Recapping about how he'd been asleep through every major event of the 1960s, Louie then tells us about how one summer, he found a new lease on life: Cedar Knoll's first movie theater opened, and Louie would spend all his free time there, watching films of every genre and caliber. Worried that their son was spending too much time at the movies, Andy and Ora hit upon a brilliant plan to take him out of theater and start him on an advantageous new hobby: they present to him a Super 8 camera. Now he can film his own movies. At first, Louie was not impressed with the gift, until he actually started looking through it. Then it hit him: instead of seeing movies, he should be making them! Louie quickly set to work on planning and scripting his own motion picture epic. About a lad named Dewey Landerson, who comes to save the town from the evil land barron and procure the hand of the preacher's daughter. Your typical good guy/bad guy fare, as told by an 8-year-old. So after getting numerous opinions on his script, it was time to start casting. For the role of Dewey's father, Louie casts Mr. Jensen, despite Andy's protests. He casts Grunewald as Dewey, Jeannie as the preacher's daughter, and Glen Glenn as the villain. Well, good on Louie for being original. If this episode were set today, he'd just try to remake something from the '80s.
If you thought Stanley Kubrick was a meticulous, OCD genius director from Hell, he's got nothing on Louie Anderson. He hounds Grunewald over his donut eating, prompting the young star to quit. Louie is a very stick-to-the-script kind of director, and abhors it when his cast suggests various changes. Through it all, Andy tried endlessly to get a role in Louie's movie, going so far as to intentionally trip on a tennis ball, fall downstairs and probably get seriously hurt. Regardless, Louie tells him no dice. Andy even attempts a very risky motorcycle stunt through his house, right through Jensens' and tumbling down the stairs. But, yet again, falling on his ass doesn't get him a role in the movie. What some people won't do to get into the movies. So, with no cast and the first cut of Dewey Rides Again being an unmitigated disaster, Louie trashes it and goes back to the movie theater. Determined to save her son's first picture, Ora rescues it from the trash... as well as a speeding trash truck, and starts re-cutting the film from a broader viewpoint, including numerous takes from the ones Louie B. DeMille previously discarded. Then, one day, when Louie sat in his theater seat to see his 200th movie, he gets a big surprise! It was a premiere screening of Louie Anderson's first motion picture. It was a big hit! They loved it! They give Louie a standing ovation, and he quickly announced that there will be a sequel: Dewey Rides Again 2: Electric Booga-Louie.
This episode was a lot of fun and, as always had a very good message: teamwork wins the day, and persistence pays off in spades. Like, imagine if George Lucas chucked the first cut of Star Wars into the trash and his mother had to rescue and re-cut it? So, if you'd like to see Louie Anderson's first foray into the movies, then you should definitely watch Louie's Gate. Incidentally, I wonder if a Life With Louie movie was ever talked about during its production? Seemed most shows were getting their own movies at the time, but maybe it was reasoned that people wouldn't want to pay to see something in the theater that they can see at home for free. Would've been fun though.
If you thought Stanley Kubrick was a meticulous, OCD genius director from Hell, he's got nothing on Louie Anderson. He hounds Grunewald over his donut eating, prompting the young star to quit. Louie is a very stick-to-the-script kind of director, and abhors it when his cast suggests various changes. Through it all, Andy tried endlessly to get a role in Louie's movie, going so far as to intentionally trip on a tennis ball, fall downstairs and probably get seriously hurt. Regardless, Louie tells him no dice. Andy even attempts a very risky motorcycle stunt through his house, right through Jensens' and tumbling down the stairs. But, yet again, falling on his ass doesn't get him a role in the movie. What some people won't do to get into the movies. So, with no cast and the first cut of Dewey Rides Again being an unmitigated disaster, Louie trashes it and goes back to the movie theater. Determined to save her son's first picture, Ora rescues it from the trash... as well as a speeding trash truck, and starts re-cutting the film from a broader viewpoint, including numerous takes from the ones Louie B. DeMille previously discarded. Then, one day, when Louie sat in his theater seat to see his 200th movie, he gets a big surprise! It was a premiere screening of Louie Anderson's first motion picture. It was a big hit! They loved it! They give Louie a standing ovation, and he quickly announced that there will be a sequel: Dewey Rides Again 2: Electric Booga-Louie.
This episode was a lot of fun and, as always had a very good message: teamwork wins the day, and persistence pays off in spades. Like, imagine if George Lucas chucked the first cut of Star Wars into the trash and his mother had to rescue and re-cut it? So, if you'd like to see Louie Anderson's first foray into the movies, then you should definitely watch Louie's Gate. Incidentally, I wonder if a Life With Louie movie was ever talked about during its production? Seemed most shows were getting their own movies at the time, but maybe it was reasoned that people wouldn't want to pay to see something in the theater that they can see at home for free. Would've been fun though.
