Bring Back Press Your Luck

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 10:55 AM\'] Too bad some Hollywood suit woke up and realized that the film would probably close as quickly as "Gigli". After all, there's no logical way to add a helicopter chase, pyrotechnics, a gun fight and a sex scene. I, for one, have no desire to see anything resembling Larsen's or Tomarken's bare ass!   ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com [/quote]
 Who says it has to be Larsen's or Tomarken's?  Find an excuse for us to see Janey's.

[davemackey]

Something to consider....

If Bill Murray had gone ahead and made the "Press Your Luck" movie, there's a possibility that he'd have missed out in participating in a little movie I like to call... "Lost In Translation".

And we all know what happened to Billy after that movie.

[Skynet74]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Apr 25 2004, 10:40 PM\']
I don't know what people see in this show. Seeing people press plungers while they watch a board with flashing lights is about as thrilling as watching people play Keno. [/quote]
 
 Well Chris.... you and I definitely disagree on this one. Using your analogy, a person could say... what's so thrilling about watching a Wheel Spin on Price Is Right or what's so exciting about seeing people drop Plinko chips from 15 Feet up?
Some of the simplest Games are the most entertaining to watch.  You don't need to be able to play along for it to be fun. Sometimes just watching people is entertainment enough.

  Besides..... there is a lot more strategy in playing Press Your Luck then you give it credit for. Passing your spins or Pressing Your Luck at the right time isn't always an easy decision. Then when you combine that strategy with the elment of chance of hitting that plunger at just the right moment, it just makes it an all around fun game to both watch and to play!

 I dare you to Download the Press Your Luck Game from Curt King and tell me that you arn't having fun. I have a feeling you will never look at the game the same way again.


John

[Matt Ottinger]

My impression is that a quirky comedy movie COULD be made about the Larsen experience -- and every one of the Tomarkenites would absolutely hate it.  That's because no screenwriter is going to look at this as some Historic Moment In Game Shows.  In fact, I'd probably spend no more than fifteen minutes -- in the middle of the film -- on Press Your Luck.  All the interesting stuff is before and after.

The story is about a get-rich-quick dreamer who stumbles across this one scheme that works out for him, and about how he handles actually being successful at something for once in his life.  PYL is the catalyst that drives the story, but no way is an audience interested in a movie that's just about a guy who figured out the "right" way to press a button on a game show.

[Ian Wallis]

Then when you combine that strategy with the elment of chance of hitting that plunger at just the right moment, it just makes it an all around fun game to both watch and to play!

I always thought there were certain strategies about when to push the button - and I'm not necessarily talking about memorizing board patterns.  I've read interviews with former contestants on some of the sites out there, and a few of them even state that when there were a lot of whammies showing, they waited until the board changed and there were fewer.  Some of them won games using that strategy.

Besides, I'm sure all of us actually hoped for a whammy to be hit occasionally - some of the reactions contestants gave when hitting one over the years were quite humorous!

[Skynet74]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Apr 26 2004, 11:56 AM\']
In fact, I'd probably spend no more than fifteen minutes -- in the middle of the film -- on Press Your Luck.  All the interesting stuff is before and after. The story is about a get-rich-quick dreamer who stumbles across this one scheme that works out for him, and about how he handles actually being successful at something for once in his life. [/quote]

  I agree with Matt. A Press Your Luck movie would Bomb big time if it was basicly only the TV shown on the Big Screen. A proper setup would be about how Larsen hates getting up every morning to drive his Ice Cream truck. Kids complain that he didn't put enough Ice Cream in their cone or how the Frozen Lemonade tastes bad. Kids even kick him and stuff. He is the most hated Ice Cream man ever. Larsen is such a looser that he can't even do such a simple job right.

 His personal life is also a mess. He can't keep a girlfriend for longer than a week. The Guy is miserable. He just wants a way out. So he buys a newspaper to see if he can find a better job which may result in some happiness. While scanning the classifieds he comes across an ad for a TV show that promises Big Bucks! It's a show that he has never heard of before since he is driving his Ice Cream truck at that time of day. So he looks in TV Guide and finds out when it is aired. He then starts taping the show religiously. He is motivated at the thought of not having to be an Ice Cream man that summer.

  He falls in Love with the program. He tapes it every day and the more he sees people win, the more it feeds into his ultimate Goal of being a contestant on the show. A Neighbor even gives him a new puppy that Larson decides to name Peter (after Tomarken of course.) This is no longer just a goal now. Larsen has turned it into an obsession. He watches his Press Your Luck tapes over and over as he studies the board like a MadMan.  He tells himself there has to be pattern to all this. He soon thinks he figures one out. He takes his VCR's remote control and starts hitting the pause button as if he was hitting the Stop Button on the show. First time he hits $5,000 and a spin ....... 2nd Time he hits $5000 and a spin again .... third time he hits $5,000 and a spin again. He can't believe that there IS a Pattern! He envisions his whole future changing from this TV show.

  Now the most challenging part is to come. That is passing the Contestant tryout. If he can do that he'll be home free!

  So yes..... you can definitely build a movie around this premise. But as Matt mentioned...... most of the movie would have to be about what I have written here and not just 90 minutes inside Television City.




John

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Apr 26 2004, 11:56 AM\'] My impression is that a quirky comedy movie COULD be made about the Larsen experience -- and every one of the Tomarkenites would absolutely hate it.  That's because no screenwriter is going to look at this as some Historic Moment In Game Shows.  In fact, I'd probably spend no more than fifteen minutes -- in the middle of the film -- on Press Your Luck.  All the interesting stuff is before and after.

The story is about a get-rich-quick dreamer who stumbles across this one scheme that works out for him, and about how he handles actually being successful at something for once in his life.  PYL is the catalyst that drives the story, but no way is an audience interested in a movie that's just about a guy who figured out the "right" way to press a button on a game show. [/quote]
 That more or less WAS how the script was going to play out. There's a review of the script around somewhere, I'll have to find it. It basically was going to deal with how Larson was a get-rich-quick kind of person, and how it affected his family and life in general. And then he found PYL....... The actual game playing wasn't going to last very long.

Tyshaun