Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | |
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| Directed by | Steve Barron |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Simon Fields Kim Dawson David Chan Co-Producer: Graham Cottle Executive Producer: Raymond Chow |
| Written by | Comic Book: Kevin Eastman Peter Laird Story: Bobby Herbeck Screenplay: Todd W. Langen Bobby Herbeck |
| Starring | Judith Hoag Elias Koteas |
| Music by | John Du Prez |
| Cinematography | John Fenner |
| Editing by | William D. Gordean Sally Menke James R. Symons |
| Studio | Golden Harvest |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | United States: March 30, 1990 Hong Kong: April, 1990 Japan: March, 1991 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country | United States Hong Kong Japan |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13,500,000[1] |
| Gross revenue | $201,965,915 |
| Followed by | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the 1990 live-action film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The film was followed by three sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in 1991, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993, and TMNT in 2007. This film presents the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles, the initial meeting between them, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, and their first confrontation with Shredder and his Foot Clan. The film's core plot closely follows that of the first published TMNT stories, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, 10-11 as well as the Return To New York storyline (#19-21).[citation needed] This film is Distributed by: New Line Cinema. Outside the United States, it is internationally distributed by 20th Century Fox.
When the NYPD is unable to stop a severe crime wave caused by the Foot Clan, four new vigilantes, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, come forth to save the city. Under the leadership of Splinter and together with their new-found allies April O'Neil and Casey Jones, they fight back and take the battle to Shredder.
The film kept very close to the dark feel of the original comics with only a few elements making it in from the animated series that was airing at the time, such as April being a news reporter (though in the movie she's a Channel 3 reporter, while in the cartoon she's a Channel 6 reporter), and the turtles having different-colored masks (in the original comic, images in color showed all the masks as being red). The film received positive reviews, was the highest-grossing independent film of all time when it was released, was a huge hit at the box office, and became the fifth highest grossing film worldwide of 1990 and the most successful TMNT film.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins as April O'Neil, an investigative reporter at Channel 3 Eyewitness News, is researching a story on a recent, immense crime wave in New York City. She is later rescued by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from a group of street thieves. As the Turtles are celebrating their victory, an ex-hockey player called Casey Jones, having become a vigilante so as to combat the crime wave, is shown beating two thieves with his sports equipment and arguing with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Raphael over the proper way to punish criminals. The crime wave is traced by April to the Foot Clan; when she makes them uncomfortable, the Foot Ninjas attack her and knock her unconscious, whereupon Raphael rescues her - not noticing that one Foot soldier follows him through the sewer system.
As the Turtles escort April back to her apartment, where they remain for some hours, the Foot raid the Turtles' lair and kidnap Splinter. They carry him back to their headquarters, where their master Shredder is forming an army of corrupted, ninja-trained teenagers to build himself an empire of crime. One of those teenagers is Danny Pennington, the son of April's boss; having seen the Turtles at her apartment, he tells Shredder where to find them. The Foot therefore launch a surprise attack on April's apartment. Caught off-guard and outnumbered, April, the Turtles, and Casey (who had intervened when he saw Raphael in danger) are forced to escape to April's childhood home in a rural farmstead. Raphael is rendered unconscious during the battle and does not wake from his coma for several days, during which his brothers and their friends use diverse methods to recover from their losses.
After Raphael's recovery from his coma, the Turtles refine their ninja skills in anticipation of their return to the city. When their sense of purpose is renewed by a telepathic encounter with Splinter, they return to New York and fight the Foot while Casey and a repentant Danny rescue Splinter from the Foot Clan's lair. The Turtles take the battle to the sewers, to the streets, and ultimately the rooftops, where they meet the Shredder. The Shredder proves to be an enemy of skill outstripping their own. During the fight, Shredder claims that Master Splinter is dead, and Leo attacks him in anger. Unfortunately, Shredder pins Leo down and holds his spear at Leo's throat. he orders the other three turtles to drop their weapons or Leonardo dies. To save their brother's life, the turtles obey, but Shredder attempts to kill him anyway. However, his victory is forestalled when Splinter unexpectedly arrives.
Splinter then reveals that the Shredder is in fact one Oroku Saki, the man who killed Splinter's beloved master Hamato Yoshi. The Shredder is then reminded of a much-resented scar inflicted on him by Splinter. When the Shredder tries to impale him, Splinter calmly uses Michaelangelo's nunchaku to grab his attacker's spear and flip Shredder over the side of the building. As he hangs, the Shredder makes a last desperate attempt to kill his opponent; this causes Splinter to release the grip of the other side of the nunchaku, allowing Shredder to fall off of the roof of the building and into a garbage truck. Casey then activates the truck's crushing mechanism, whereupon Shredder is apparently crushed to death.
The trainees of the Foot Clan confess all of their involvement to the New York Police Department, while April asks Casey for a kiss, which he gives wholeheartedly. The film concludes with Partners In Kryme's track "Turtle Power" and the Turtles celebrating their victory over the Foot Clan. Splinter, to summarize their emotions, contributes the word "Cowabunga" (a favorite slogan in later films), to which he proclaims "I made a funny! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!".
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Judith Hoag | April O'Neil |
| Elias Koteas | Casey Jones |
| Michelan Sisti | Michelangelo |
| Lief Tilden | Donatello |
| Josh Pais | Raphael |
| David Forman | Leonardo |
| Michael Turney | Danny Pennington |
| Jay Patterson | Charles Pennington |
| Raymond Serra | Chief Sterns |
| James Saito | The Shredder |
| Toshishiro Obata | Master Tatsu |
| Sam Rockwell | Head Thug |
| Kitty Fitzgibbon | June |
| Louis Cantarini | Cab Driver |
| Joe D'Onofrio | Movie Hoodlum #1 |
Also, all four actors who played the turtles also appeared in cameos as minor characters, with Sisti (Michelangelo) as a pizza delivery man, Pais (Raphael) as a passenger in a taxi, Tilden (Donatello) as a messenger of The Foot, and Foreman (Leonardo) as a gang member.
[edit] Voice cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Corey Feldman | Donatello |
| Brian Tochi | Leonardo |
| Robbie Rist | Michelangelo |
| Josh Pais | Raphael |
| Kevin Clash | Splinter |
| David McCharen | Shredder |
| Michael McConnohie | Master Tatsu |
[edit] Reception
The film was well received by fans, and did exceedingly well at the box office. Reviews were for the most part positive. However, Roger Ebert gave it only 2 and a half stars, saying, "But this movie is nowhere near as bad as it might have been, and probably is the best possible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. It supplies, in other words, more or less what Turtle fans will expect."[2] The film was also somewhat looked down upon for its level of violence, but it was mostly stylized and not graphic.[2] The film was praised for the most part staying very loyal to the original comics, and not integrating too many elements from the cartoon series. Despite getting "two thumbs down" on the television show Siskel & Ebert and a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes[3], the film remains a favorite among Ninja Turtles fans.
The film opened at the box office in North America on March 30, 1990. It opened at #1 over the weekend, taking in more than $25 million.[4] The film turned out to be a huge success at the box office, eventually making over $135 million in North America, and over $66 million outside North America for a worldwide total of over $200 million, making it the fifth highest grossing film of 1990 worldwide.[1] The film was also nominated for Best Costumes and Best Fantasy Film at the 1991 Saturn Awards, as well as the Most Entertaining Family Youth Motion Picture - Drama at the Young Artist Awards.[5]
[edit] Legacy
Following the huge success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the box office, several sequels were created. Only a year later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres, and in 1993 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released in theatres. The sequels made less money and were less well-received than the first film. After a 14 year absence from the theatres (due to development hell), a fourth film was released in 2007, though unlike the first three, this was a CGI animated film.
[edit] Production
Filming took place from July to September 1989.[6] The film's budget was $13.5 million.[1] A lot of the production took place in North Carolina, at the North Carolina Film Studios, where New York rooftop sets were created. Production designer Roy Forge Smith and his art director, Gary Wissner, went to New York City four months prior to filming and took still photographs of rooftops and other various locations. While in NYC, Smith and Rissner were allowed to explore an abandoned Brooklyn subway line, as they could not gain access to a city sewer, but the structure of the subway had the same principle as a sewer. They also went to a water tunnel which had large pipes running through it.[7]
After design sketches were created, the construction team used the studios' backlot to create some of the sets. There were problems with the manholes that led to the Turtles' home, in that an eight-foot square room had to be constructed beneath them, but found water at about five-feet, and thus had to pour concrete into the underground rooms to keep the water out. In order to make the sewer authentic, a tide-mark was given, and it was covered with brick, plaster and stucco paint to give the walls a realistic look. The Turtles themselves were done by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London. Jim Henson said that the creatures were the most advanced that he had ever worked with. The creatures were first made out of clay, which were then rebuilt out of fiberglass. They were produced as moulds to cast the whole body in foam rubber latex. Work was then done on mechanizing the fiberglass. The work at the Shop was completed within 18 weeks.[7]
[edit] DVD
The film was released to DVD in Region 1 on September 3, 2002; it includes only minor special features such as a trailer and interactive menus. The film was also released in the MiniDVD format.
On August 4, 2009, the film will be included in a special 25th-anniversary boxset, released to both DVD and Blu-Ray formats. It will also contain Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and 2007's animated release, TMNT. As of April 30, 2009, no new special features have been announced as of yet.
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)/title=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2005)". Boxofficemojo.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=teenagemutantninjaturtles.htm. Retrieved on 24 September 2006.
- ^ a b "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". rogerebert.suntimes.com. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19900330/REVIEWS/3300302/1023. Retrieved on 24 September 2006.
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- ^ "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) - Weekend Box Office". boxofficemojo.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=teenagemutantninjaturtles.htm. Retrieved on 24 September 2006.
- ^ "Awards for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100758/awards. Retrieved on 27 September 2006.
- ^ "Business Data for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100758/business. Retrieved on 24 September 2006.
- ^ a b "TMNT I". ninjaturtles.com. http://www.ninjaturtles.com/movies/movie1.htm. Retrieved on 24 September 2006.
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
[edit] External links
- TMNT I on the Official Ninja Turtles website.
- TMNT I at the Internet Movie Database
- TMNT I at Rotten Tomatoes.
- TMNT movie soundtrack information at the Official Ninja Turtles website.
- Interview with Robbie Rist "Michelangelo"
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Allmovie
| Preceded by Pretty Woman |
Box office number-one films of 1990 (USA) April 1, 1990 – April 22, 1990 |
Succeeded by Pretty Woman |
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