Switching Channels (1988)

Rip-roaring modernized fourth remake of the classic newspaper comedy ¨The Front Page¨ or ¨His girl friend ¨ makes some memorable exchanges and acceptable acting from everyone . Cynical TV editor named Sully (Burt Reynolds) wants to get a big scoop on an execution which involves convincing star reporter (Kathleen Turner) to come back to work and put off her marriage to handsome millionaire (Christopher Reeve) . As the television news chief courts his anchorwoman ex-wife with an eleventh-hour story . Sully's tries to keep her in town and break up her upcoming marriage takes place against the backdrop of a botched death row . Kathleen can't resist covering some good news , even when it mean helping a condemned man (Henry Gibson) getaway the law as she attempts to help an innocent man is about to be executed . And the escaped convicted murderer offers the journalist an exclusive interview . Other reporters also give hilarious acting in this breathless pursuit of an exclusive with the escaped death row inmate .Great cast gives powerful performances as Burt Reynolds as a scheming TV managing producer and Kathleen Turner as a convincing star anchorwoman and Christopher Reeve as an incautious businessman . Agreeable remake of the Ben Hecht , Charles MacArthur's play about a cunning managing producer of a cable news network program and his ambitious reporter named Christy who is his ex-wife and best anchorwoman . Jonathan Reynolds's brilliantly tart screenplay overlaps dialogue and scenes to carry the black farce along the roller-coasted speed . Enjoyable performance from Kathleeen Turner as ace TV journalist who wants to quit the business and get married and likable Burt Reynolds as an editor who finds out his main reporter wants to leave him and gets in the way . Inventive and furious screen combats in which Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds are given equal footing with staccato dialog and sparkling interpretations . Phenomenal playing from everyone , including a top-notch secondary cast as Ned Beatty , George Newbern , Tony Rosato , Monica Parker , Al Waxman , Barry Flatman and many others . Colorful cinematography and atmospheric musical score by Michael Legrand . Functional direction by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood , North Dallas forty , Uncommon valor) render this frequent-told story less funny than usual , though achieved moderated success . Rating : 6,5 . Worthwhile watching . Other versions about this classic story are the following : 1931 ¨The Front Page¨ by Lewis Milestone with Adolph Menjou , Edward Everett Horton , Mae Clark and Pat O'Brien in his film debut ; ¨His Girl Friday ¨ 1940 by Howard Hawks with Gary Grant , Ralph Bellamy and Rosalind Russell with the pivotal character assigned to a woman instead a man ; and do't miss this stunning adaptation ¨Front page¨ by the great Billy Wilder with Jack Lemmon as journalist , Walter Matthaw as manging editor and Carol Burnett .

Ted Kotcheff's attempt to send up the mass media (especially television) is yet another disappointment from a director who has shown talent previously. "Switching Channels" is for the most part rather corny, and if it wasn't for the marked improvement at the end of the film, it would have been very dull indeed.Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds make good sparring partners, and the supporting cast (which includes Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty and Henry Gibson) are fair, but none of them are good enough to really lift proceedings.A movie that has its moments, but nowhere near enough of them.Monday, February 8, 1993 - Video

I loved this movie. I thought Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds were great together. Christopher Reeves was perfect. I loved the inventiveness of hiding the criminal in the bottom space of the copier as opposed to the roll top desk used in His gal Friday. I am just sorry that this is not available anywhere. If you liked Burt in this try to find Rent a Cop with Liza Minelli. Forgive spelling error in actors names.

Anyone can make any sort of commentary on how this film didn't live up to its heritage as the "umpteenth" remake of the movie "His Girl Friday", or the original "The Front Page", but in this case, I prefer to take the film on its own merits, especially in light of how things have been since its release.First of all, no one has to get on a soapbox and talk about how the chief supporting actor of this film (Chris Reeve) has been in the time since its release. The movie "Speechless", with Mike Keaton and Geena Davis in my opinion stands as a much better reference point, if one is looking for one, for Mr. Reeve's work before his accident. Instead, I like to look at his role in this as seeing how he was moving away from his Superman stereotype. The man has worked with some of Hollywood's A & B list leading men over the last twenty years, ranging from Michael Caine to Morgan Freeman. While he was no Ralph Bellamy in this film, I don't recall anyone saying he was supposed to be when the film was made. After all, he was only supposed to play the type of character Ralph played in the earlier remake, and if they had wanted Ralph's nod on the film, (Especially since he was the only surviving castmember) why didn't they get him to play the Network Owner's part?Then there is Burt Reynolds' character. While I don't think they gave him the best lines they could have in some scenes, I felt, and still feel that he played the part of the Station Manager/ex-husband in a role that was not out of range for him. However, if you want to sit there and compare him to Cary Grant's role, I ask that you do one thing before you do so. Go out and rent "His Girl Friday", and then fast forward to the scene where Cary goes "Oh, Walter!", and then try to imagine how easy it would have been to get Burt to do that scene in the same way.Finally, but in no means last, there is the heroine of the movie, played by Kathleen Turner. Ms. Turner has always played capable women who can be independent when they need to be, and continued to do so here. One scene of note in this movie is her reaction to the story about kazoo players and the President of the United States at the beginning of the film. When you consider the fact that Hollywood has repeatedly told us that modern broadcast journalism's motto is "if it bleeds, it leads", and they seem to be living up to that on the local news broadcasts, I as a viewer would want the person giving me the news to crack up on a story about Kazoo players, long before they ever did about someone going postal at a Luby's Cafeteria.The point in the movie where one can draw a strong similarity between the original remake and this one begins in the the interview at the prison. The scene here does not play out as a remake of the same lines and dialogue as the original said by new people, and one does have to admit that you can't exactly go in too many different directions with that as part of your storyline.Also, in my opinion, the story does demonstrate much more detail about one thing that the Grant-Russell movie only touched on. There is a changing of the guard going on in the business. The older seasoned journalists in the main story have or are changing positions. Sully has moved on to Producer, and is now fighting a constant battle over lead stories, rather than deadlines. An example of this is where he makes the comment to his boss, in jest, about having a team going all over Chicago looking for "Smutless fires". Christy is also following the "grass is greener" principle, as she is leaving SNN for a job as morning anchor in New York, a show with a Willard Scott-type weatherman and fake furniture.In my opinion, the only ones who really weren't well-developed as well as they could have been were Ned Beatty and Charles Kimbrough's characters. While it was interesting to see a man who would later go on to play a television journalist in a long running TV series (Kimbrough was "Jim Dyle" on Murphy Brown), the portrayal of them as a simple-minded Governor, and a crooked-dealing DA both running for governor seemed to me to be a mixed message over which story should have been covered. Everyone likes a good political debate, but at what cost, or should that be whose cost?