet Movie Database
• Private Parts at Allmovie
• Private Parts at Box Office Mojo
• Private Parts (1997) at Rotten Tomatoes