The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
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Riegert, Harry Shearer, Eddie Bracken—it just has this astonishing cast, but
the lead is Sylvester Stallone and people went, “Oh shit, it’s some stupid movie.”
It’s very different from what people were expecting. Stallone fans were disappointed
that he didn’t kill anyone, and people who would have enjoyed it
didn’t go see it because of him. In any case, it opens with a beautiful puppetanimated
sequence by Dave Allen. And then in The Stupids, I have a dog and
a cat done in traditional stop-motion animation by the Kyoto brothers.
What impact has Ray’s work had on your films? Any lessons that you
take away?
Landis: The way that Ray’s work impacted is it made me understand the
power of film. It made me want to make films—that’s how it impacted
me directly. And that’s pretty profound. Because I have to tell you, when
I wanted to be a filmmaker—I was born in 1950—and filmmakers, they
were the audiovisual kids in school. They were the ones who ran the projectors.
And they were the nerds. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis
Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, Marty Scorsese—these guys are Revenge
of the Nerds. It was a very unhip, uncool thing to do, to want to be a filmmaker.
It was downright strange, until sometime in the ’70s it became kind
of hip. Now there are film festivals and film schools—it’s a huge thing. But
before, people really didn’t celebrate directors; it was all about the actors.
First of all, in terms of Harryhausen, his films directly influence all of
the filmmakers today. If you look at Sam Raimi, Evil Dead and Army of
Darkness, those are just Ray on steroids. Everyone. All the filmmakers, from
Spielberg’s Close Encounters to Jaws—and especially Jurassic Park and The
Lost World. How’s that for balls? Not only did they rip off Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, they stole the title!
And Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, Vertigo) composed the score.
Landis: Bernard Herrmann did a marvelous score. And, for instance, if you
listen to Max Steiner’s score for King Kong, that is the score for Jaws. Bump,
bump, bum-bum—bah! You’d be surprised.
We talked about people who Ray influenced, and when Tom Hanks
gave him the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, he said, “Some people say