Fletch (film)

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Fletch
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Michael Ritchie
Produced by	Peter Douglas Alan Greisman
Written by	Gregory Mcdonald (novel) Andrew Bergman (screenplay)
Narrated by	Chevy Chase
Starring	Chevy Chase Tim Matheson Joe Don Baker Dana Wheeler-Nicholson
Music by	Harold Faltermeyer
Cinematography	Fred Schuler
Editing by	Richard A. Harris
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	May 31, 1985
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Followed by	Fletch Lives (1989)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Fletch is a 1985 comedy film about a wisecracking investigative newspaper reporter, Irwin Fletcher (Chevy Chase), who writes under the name of Jane Doe. The film was based on the popular Gregory Mcdonald novels and the screenplay was written by Andrew Bergman. The film was directed by Michael Ritchie and released by Universal Pictures in 1985. It was one of three films Chevy Chase starred in that year, alongside Spies Like Us and National Lampoon's European Vacation, which together garnered over $155 million at the box office.^[1]

The film has since developed a cult following and was followed by a 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives. A prequel, Fletch Won, is currently in pre-production.

1 Plot
2 Cast and characters
3 Production
4 Soundtrack
- 4.1 Track listing
5 Reception
- 5.1 Legacy
- 5.2 DVD
6 Sequel and prequel
- 6.1 Prequel history
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

The film opens with one of Fletch's many, often humorous, monologues. The drug trade is Fletch's latest story, and while investigating undercover as a beach wanderer one day he is approached by a well-groomed man, Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson). Stanwyk says he wants Fletch to murder him because he has inoperable cancer; this way his family will receive his life insurance. Unaware that Fletch is actually an undercover reporter, Stanwyk thinks he would be the perfect man for the job, as he is a recluse and can just disappear after the shooting. Fletch agrees to kill Stanwyk when offered a considerable sum of money, but is suspicious of Stanwyk's motives. Fletch starts to dig and uncovers a story much greater than his exposé of small-time drug dealers. As he uncovers the lurid truth about Stanwyk, he also discovers that a sinister police chief (Joe Don Baker) is behind the drug trafficking on Los Angeles' beaches.

[edit] Cast and characters

Chevy Chase as Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher
Joe Don Baker as Chief Jerry Karlin
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Gail Stanwyk
Richard Libertini as Frank Walker
Tim Matheson as Alan Stanwyk
M. Emmet Walsh as Dr. Joseph Dolan
George Wendt as Fat Sam
Kenneth Mars as Stanton Boyd
Geena Davis as Larry
George Wyner as Marvin Gillet

[edit] Production

Gregory Mcdonald's novel was very successful and soon Hollywood came calling. His Fletch books were optioned around the mid to late 1970s but the author had the option of approving the actor cast to play Fletch. He rejected the likes of Burt Reynolds and Mick Jagger. When the studio mentioned Chevy Chase as Fletch, Mcdonald (even though he had never really seen Chase in anything) agreed.^{[citation needed]}

Andrew Bergman was hired to adapt Mcdonald's book into screenplay form. Bergman remembers that he wrote the screenplay "very fast – I did the first draft in four weeks...Then there was a certain amount of improv, and something that we used to call dial-a-joke."^[2]

Mcdonald read the script and was angry by how far it strayed from his book. He wrote to the studio and listed his many objections to the screenplay. Director Michael Ritchie invited Mcdonald to the set of the film and took him out to dinner where, according to Mcdonald, "Point by point, he showed me where I was wrong. I was beautifully chewed out."^[3]

Chase enjoyed the role because it allowed him to play a wide variety of different characters. He said in an interview, "I love props, like wigs and buck-teeth and glasses. At one point I wear an Afro and play basketball with Kareem Abdul Jabar. There were some scenes where I didn't recognize myself."^[4]

[edit] Soundtrack

Fletch (Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Soundtrack by Various artists
Released	1985
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	36:13
Label	MCA
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

[edit] Track listing

Stephanie Mills - "Bit by Bit (Theme from Fletch)" 3:38
Dan Hartman - "Fletch, Get Outta Town" 4:11
John Farnham - "Running for Love" 2:54
Dan Hartman - "Name of the Game" 6:02
Harold Faltermeyer - "Fletch Theme" 3:48
The Fixx - A Letter to Both Sides 3:20
Kim Wilde - "Is It Over" 3:52
Harold Faltermeyer - "Diggin' In" 2:44
Harold Faltermeyer - "Exotic Skates" 3:00
Harold Faltermeyer - "Running for Love" [instrumental] 2:44

[edit] Reception

Vincent Canby in his review for the New York Times praised Chase's performance, writing, "He manages simultaneously to act the material with a good deal of nonchalance and to float above it, as if he wanted us to know that he knows that the whole enterprise is somewhat less than transcendental."^[5]

[edit] Legacy

Fletch has become a cult film. In an interview for the New York Post, Bergman tries to explain its appeal. “It’s so bizarre, but Fletch strikes a chord. There’s a group of movies like that in the ‘80s, like Caddyshack, too, that captured a certain wise-ass thing.”^[2] In particular, the film appeals to college students who have asked Chase to talk about it at film classes.^[2] The actor has said that the appeal of the character is "the cheekiness of the guy...everybody at that age would like to be as quick-witted as Fletch, and as uncaring about what others think."^[2] Chase has said that this film is his favorite to date because "it allowed me to be myself. Fletch was the first one with me really winging it. Even though there was a script, the director allowed me to just go, and in many ways, I was directing the comedy."^[6] Perhaps the most meaningful praise comes from Mcdonald himself: "I watched it recently, and I think Chevy and Michael Ritchie did a good job with it."^[7]

In the animated film Hoodwinked!, Wolf W. Wolf is based directly on Fletch, according to the directors.^[8] Wolf's theme music, disguises, pseudonyms and verbal patois all resemble Chase's interpretation of Fletch. He also wears Fletch's favorite Magic Johnson #32 Los Angeles Lakers jersey.

[edit] DVD

Fletch was originally released on DVD in 1998, but this release quickly went out of print. Universal Home Video re-released a special edition of Fletch - the "Jane Doe" Edition on May 1, 2007. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track and includes a retrospective featurettes, "Just Charge It to the Underhills: Making and Remembering Fletch," "From John Coctoastan To Harry S. Truman: The Disguises" and "Favorite Fletch Moments."^[9]

Additionally, the film is also the last to be released by Universal on the HD DVD format, due out on 11 March 2008.

[edit] Sequel and prequel

The film was followed by a 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives. A prequel, Fletch Won (based upon the novel of the same name) is currently in pre-production.

[edit] Prequel history

A follow-up to Fletch Lives had been discussed in the 90s at Universal Studios. During his association with Universal after the production of Mallrats, Kevin Smith expressed interest in doing a third "Fletch" film as a sequel starring Chevy Chase but it never came to fruition. In June 2000, it was announced that Kevin Smith was set to write and direct a Fletch film at Miramax Films, after the rights to the books, which Universal Studios had owned, reverted.^[10] At the time, Miramax co-head Harvey Weinstein, expressed the hope that a new Fletch series would be "Miramax Films' first-ever franchise."

After a disagreement between Chase and Smith in regard to differing levels of priority for the sequel project, Smith settled on adapting Fletch Won, which follows Fletch in his early years as newspaper junior reporter. Smith intended to follow the novel's plot and characters much more closely than earlier Fletch films had. Filming the prequel/origin story would have allowed Smith to make the movie without Chase while still leaving the door open for him to appear in a cameo role in framing scenes and/or as narrator. Around this time, Smith mentioned Jason Lee and Ben Affleck as possible choices to play Fletch.^[11]

In August 2003, it was reported that the film was set to start shooting in January, with Smith still at the helm. Though Smith insisted on casting Lee in the lead role, Miramax head Harvey Weinstein refused to take a chance on Lee, citing the general inability of his films to gross more than $30 million at the box office. The role of Fletch remained uncast, with Smith considering a list of actors including Affleck, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Jimmy Fallon.^[11] Though Smith considered compromising and casting Zach Braff in the role, he eventually left the project in October 2005.

Smith was replaced as writer/director by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, in what would have been his directorial debut. He had enthused, "Not only can I recite the original Fletch movie line for line, I actually read all the Greg McDonald books as a kid. Consider me obsessed — I'm going to try as hard as I can not to screw this up."^[12] Lawrence was signed to direct both Fletch Won and a sequel.^[12] Scrubs star Zach Braff was rumored to be in talks for the lead role,^[12] and in January 2007, Braff posted on his web site that "Bill Lawrence is writing and directing Fletch in the spring and he wants me to play young Fletch, but no firm plans are in place yet. He is still writing the script."^[13] In April 2007, Braff announced that he had dropped out of the film to work on his own film, Open Hearts.^[14] In June of 2007 it was announced that Lawrence was off the project and had been replaced by Steve Pink. Joshua Jackson is rumoured to be the new Fletch.