Film titles not always a good clue to the subject

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 18

Film titles not always a good clue to the subject

NZPA-AP Hollywood Here is a little film quiz: What is “Kiss of the Spider Woman?” A remake of a 1940 s zombie movie? A Mel Brooks spoof? A drama of two prisoners in a Brazilian jail? Unless you are really informed about the movie scene, you might not know that “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is the highly-acclaimed film in which William Hurt, a homosexual prisoner, relates old movie plots to Raul Julia, a political prisoner, in a Brazilian jail. In spite of the confusing title, the film has managed to sell SUSIO million (SNZI9.3 million) •' of tickets in a limited United States release.

Film titles is a subject that has bedevilled the industry from its earliest days. Would “The Birth of a Nation” have been less successful with the title of the novel from which it sprang, “The Klansman”? Is it easy to sell a movie called “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”?

“Titles mean everything,” the director, David Selznick, once said. “Combine a provocative, exciting title with star names and an intriguing subject and you’re halfway home.”

He proved his theory with such films as “Gone with the Wind,” “Spellbound,” and “Duel in the Sun.”

In earlier years, titles were often decided on a producer’s- whim. Milton Pickman, a former agent and studio executive, talked about an incident at the home of Louis Mayer, head of M.G.M. "Some of the executive were arguing about ‘Mrs Miniver.’ They said, ‘What kind of a title is that? It won’t mean anything to the ticket buyer.’ But Mayer said, ‘Greer Gar-

son is a marvellous actress. It doesn’t matter what the picture is called. They’ll come’,” recalled Mr Pickman.

“Mrs Miniver” proved to be one of the biggest hits of World War 11, winning Academy Awards for the film and Miss Garson.

. Marketing is king in today’s Hollywood, and all titles are now scrutinised and often tested for their audience appeal.

At first there was never a question about “The Karate Kid” title, said the producer, Jerry Weintraub.

“But after the picture had been made, Columbia started to get worried. They kept saying it was not a good title, and I got nervous myself. “I agreed to go to a testing centre, where I sat behind a glass and watched the title and the campaign being tested to a cross-section of the public. I left more confused than when I arrived. The kids thought it was a karate picture, and the adults thought it was a kids’ picture. But at least they discussed it, and I thought that would work in our favour,” he said. “The Karate Kid” opened modestly in 1984; word-of-mouth helped generate a SUSIOO million ($193 million) domestic gross. Michael Douglas is another producer who saved his title by standing up to the marketing forces in 1979.

“I had tremendous grief with ‘The China Syndrome’/’ Mr Douglas said. “Down to the wire, Columbia refused to accept it They thought it was misleading, but I argued that people would not forget ‘The China Syndrome,’ which, after all, was what the picture was about (the supposed nuclear burn through the Earth to China).”

Mr Douglas said that after he read "Romancing the Stone,” he told the late Diane Thomas: “I love your script; I hate your title.” During the rewrites, though, she said: "I really dike the title.” Douglas replied: “You got it,” .and he had another box-office winner with the comedyadventure about the pursuit of a fabulous gem. The producer, Irwin Winkler, recalled that : United Artists hated “Rocky” as a title. “They kept asking, what does it mean? Is it about Rocky Marciano? They wanted to call the picture ‘The Contender.’ But Bob (Chartoff, his co-pro-, ducer) and I held out for ‘Rocky,’ and won.

“We had the same problem with ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ The distributor feared people would thfnk that it was a ■western, the same argument was used about ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ which

demonstrates the limitation of (corporate) thinking.”

A former production chief at Paramount and now at Disney, Jeff Katzenberg, said: “You go through title discussions on every picture. At Paramount we even talked about different titles for ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and ‘4B Hours.’ Luckily, we didn’t i change them.” x Film people will continue to argue titles from .here to eternity or at least until the industry is gone with the wind.

“The success of a film is not dependent on the title,” said Mr Winkler. . “If the film is appealing, the audience will accept any title. Once we had a picture called ‘Speed Is of the Essence.’ ilt did poor business, so we .'changed the title to ‘Believe in Me.’ It was still a failure. The picture would have failed no matter what it was called,” he said.