Is There a Flashdance/Maniac Connection?
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FlickChick.
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Question: I read somewhere that the song "Maniac" from
Flashdance was originally written for the slasher movie
Maniac. I find that really hard to believe, but could it be true? - Gary
FlickChick: This is one of those rumors so nutty you're inclined to believe it, and it appears there's a speck of truth to it - but only a speck. Michael Sembello's "Maniac" was
not written for
Bill Lustig's notorious
Maniac (1980), which starred
Joe Spinell as a New York-based serial murderer who stalks and scalps women. Sembello's account of how the song came into being has his writing partner Dennis Matkosky seeing
Maniac and scribbling down the (presumably parodic) lyrics, "He's a maniac, maniac that's for sure/He will kill your cat and nail him to the door." Presumably the two worked it into a rough track and set it aside, because Sembello claims that when he was working on songs for
Flashdance (which was released in 1983, which means it went into development not long after
Maniac opened) the film's soundtrack producer, Phil Ramone, heard a version of "Maniac" and suggested it might work for the film if the lyrics were changed, so they instead described a girl whose "mania" was a burning love of dance.
That "it can cut you like a knife" line always sounded a little odd to me in the context of
Flashdance's story of dreams and dancing, but as a holdover from a
Maniac-inspired version, it makes all the sense in the world.
Send your movie questions to
FlickChick.
Question: I saw an old romantic comedy on TV a while ago and can't remember the title - it's driving me crazy. It was about a daughter who asked her mother how she got her husband to be so perfect; the mom suggests that she train her husband using a dog-training book. The movie was adorable. Do you know the title? - H.B. Spero
FlickChick: I've answered this question in the past, but it never ceases to amaze me how it seems to resonate a full 45 years after it was made. The movie is
If a Man Answers (1962), starring teen idol
Sandra Dee as the unhappy young wife, and singer
Bobby Darin (her real-life husband) as the bad spouse who needs training. Why do I suspect that "H" doesn't stand for Henry or Hugh or Harold or Humphrey or... well, you get the idea.
Addendum: OK, this is the weirdest thing. As I was getting ready to post, I got an e-mail pitch with the subject line, "Quirky Song on YouTube Puts Men in the Dog House." And it gets better. To quote from the e-mail:
Have you ever heard a woman wish a man could be more like a dog?... Well, now there's a song [by Gini Graham Scott]... that expresses exactly this feeling.
The song is called
"I Sure Wish a Man Could Be More Like a Dog." The lyrics start off:
Well, I sure wish a man could be more like a dog.
He'd be loyal and true,
no trouble at all.
He'd listen to me,
stop when I say no.
He'd fetch what I want,
and come when I call.
All I have to say is,
plus ça change!
Send your movie questions to
FlickChick.
See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks in
Movie Talk!
