The Muppets Take Manhattan is a 1984 American musical comedy film directed by Frank Oz. It is the third of a series of live-action musical feature films starring Jim Henson's Muppets. The film was produced by Henson Associates and TriStar Pictures, and was filmed on location in New York City during the summer of 1983 and released theatrically the following summer. It was the first film to be directed solely by Oz (who also performs Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Animal), as he previously co-directed The Dark Crystal with Henson.
The film introduced the Muppet Babies, as toddler versions of the Muppet characters in a fantasy sequence. The Muppet Babies later received their own Saturday morning animated television series, which aired on CBS from 1984 until 1990 and has since been syndicated worldwide.
Plot
Kermit, Miss Piggy, and their friends are graduating from college and are performing in a variety show called Manhattan Melodies on campus ("Together Again"). Kermit believes that there is "something missing" from the script, but his friends suggest that the group take the show to Broadway. Miss Piggy, in particular, hopes to make enough money to marry Kermit as he has promised. Kermit and the others are so confident in the show that they anticipate becoming instant stars. First they start with New York producer Martin Price who at first seems to be willing to produce the show until he tells them the cost of the show ($300 a piece, which is what he really wants). Just then, Martin's secretary Nancy comes in with an elderly woman and two police officers where the elderly woman identifies Price as con artist Murray Plotsky. Plotsky tries to use Camilla the Chicken and Gonzo as hostages to get out only to be subdued by Animal and Camilla. The Muppets try other theatrical producers with no success ("You Can't Take No for an Answer").
As the months pass and the group runs out of money, the Muppets are forced to get jobs throughout the United States ("Saying Goodbye"). Kermit stays in New York to work on the script and gets a job at a diner befriending the owner Pete and his daughter Jenny, a waitress and aspiring fashion designer. Also working at the restaurant are Rizzo the Rat who secures employment for the other rats Tatooey, Masterson, Chester, and Yolanda. Earlier that night, Kermit climbs to the top of the Empire State Building and shouts from the top that he and his friends will soon be on Broadway. Unknown to Kermit, Miss Piggy also stayed behind. Kermit later gets letters from some of his friends. Scooter gets a job as a house manager at a movie theater in Cleveland, Ohio where he finds the Swedish Chef at the concession stand and Lew Zealand as a dedicated viewer of a popular 3-D film. Fozzie is unable to find a job so he joins some other bears in hibernating within the forests of Maine where he has a hard time hibernating. Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem have a gig in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania performing in a polka-themed restaurant.
Kermit, Jenny, and Rizzo try to find a way to promote Kermit's play. First Kermit enters the Winesop Theatrical Agency to see producer Leonard Winesop. Pretending to be a fellow producer, he bluffs his way through an impromptu meeting praising the play, but Winesop discards the unread script soon after Kermit leaves the room. Then Kermit tries to get his caricature picture on the wall of other famous people who dined at Sardi's Restaurant, ending up replacing a picture of Liza Minnelli. The rats assist Kermit by creating a whispering campaign amongst patrons. However, Minnelli eventually enters and ends up asking Vincent Sardi, Jr. why her portrait was taken down. Rizzo and Yolanda end up giving themselves away by causing havoc as the other rats come out of their hiding place. Vincent discovers Minnelli's portrait near the table where Kermit was sitting. This causes Kermit and the rats to be ejected from the restaurant.
While in Central Park, Jenny comforts Kermit with his loss in the first two attempts. Miss Piggy, jealous of Jenny and Kermit's friendship, secretly spies on them before a thief steals her purse causing her to borrow some skates from a roller skater. When Miss Piggy catches up to the thief, a police officer arrests him just as Kermit and Jenny catch up with her. While Kermit and Miss Piggy argue about Kermit's relationship with Jenny, the roller skater tries to reclaim his skates from Miss Piggy but then allows her to keep them since he never actually uses them. After making amends and taking a ride around Central Park with Kermit ("I'm Gonna Always Love You"), Miss Piggy also takes a job as a waitress at the same diner as Kermit. Kermit reads more letters from his friends while Masterson handles a customer that Miss Piggy was with and starts flirting with her. The letters to Kermit reveal that Gonzo and Camilla are in Michigan trying to make a successful water act. Rowlf is in Delaware working at a dog kennel where the wealthy Mr. Skeffington leaves his beloved dog for the weekend. Another letter that Kermit got was from Bernard Crawford, a Broadway producer who is interested in producing Kermit's play.
Kermit meets with Ronnie Crawford, the actual writer of the letter who is willing to fund Manhattan Melodies in order to prove himself to his father Bernard. Despite Bernard's doubts, he agrees to fund the show. In his excitement over having finally sold the play, Kermit fails to notice a "Don't Walk" sign and is hit by a car while making his way back to the restaurant. When Ronnie comes to the diner to bring up his father's approval to Miss Piggy, Jenny, and Pete, he, Jenny, and Miss Piggy go out to look for Kermit. Pete sends a telegram to the rest of Kermit's friends informing them to get to New York as quickly as they can.
Fozzie ends up bringing the bears with him, Gonzo and Camilla bring along some chickens, Rowlf brings along some dogs, Scooter brings the Swedish Chef and Lew Zealand along, and the Electric Mayhem bring Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Beauregard along. Kermit awakens in the hospital with no memory of his name, friends, or past. His doctor tells Kermit to find a new life for himself. As "Phil", he finds a job at Mad Ave Advertising with fellow frogs Bill, Gil, and Jill while his friends, Jenny, and Ronnie search the city for him ahead of the show's opening at the Biltmore Theater.
After Kermit visits the diner with the frogs and plays the Manhattan Melodies theme "Together Again" with a spoon and glasses of water, his friends recognize him. Miss Piggy restores his memory with a punch after Kermit mocks the idea of romance between a pig and a frog. Kermit realizes that what the script needs is more "frogs and dogs and bears and chickens and whatever", and adds the cast members' many friends from around the country to the show as supernumeraries.
With the expanded cast, Ronnie's producing, and Jenny's costumes, Manhattan Melodies is successful ("Right Where I Belong"/"Somebody's Getting Married"/"Waiting for the Wedding"). On Opening Night, Piggy substitutes a real minister for Gonzo in the wedding scene finale where the other Muppet characters, many from Sesame Street and Uncle Traveling Matt from Fraggle Rock, attend. Kermit is surprised, but reluctantly says "I do" and he and Miss Piggy are wed ("He'll Make Me Happy"/"The Ceremony").
Cast
Musical numbers
- "Together Again" - Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and The Muppets
- "You Can't Take No for an Answer" - Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem
- "Saying Goodbye" - Miss Piggy, Kermit, Scooter, Gonzo, Camilla, Rowlf, Floyd Pepper, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Fozzie Bear, and The Muppets
- "I'm Gonna Always Love You" - Miss Piggy, Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter, and Rowlf
- "Right Where I Belong" - Kermit and the Muppets
- "Somebody's Getting Married" - Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, and the Muppets
- "He'll Make Me Happy" - Miss Piggy, Kermit, and the Muppets
- "The Ceremony" - Minister, Miss Piggy, Kermit, and the Muppets
Production
Under the working title of Muppet Movie III, Jim Henson initially planned to film the project in late spring 1983. Having directed The Great Muppet Caper and The Dark Crystal back-to-back, Henson decided to serve as the producer along with David Lazer. Upon selecting fellow Muppet performer and Dark Crystal co-director Frank Oz to handle directorial duties, Henson stated, "I was looking at the year ahead and I thought my life was very busy and I thought maybe it was a time to have Frank directing one of these." Shortly after, Oz confirmed his involvement to the project. The first draft titled The Muppets: The Legend Continues, written by Muppet Caper scribes Jay Tarses and Tom Patchett, was dismissed by Oz for being "way too over jokey". After being given Henson's encouragement to tinker with the script, Oz revised the screenplay in an effort to develop the "oomph of the characters and their relationships". Once the script was completed and the sets were built, special consultant David Misch was brought in to write cameos for some guest star appearances. Originally, this list of guest stars contained the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Steve Martin, Michael Jackson, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, and Laurence Olivier to name a few. According to Misch, Hoffman was going to play a Broadway producer and planned to do an imitation of legendary film producer Robert Evans (The Godfather), which he later did in the film Wag the Dog. However, at the last minute, Hoffman decided that the role could be offensive to Evans and dropped out, following which all the other big names dropped out as well. Because of the dropped cameos, Misch and director Oz ended up rewriting most of the film's dialogue.
Release
Marketing
The Muppets Take Manhattan was adapted by Marvel Comics in 1984, as the 68-page story in Marvel Super Special #32. The adaptation was later re-printed into a three-issue limited series, released under Marvel's Star Comics imprint (November 1984 รข€" January 1985). The film's script was adapted into comic form by writer Stan Kay with art by Dean Yeagle and Jacqueline Roettcher. Unlike in the film, the comic depicts Gonzo, Floyd Pepper, Animal, Janice, Dr. Teeth, and Zoot in their customary outfits from The Muppet Show.
In addition, a book-and-record set of the film was released in the form of a vinyl record through the Muppet Music Records label.
Box office
Although the film didn't out-gross its predecessors, it did gross $25,534,703 making it the second highest-grossing G-rated film of 1984 (behind the re-issue of Disney's Pinocchio).
Critical reception
The Muppets Take Manhattan opened on July 13, 1984 to mostly positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 81% of 21 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.9 out of 10. The site's consensus stated that "if it's not quite as sharp as The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan is still a smart, delightfully old-fashioned tale that follows the formula established by the first two movies -- a madcap adventure assisted by a huge group of human stars."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a three star rating (out of four) stating in his review that "the plot of [the] movie has been seen before." However, Ebert went on to say that just about everything in the film was enjoyable and that Kermit finally solves his long-lasting identity crisis. In his 2009 Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gave the film a three star rating (out of four) as well citing that the film is an "enjoyable outing with bouncy songs, [with a] nice use of N.Y.C. locations."
Home media
Unlike the Henson's previous films (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Dark Crystal), The Muppets Take Manhattan was originally released by TriStar Pictures and not produced by ITC Entertainment; mainly because ITC was suffering from extreme financial difficulties at the time. Therefore unlike the previous films, the distribution rights to The Muppets Take Manhattan did revert to The Jim Henson Company in 1998, but did not revert to The Walt Disney Company in 2004. Due to this, it is one of three Muppet films (along with Muppets from Space and the direct-to-video feature Kermit's Swamp Years) whose home video distribution rights are controlled by Sony Pictures, and not the Walt Disney Studios.
The Muppets Take Manhattan was first released on VHS and the now defunct CED Videodisc format by CBS/Fox Video in 1985, which then reissued it in 1991, followed by a release from Columbia TriStar Home Video on June 1, 1999. The 1999 VHS contained a slightly edited cut from previous versions, possibly derived from the TV broadcast version. Cuts include removal of the audio from the TriStar logo, the scenes of Animal shouting "Bad man!" to Mr. Price, removal of the words "Oh my God" in one scene, and scenes with Miss Piggy hitting the purse snatcher.
A DVD version was released on June 5, 2001 with the cuts from the 1999 VHS version restored. A Blu-ray edition was released on August 16, 2011, and contains the same bonus features as the DVD.
Music
Jeff Moss was nominated for an Academy Award for the music and lyrics he wrote for The Muppets Take Manhattan.
Soundtrack
The Muppets Take Manhattan: The Original Soundtrack contains all of the songs written by Jeff Moss and prominent score cues composed by Ralph Burns from the film, as well as several portions of dialogue and background score. The album reached #204 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Top LP's chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children, but lost to Shel Silverstein's audio edition of Where the Sidewalk Ends.
This is the only Muppet film soundtrack that has not been released on CD. However, three tracks from the album can be found on the 2002 compilation album The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem, and More. A new version of "Together Again" was performed in the 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted and its soundtrack.
References
External links
- The Muppets Take Manhattan at the Internet Movie Database
- The Muppets Take Manhattan at the TCM Movie Database
- The Muppets Take Manhattan at Box Office Mojo
- The Muppets Take Manhattan at Rotten Tomatoes
- Muppet Movies Lyric Archive
- The Muppets Take Manhattan on Muppet Wiki, an external wiki