Caught the Saturday Night movie yesterday

[Simeon Salus]

I'll confess I've been a big fan of the program since the first year, so I was looking forward to how the now famous cast and crew were portrayed.

I loved it. I found the casting good. The performances are generally better than I would have expected, and the script was quite excellent. I laughed out loud over and over in a mostly empty theater.

Doesn't look like it's making enough money. Might go back and support it again today.

[True Dough]

1. Interested in seeing it

but will wait until we can order it on demand via cable.

My wife and I have only been back to the movie theater once since Covid. While it wasn't a bad experience, we just don't have the same enthusiasm to go anymore.

How many people were in attendance for the showing you went to?

[Simeon Salus]

2. It was a 2:30 showing in northern IL

for about 6 or 7 attendees, all semi-seniors like myself.

The film's central conceit is that there are only 90 minutes before the first episode launches, and so the film counts down to the 11:30pm show's start. There's a bunch of truncation but the movie tries to put viewers backstage on that night where nobody knew if the first SNL would even air. "Saturday Night" constantly reminds us Johnny Carson's 10/3/74 rerun was already queued up on tape (just in case), and "Uncle Milty" Milton Berle was always available as a last moment guest host if George Carlin dropped out.

The film ends with SNL's first skit, and the movie's closing credits are similar to the old SNL opening ones, which is a clever way out.

[True Dough]

4. What was your favorite era of SNL?

Top 3 cast members?

[avebury]

3. Saw it yesterday and found it to be okay.

It may be a hit with people who are huge fans of the show. It came across as very chaotic and it is a miracle that they actually accomplished a first live show. Loren Michaels came across as naive and in over his head.

The casting seemed to find actors that matched the personalities of the real life cast.

There was only a small amount of people at the showing. The Apprentice was a far better film.

[4lbs]

5. It was OK but I have some glaring problems with the writing.

For example, the scene (we can see it in the trailer, so it isn't really a spoiler) where Chevy Chase trips and falls down and then says "Sorry, I tripped over my penis."

Umm... people did NOT talk like that in the 1970s.

This is supposed to be October 1975, the first SNL EVER is about to premiere.

In the 1970s, people did not use the word "penis" like they do now.

He would have said "Sorry, I tripped over my dick" or "tripped over my cock." Very Playboy/Penthouse/Hustler now, but regular statements then.

It didn't enter popular vernacular to mean the other word(s) for male member until about 25 years ago.

Also, some other scenes should have been more male chauvinistic in nature, because even though the ERA and "bra burning" were at high points in society, and shows like "Mary Tyler Moore" and "Maude" were popular at the time, men still 'creeped' on women like they were taken directly out of "Mad Men".

For example (a spoiler alert), there is a scene where Milton Berle is flirting with Chevy's fiancee/girlfriend. The most outrageous thing Milton's character did in the movie was unzip his fly and whip out his umm... unit. The real Milton would have done worse. He would have asked her if she wanted to "touch it" or even do more, because Chevy wouldn't have been able to 'satisfy her' like Milton would have. Yes, Milton Berle was that savage and his talk was much more banal than what was shown. He was as profane and mean as Don Rickles (another comedian of the era).

I grew up in the 1970s, I knew how people talked and acted. This was very watered down. They should have seen some of the movies of the 1970s as an example. However, even those were relatively tame to how things really were.