Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.
Henry Graham is a man with a problem: he has run through his entire inheritance, and is completely unequipped to provide for himself. His childhood guardian, Uncle Harry (a deliciously ... See full summary »
Three days into his Miami honeymoon, New York Jewish Lenny meets tall, blonde Kelly. This confirms him in his opinion that he has made a serious mistake and he decides he wants Kelly ... See full summary »
Director:
Elaine May
Stars:
Charles Grodin,
Cybill Shepherd,
Jeannie Berlin
Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mobster wants him killed. He calls Mikey, his friend since childhood, but when Mikey arrives... See full summary »
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Director:
Warren Beatty
Stars:
Warren Beatty,
Diane Keaton,
Edward Herrmann
A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.
A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the worlds headlines.
Director:
Alan J. Pakula
Stars:
Warren Beatty,
Paula Prentiss,
William Daniels
The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
Morris Mishkin is a elderly religious Jew in New York. His wife Fanny is very ill. He's a tailor, but he can't work because his back has given out. He doesn't even have enough money for ... See full summary »
Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime. Written by
Stern
Editing took so long (release was planned for Christmas 1986, but the film only hit theaters 6 months later), that Elaine May only turned in a print of the film when the studio threatened legal action. See more »
Goofs
By the chandelier when Jim talks to the Emir. See more »
Quotes
Lyle Rogers:
[to Chuck]
It takes a lot of nerve to have nothing at your age, don't you understand that? Most guys'd be ashamed, but you've got the guts to just say 'to hell with it'. You say that you'd rather have nothing than settle for less, understand?
See more »
I believe the big comedy of this year was Crocodile Dundee. As far as I can remember, that movie had one good laugh in it and you could get that for free from the previews. Ishtar, on the other hand, had me laughing hysterically for the first half hour and then continually snickering throughout. The songs are funnier than anything in SpinalTap and the acting is among the best comedic acting from these two admittedly huge comic talents. Give me Ishtar over Rain Man or Bugsy any day. And don't ever try to sell me a blind camel!
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I believe the big comedy of this year was Crocodile Dundee. As far as I can remember, that movie had one good laugh in it and you could get that for free from the previews. Ishtar, on the other hand, had me laughing hysterically for the first half hour and then continually snickering throughout. The songs are funnier than anything in SpinalTap and the acting is among the best comedic acting from these two admittedly huge comic talents. Give me Ishtar over Rain Man or Bugsy any day. And don't ever try to sell me a blind camel!