The Muppet Movie

For the 2011 film, see The Muppets (film).

The Muppet Movie
Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan
Directed by	James Frawley
Produced by	Jim Henson David Lazer Sir Lew Grade Martin Starger
Written by	Jack Burns Jerry Juhl
Starring	Jim Henson Frank Oz Jerry Nelson Richard Hunt Dave Goelz Charles Durning Austin Pendleton
Music by	Paul Williams Kenny Ascher
Cinematography	Isidore Mankofsky
Editing by	Christopher Greenbury
Studio	Henson Associates Associated Film Distribution ITC Entertainment Children's Television Workshop
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	May 31, 1979 (1979-05-31)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$76,657,000

The Muppet Movie is the first of a series of live-action musical feature films starring Jim Henson's Muppets. Released in 1979, the film was produced by Henson Associates, and ITC Entertainment. It was released in between the third and fourth seasons of The Muppet Show.

The film is dedicated to Edgar Bergen who died during production.

Plot

Kermit enjoys a relaxing afternoon in a Florida swamp, singing "Rainbow Connection" and strumming his banjo, when he is approached by an agent who encourages Kermit to pursue a career in show business. Inspired by the idea of "making millions of people happy," Kermit sets off on a cross-country trip to Hollywood, but is soon pursued by the villainous Doc Hopper and his shy assistant Max in an attempt to convince Kermit to be the new spokesman of his struggling French-fried frog legs restaurant franchise. As Kermit continues to spurn Doc's advances throughout his journey, Hopper resorts to increasingly threatening means of persuasion.

Kermit promptly meets Fozzie Bear, who had been working as a hapless stand-up comedian in a sleazy bar. Kermit invites Fozzie to accompany him, and the two set out in Fozzie’s Studebaker. The couple’s journey includes misadventures which introduce them to a variety of eccentric human and Muppet characters, including Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem and their manager Scooter (who receive a copy of the script from the pair), Gonzo and Camilla the Chicken, and the immediately love stricken Miss Piggy.

Kermit and Miss Piggy begin a relationship, which is exploited when Doc Hopper and Max kidnap Miss Piggy to lure Kermit into a trap. Using an electronic cerebrectomy device, a mad scientist (Mel Brooks) nearly brainwashes Kermit to perform in Doc’s commercials until Miss Piggy, insulted by the scientist, breaks free in a rage and defeats Doc Hopper's henchmen.

Warned by Max that Doc Hopper has hired an assassin to kill Kermit, Kermit decides he will not be hunted by a bully any longer and attempts a Western-style showdown in a nearby ghost town inhabited by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker. Kermit breaks tradition by attempting to appeal to Hopper’s own hopes and dreams, but Hopper is unmoved and orders his henchmen to kill him and all his friends. They are saved only when one of Dr. Bunsen's inventions, "insta-grow" pills, temporarily turns Animal into a giant, scaring off Hopper and his men.

The Muppets proceed to Hollywood, and are hired by producer and studio executive Lew Lord (a reference to Lord Lew Grade, who green lighted The Muppet Show). The Muppets attempt to make their first movie; a surreal pastiche of their experiences. The film ends as the Muppets, as well as characters from Sesame Street and "The Land of Gorch" segment of Saturday Night Live, sing "Rainbow Connection"

Cast

• Charles Durning as Doc Hopper
• Austin Pendleton as Max
• Scott Walker as Snake Walker
• Mel Brooks as Professor Max Krassman
• Lawrence Gabriel, Jr. as a sailor
• Ira F. Grubman as a bartender
• H.B. Haggerty as a lumberjack
• Bruce Kirby as a gate guard
• Tommy Madden as One-Eyed Midget
• Arnold Roberts as a cowboy

Cameo guest stars

• Edgar Bergen as Himself and the voice of Charlie McCarthy
• Milton Berle as Mad Man Mooney
• James Coburn as the owner of El Sleezo Cafe
• Dom DeLuise as Bernie the Agent
• James Frawley (Director) as the greasy waiter at El Sleezo Cafe
• Elliott Gould as a Beauty Contest Compere
• Bob Hope as an Ice Cream vendor
• Madeline Kahn as a patron at El Sleezo
• Carol Kane as Myth
• Cloris Leachman as Lord's Secretary
• Steve Martin as an insolent waiter
• Richard Pryor as Balloon Vendor
• Telly Savalas as El Sleezo Tough
• Orson Welles as Lew Lord, possibly modeled on Lew Grade
• Paul Williams as the pianist at El Sleezo

Muppet performers

• Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Waldorf, Swedish Chef
• Frank Oz as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam the Eagle
• Jerry Nelson as Floyd Pepper, Crazy Harry, Robin the Frog, Lew Zealand, Camilla the Chicken
• Richard Hunt as Scooter, Statler, Janice, Sweetums, and Beaker
• Dave Goelz as Gonzo the Great, Zoot and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
• Caroll Spinney as Big Bird
• John Landis as Grover (uncredited)

Production

Austin Pendleton, who played Max in The Muppet Movie, recalled that the film was shot on "a very unhappy set, because Jim [Frawley] was very unhappy directing that movie. And I noticed that was the only time the Muppet people used an outside person to direct a Muppet movie. They never did that again. After that, it was either Jim Henson or Frank Oz. And I would have liked to have been in one of those, because those sets were very harmonious. But this was not."[1]

Style

The Muppet Movie uses meta-references as a source of humor, as characters occasionally break the fourth wall to address the audience or comment on their real-life circumstances:

Fozzie: [to Big Bird] "Hey, there! Wanna lift?"

Big Bird: "Oh, no thanks. I'm on my way to New York City to try to break into public television."

(This refers to Big Bird's future "career" on Sesame Street.)

In a particularly meta-fictional plot twist, Kermit and Fozzie actually give the screenplay to Dr. Teeth, who later uses it to find and rescue them after they have been stranded in the desert.

Locations

Filming locations included Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Effects

To perform Kermit static on a log, Jim Henson squeezed into a specially designed metal container complete with an air hose (to breathe), a rubber sleeve which came out of the top to perform Kermit and a monitor to see his performance, and placed himself under the water, log, and the Kermit puppet. He was also assisted in this operation by Kathryn Mullen. This scene took five days to film.

Before this, no movie had a hand puppet act with its entire body appearing onscreen. To have Kermit ride a bicycle in a full-body shot, a Kermit doll with legs was posed onto the seat and his legs and arms were attached to the pedals and handlebars. An overhead crane with a marionette system held the bicycle through strong strings invisible to the camera, guiding the bicycle forward. The crane and system was out of the camera's frame of vision.

Other shots required Muppets standing and acting in a full-body shot. Specially-made, remote-controlled dolls were placed on the set and controlled by puppeteers out of the frame. A dancing Kermit and Fozzie Bear were operated by their usual puppeteers in front of a blue screen, and were composited onto a separate reel of the stage. Both of these effects and the bicycle effect would be used again, and refined, in the next Muppet films.

Prop vehicles

Several classic cars were specially selected by Henson for appearances in the film. The most famous was a pair of psychedelic painted 1951 Studebaker Commander Coupes. In the film, Fozzie states that he inherited the car from his uncle. When asked by Kermit if his uncle is dead, Fozzie replies "no, he's hibernating". One car was painted but unmodified and driven by a person in the front seat. It was used for long, traveling shots. The second car was driven by a person in the trunk, who viewed the road through a TV set. The TV received its image from a camera located in the center nose of the car's front grill. This made it possible for Frank Oz to sit in the front seat and portray Fozzie driving the car in close up shots. This car is now on display at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

Doc Hopper is chauffeured throughout the movie by Max in a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine. The 1959 is distinctive for its enormous fins.

The final car driven by the Muppets is a 1946 Ford 'Woody' Station Wagon, which is famous for its wood panel siding and is a valuable collectible.

Release

Box office

The film sold over 30.5 million tickets and grossed $76,657,000 domestically (adjusted for inflation, this would equal $242,492,661 in 2012 dollars), making it the seventh highest-grossing picture of 1979 and also, the second highest-grossing Muppet film after the release of The Muppets in 2011. The success of the film gave The Jim Henson Company an opportunity to release more Muppet productions theatrically.

Critical reception

The Muppet Movie opened on June 22, 1979 to positive reviews. As of February 1, 2012, the film holds an 90% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews and a 67/100 rating, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", at Metacritic. Roger Ebert gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars. In his favorable review, he was fascinated that "The Muppet Movie not only stars the Muppets but, for the first time, shows us their feet."

In 2009, it was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and will be preserved for all time.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • Rainbow Connection - #74
• AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - Nominated

Home Video

The film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures on June 5, 2001 and again by Walt Disney Pictures on November 29, 2005 as Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition.

Music

The film's soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records in 1979, and on CD by Jim Henson Records in March 1993. The songs were written by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher. Williams recalled to Songfacts: "Jim Henson gave you more [creative] freedom than anybody I've ever worked with in my life. I said, 'You want to hear the songs as we're writing them?' He said, 'No. I'll hear them in the studio. I know I'm gonna love them.' You just don't get that kind of freedom on a project these days."

"Movin' Right Along", "Never Before, Never Again" and "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" were shortened in the film, compared to their soundtrack versions, for continuity purposes. The latter, a duet between Rowlf and Kermit, contained references that the studio considered too mature for children. In "Finale: The Magic Store", a line performed by Kermit in the film is sung by Fozzie on the soundtrack recording.

Soundtrack

The Muppet Movie: Original Soundtrack Recording
Soundtrack album by The Muppets
Released	1979
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Atlantic
The Muppets chronology
The Muppet Show (1977) The Muppet Movie: Original Soundtrack (1979) The Great Muppet Caper: Original Soundtrack (1981)

The Muppet Movie: Original Soundtrack Recording features the songs from the film, written by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher. This album reached #32 on Billboard's Top LP's and Tapes chart in 1979, and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Several of the songs were included The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem, and More - The 25th Anniversary Collection released in 2002.

Track listing

1. "Rainbow Connection" - Kermit
2. "Movin' Right Along" - Kermit and Fozzie
3. "Never Before, Never Again" - Miss Piggy
4. "Never Before, Never Again" (Instrumental)
5. "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" - Kermit and Rowlf
6. "Can You Picture That?" - Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem
7. "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" (Instrumental)
8. "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday" - Gonzo
9. "America" - Fozzie
10. "Animal...Come Back Animal"
11. "Finale: The Magic Store" - Company

Accolades

Awards and nominations

• Gold Record (Soundtrack)
• Platinum Record (Soundtrack)
• Grammy Award - Best Children's Album (Soundtrack)
• Golden Globe Award - Best Song ("Rainbow Connection")
• Academy Award Nomination - Best Song ("Rainbow Connection")
• Academy Award Nomination - Best Original Score (Soundtrack)

External links

• Official website
• The Muppet Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• The Muppet Movie at AllRovi
• The Muppet Movie at Box Office Mojo
• The Muppet Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Muppet Movie at Metacritic
• Tough Pigs: The Muppet Movie from Script to Screen