VHS SPECIAL: PRETTY WOMAN

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VHS SPECIAL: PRETTY WOMAN & THE SCREENPLAY "THREE THOUSAND"
Ken and Jack dust off the VHS player for another trip back in time where you have to rewind.
PRETTY WOMAN. 1990 was a perfect era for VHS. The film transfers were all pristine so we no longer have the grainy, crappy transfers that marked so many classics from the 1970s (three of which, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, FAT CITY, & SCARECROW, were lovingly covered in our first three VHS episodes).
The most popular romantic comedy of all time and the film that supernova'd Julia Roberts from little known supporting actress to one of the biggest stars in the world, Pretty woman began life as a gritty drama entitled THREE THOUSAND, by JF Lawton (Under Siege). The script went on to be a strong calling card for Lawton's writing and went through a few production companies wanting to make it before landing at Touchstone, the grown-up arm of Disney at the time. Jeffrey Katzneberg saw the dark, economic reality-embracing script as a warm, romantic fable and work began to turn Lawton's script into just that. Again, this is a movie made by Disney about a prostitute and a corporate raider falling in love directed by the creator of Happy Days and Mork & Mindy. And it's a comedy. And it made almost half a billion dollars at the box office - well over a BILLION adjusted for inflation. WHAT? Could this be made today? Could it have been made in 1985 or even 1995? The mind reels at how strangely this project came together and how thin the line is in filmmaking between creative and financial disaster and timeless classic.
How they did it and what actually changed is one of the most instructive bits of Hollywood tinkering and magic as you will ever hear. Ken read the original script and goes into some detail at what changed and, remarkably, what didn't.
VHS is a special medium. Sometimes the grain or noise and the hum of the machine is like time travel in 2023. Pretty Woman is a classic for a lot of reasons and seeing it the way home viewers did 30 years ago proves a rare treat for our hosts.
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
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Ken: Ken Koral
Jack: jackk1096