Young Lust (film)

Young Lust
Directed byGary Weis
Written byBruce Wagner
Robin Menken
Produced byRobert Stigwood
George Van Noy
StarringFran Drescher
Mews Small
CinematographyCharles Rosher Jr.
Edited byJames Coblentz
Music byPatrick Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount
Release date
  • 27th April 1984 (27th April 1984)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Young Lust is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Gary Weis and starring Fran Drescher, Mews Small and Dana Carvey. It was co-financed by Paramount, who picked up the production from Robert Stigwood's RSO Films.

It was an early script by Bruce Wagner, co-written with Robin Menken. The film is a spoof of soap opera tropes with a large ensemble cast.[1]

It was test screened in Las Vegas on 19 February 1982 [2] and subsequently given a brief theatrical release in Austin, Texas from 27 April to 11 May 1984.[3][4] Other than these screenings, the film has not been exhibited since, nor released on home video, cable television or streaming.

Plot

Cast

Production

The film was part of a slate of projects that Paramount rushed into production. In April 1982 the film was tentatively meant to come out in May.[5] In June 1982 Paramount said they had no plans to release it.[6]

A May 1983 article said the film "was such a mess that it has yet to be officially delivered to Paramount."[7]

Bruce Wagner later said "I think the director was having some problems at the time with the studio and it was never released. It was a protracted death because a year was spent editing it." Wagner says after a year he was approached to work on the movie for reshoots. "That was also the year where a lot of movies like Young Doctors in Love and raucous comedies like National Lampoon’s Vacation [were released] and this movie... was very transgressive. The fact that it was not made informed a lot of my future work in writing about failure and shame. I certainly would have written about those things anyway, but in terms of my Hollywood experience, my entrée was one of defeat rather than of triumph."[8]

Legacy

Wagner said "That experience formed a template of failure and humiliation that has been a mother lode for me. Those were aspects of career not personal anguish that I drew from."[9]

Director Gary Weis never directed another feature, going on to helm music videos such as Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al, as well as the Chris Elliot comedy short Action Family. Weis subsequently went on to a successful career in television commercials.

References

  1. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (12 August 1996). "Novelist Knows Hollywood's Bleak Houses". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Las Vegas Review Journal 19 Feb 1982: 6F
  3. ^ Austin American Statesman 27 Apr 1984
  4. ^ Austin American Statesman 11th May 1984
  5. ^ Film Notes BY GARY ARNOLD The Washington Post 30 Apr 1982: W15.
  6. ^ 'Toy' cast clears air about city's pollution Beck, Marilyn. Chicago Tribune 26 June 1982: 11.
  7. ^ Harmetz, Aljean (23 May 1983). "How Paramount 'Seven' Fared at the Box Office". The New York Times. p. C13.
  8. ^ Saito, Stephen (February 27, 2015). "Interview: Bruce Wagner Charts "Maps to the Stars"". The Moveable Feast.
  9. ^ Feld, Rob (March 20, 2015). "The Faults of Our Stars". Writers Guild of America West.