Well, you're named after a dog, I'm named after a car. We should get along fine.
Hollywood Follies is the first of four TV movies made in the mid-1990s from teleplays that had originally been intended for the abortive third season of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. First broadcast in 15 October 1994, it is (chronologically) the twenty-second and final chapter of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.
August 1920. Indy gets a job with a film studio and is sent to Hollywood with the task of shutting down an over-budget production directed by Erich Von Stroheim. Indy appears to be no match for the hot-tempered and stubborn director, but is able to join forces with studio executive Irving Thalberg to get the film taken away from him. When Indy fails, he faces the prospect of being left in Hollywood with no money but is recruited onto the production crew of a John Ford western. When one of the stars accidentally dies, Indy fills in, getting some acting lessons from Harry Carey and tips on authenticity from legendary lawman Wyatt Earp. Ford's film features a show-topping stunt — a jump from horse to a carriage including a hair-raising turn being dragged from behind the carriage, a trick that will serve Indy well in the future.
This episode contains examples of:
- And Starring: This one is with Stephen Caffrey as John Ford and Dana Gladstone as Erich Von Stroheim.
- The Alcoholic: Edwin, one of the actors in Six Steps to Hell, knocks back a lot of booze on location. So much so that everyone assumes he's unconscious because of this, when he has in fact died due to his being bitten by a snake.
- Artistic Licence – History: A few examples. Remember, this episode is set in 1920.
- The movie Indy's watching in the cinema at the start is Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which was released in 1925.
- When Indy is on his way to meet Carl Laemmle, he walks past a building on which there's a sign for DeWalt. Said tool company was not founded until 1924.
- The Ominous Latin Chanting that von Stroheim has a choir sing while he swims is Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, which was composed in 1935.
- "Awkward Silence" Entrance: Occurs when Indy enters the back bar at the Waterhole, which — despite it being 1920 — is done up to look like a bar in a Western. Which is appropriate, as most of the clientele are rodeo men and old-timers who hang out there in the hope that someone from the film studios will come asking for their services. Which is why Indy's there. He's looking for Wyatt Earp — and when he tells him that John Ford and Harry Carey sent him, Earp tells everyone that it's OK, upon which the music and hubbub of conversation resume.
- Bait-and-Switch: Indy thinks he's got von Stroheim beaten, and von Stroheim appears to concede defeat — only for him to outwit Indy by moving the entire production down to Mexico while he's enjoying himself at a film premiere.
- Call-Back: Four years after his last visit, Indy goes to Mexico; this time, it's a quick visit in order to leave a drunk Prince Massimo south of the border, scuppering von Stroheim's plan to film several (evidently superfluous) scenes with him. Later, Indy mentions to John Ford that he visited Ireland at the time of the Easter Rising. Indy's sulking over the fact that Claire has a boyfriend as well as him may remind viewers of his attitude towards Mata Hari.
- Call-Forward: A big one to Raiders of the Lost Ark with the stunt which sees Indy hanging onto the bottom of a speeding, runaway stagecoach. In Real Life, John Ford used this stunt in Stagecoach, and it inspired George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to do the stunt in Raiders where Indiana Jones hangs onto the bottom of a speeding truck — so the scene in this episode is a nod to what inspired that stunt.
- Cast the Expert: In-Universe; John Ford wants to film a realistic-looking gunfight in his new movie. So he calls in Wyatt Earp — the Wyatt Earp — to be his technical advisor. Truth in Television, for in his later years Earp (who died in 1929) was often used in this capacity by Western film-makers. He was friends with William S. Hart and Tom Mix as well as John Ford.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Claire, to Indy. She's quite hostile when they first meet but she soon warms to him.
- The Danza: In-Universe; Kitty is the of both the female lead character in Six Steps to Hell and the actress who plays her. This was common practice at the time — Harry Carey, for example, often played characters called Harry.
- Epic Movie: Foolish Wives was at the time the most expensive movie ever made. Von Stroheim intended for the film to run for anywhere between six and ten hours, and to be shown over two evenings. Universal refused, and cut the film to a mere three-and-a-half hours for its premiere, and then cut it further (to just under two hours) for general release.
- Executive Meddling: In-Universe: Having been hired by Carl Laemmle to bring the filming of Foolish Wives under control, Indy attempts this with Irving Thalberg. Von Stroheim, the director, resists them. Indy and Irving resort to getting one of the actors drunk and dumping him in Mexico in order to force von Stroheim to drop plans for superfluous scenes.
- Foregone Conclusion: Viewers familiar with the history of silent film may well be aware that the filming of Foolish Wives continued into 1921, making Indy's efforts to get the filming wrapped up in ten days in August 1920 doomed to fail.
- George Jetson Job Security: Claire is subject to this at the hands of von Stroheim.
- Girl of the Week: Indy strikes up a relationship with Claire Lieberman, a screenwriter on Foolish Wives.
- Historical Domain Character: Indy encounters George Gershwin (again), Carl Laemmle
, Erich Von Stroheim, Irving Thalberg, John Ford, Harry Carey and an elderly Wyatt Earp. Claire Lieberman is a fictional character, but there were women working as screenwriters in Hollywood at the time. - Homage: The whole episode is basically one of these to Silent Movie-era Hollywood, with the second half being one to the films of John Ford.
- Indy Ploy: Von Stroheim and John Ford both have a talent for improvisation as part of the film-making process.Indy: He just keeps making things up.Claire: Yes he does. It's so wonderful.
- Insufferable Genius: Erich von Stroheim, big time. Indy quickly discovers that he's a total megalomaniac quite unlike anyone he's ever encountered before.
- Left the Background Music On: The Ominous Latin Chanting that plays when Indy drives out to confront von Stroheim at his mansion turns out to be coming from a choir who have seemingly been employed to sing while he swims in his pool. Naked.
- Mr. Exposition: In the cinema at the start, George Gershwin briefly recaps what happened following the events of Scandal of 1920 in order to bring viewers up to date. It's brief — Indy got sacked from the theatre.George Gershwin: I had a feeling having three girlfriends was going to be trouble. Especially when one of them was the boss's daughter. Tough luck it got you fired.
- Nepotism: Carl Laemmle freely admits to employing family members of his, even though he knows they're useless; very much Truth in Television.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Discussed between John Ford and Wyatt Earp. Ford wants an authentic gunfight for Six Steps to Hell, but realises that filming a truly authentic one, as described by Earp, would risk becoming this.Wyatt Earp: Well, first you over-awed your man. Then got as close as you could, come up at him from behind, and plug 'im through the back with a Winchester.John Ford: Well, I can't have Harry shoot somebody in the back.Wyatt Earp: Why not? It's what happened.John Ford: Because it's not heroic.Wyatt Earp: Heroic. None of those men were heroes.John Ford: Well, we've got to make him a good guy.Wyatt Earp: Good guys, bad guys. I wish it had been that simple.
- Shout-Out: Sex and Satan, the movie Claire gets to work on after getting fired by von Stroheim, is the name of the movie that's being made in Stand-In.
- Show Within a Show: Indy gets involved in the making of two films, one real and the other fictional. The real one is Erich von Stroheim's Foolish Wives which was released in 1922 although filming had started in the spring of 1920. The fictional one is John Ford's Six Steps to Hell; its premise — feuding ranchers and farmers — is evidently based on Ford's Real Life film Straight Shooting, which was released in 1917 and (also) starred Harry Carey.
- Silent Movie: It being 1920, the films are examples of this.
- Stage Name: Discussed; after learning that Indy named himself after his dog, John Ford tells him that his surname is actually O'Feeney — his brother, who moved to the USA before he did, changed his surname.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As far as the attempt to shut down Foolish Wives is concerned, sending in a youngster with no previous experience of the movie industry to do the job goes about as well as you'd expect.
- Third-Person Person: Von Stroheim, naturally, refers to himself in the third person. Not all the time, though.
- Throw It In!: In-Universe; done twice by John Ford. The first time is while travelling to the film location when he thinks the sunset looks so good, he stops everyone and films the final scene there and then. The second time is when a fire accidentally starts on-set with the cameras rolling — he not only carries on filming, he gets Kitty to improvise a scene in which she laments her homestead being burned down. Not even the presence of a snake at the latter stops him, although a certain member of the crew is of course terrified of it.
- Troubled Production: In-Universe, both films suffer from this.
- Foolish Wives has it in spades thanks to von Stroheim's extravagance. Carl Laemmle of Universal Pictures really did get the studio's advertising department to present his foibles as virtues in order to publicise the film (as evidenced by the poster he shows Indy) while also promoting Irving Thalberg (then aged 20) to Head of Productions with the task of bringing von Stroheim into line.
- Six Steps to Hell, meanwhile, sees all of the stuntmen get injured and one of the actors die after getting bitten by a snake. Indy is forced to stand in for him, and — thanks to the lack of uninjured stuntmen — he has to perform the most dangerous stunt of them all, in which he breaks his foot.
- Twilight of the Old West: The filming of Six Steps to Hell gives off this vibe, especially the scene in which everyone travels to the shooting location in a combination of cars and horse-drawn wagons.
- The Western: Six Steps to Hell, the film being directed by John Ford, is (naturally) one of these.
- Worthy Opponent: Von Stroheim even uses these exact words to describe Indy — although he is, in fact, bluffing.
- You Are in Command Now: When Indy fails to bring von Stroheim to heel, Laemmle fires him and promotes Irving to Head of Productions, with his immediate priority being, you guessed it, to bring von Stroheim to heel.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Indy has this reaction on hearing that von Stroheim has hired an actor on account of his accent. For a silent movie.Indy: Who the heck is Prince Massimo?Irving: A real Italian prince Von Stroheim brought in specially.Claire: Von loves his accent.Indy: Loves his accent?! But, but, there's no sound! These are silent pictures! Send him back!
