History Film / Ishtar

* ItsALongStory: Chuck proudly mentions that his nickname is The Hawk, but uses these exact words in declining to explain why.

''Ishtar'' was a comedy movie about a pair of [[HollywoodToneDeaf talentless]] and [[TooDumbToLive incredibly stupid]] lounge singers, Lyle Rogers and Chuck Clarke, who can only get booked in the Middle East, where war rages and religious fanatics claim of a prophecy involving two men who will bring down the country's brutal leader. Since the CIA has major fundings in this country's current government, they first train Chuck as a spy, while Lyle falls in line with the rebels. Then when the government of Ishtar learns that these two "smucks" might be confused with the prophets, the CIA sends the two of them out into the desert to get lost, and then try to kill Rogers and Clarke when they accidentally manage to navigate through the desert and not die. Due to all the various political conflicts brought up by these events, the United States makes a deal with the lounge singers, which involves giving the people of Ishtar more freedom and Rogers and Clarke a recording contract.

* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: Open mic night variation. The other performers are polished but their songs are insipid ("I'm quitting high 'cause you don't like me"). Rogers and Clarke are insipid ''and'' awkward.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Lyle's drawl goes from slight in the opening New York scenes to thick once they're in Morocco. Most likely explained by the New York sequence being the last thing filmed; Warren Beatty was likely worn out by that point and just wanted to get the shoot finished.

* HollywoodToneDeaf: Clarke and Rogers. The songs were written by Music/PaulWilliams, who admitted it was hard work to work deliberately bad songs.

* HollywoodToneDeaf: Clarke and Rogers.

->''The best that can be said about ''Ishtar'' is that Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, two of the most intelligent actors of their generation, [[DamnedByFaintPraise play dumb so successfully]] that on the basis of this film there's no evidence for why they've made it in the movies.''

The production of ''Ishtar'' was set into motion by way of the fact that writer/director Creator/ElaineMay had cowritten one Creator/WarrenBeatty hit (''Heaven Can Wait'') and did a major rewrite on another Beatty hit (''Film/{{Reds}}''), and Beatty wanted to work with her on something that she wrote ''and'' directed. May came up with an idea inspired by the Creator/BobHope and Creator/BingCrosby ''RoadTo'' series and got another bankable, respected actor, Creator/DustinHoffman, to costar. A big studio, Creator/ColumbiaPictures, put a lot of money into this movie. What could possibly go wrong?

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Most viewers admit that in spite of its reputation, ''Ishtar'' actually is a funny movie.
* DuelingStarsMovie

* ExecutiveMeddling: The production costs are substantially higher than they should have been, due to this. In addition to the location costs, Beatty and May had a conflict during the shoot over the way May was directing the film, and Columbia executive Fay Vincent insisted that each scene be shot twice according to how both saw each scene.

* PlayingAgainstType: Hoffman is known for playing nerdy outcasts, and Beatty is known for playing good looking womanizers. Here, Beatty plays a shy dope who's [[HollywoodDateless terrible with women]], and Hoffman plays the womanizing character. Many fans of the movie see this as an intentional joke, and part of the film's humor style, but May claims that it wasn't a joke, and that the actors are ''not'' playing against type [[ComicallyMissingThePoint because Beatty really is from the South and Hoffman really is from New York]].

This movie had a lot of production problems. Firstly, the Coca-Cola Corporation, which owned Columbia at the time, insisted that due to other business deals Coca-Cola was involved with, the movie had to be shot in the real Sahara Desert, even though it would have been cheaper to shoot it in the Southwest United States. There were high political tensions in North Africa that made the movie dangerous to shoot (there were worries that Palestinian terrorists might try to kidnap Hoffman), and ExecutiveMeddling, combined with a conflict between producer/star Beatty and May (both strong perfectionists with differing ideas on how the film should have been shot), brought the costs up further.

Despite the poor reception it received at the time, ''Ishtar'' is not received nearly as badly as it once was, and even though it is one of a handful of films that are synonymous with the phrase "BoxOfficeBomb", most viewers find it relatively entertaining. In fact, Gary Larson apologized for a ''[[ComicStrip/TheFarSide Far Side]]'' cartoon he did in which this film was the only one in Hell's Video Store, because he had only done the comic on the basis of its reputation and [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch had not actually seen the film]] until it was played on an airplane, and he found himself enjoying it.

The production of ''Ishtar'' was set into motion by way of the fact that writer/director Creator/ElaineMay had cowritten one Warren Beatty hit (''Heaven Can Wait'') and did a major rewrite on another Beatty hit (''Reds''), and Beatty wanted to work with her on something that she wrote ''and'' directed. May came up with an idea inspired by the BobHope and BingCrosby ''RoadTo'' series and got another bankable, respected actor, DustinHoffman, to costar. A big studio, ColumbiaPictures, put a lot of money into this movie. What could possibly go wrong?

However, the studio changed heads during release, and the new executive, David Puttnam (who had previously competed against Beatty for a Best Picture Academy Award with their films, ''Chariots of Fire'' and ''Reds'', respectively), sabotaged the movie by slamming it and its actors, setting off a whirlwind of bad promotion. A majority of film critics, riled by the expense of the film, slammed it, without giving it too much of a chance, and this film was so much of a loss for Columbia that the studio was spun-off into its own company and bought the rest of [=TriStar=] Pictures in a merger following a similar box office failure for Creator/TerryGilliam's ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', and then the merged Columbia/[=TriStar=] was later sold to Sony. However, despite its reputation as a "flop", ''Ishtar'' actually beat out some good competition, and could have done financially well if it had not been so expensive to produce. Still, its massive financial failure caused [[QualityByPopularVote significant damage to its reputation]].

The production of ''Ishtar'' was set into motion by way of the fact that writer/director Elaine May had cowritten one Warren Beatty hit (''Heaven Can Wait'') and did a major rewrite on another Beatty hit (''Reds''), and Beatty wanted to work with her on something that she wrote ''and'' directed. May came up with an idea inspired by the BobHope and BingCrosby ''RoadTo'' series and got another bankable, respected actor, DustinHoffman, to costar. A big studio, ColumbiaPictures, put a lot of money into this movie. What could possibly go wrong?

For more about Elaine May's battles with film studios, read about ''Film/ANewLeaf''.

* PlayingAgainstType: Hoffman is known for playing nerdy outcasts, and Beatty is known for playing good looking womanizers. Here, Beatty plays a shy dope who's [[HollywoodDateless terrible with women]], and Hoffman plays the womanizing character. Many fans of the movie see this as an intentional joke, and part of the film's humor style, but May claims that it wasn't a joke, and that the actors are ''not'' playing against type [[CompletelyMissingThePoint because Beatty really is from the South and Hoffman really is from New York]].

-->--'''Creator/RogerEbert'''

For more about Elaine May's battles with film studios, read about ''ANewLeaf''.

The film ''was'' completed, and it was ActuallyPrettyFunny. ''New York Times'' film critic Vincent Canby listed it as one of the best films of the year, and multiple film directors have cited it as one of their favorite movies, including MartinScorsese, QuentinTarantino and EdgarWright. Beatty and Hoffman were also happy with the final film.

Despite the poor reception it received at the time, ''Ishtar'' is not received nearly as badly as it once was, and even though it is one of a handful of films that are synonymous with the phrase "BoxOfficeBomb", most viewers find it relatively entertaining. In fact, Gary Larson apologized for a ''[[TheFarSide Far Side]]'' cartoon he did in which this film was the only one in Hell's Video Store, because he had only done the comic on the basis of its reputation and [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch had not actually seen the film]] until it was played on an airplane, and he found himself enjoying it.

-->--'''RogerEbert'''

However, the studio changed heads during release, and the new executive, David Puttnam (who had previously competed against Beatty for a Best Picture Academy Award with their films, ''Chariots of Fire'' and ''Reds'', respectively), sabotaged the movie by slamming it and its actors, setting off a whirlwind of bad promotion. A majority of film critics, riled by the expense of the film, slammed it, without giving it too much of a chance, and this film was so much of a loss for Columbia that the studio was sold to Sony, who folded it into [=TriStar=] Pictures following a similar box office failure for Creator/TerryGilliam's ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen''. However, despite its reputation as a "flop", ''Ishtar'' actually beat out some good competition, and could have done financially well if it had not been so expensive to produce. Still, its massive financial failure caused [[QualityByPopularVote significant damage to its reputation]].

-->--'''RogerEbert

''Ishtar'' was a comedy movie about a pair of [[HollywoodToneDeaf talentless]] and [[TooDumbToLive incredibly stupid]] lounge singers, Lyle Rogers and Chuck Clarke, who can only get booked in the Middle East, where war rages and religious fanatics claim of a prophecy involving two men who will bring down the country's brutal leader. Since the CIA has major fundings in this country's current government, they first train Chuck as a spy, while Lyle falls in line with the rebels. Then when the government of Ishtar learns that these two "smucks" might be confused with the prophets, the CIA sends the two of them out into the desert to get lost, and then try to kill Rogers and Clarke when they accidentally manage to navigate through the desert and not die. Due to all the various political conflicts brought up by these events, the United States makes a deal with the lounge singers, which involves giving the people of Ishtar more freedom and Rogers and Clarke a recording countract.

->''The best that can be said about ''Ishtar'' is that Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, two of the most intelligent actors of their generation, [[DamnedByFaintPraise play dumb so successfully]] that on the bases of this film there's no evidence for why they've made it in the movies.''