 | |
List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 52305
Released: June 19, 2007 |
| Our Price: $8.19 |
| Used Price: $8.93 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Life is getting complicated for Broadway playwright Ivan Travalian (Pacino). His flaky wife Gloria (Weld) is moving in with her lover, his director hates his new play and his leading lady (Cannon) is a terrified movie star who's never been on the stage. With five children to look after (most of them Gloria's), a budding romance with his leading lady, and a producer (King) demanding a rewrite, it's no wonder the emotionally and financially unstable Ivan starts to exhibit all kinds of irrational behavior.
Description of Author! Author!:
During a downturn in his career, Al Pacino starred in this unfortunate comedy about a guy coping with a new romance, a house full of kids, and a new play--and doing a bad job of it. Pacino is a playwright who is convinced that he's about to have his first stage success. As opening night approaches, his wife bolts from the marriage, abandoning him with five kids (only one of whom is his). While he tries to juggle rewrites and a potential entanglement with a flighty actress and a demanding producer and director, he also has to solve his baby-sitting woes. Talk about trying to do it all. If only the material was as funny as Pacino, who may have made this film out of allegiance to its writer, Israel Horovitz, whose play The Indian Wants the Bronx gave Pacino one of his breakthrough roles in the early 1960s. --Marshall Fine
Author! Author! Reviews:
Pacino as the Perfect Pop 
2009-10-05 - Very charming movie with great acting all around. Adorable kids, Pacino in a comedic role for a change, Dyan Cannon - so beautiful in a rare appearance. A rich wonderful experience. No violence but full of gentle drama yet beyond Disney. A classic on my list.Author! Author!
almost perfect 
2009-01-21 - Lesser known Pacino film, but fun to watch again. The video quality is superb, especially those who have widescreens at home. There are two options on audio, Stereo and mono. I started watching it in Stereo on my Dolby digital system, but found that I had to switch to mono. The stereo sounded a bit synthetic, unnatural.
My biggest problem here was the "missing" final scene. At first I thought my DVD was malfunctioning, only to discover that Fox must have re-edited it for some reason that only they can understand. It was badly done, too. For those familiar with the film, on the part where Pacino says to his youngest son- "It means Heraldo gets his snake"- Pacino's mouth isn't even moving. The frame is frozen and the credits roll. Then, on the music overdub you can actually hear (if you listen closely) the sounds of kids laughter on the last scene that they cut, suggesting that something was missing. Again, those not familiar with the film won't notice. But, to those of us who are familiar with it, it's rather annoying and disappointing.
WHAT'S THE REASON? My guess is marketing. At some future release, they'll come out with a DVD with the final scene in tact, as well as the kid's interviews on some sort of "Where are they now" feature. This way, fox will get everyone to buy the DVD again and make profit once again on the film. Just look at how many different versions George Lucas has on "Star Wars." It's all in the marketing.
Cut Scenes 
2008-09-16 - Does anyone know why FOX dropped the last scene from the the DVD release?
I notice that other reviewers are baffled too, so any info posted here would be helpful. Thanks.
Mixed feelings, some soild points 
2008-07-07 - There are two good things to be said of Arthur Hiller's Author! Author!
(at the Plaza): Tuesday Weld and Dyan Cannon. The former plays Al
Pacino's wife, the latter his mistress. Both are actresses of
distinction. Both look terrific. Both should be reminded that this too
shall pass.
As Broadway playwright Ivan Travalian, an Armenian Neil Simon, Al
Pacino is another matter. Pacino is an actor of distinction, but he
does not look terrific - he looks, in fact, unaccountably dissipated,
like mid- period Leonard Cohen - and he has retained the leaden
lifelessness he brought to Cruising. Because Israel Horovitz's
abominable script was apparently conceived with Richard Dreyfuss in
mind (Ivan Travalian is a twinkly, manic shouter), Pacino's
lugubriousness sabotages whatever infinitesimal chance the movie might
have had for success (it's not what you'd call a great loss).
The much-married Ivan is rearing, $ la Dustin Hoffman's Ted Kramer,
five children abandoned by Ivan's various wives. He is a loving father
and is so devotedly altrustic he is lacking an artist's ego - the
reason this mother hen wants the newest play to become a hit is so
there will be enough money to feed the chicks.
The brood is composed of the most appalling set of exhibitionistic
child actors this side of Eight Is Enough; the delicately modulated
characterizations achieved from the young performers in E.T. and
Poltergeist by Steven Spielberg appear to be the products of another
species.
That this comedy is not funny is bad enough; that it is resolutely and
maliciously anti-female is unforgivable. Miss Weld's witless wife is
so self-absorbed the audience actually applauds when Pacino tells her
to stay out of the ocean and "give the sharks a break," while Miss
Cannon's Broadway actress is so selfish she can't stand more than a
week with the playwright's kiddies. (I know why: as a performer of
sensitivity, she is tortured by the bad acting in the house.) Kramer
vs. Kramer's mild sentimentality about single fathers has become a
full-blown disease in Author! Author!: Israel Horovitz hasn't written a
character; he's put Mother Teresa into a townhouse. Benjamin Miller,
Filmbay Editor.
AUthor Author
2008-07-06 - DVD was delivered in good time, faster than stated. DVD was in good condition. HOwever was disappointed to find that the DVD version crops off the original beginning and 10 minutes off the end. The oriinal screen and VHS version ends with a celebration the next day in Ivan's bedroom with the kids hitting Ivan with a cake! The DVD version ends on the street the night before in front of the news stand. Disappointing.
