Фильм «Маппеты»: Дорога в Голливуд

1979 film directed by James Frawley

The Muppet Movie is a 1979 musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley, produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film to feature the Muppets. A co production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film was written by The Muppet Show writers Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns. Produced between the first and second half of The Muppet Shows third season, the film tells the origin story of the Muppets, as Kermit the Frog embarks on a cross country trip to Los Angeles, encountering several of the Muppets—who all share the same ambition of finding success in professional show business—along the way while being pursued by Doc Hopper, a greedy restaurateur with intentions of employing Kermit as a spokesperson for his frog legs business. The film stars Muppet performers Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Dave Goelz, as well as Charles Durning and Austin Pendleton, and it features cameo appearances by Dom DeLuise, James Coburn, Edgar Bergen (in his final film appearance before his death), Orson Welles, Carol Kane, Steve Martin, and Mel Brooks, among others. Notable for its surreal humour, meta references and prolific use of cameos, The Muppet Movie was released by Associated Film Distribution in the United Kingdom on May 31, 1979, and in the United States on June 22, 1979. The film received critical praise, including two Academy Award nominations for Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher's musical score and their song, "Rainbow Connection". The Muppet Movie was followed by seven feature films starring the Muppets, as well as several more television series and media. In 2009, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The story opens with the Muppets sitting down at a private screening to watch a movie, for not only a screen testing, but as a pastiche of how they all met. Kermit the Frog lives a simple life in a Florida swamp. After he plays his banjo and sings "Rainbow Connection", he is approached by Bernie, a talent 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. Kermit meets Fozzie Bear, who is working as a hapless stand up comedian, and Kermit invites Fozzie on his journey. The two set out in Fozzie's 1951 Studebaker, but are soon pursued by entrepreneur Doc Hopper and his assistant Max in an attempt by Hopper to convince Kermit to be the new spokesfrog of Hopper's struggling French fried frog legs restaurant franchise. Horrified, Kermit refuses and he and Fozzie drive away. Unwilling to accept Kermit's refusal, Hopper resorts to increasingly forceful means of persuasion. In an old church, Kermit and Fozzie meet the rock band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and the band's manager Scooter, who help them disguise their car. Driving on, they meet and are joined by Gonzo and his girlfriend Camilla the Chicken, who are also interested in becoming movie stars. They trade in their failing vehicle at a used car lot, where they meet Sweetums. They invite Sweetums to come with them, but he runs away. The others drive away, only for Sweetums to emerge and reveal that he had only gone to pack his things. The group meets Miss Piggy at a county fair, and she and Kermit immediately become love stricken with each other. When Kermit and Miss Piggy meet for dinner that night, Hopper and Max sneak up on Miss Piggy and abduct her as bait to lure Kermit. When Kermit arrives at the designated location, mad scientist Professor Krassman tries to brainwash Kermit into performing in Hopper's advertisements, but Miss Piggy furiously knocks out Hopper's henchmen and causes Krassman to be brainwashed by his own device. However, immediately after the fight and saving Kermit, Miss Piggy receives a job offer and promptly abandons a devastated Kermit. Joined by Rowlf the Dog and reunited with Miss Piggy along the way, the Muppets continue their journey to Hollywood, but their car breaks down in the desert. Sitting at a campfire, the group sadly realizes that they will likely miss the audition the next day. Kermit wanders off, ashamed for bringing his friends on a fruitless journey, but some personal reflection restores his commitment. He returns to camp, where he discovers the Electric Mayhem have come to their rescue, having learned of their plight by reading ahead in the film's script. The Mayhem offer to drive the entire group the rest of the way in their bus. The group is warned by a reformed Max that Hopper has hired an assassin, Snake Walker, to kill Kermit. Kermit decides to face his aggressor and proposes a Western style showdown in a nearby ghost town. There, they find inventor Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker. Kermit confronts Hopper with an appeal to Hopper's own hopes and dreams, but Hopper is unmoved and orders his henchmen to kill Kermit and his friends. They are saved when one of Dr. Honeydew's inventions, "insta grow" pills, temporarily enlarges Mayhem drummer Animal, who frightens away Hopper and his henchmen for good, Max cheering for the Muppets before he leaves. Once the Muppets reach the Hollywood studio, they finally meet studio executive Lew Lord, who signs the Muppets to a "standard 'rich and famous' contract". The first take in their attempt to perform the script goes awry when Gonzo crashes into the prop rainbow, and an explosion blows a hole in the roof of the studio. A rainbow shines through the hole and illuminates the Muppets. Joined by Muppet characters from other Henson productions, including Sesame Street, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas and The Land of Gorch, the Muppets all sing the final verse in a reprise of "Rainbow Connection" together. Sweetums then tears through the movie screen in the theater, ending the film and catching up with the rest of the crew as they congratulate each other on their performances as the credits roll.

In May 1979, CBS aired The Muppets Go Hollywood, a one hour television special that promoted the then upcoming release of The Muppet Movie. In April, the film had been promoted when the Muppets hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Additionally, a book adaptation of The Muppet Movie, adapted by Steven Crist, was published by Peacock Press/Bantam Books. In Austin, Texas, then CBS affiliate KTBC TV and American International Traveler sponsored a contest where adults who paid to see the film in the area were eligible to win a free trip to Hollywood. The movie was reissued again on VHS by Columbia TriStar Home Video and Jim Henson Home Entertainment on June 1, 1999, followed by a DVD release on June 5, 2001. After Disney's acquisition of the film as part of the core Muppets franchise, the film was reissued as a Walt Disney Pictures release and was re released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD on November 29, 2005, as part of the Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition line. Disney released the film as the Nearly 35th Anniversary Edition on Blu ray Disc and DVD on August 13, 2013. The film now streams on Disney+.

In its first six days at the Leicester Square Theatre, it grossed $31,884. The film would later earn over $65 million in the United States and Canada, returning $32 million in box office rentals. Ever since its release, The Muppet Movie was the highest grossing puppet film until the release of The Muppets in 2011. The film's successful theatrical release encouraged Lew Grade into furthering his own film distribution company, which later backfired with the massive box office failures of Can't Stop the Music (from EMI) and Raise the Titanic (from ITC), both released by Associated Film Distribution just a year later.

The Muppet Movie currently holds an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 8.00/10, based on 52 reviews. The site's consensus says "The Muppet Movie, the big screen debut of Jim Henson's plush creations, is smart, lighthearted, and fun for all ages." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film received highly positive reviews in the United States. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film 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." Vincent Canby of The New York Times offered equal praise, stating that the film "demonstrates once again that there's always room in movies for unbridled amiability when it is governed by intelligence and wit." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three and a half stars out of four and called it "surely one of the summer's most entertaining films," which "does a fairly nice job of trying to be all things to all people. Which is not an easy job." Dale Pollock of Variety wrote, "'The Muppet Movie' is a winner Script by Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns incorporates the zingy one liners and bad puns that have become the teleseries' trade mark, but also develops the Muppets themselves as thinking, feeling characters." Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News wrote that "with the exception of Brooks' wacky scene and Steve Martin's funny bit as a snooty waiter, the cameo appearances by such stars as Bob Hope and Richard Pryor tend to slow the action down just as the bland musical numbers by Paul Williams and Kenny Asher interrupt the flow of the movie. Still The Muppet Movie should entrance both young and old as the Muppets further endear themselves with their crazy antics, their playful puns and their very human characteristics." Rex Reed, in the same newspaper, reacted more enthusiastically to the film, remarking that "if there's any doubt, The Muppet Movie will make believers and fans out of the worst pessimists. These lovable characters are so real and so endearing that I was never aware of the human hands making them work from mysterious hiding places. The Muppets made a wide eyed, child out of me, and I hope they continue to do so until I'm in my wheelchair." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "as you might well expect, it is hip, funny, technically ingenious, fast moving, melodious, richly produced, contemporary and equally and utterly beguiling to grown ups and small persons." Katrine Ames of Newsweek stated, "'The Muppet Movie' is a delectable grab bag of influences — stories by L. Frank Baum and Lewis Carroll, Westerns, the Crosby Hope and Garland Rooney movies — as well as its own inventive devices. The result is a kind of 'That's Entertainment!' with a plot attached. Its charm — and success — lie primarily in its loving pokes at Hollywood conventions and in the lovable characters who do the poking." John Skow of Time magazine offered a more mixed response, saying that "the transition from the yank 'em off if they bomb lunacy of the TV show to the coherent narration of the film is not a complete success. Muppet magic remains a bewildering succession of wonderful bits, and perhaps the movie's best occurs when Rowlf the Dog, who is a barroom pianist, commiserates with Kermit, who has just been deserted by Miss Piggy. The two sing a nice, rueful song about women—the can't live with them, can't live without them kind of thing." Michael Hanton of the Toronto Star wrote that "I was looking forward to a combination of Singin' in the Rain, Citizen Kane, and Intolerance. What I got was more like Gidget, The Great Race and Love Boat"; he also remarked that Fozzie Bear stole the show from his favorite character, Miss Piggy. In the United Kingdom, it received mixed to positive reviews. Tim Radford of The Guardian called it "another film spun slightly longer than it should have been", adding that "the humour remains decently dry and self deprecating throughout; on the other hand there isn't nearly enough of it, and a good 40 or 50 minute idea is padded to the obligatory hour and a half with songs, travelogue, flashbacks and a certain amount of mooning about." Patrick Gibbs of The Daily Telegraph remarked that "after the Wombles moved, as they did recently, from the small screen to the big, so the Muppets inevitably follow, rather more successfully, I think, for James Frawley’s The Muppet Movie is a clever construction." He also said that "the style is cunningly varied at intervals by the appearance in virtually two line parts of such people as Milton Berie, James Coburm, Dom DeLuise or Elliott Gould, not to mention Orson Welles, each in his own comic persona. Songs also help to add variety to a very hazardous undertaking; not at all to my taste, it comes off, I would say, as well as possible." Alexander Walker of the London Evening Standard supplied the film with its most positive review in the country, calling it "the most original little show in town, and adding that it offered:Across the board delight: not only for the children: for adults, too, who'll relish its in jokes, visual wit, cheeky parodies of other movies and [its] own brand of surrealist fun. That's the first surprise. The second is how successfully the Muppets take to the big blow up of the cinema screen. But this is no jumped up clone of the TV show. It expands its own fun to fill its enlarged running time. It reminds you of a "Road" film. But instead of Hope, [[Bing Crosby

In 2009, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In 2020, "Rainbow Connection" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry. One of the two pairs of 1951 Studebaker Commander Coupes used in the film is now on display at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana.