That Guy Dick Miller (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Oct 09, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Elijah DrennerRelease Date(s)
2014 (October 29, 2024)Studio(s)
Autumn Rose Productions/End Films (Dekanalog/Vinegar Syndrome)- Film/Program Grade: See Below
- Video Grade: See Below
- Audio Grade: See Below
- Extras Grade: A-
- Overall Grade: A
Review
Dekanalog’s packaging for That Guy Dick Miller (2014) touts as an extra feature a bonus disc containing something called Starhops (1977). I assumed it was some kind of short documentary about Hollywood actors making the rounds at a press junket of something of that kind. It turns out to be an entire second feature film, included because, in the cast, is that guy Dick Miller.
Miller (1928-2019) was a character actor who began in films as a regular presence in Roger Corman movies, a couple of times in leading roles, but mostly in supporting parts, in those days often as comedy relief, in which he was frequently paired with another Corman regular, Jonathan Haze. A compact, tough little guy (5’5”) from the Bronx prone to cynical wisecracks onscreen, he was sort of like a wayward Bowery Boy. I got to spend an afternoon with Miller around 2002, accompanied by Bob Burns and invited by the late Bill Warren, but they did most of the talking; frankly, I was too intimidated to ask him much. I thought he might pop me one. His signature role ironically cast Miller against type, as social misfit Walter Paisley, a nebbish serial killer. In truth, Miller could really act in a wide range of parts, as this documentary demonstrates.
By the late 1960s, roles for Miller were fewer and farther between, but beginning in 1972, disciples of Roger Corman, now producing films for his New World Pictures, fondly remembered Miller, and begin sticking him into their films. Eventually he became something of a good luck charm and cult movie staple; certainly, any movie, no matter how awful, was enhanced by his presence. Miller ended up being way busier in the 1970s than he had the previous decade, even finding work outside the Corman circle, on TV shows like Taxi and Fame, and in other people’s movies, including pictures directed by Samuel Fuller, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and Quentin Tarantino (though his big scene in Pulp Fiction was cut out).
Directed and edited by Elijah Drenner, That Guy Dick Miller is best appreciated by those already familiar with Miller’s career, but from that perspective the film is most enjoyable. Co-produced by Miller’s devoted wife Lainie with support from Corman and especially the New World crowd, including Joe Dante, Jon Davison, Jonathan Kaplan, Allan Arkush and others, there are endless film clips of Miller’s film and TV appearances, and not just the obvious ones, with about three dozen on-camera participants, all speaking warmly and amusingly about their friend and colleague. Miller and Lainie also appear, often with the family dog on Miller’s lap, and they and Miller’s brothers talk about Dick’s early life and family relationships, so this isn’t just a tribute film, either. There’s also a wealth of family photos and home movies, including some on the set of Miller films.
Much of it is familiar, yet I was surprised to learn a number of things I had not known before. For instance, an intriguing, long sequence in the documentary delves into The Long Way Home, a 1967 Western for Columbia co-written by Robert Towne and directed by Corman, his first big studio feature. Miller and others discuss the problems Corman had transitioning to bigger-budgeted production methods, and how he was eventually replaced by Phil Karlson.
I was also surprised by Miller’s talents as an artist, and ambitions and near-success writing screenplays, including the story for Jerry Lewis’s Which Way to the Front? (radically changed from Miller’s Pacific War setting) and the unfortunate T.N.T. Jackson, among others. And who knew Dick’s wife Lainie played a stripper in The Graduate?
For its intended audience, That Guy Dick Miller delights.
In Starhops, Dick Miller appears as Jerry, frustrated owner of a San Fernando drive-in hamburger joint. Overwhelmed with debt, back alimony and child support payments, one afternoon he freaks out and nearly destroys the place. Carhops Cupcake (Sterling Frazier) and Angel (Jillian Kesner) calm him down and he sells the drive-in to his employees. Goodbye, Dick Miller.
Joined by French immigrant cook Danielle (Dorothy Buhrman), the threesome remodel the place, dress-up in revealing uniforms that suggest Wonder Woman’s underwear, and soon the rechristened Starhops is making money hand-over-fist. However, an unscrupulous oil company executive, Carter Axe (Al Hobson, clearly channeling Fred Clark), plots to take over the drive-in so he can build a gas station in its place, conspiring with playboy son Norman (Paul Ryan) and architect Ron (Peter Liapis), who fall for Cupcake and Angel, respectively, and are none too eager to help the battling Axe. Meanwhile, Danielle falls in love with Kong (Anthony Mannino, for most of the film wearing an outrageously phony wig), a dumb biker who makes Eric von Zipper an Einstein by comparison.
As ‘70s exploitation sex comedies go, Starhops is surprisingly good. Originally written by Stephanie Rothman for Dimension Pictures, with Rothman originally set to direct as well, the script was sold to other producers, heavily rewritten and the project handed to Barbara Peeters (Humanoids from the Deep) instead. Nevertheless, the movie is rather unexpectedly a kind of almost-feminist comedy about strong, resourceful, and empowered women. Angel, Cupcake, and Danielle aren’t above using their sex appeal to manipulate men, but mostly they work as a team, coming up with clever solutions to the obstacles placed in front of them. There’s a little nudity but not much relative to other films of this kind, and what’s there is dramatically justified. Further, the end credits reveal a crew with a much higher percentage of women in key roles than one finds even now.
There are even a few honest laughs, such as a pretty funny double-entendre scene with Danielle and Kong trying to fit a pipe under the kitchen sink which Norman, in an adjacent room, misinterprets as a particularly raunchy sex act. Yet, ultimately, Starhops is so sweetly-natured and unexpectedly, well, innocent, I found it impossible to dislike.
THAT GUY DICK MILLER (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): A-/A/A
STARHOPS (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): B/A-/B-
That Guy Dick Miller, shot on high-def video for 1.78:1 projection, is up to contemporary documentary standards, with an ear-pleasing 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix, supported by optional English subtitles. That disc is Region-Free. Starhops gets its own disc, also Region-Free, presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. Title elements and soundtrack appear sourced from a 35mm print, but the main feature looks great, possibly mastered from the original camera negative, though the audio (presented here in 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio) is distorted noticeably but not ruinously, and only occasionally distracting.
Extras are limited to the main attraction: an audio commentary by director Drenner, cinematographer Elle Schneider, and producer Lainie Miller, recorded the day Roger Corman died; more home movies and outtakes; footage from the L.A. premiere; a trailer and a very good booklet with new comments from Drenner, Lainie Miller, and an essay by Caelum Vatnsdal.
A rich package of warm, funny and fascinating material, That Guy Dick Miller and Starhops is highly recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV