MovieChat Forums > Foul Play (1978) Discussion > Was this movie successful commercially?

Was this movie successful commercially?


It's Chevy right before he was "Chevy." Anyone know if it was a success? Did it help/hurt his career?

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To the best of my memory, this was a successful film. As for its affect on Chevy's career, I'm not sure. I do know he made some major turkeys after it. Fletch, Fletch Lives, the last two Vacations, etc.

"Funny how your feet, in dreams, never touch the Earth" -Nancy Wilson

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huh? fletch and x-mas vacation were hits and pretty much recent classics in the comedy genre. though they are years after foul play so i don't see the connection.

if you look at his list of films, it shows an amazing lack of consistency. he'll make a vacation followed by the horrible deal of the century. between seems like... and vacation he made under the rainbow and modern problems. after foul play he did the dog movie. he's been hit or miss but his hits in the 70's and 80's are generally considered really good.

but my basic point is fletch, x-mas vacation and even to a smaller degree vegas vacation were successful. i particularly like vegas vacation for just being fun.

his career hit the skids after the successful 70 million dollar grossing x-mas vacation. some bad choices again followed by his tv talk show. plus he got older and there were fewer hip roles for him to do.

i'm surprised younger film makers haven't used him the way they do use bill murray. fletch is huge with college kids, i think young film makers might start using him in those roles soon.

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I didn't say they did poor box office; I said they were turkeys. Turkeys make money, too.

"Funny how your feet, in dreams, never touch the Earth" -Nancy Wilson

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OK... i also said they were recent classics in the genre of comedy. i didn't say they weren't turkey's because they mademoney.

i have never read bad things about fletch and x-mas vacation until now. it's fine that you don't like them but it's like me saying i don't like foul play therefore it was a turkey. even though most people like it.

if something is a "turkey" it usually means that most other people, critics etc. find it to be bad and he has lots of turkey's in his career, it's just those particular 2 are not even close. in fact, it's just the opposite. so that's what i don't understand. yes you might not like them but to suggest that a large contingent of people dislike it as well is hard to believe.

in fact, if you look at IMDB listings of his flicks.. x-mas and fletch rank 3rd and 5th of all his movies. foul play is 6th. i know this site is not scientific... but it does suggest a certain fondness for those particular movies.

so are you using the term turkey to suggest a personal dislike for those films? or a general dislike among the public?

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Yeah, I'm surprised to hear Fletch and Christmas Vacation labelled as 'turkeys'. Also, Turkeys DON'T make money... that's one of the key factors in a film being labelled a Turkey.





I told you when I came I was a stranger

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Yes, it grossed 27 million. Quite a sum for 1978 and it did better than "Seems Like Old Times". It seems it on HB0 twice a week.

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The movie was successful enough to have spawned a short-lived television version, which starred Deborah Raffin and Barry Bostwick.

Paramount had a great summer in 1978 with their trio of Grease, Heaven Can Wait and Foul Play.

This was Chevy Chase's first high profile Hollywood role after becoming famous on Saturday Night Live.

He actually beat out Steve Martin for the role, who would debut a year later in his vehicle "The Jerk".

I believe it was part of a three-picture deal he signed and the best film of the three.

His leading ladies in the next two films were Jane Seymour and Carrie Fisher. His subsequent feature
was Caddyshack.

More evidence that the film was a commercial success is evdienced by the re-pairing of Chase with Hawn years later in "Seems Like Old Times."

The film also re-launched Dudley Moore, whose supporting role directly led to his being cast in the Bo Derek film "10" and seemingly, an endless amount of starring roles after that.

As a bit of an inside joke, Colin Higgins (who previously made Harold and Maude and subsequently made Nine to Five) cast local San Francisco icon Cyril Magnin as the pontiff.

Magnin was a philanthropist and a retail giant. The irony in this casting is in Magnin's well known (locally) Jewish heritage.

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"Seems Like Old Time" is far superior to "Foul Play". case closed. i find it hard to belive that it did not make as much money as foul play

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I personally didn't care that much for Seems... It seemed like a typical romcom to me: boy loses girl, girl finds other boy, boy and girl find each other again. Meh. At least Foul Play had something to offer.

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Fletch is a classic.

Thanks for sharing.

Bye.

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Word.

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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc

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According to Box Office Mojo the movie grossed approx. 45M $ in the USA alone. I'd say it was quite successful.

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I *loved* this movie! Even though I didn't see it until years later.. since I was a baby when it came out.. but I do think it was commercially successful.

I don't know how they can redo it to make it as good as the first one, though.

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I personally think it's a vastly underrated comedy.

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It was on Norwegian television so many times in the 80's, so I can't imagine that it wasn't a commercial success. But maybe not right away?

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Yeah.

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This movie was considered his first starring role after SNL
it was a huge commercial/critical success

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