bkoganbing If you're a stargazer and like those films with all those names of yesteryear coming on for a brief walk on, then Won Ton Ton is your kind of film. It was nice to see a lot of those old familiar character actors and a few leads from days gone by do a brief appearance. Some of them might have needed a paycheck, I can think of one who probably did, but I won't say.Told in flashback by tour guide Dennis Morgan, one of those names of the past it's the story of that great silent film star who spoke not a word, but barked on cue, Won Ton Ton. He starts out as a poor, but honest stray dog escaped from the pound and hooks up with hopeful Madeline Kahn who just wants a break in the film business. They in turn hook up with Bruce Dern a man who drives a tour bus, but when the bus makes a studio stop, Dern always rushes in to see producer Art Carney with yet another story idea. He has some good ones like a giant shark terrorizing a New England beach or a young adolescent girl possessed by the devil, just a bit ahead of the times.The rest of the film is simply boy and girl meet dog, boy and girl make dog a star, boy and girl lose dog. But for the rest you have to see the film.Dern, Kahn, Carney, and Won Ton Ton are wonderful and the Hollywood satire is funny. One thing however has lost its humor for me over the years. That's Ron Leibman playing the cross dressing Rudolph Valentino star of the silent screen. Knowing what I know now about transgender people and the struggles they face that whole character has lost the humor for me. Not ten years earlier Albert Dekker was found in women's clothes having hung himself and Jeff Chandler may or may not have been a cross dresser depending whether you believe Esther Williams's memoir. These people were in a lot of pain in their lives, so a cross dressing star isn't all that funny any more for me.Overlooking Leibman's character the rest of the film is nice and a great treat for those who want to see some stars of yesterday take another curtain call. For a few this was their last moment on the big screen.

Blueghost What can you say about a film that feels like a graduation exercise by the B-grade film students out of UCLA? "A, for effort." Now, not to get too side tracked here, but if SF State Students had done this film, it would have been all artsy and existential, but I digress."Won Ton Ton" is a nod to old Hollywood, and sends up the old classic system before the Golden Age of Hollywood. This was the period when visual gags and formulations that we see in today's films were forged and put on the screen for the first time for all to see. Pretty starlets in chorus lines, stage hands pretending to be big shots to take advantage of pretty young ladies, double dealing and creative bookeeping tinsel-town style, movie moguls and classic vaudeville actors are all showcased here.One is hard pressed to malign the film, but let's face it, it's got charm but also some issues. The thing that somewhat torpedoes this film is the post production. The sound is raw. It's all scratch track (or mostly), and it gives the film a kind of amateurish family film feel, which makes it hard to accept the visual cues and other gags the movie trying to convey. There's some looped sounds, but one wonders why the post isn't a bit more refined.For all that it's actually quite an endearing film. Certainly not the best, but definitely a charmer. A lot of classic faces from the 50s and 60s make cameos, and the lines they deliver are good, but the film is somewhat misdirected, and Bruce Dern (as good an actor as he is) seems somewhat odd for the role.The film, as much work was put into this thing, seems a little on the low budget side. Still, after having viewing it after 30+ years later, I can still warm up to it some. It's really a film for industry insiders with as flare for their own history..Then, there's the dog (or series of dogs used for the lead). This film and a few other shows popularized the German Shepard, and we see here the showcasing and capitalization of the Bavarian hound. Well, they say never work with children or animals, but Won Ton Ton holds its own in a low budget off-beat homage sort of way.If you're a real Hollywood aficionado, then this film might satisfy. Otherwise maybe see it once, and then pass it off to a friend. :-)

gorsegrower When I saw this I wasn't paying much attention to the credits. The presence of Madeline Kahn made me assume it was a Mel Brooks picture, that's how funny it is. Now that she's gone, this should become a collector's item.

davideo I saw this movie when I was in high school. It sticks in my mind as the worst movie I've ever paid to see.