A 'Nuclear' Man

The laughable villain in Superman IV: Quest for Peace was Nuclear Man, a clone created by Lex Luthor to fight Superman. Ridiculously accessorized with silver Press-On Nails, he was easily one of the more insane elements of an insane film.

However, in the original cut of the film, there was another Nuclear Man, one even more ridiculous than the one who made it into the film.

Looking like a glammed up zombie Joe Pesci, Nuclear Man 1.0 was no match for Superman. He gets vaporized and provides the genetic gloop that spawns Nuclear Man 2.0. To try to salvage this mess of a film, all references to 1.0 were removed from the U.S. theatrical release, though they were included on some foreign versions of the film. Bizarrely, one of the syndicated versions of the film that appears from time to time features the original Nuclear Man in it and the scenes were included as bonus features on the DVD.

Back to Springfield

When Back to the Future was evicted from its home at Universal Studios and replaced with The Simpsons Ride, a small tribute to the original attraction was placed in the queue area:

A Simpsonized Doc Brown (voiced by Christopher Lloyd) is shown interacting with Professor Frink and other Simpsons characters.

Rest in Peace, Jerry Weintraub

Famed agent and movie producer Jerry Weintraub has passed away at age 77.

Mr. Weintraub began his career as an agent, successfully cultivating the careers of John Denver, Karen Carpenter and many others. He also became a concert promoter, working with such heavyweights as Frank Sinatra and Elvis. It was Mr. Weintraub's work in Hollywood, however, that made him a legend.

Mr. Weintraub's first produced film was Robert Altman's Nashville, a film whose success both at the box office and with critics catapulted him to dizzying heights. He became the chairman and CEO of United Artists, but left after just five months, forming the Weintraub Entertainment Group.

While his new venture produced a few cult classics like Troop Beverly Hills, it eventually failed and was subsumed by Columbia Pictures. Mr. Weintraub's biggest hit with Columbia was The Karate Kid which surprised industry analysts with the size of its success.

Jerry never really retired and continued to work on various projects, including the current HBO television show The Brink.

Roy Walley's Original World

Everyone knows how the classic comedy National Lampoon's Vacation ends- Clark Griswold forces John Candy's security guard character to open up Walley World for his family at gunpoint, which sparks Roy Walley himself to arrive and get talked into dropping all charges against Clark.

This wasn't the original ending, however. Instead of returning to the theme park with a gun, Clark buys a map of the star's homes and tracks down Roy Walley, who is conducting a board meeting in his backyard.

Clark confronts Roy and forces the board to entertain his family, since they drove out to California for nothing since the park is closed. Walley's household staff summons the police who arrive to take this lunatic and his family away to jail. However, right as the family is about to be carted away, Roy's daughter pulls up in her red Ferrari, finishing up her own cross country drive. Does she look familiar?

In the original ending, the hot blonde who Clark flirted with is Roy Walley's daughter, who convinces her father to let the Griswolds go- and open up Walley World for them. Which he does.

So why was this ending scrapped? Test audiences were upset that after all the discussion about Walley World, the inside of the park is never shown. Warner Brothers quickly budgeted for a four day shoot at Six Flags to create the ending that audiences would see in the final film. The fate of the original ending is unclear; Warner Brothers claims it destroyed all copies, though Chevy Chase says he owns a copy. In either case, the studio has shown no interest in releasing the footage.

Movie Quote Weekends

"But I'm on my break!"

Happy U.S. Independence Day

The Future is Now...

Back to the Future premiered July 3, 1985 - 30 years ago.