Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/22/footage-from-eddie-murphys-scrapped-hong-kong-phooey-movie.html
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[ article posted by Ruben Bolling ]
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I bought the “Saturday Morning: Cartoon’s Greatest Hits” album (which included the Sublime version of HKP) back in the 90’s and played the crap out of it in my car. My personal favorite track is Helmet’s take on “Gigantor”. I actually had to buy a second copy because my original CD got scratched to high hell from me dragging it around to all of my friend’s cars. Just in case you haven’t had a chance to hear the album yourself, here ya go. Enjoy!
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Almost anything helmet did was great
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Here’s a non xittertastic link
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Loved Hong Kong Phooey as a kid. It is hard to believe it only lasted a half season as I watched it all the time. Hong Kong Phooey wasn’t really a dog. I mean he was, but he was really a person. The toilet humor and bad animation don’t play. Eddie Murphy doing Donkey doesn’t work with the original Scat Man Cruthers’ Zen semi-indifferent cool. (If I remember correctly.)
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I’ve heard of this, but as a younger gen-x-er I’m a bit too young for most of the Hanna-Barberra cartoons (except for Scooby Doo, which seemed to continue in various iterations and in syndication forever, like some kind of TV zombie…)
My thoughts on watching the intro:
- Theme song is definitely a grade-A earworm. Thanks, Ruben!
- Really bad Asian stereotypes: check
- Creative Producer Iwao Takamoto, a Japanese-American who was imprisoned in Manzanar during the war, later directed the beloved film Charlotte’s Web… Hmm, ok.
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Exactly. HKP’s whole deal was he was super chill.
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So… no-one bothered to check what Penrod Pooch’s day job is?
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It is a very fun album. There was a VHS as well.
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Also the security guard in Scavenger Hunt (1979). This was the only clip I could find with him in the film:
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I am also shocked to learn HKP’s run was so short. They musta rerun the shit out of it, because I also remember often watching it.
My BF was a little too old for it, but did vaguely recall it. He had entirely forgotten who did HKP’s voice, and smiiiled when I told him. Who doesn’t love Mr Crothers?!
Another cartoon from my childhood, one of my favorites, also turned out to have been far more short-lived than I remembered. It took many years of searching after getting online just to find out the title, it was that obscure. There were only a lucky 13 episodes in 1972, when I was 5 or 6. It was called The Houndcats, and Our Heroes drove around in classic vintage cars. The head good guy was called Stutz, and he naturally drove a Stutz Bearcat. Aldo Ray, Arte Johnson, and The Great Daws Butler were among the talented voices.
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This got scrapped, you say? Well I’m certainly shocked. (I’m mostly shocked that someone realized what a bad idea this was before it got released.)
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Was this movie BEFORE he became a janitor in the police station (where he seems to already have free roam). Cuz… he would know the whole deal with the toilets already.
It’s like Donkey with num-chuks.
Pass.
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He was also in the little rememberd Bronco Billy (1980) with Clint Eastwood.
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Completely unrelated but I have a childhood memory of seeing a program about the making of The Twilight Zone: The Movie. There was some behind-the-scenes footage of Crothers playing a ukulele and singing “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More” for the kids and you could see the total joy in their faces. He seemed to be having a good time himself.
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"Tony says it's because it's already in the article, Mr. Halloran."
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I grew up loving Globetrotters cartoons, so I mostly remember Crothers as Meadowlark Lemon, Nate Branch, and Dewey Stevens in various Globetrotter cartoons…
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