Separating the myths from the realities & sharing much more than you'd expect, we're happy to be the ultimate, trustworthy source for all things Ishtar. "I wanted to give you a present to thank you for the past"
When 3 powerhouse talents team up to make something special, unexpected results are bound happen. And time has spoken: Ishtar IS that something special.
...Paul Grusin, Laurence Juber (session player on the Rogers & Clarke songs), Paul Standig from the trio The Swing (playing 'You Took My Love' in The Song Mart scene)... we've got some * exclusive interviews * & more about them all!
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Two under-talented New York City songwriters desperate for fame take a gig in Morocco, only to find themselves caught in a cover up & a battle for a fabled map between the Emir of Ishtar, the CIA & a left-wing guerrilla group. |
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As chosen by our illustrious panel of devoted Chuck & Lyle lovers.
With song titles such as 'Portable Picnic', 'That A Lawnmower Can Do All That', 'Love In My Will', 'I Look To Mecca', 'How Big Am I?' & 'Wardrobe Of Love', it's like listening to a train wreck.
Stars in their own minds, they prove to be a hit in Morocco, too. However, once the applause dies away, the duo split up for the evening, each of them driven down their own paths of curiousity & thrills.
There are people who simply stumble aimlessly through life, managing to keep moving forward... somehow. Yet, you'd think all that drifting would bury them, sooner or later.
These scenes are the perfect precognitive warnings to watching the audition segments of any singing talent show on TV.
When there's a meeting of the minds, the final result depends both on the content of the meetings & the minds involved. Maybe more the latter than the former.
Hidden agendas, complex relationships, stooges following orders, the seats of power... you can practically hear the buttons being pushed.
It's practically impossible to warn people with overwhelming naivety about exactly how naive they are - some simply learn the hard way.
Even fictional history has shown time & time again that nothing puts everything into question more than the precise triggering of turmoil.
Does the big secret always get revealed? Do the good guys always win? Are Rogers & Clark really *that* bad???
Legends in their own time, Elaine May, Vittorio Storaro & Warren Beatty rightly earned the highest respect from other directors, cinematographers & actors worldwide.
DIRECTOR & WRITER
Other Films: As Director & Writer
- A New Leaf (1971) - also role as Henrietta Lowell (WGA nominee)
- The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
- Mikey & Nicky (1976)
IN HER WORDS:
'If all of the people who hate Ishtar had seen it, I would be a rich woman today.'
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Other Films:
'Apocalypse Now', 'Reds', 'The Last Emperor', 'Ladyhawke', 'Last Tango In Paris', 'Tucker', 'Dick Tracy', 'Frank Herbert's Dune (2000)', 'Bulworth', 'Exorcist: The Beginning'
PRODUCER / ACTOR
Other Films: As Director or Actor
'Reds', 'Bulworth', 'Dick Tracy', 'Heaven Can Wait', 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller', 'Bonnie & Clyde', 'Bugsy', 'Shampoo'
IN HIS WORDS:
'Ishtar is a very good, not very big, comedy, made by a brilliant woman. And I think it's funny.'
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
ROLE: Chuck Clarke
ALSO: Songwriter
DID YOU KNOW?:
• Named after one of his parents' favorite actors, "Dustin Farnum".
• In the Guinness Book of World Records for "Greatest Age Span Portrayed" in 'Little Big Man', playing a character from ages 17 to 121.
IN HIS WORDS:
'There's an underlying message to that movie... made it worth doing & I would do it again in a second.'
WARREN BEATTY
ROLE: Lyle Rogers
ALSO: Producer, songwriter
DID YOU KNOW?:
• His sister is Shirley MacLaine.
• By Late 2005, the only person to twice earn Oscar nominations for actor / director / writer / producer.
IN HIS WORDS:
'There was almost no review that didn't in the first paragraph deal with the cost of the movie. That was an eye-opener - about the business, & the relationship of the entertainment press to business. Ishtar is a very good, not very big, comedy, made by a brilliant woman. And I think it's funny.'
ISABELLE ADJANI
ROLE: Shirra Assel
DID YOU KNOW?:
• Considered a career in psychology before acting.
• Has made another name for herself as a singer.
• Shares same birth date (June 27th) with Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) & Helen Keller (author/educator for the blind).
CHARLES GRODIN
ROLE: Jim Harrison
DID YOU KNOW?:
• Starred in Elaine May's 1972 flick, 'The Heartbreak Kid'.
• Charles is a published author & former TV talk show host.
IN HIS WORDS:
'I like the movie very much. In my opinion it's quite a real observation of something that most people don't know about - this sort of underworld of comedy & music.'
JACK WESTON
ROLE: Marty Freed
DID YOU KNOW?:
• Married to actress Marge Redmond.
• He often performed with the USO during World War Two.
AHARON IPALE
ROLE: Emir Yousef
DID YOU KNOW?:
Actor
'Fiddler On The Roof', 'Moses', 'The Mummy', 'The Mummy Returns', 'Invisible: The Chronicles Of Benjamin Knight'
CAROL KANE
ROLE: Carol
DID YOU KNOW?:
• Landed her first stage role at 14, as Jenny in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'.
• Won two Emmys for her part as Simka Dahblitz on TV's 'TAXI'.
• She writes poetry.
FIJAD HAGEB
ROLE: Abdul
DID YOU KNOW?:
• Later appeared on Broadway, but bailed out of the production for family reasons & wound up becoming the Vice President of a $30 billion dollar investment management company.
PAUL WILLIAMS
Oscar, Grammy & Golden Globe winning songwriter, film composer, actor & humanitarian.
ITM.COM: What motivated you the most to write & perform?
PAULWILLIAMS: I started out acting &
couldn't make a living at it. I started writing
for my own amusement. Picked up a...
CLICK FOR FULL INTERVIEW
May 31st, 2009
LAURENCE JUBER
An accomplished & well respected L.A. musician, Laurence performed guitar on songs in Ishtar's soundtrack.
ITM.COM: What exactly was your involvement with any Ishtar recordings?
LAURENCE JUBER: I played on the songs
that Paul Williams wrote & recorded - the
'Uber' Ishtar album. I think the intention...
CLICK FOR FULL INTERVIEW
February 20th, 2007
PAUL STANDIG
An interview with Paul Standig from 'The Swing', the trio performing 'You Took My Love' during The Song Mart scene.
ITM.COM: When & where was the band formed?
PAUL STANDIG: The band was formed in
1981 in Forest Hills Queens, New York. The
Swing started out as a five piece and...
CLICK FOR FULL INTERVIEW
July 18th, 2013
Clips from the movie & the rare 45s that Capitol Records pulled off the market.
| • In one of Gary Larson's much-loved 'The Far Side' comic panels, captioned "Hell's Video Store", an entire store is stocked with nothing but copies of the movie Ishtar. Larson later apologized in one of his printed anthologies, closing his statement with "There are so many cartoons for which I should probably write an apology, but this is the only one which compels me to do so." |
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