The first was PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES in which Steve Martin attempts to start a sing-along in the bus to "Three Coins in the Fountain." No one knows the song and John Candy saves the day by launching into the FLINTSTONES theme song.
The second was the time I helped my friend David shoot a short movie, BUM DEAL, starring our other friend, Isaac. Isaac played a bum who was scrounging change out of the bottom of a fountain, and he asked us if he could sing, "Three Coins in the Fountain" just before being accosted by David with a fish wacker. At the time I assumed he knew the song from its original source, the film THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, but as I think back on it, he definitely had a distinctly Steve Martin-y tone of voice when he launched into song, so who knows.
Anyway, now I've finally seen 1954's THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, the tale of three American women in Rome who toss coins in Trevi Fountain and try their luck with love. Dorothy McGuire is the secretary of an expatriate American author (Clifton Webb), Maggie McNamara has just arrived and fallen in love with a prince (Louis Jourdan) and Jean Peters has the hots for a local translator (Rossano Brazzi) even though she's about to head back to America to get married.
Complications arise. McNamara seduces her prince by figuring out his likes and dislikes and then pretending to be the woman of his dreams. Webb finds out he's terminally ill. Peters is scheduled to be shipped out when it's suspected she's having an affair. Etc.
Anyway, the movie's pretty boring and just fluffy sitcom stuff. It is cool to see some sweet Rome scenery, and it was fun to see Trevi Fountain, where I posed with my Trail Blazers shirt on even though it was never broadcast on Comcast SportsNet NW. It's beautifully shot and the first movie in color of Romancefest 2017 so far, but the story's not that interesting.
BUM DEAL, on the other hand, is super good.
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