# After twenty years, I saw the movie I'd been looking for. How was it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [September 28, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538 "2021-09-28T19:01:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/102 "2023-03-14T00:23:14Z")

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The premise was bizarre: “We’re going to torture you to find out if this woman’s race is worth saving.”

Alien logic, eh?

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/103 "2023-03-14T01:51:43Z")

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My friends in college had a VHS tape that contained a trailer for a movie called **“Doctor Detroit”** starring Dan Ackroyd. We had neither seen it, heard of it, or even really even remember talking to anyone familiar with it. It was a mystery and no tape was ever in at any store, so we never got to see it.

Get this, my library network has the Blu-ray. Yes, it has a Blu-ray release and I have been watching it tonight.

Yeah, so not exactly the worst movie in the world, but there is a reason it flopped. It’s just kind of dumb and generic.

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/104 "2023-03-14T02:41:34Z")

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I remember seeing that on cable back in the day. Not a great movie, but interesting from a trivia point of view. It’s an early role for Fran Drescher, who Aykroyd’s character weds, and also the movie where Aykroyd met his real-life wife.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/105 "2023-03-14T02:56:05Z")

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> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> I remember seeing that on cable back in the day. Not a great movie, but interesting from a trivia point of view. It’s an early role for Fran Drescher, who Aykroyd’s character weds, and also the movie where Aykroyd met his real-life wife

Yep, and Fran Drescher is about 25 when making this. This is the type of movie you think they would have handed Ackroyd after the success of Ghostbusters, but it is a year before Ghostbusters and a few months before Trading Places.

It just kind of entered and exit theaters real quickly.

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/106 "2023-03-14T06:51:28Z")

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I remember when it was being promoted on TV. It’s the movie where Aykroyd warns the bad guys that he’s a master of the deadly art of Kung Fu, or words to that effect, right?

IIRC, Siskel and Ebert panned it. Was it better than _ **Neighbors** _?

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**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/107 "2023-03-14T08:26:16Z")

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I think Im the only person who liked Neighbors. I liked the ending. I also liked Continental Divide …so…

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/108 "2023-03-14T08:52:00Z")

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I thought _ **Continental Divide** _ was **bleah** , especially the ending. Ferchrissakes, either get on the goddamned train and bone her or stay off it and go home, ya mook! 🤮

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/109 "2023-03-14T11:19:09Z")

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> [@terentii](#):
>
> IIRC, Siskel and Ebert panned it. Was it better than _ **Neighbors** _?

Siskel gave it 2 1/2 stars and Ebert, get this, gave it 3 out of 4 stars. Not hugely raving, but both thought it was OK. Ebert gave it “thumbs up” on his show.

Here is Roger’s review from 1983. I disagree with him. It’s a snoozefest, mainly.

> **[Doctor Detroit movie review & film summary (1983) | Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/doctor-detroit-1983)**
>
> There is a sense in which "Doctor Detroit" could be a Jerry Lewis movie. It begins with the portrait of an eccentric, mild-mannered mope who leads a life of quiet desperation. Enter a mob of colorful Chicago criminals, who change the mope's life...

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**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/110 "2023-03-14T19:04:44Z")

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> [@teelabrown](#):
>
> When I was a kid, my dad used to sing a song that went “We’re all going down to Santa Fe town to join the big fiesta, we’re all going down to Santa Fe town to join the big fiesta! Perka deedle di do 1, 2, 3, Perka deedle di do 1, 2, 3.”

That’s odd, my dad used to say he remembered the same song from a cartoon he only saw one time, and he could sing it too. Must have affected (infected?) a lot of moviegoers.

Years later, the clip with that song was used on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, so that solved the mystery.

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**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/111 "2023-03-14T19:16:37Z")

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> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> That’s odd, my dad used to say he remembered the same song from a cartoon he only saw one time, and he could sing it too. Must have affected (infected?) a lot of moviegoers.

I believe the song was one that was popular for a time in the 1930s, perhaps from the radio. This old cartoon used that song but altered it a little. I did once find the lyrics online, but that website has since disappeared and I can’t find it again. A clip was on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, huh? Bizarre.

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**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/112 "2023-03-14T19:36:28Z")

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I found the original (probably)!

A scratchy 78 by the Westerners. I don’t think they sing “1-2-3”, sounds more like “one tweet tweet”, which is how my dad sang it. Who can say what it means?

Be sure to listen to the end - you hear that line sung in a froggy voice, just like in the cartoon.

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/113 "2023-03-14T21:23:48Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> My friends in college had a VHS tape that contained a trailer for a movie called **“Doctor Detroit”** starring Dan Ackroyd.

I was just thinking the other day, now that they’ve actually made _History of the World, Part II_, maybe the time is finally ripe for _The Return of Mom_.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/114 "2023-03-14T21:36:55Z")

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> [@Miller](#):
>
> I was just thinking the other day, now that they’ve actually made _History of the World, Part II_, maybe the time is finally ripe for _The Return of Mom_.

No, please, no! Much like it did in its original release, Doctor Detroit left almost no impact on me.

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**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/115 "2023-03-14T22:06:52Z")

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When I was young, I very much wanted to see the movie-version of _The Quatermass Experiment_, [US title _The Creeping Unknown_] and wasn’t allowed to, on the grounds that it was ‘unsuitable’.  
Many years later, I did catch it, and it was no better than ‘meeah’. The star, Brian Donlevy, his career by then on the slide due to alcoholism, was imposed on the production in an effort to sell it to the American market. Nigel Kneale, who wrote the BBC original series, hated his performance.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/116 "2023-03-14T22:13:12Z")

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Was there an Allen Quatermain movie where Quatermain wears a metal sheet under his shirt and it serves as sort of a “spear proof” vest that he uses at least once in the movie to deflect a spear thrown at him?

I thought I saw it as a kid, but it might even been made for TV.

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**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/117 "2023-03-14T23:28:24Z")

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> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> I found the original (probably)!

Damn if you didn’t. My dad was a major western fan, and liked cowboy music too. He must have heard this song I’m sure.

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