Year of the Comet (1992)
Year of the Comet (1992), directed by Peter Yates.
Not to be confused with Night of the Comet (1984).
Inventorying a wine collection at a remote Scottish castle, a professional oenophile and a corporate trouble-shooter get mixed up with a dapper French villain who is pursuing some sort of secret formula for which he will torture and kill. Result: romantic comedy wisecracking and old-school boat, helicopter and motorcycle action from Loch Ness to the Riviera.
Directed by the experienced Peter Yates (Bullitt (1968), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), Krull (1983)) and written by the great William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Marathon Man (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Princess Bride (1987), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)), photographed by Roger Pratt (Brazil (1985), Mona Lisa (1986), The End of the Affair (1999)) and filmed in lovely locations in Scotland and France...
...it was a total flop, a box office disaster that has since hit 0% at Rotten Tomatoes almost without anyone noticing it ever existed.
This was Goldman's project. He has a short sorrowful chapter on it in Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade where he admits that it was not some sort of near miss that fell just short: "No, lads. I am talking about the whiff, the stiff, the stinker, the all-out f***ing fiasco".
Test audiences were walking out in the first minutes. He figured it was because few people shared his passion for red wine, so they shot a new opening where the hero says he also hates red wine. Audiences still hit the exits. Sometimes films only find their audiences after they've been out for a while, but when Goldman's daughter admitted she hadn't bothered to see it he understood it wasn't going to happen.
A study in film forensics: What went wrong, and what could have been done?
Leads Penelope Ann Miller and Tim Daly are likable enough, but lack the star power needed to drive the story. On the other hand if the film had been successful it might have made them stars.
Daly seems to be trying for a Selleck/Magnum character who appears bone-headed but is secretly very sharp. It needs more work.
A lot of the quips are stale. Maybe some script doctoring by fresh eyes would have helped. Wit isn't easy.
Goldman said he wanted Charade (1963). Is it possible the director and stars were just unfamiliar with the action-and-battling-lovers romantic comedy genre? (He also says Hollywood has lost billions trying to copy a writer's favorite movie).
What about some sort of opening hook, a Bond-like prelude to keep the audiences in their seats? The exciting (?) history of the rare bottle of wine, intertwined somehow with the quest for the secret formula? Mysteriously related at first, made clear later?
Despite gorgeous locations in Scotland and France, the film often has a sense of cheapness. Their helicopter is from Dollar Rent-a-Chopper (really, it has the big logo) which is realistic, but doesn't help the fantasy.
Sometimes the looped dialogue sounds like it is coming from a dead studio space.
Notes:
The ageless Louis Jordan is 70 here and seems to be having a blast as the witty villain. His last picture; he lived in retirement for another 23 years.
Art Malik, Nick Brimble and Ian McNeice are familiar faces in British TV and movies.
The French chiropractor is playing a country tune: "I Just Need a Pick-axe to Break Your Heart of Stone".
There really is folklore that bright comets make for good harvests, particularly of wine grapes for comet vintages.
The huge bottle of Napoleon's favorite red supposedly dated from the Great Comet of 1811.
Now, finally, a confession: about 20 years ago my wife and I adopted this one as the poor little bad film we like more than it deserves. We never saw it in the theater, just on VHS from the local mom & pop rental place. I don't think it ever had a proper North American DVD, so we imported a PAL DVD, and even that was cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.33, proof there really are people in the business who hate movies.
If I had to pick the least likely / no fan base / forgotten because it was never known title to receive a Blu-ray release, this would be it. And yet, it is now...
Available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time, their usual limited edition of 3000. Why this most boutique of specialty Blu-ray houses decided to commemorate the twilight of physical media with this obscure title: I don't know, but am grateful. Shocked, but grateful.
Subtitles and isolated score, but no other extras. TT regular Julie Kirgo provides a little booklet essay to to the effect of "don't worry, be happy, enjoy". What else can you say?
We gasp: look at wide image, all that movie we were missing! And the detail on those lovely tweeds and sweaters... It does seem like a different movie when you can see the whole thing, as intended. Not a good different movie, mind you.
