JOHN LANDIS – by Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan
Interviews from Various Contributors
M Press Books

I got this book a day after my birthday in the mail last month. Little did I know it would be one of the best birthday presents I’d receive in a very long time. The cover alone sports college frat boys without togas, flipping the bird with innocent, comforting smiles, along with two brothers in black on a mission from God, a werewolf in painful transformation, and a fallen hero of modern music, decked out in his shiny red leather jacket, embraced by dancing zombies. How I would study film for four years in college, attend countless parties with movie trivia games, reenact favorite scenes around the cubicle walls, and pace down aisles of video stores without remembering one of my childhood favorites is beyond me. It was always Christopher Nolan “this”, Quentin Tarantino “that”, Jean Pierre Jeunet “who”, and Michael Mann “blue” that I would reference, and yet, in all that time, the guy that made me laugh the most was rarely spoken. The man that made me fall in love with movies as a teenager was inexplicably missing. And so when my birthday present from M Press Books arrived at my doorstep, I found something that I had lost in all of these years of growing up and becoming a certified tax payer, nine-to-fiver, and weekend warrior. I found my youth again in these pages, and I have John Landis to thank for it.

Simply titled John Landis, journalist Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan collects together some fascinating interviews done with the famous director along with many from close friends, colleagues, and cohorts of the past. People like Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jim Abrahams, David Cronenberg, and Joe Dante bring back the good old days of film with their thoughts on John Landis, and opening the door to how each film he made had more going on than just movie magic. There’s incredible insight as to how Rob Bottin started out in Rick Baker’s garage and became one of the best special make-up effects gurus of horror, how John fell in love with his wife and notable costume designer, Deborah Nadoolman, and how John is always casting Frank Oz in his films because he needs an “uptight prick”. In addition to these words of wisdom and wisecracks, this book features some of the best pictures not seen on film; a highlight that not only should be done more for books of this caliber, but one that made me just want buy every single John Landis movie ever made, just to get close or relive some of those memorable moments. Just watching John Landis kiss James Brown on the hand like a king is intriguing enough, and it makes you want to know more about the man that brought us countless comedies and groundbreaking horror films.

Everything you wanted to know about John Landis and his films is in this book. It’s probably why I rarely remembered him in my many sessions of movie talk with my fellow movie buffs. In a time where DVD’s give everything about the film except the director’s credit card number, John seemed to fall to the back of the bus until recently when many of his films were released as special editions on DVD. The Blues Brothers is talked about at great length in this book, especially about how it was cut down a half hour, and now I can get it on DVD and see what I missed out on all those years ago. It’s a game of catch-up, but I’m glad it is. John’s films are something to chew on repeatedly rather than swallow because there is more there at times than just a sight gag. Especially his direction for John Belushi during Animal House, and how Bluto came to life partly because John was guiding him through scenes like a football coach. Even the slapstick comedies like Kentucky Fried Movie and my personal favorite, Amazon Women on the Moon, have a meek sense of detachment from the real world…in order to be realistic. To me, it’s not what John was trying to say in his films or preach a message or tell us how to behave; it was what John wanted to show us. The ability to change resides in all of us if we just look at ourselves and laugh.

John Landis has accomplished so much in the past 25 years, and I just can’t believe I don’t praise him enough for his work. An American Werewolf in London still holds up as one of the best horror movies of all time, if not, the definitive werewolf transformation caught on film. The Blue Brothers is a Chicago staple, and everyone who lives in that city of blues embraces those two characters like family. Coming to America still remains one of the best black comedies ever made, and is considered to be one of Eddie Murphy’s best, if not most quoted films. (Sexual chocolate!) Michael Jackson’s Thriller still stands tall as the number one video of all time, and is often copied even today in films and television commercials. And then there’s Animal House. In a list of long reasons many of us went to college for, one standout was to have an experience like Flounder and Pinto did at the Delta House. Arguable? Maybe. But certainly undeniable that John Landis remains one of the most well-rounded and innovative directors of our time. This book will certainly bring it all back and remind you that he is master at making us laugh until it hurts, jump in our seats in terror, and party until we’re pushed home in a shopping cart.

Thank you John for making my teenage years great.

GRADE: A+

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