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GUNG HO
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars: Michael Keaton,
Gedde Watanabe, George Wendt, Mimi Rogers, John Turturro
Director: Ron Howard
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround, French Stereo
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.20:1
Studio: Paramount
Features: None
Length: 112 Minutes
Release Date: July 16, 2002
“Hey, these are nice ribbons.”
“THOSE ARE RIBBONS OF SHAME!”
“I’d wear ‘em on the inside
if I was you.”
Film ***
If my movie recollection serves me correctly, Gung Ho
was the very first movie I saw that was directed by Ron Howard, now the much
deserving Academy Award winning director of last year’s A Beautiful Mind.
Back in 1986 when I first saw the movie, I knew of Ron Howard only from his work
on television’s Happy Days and Andy Griffith. I had not even
seen Howard’s earlier films, Night Shift, Splash, or Cocoon,
at the time. So watching this film, a comedy about a clash of
American and Japanese cultures upon a sudden merger between the two
countries at a Detroit car factor, I found it to be a sleeper of a comedy,
though I never expected Howard to come as far as he has now. Howard gives the
movie a nice added scope, but the driving force is a perfectly tuned comic
performance from Michael Keaton, an actor I have come to miss from the movies
since I last saw him in Jackie Brown, that is, if you don’t count his
cameo in Out of Sight where, ironically, he was playing the exact same
character from the aforementioned film.
Keaton plays Hunt
Stevenson, head of the top automobile factory in the motor city. In the
beginning of the movie, he travels to Japan hoping to convince the Japanese to
locate their factory to his town. The scene of Hunt’s arrival in Japan is
quite funny, giving the movie a perfect opening comic drive, as Hunt, after
wandering through downtown Tokyo, finally finds his way into the correct
boardroom, where is presentation to the Japanese, who bark at him “WE DO SPEAK
ENGLISH!”, is nothing short of purely humiliating. However, through sharp
convincing, Hunt does connect with the Japanese corporate managers, who agree to
merge with the Americans right away.
The men from the Far East have their fingers crossed, as
they send one of their current disgraceful workers, Kazahiro (Gedde Watanabe),
to manage the factory, hoping that it salvage what dignity he may have left. The
merging of Japanese and American cultures seems like a nice idea, that is, until
the first day of working together, as the new arrivals like to begin their daily
work through jumping jacks, which the American workers scoff at, until Hunt
convinces them to play along with the charade. Hunt’s workers also become
mighty restless when it turns out they are no longer allowed sick leave, asked
to work overtime for free, and are constantly being shouted at by the Japanese
managers.
The rest of the movie involves both sides being done wrongly by the corporate office, and from there, you can pretty much sense how the rest of the movie is going to play out. Even with sort of a by the numbers formula, Gung Ho doesn’t slack a bit on the laughs, and much of that credit should go Michael Keaton’s way. This was made back when Keaton was one of the top comic actors around, creating flawless fast-thinking, consistently wisecracking characterizations, and Gung Ho represents one his funniest performances ever, ranking it with the solid work he delivered in 1994’s The Paper, also directed by Ron Howard, and I strongly recommend the movie on the strength of his performance alone.
This marks the first time I’ve been able to view Gung
Ho in it’s widescreen format, and the results are a bit mixed. The good
news; Paramount’s transfer for this 1980s comedy is surprisingly sharp and
clear, which made for an impressive presentation. The bad news; for some odd
reason, the choice was made to present this movie in a ratio of 2.20:1, when it
is obvious that it was filmed in the regular 2.35:1. The given ratio has cut off
some edges in certain scenes, and I simply felt as if I wasn’t getting the
entire picture, much like the transfers for Apocalypse Now and Playing
by Heart. The only DVD transfer with such a ratio that has ever worked for
me is New Line’s Life as a House.
Audio ***
Mostly a
dialogue driven movie, Paramount does get a few extra points in its audio
department with a good enough 5.1 track, which does a nice job in numerous
scenes involving music use and distinct background noises in crowded areas.
Dialogue comes off quite nicely as well.
Features
(Zero Stars)
Nothing.
Summary: