MovieChat Forums > Armed and Dangerous (1986) Discussion > Harold Ramis didn't like the final cut..

Harold Ramis didn't like the final cut..

posted 16 years ago by patkav6
9 replies | jump to latest

of the film and had his name removed as exec. producer. He also wrote the script I believe. I wonder what he didn't care for in the movie? Does anyone know? Speculating, his movies often have a more richer and broader experience. Vacation, Groundhog Day, Caddyshack. Armed and Dangerous was good, but maybe he would have done more with the movie if it were up to him. It is a very simple movie with traditional movie beats. Like Turner & Hooch, Dragnet. These all were shot very quickly with the same sense of style. Perhaps Ramis would have brought some genuine directing and not the paint-by-numbers style of directing that was so commom in the 80's. I still liked A&D though.

[–] GeorgeGraham89 16 years ago

He did a lot of writing and not directing in the 80s, like this, Caddyshack 2, Back to School, etc. If I were him, I'd be more ashamed of Caddyshack 2. Yikes on that one.

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"Is this a trick question?"
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[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] RobBase086-1 16 years ago

You are totally correct about Caddyshack 2! It was not as good as the original Caddyshack movie that he did.

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[–] davcar-1 11 years ago

Ramis said in an interview he was not planning to go ahead with armed and dangerous. He does not say why. But the producer told him if he found a director could he go ahead with it, Ramis agreed. Ramis was unhappy with the choice of director, who he states was literally picked off the street. He saw the final cut of it and he then asked his name to be removed off the credits as executive producer.

[–] Hendry_William_French 10 years ago

Ramis was unhappy with the choice of director, who he states was literally picked off the street

Strange thing to say. The director of this movie had done Commando the year before which was a decent action movie.

I liked this movie better than other Ramis films like Vacation, Caddyshack and Club Paradise. It wasn't a classic but it was an enjoyable comedy movie.

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[–] Danimal_77 10 years ago

This movie was funny, but it's nowhere near better than Vacation and Caddyshack.

[–] Hendry_William_French 10 years ago

Caddyshack is about as funny as finding a sh!t in your shoe. Vacation is mean spirited garbage. This was way better.

How many a$$holes we got on this ship, anyhow?!

[–] jason-brooks15 10 years ago

I'm guessing Ramis did not like the ending.
Even though this is a comedy, the ending appears rushed, as if they were in a hurry to wrap up the film.

[–] brdavid-429-96270 9 years ago

The whole movie feels rushed. A nice comparison I like to make to it is Stripes. It's basically the same idea. We follow two people who join army/security along with a bunch of ragtag losers. Comedy ensues. Something big is going down, our two protagonists get involved and saves the day. However Stripes did it WAY better and was able to give us a portrait of most of the people in the group and gave them a lot more to work together with. A&D was heavily edited, rushed to the point of skipping important plot points that should have been addressed, and ended in such an odd and peculiar way I'm still not sure what the plan Dooley had set up. What did Dooley intend to do when he got to where he supposed to be on his bike? Why didn't he leave earlier to make sure he would be there way ahead of time to set up his trap? Why didn't he tip off the police and just set up a sting? The ending doesn't make a lick of sense. For some odd reason I still enjoy the movie but I agree with Ramis, it's pretty dumb.