TRIVIA
Carel Struycken, the man who played THE
BRUTE, Mr. Mustard's sidekick, is in "MEN IN BLACK." He played
the Arquillan that Edgar killed in the restaurant and Agents J
& K were examining at the morgue.
Heartland USA is actually the Courthouse Square at Universal
Studios in Hollywood. Watch "GREMLINS," "BACK TO THE FUTURE,"
or "ESCAPE FROM L.A." to compare Heartland City Hall to Hill
Valley Courthouse (among others).
The "Because"/Father Sun sequence runs differently on video
than it does on television. The scene itself is the same, but
the vocals are straight from the soundtrack, where all the
voices blend, rather than Alice's standing out so much.
Paul Nicholas, the greedy Dougie Shears, recorded a disco LP on
RSO Records. He had a moderate hit with "Heaven on the Seventh
Floor."
Donald Pleasence's character is called B. D. Hoffler in the
movie, but is referred to as B. D. Brockhurst most every place
else, including the credits.
Of the nearly 30 songs on the soundtrack, only three charted in
the Top 40, and of those three, only one involved the Bee Gees
at all. Earth Wind & Fire were the big winners, hitting #9
with "Got to Get You Into My Life." Robin Gibb's "Oh! Darling"
peaked at #15, which (surprisingly) surpassed Aerosmith's #23
showing with "Come Together."
KISS was originally wanted for the Future Villain Band, but
they were afraid it would hurt their image. They declined, and
Aerosmith took their place instead. KISS went on to that
blockbuster (*wink*) "KISS Meets the Phanton of the
Park."
After appearing in the film, Aerosmith had a major career
drought and never touched the Top 40 again until 1987, a decade
later. This cannot be completely blamed on the movie, though
(see KISS above). By Aerosmith's own admission, their downward
spiral came about from their drug habits spinning out of
control. Perhaps this had something to do with their
involvement in the film to begin with. I mean, really, what
self-respecting hard rock band willingly volunteers to a duel
to the death versus the Bee Gees? Read more about this in their
book "
Walk
This Way."
Frankie Howerd (Mr. Mustard) appeared in a scene from the
Beatles' "Help!" that ended up on the cutting room floor.
Steve Martin made his film debut with this movie, though in
interviews, he refers to "The Jerk" as his first film. "...I
was born a poor black child..."