Talk:Beware! The Blob

This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Horror

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Horror, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to fictional horror in film, literature and other media on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit one of the articles mentioned below, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.HorrorWikipedia:WikiProject HorrorTemplate:WikiProject Horrorhorror articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article has been automatically rated by a bot or other tool because one or more other projects use this class. Please ensure the assessment is correct before removing the `\|auto=` parameter.

Film: American

	Film portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Film. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please refer to the documentation. To improve this article, please refer to the guidelines.FilmWikipedia:WikiProject FilmTemplate:WikiProject Filmfilm articles
	This article is supported by the American cinema task force.

Comedy?[edit]

Is this film set as more of a comedy film? —Preceding unsigned comment added by OktoberSunset (talk • contribs) 00:17, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reissue tagline[edit]

Has anyone ever seen a poster or VHS box or whatever with the "film JR shot" tagline? I know it's been cited in billions of books (e.g. most of Leonard Maltin's film guides) but it's really weird that there are no pictures of it on, say, Google Images (there's a recent-ish DVD and a scan of a Spanish betamax tape featuring a portrait of Hagman and making the connection to Dallas but it doesn't use a version of the tagline). It really sounds like a joke someone made that's been repeated so many times it's become taken at face value, and appears to be a myth. BoomboxTestarossa (talk) 22:43, 9 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Is this leading toward a suggestion for a change to the article? If not, please note that article Talk pages should not be used for general discussion, per WP:NOTFORUM. Cheers! DonIago (talk) 13:36, 10 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Checking what the consensus is for removing a possibly mythical bit of trivia that's been uncited for well over a year but unsure if me sticking "Beware of the Blob poster" into Google Images counts as OR or not. Apologies if the context didn't make this clear. Cheers! BoomboxTestarossa (talk) 22:01, 10 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Ah ha! I didn't realize you were referring to unsourced text already present within the article; I've removed it per your expressed concern. Google Images wouldn't meet sourcing requirements as they could be manipulated. Thanks for bringing this up! DonIago (talk) 03:47, 11 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Cheers, wasn't sure what the etiquette was for just removing sections without discussion, even for something small like this. It's always struck me as a hole in Wikipedia policy that with things like that a pre-internet source can get something wrong and sources rebutting it from the online era (where things like printed film guides are now rare) aren't always classed as reliable but there we go, glad to see some common sense prevail =) BoomboxTestarossa (talk) 09:52, 11 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I try to be sensible. :p My personal policy, which some might argue isn't best practice, is that if it's newly added unsourced material then it's eligible for immediate removal (ideally with a note to the adding editor about providing sources), while if it's non-new material then I'll usually tag it but won't remove it until it's been tagged long-term (long-term is obviously a relative term; in my case anything over three months probably qualifies). That said, if it's a lot of material, I'll generally copy it over to the Talk page rather than merely deleting it, in the event that other editors are more successful at finding sources such that the material can be reincorporated into the article. Happy editing! DonIago (talk) 14:31, 11 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced material[edit]

Below information was tagged for needing sources long-term. Feel free to reinsert with appropriate references. DonIago (talk) 14:00, 27 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Production

== Production ==

Larry Hagman previously directed episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and The Good Life and went on to do the same for several episodes of Dallas and In the Heat of the Night (the only series for which he directed, but never acted). This would be his only feature film as a director. To cast the film, Hagman recruited friends from the motion picture industry, (some of whom were literally his neighbors in Malibu, California, including Burgess Meredith and Carol Lynley) who were asked if they would like to be "blobbed". Gwynne Gilford was cast as the lead via the traditional auditioning process, while Robert Walker Jr. was an early hire by Jack H. Harris.

Budgeted at slightly more than the 1958 version at $150,000, filming began in the spring of 1971, primarily on the property of a horse stable and ranch home in Diamond Bar, California, as well as in Pomona, California, both 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The climactic finale at the bowling alley and ice skating rink was filmed at two separate locations. The former Grand Central Bowl in Glendale, California, stood in for the bowling alley (the building still stands as part of the Disney Imagineering complex, and was also filmed as Jack Rabbit Slims in Pulp Fiction), while the ice skating rink scenes were filmed at the former Rollerdrome in Culver City, California (immediately prior to the building being torn down in August, 1971 to make way for Tellefson Park). The party scene was filmed in a loft in Venice, California. In an interview in Fangoria magazine, screenwriter and first time producer Anthony Harris stated that a good portion of the filmed material was improvised on the set, and that his script was ignored. While in production, Harris was also in the process of preparing a second sequel, Curse of the Blob, but these plans were never implemented.

Contrary to the original 1958 film, in which the Blob was largely portrayed by gallons of silicone dyed red, which needed to be repeatedly stirred to maintain the consistent red color, the Blob in Beware! the Blob was mostly created from a red-dyed powder blended with water to form the desired consistency. The Blob was alternately created from other materials as well, including a large red plastic balloon, semi-transparent red plastic sheeting illuminated with a backlight, and a large rotating red drum of hard red silicone placed in front of the camera lens.

Renowned cinematographer Dean Cundey, who would later go on to be a cinematographer on such films as Halloween, The Thing, the Back to the Future series and Jurassic Park, worked on Beware! The Blob alongside two other special effects technicians responsible for creating the Blob effects, supervisor Tim Baar and Conrad Rothmann. Cundey was also the camera operator on second unit shots of the Blob eating the fly, the kitten, etc.

Beware! The Blob was intended as a December 1971 release, but was held back until June 1972 to capitalize on the lucrative summer movie and drive-in theater audience. An exceptional film marketer, Harris later paired the movie with other films to which he held the rights (notably Equinox), and renamed the film Son of Blob in some markets as a test title. The film premiered on television in 1974.

DonIago (talk) 14:00, 27 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]