Nickelodeon (1976)

Set in 1914, a struggling lawyer (Ryan O'Neal) is coerced into being a screenwriter (and later a director) at the urging of a film producer (Brian Keith). Meanwhile, he becomes smitten with a pretty girl (Jane Hitchcock) and makes her his leading lady. However, she has eyes for the leading man (Burt Reynolds). Directed by Peter Bogdanovich (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW). Bogdanovich wanted to make a nostalgic film about the rough "guerilla" days of making movies before Hollywood became the capital of movie making in America. The film is flat as a pancake and I'm not sure where the blame lies. Bogdanovich insisted it was studio interference while the film's original producer Irwin Winkler insists that Bogdanovich took a perfectly good screenplay and rewrote it and the result is a muddle. The film doesn't work on any level and some of the actors seem miscast, notably Burt Reynolds who at 40 is playing someone in their 20s. The film's leading lady Jane Hitchcock was a model making her film debut (she only made one other film before "retiring") and her inexperience shows. Also, the film doesn't give any indication that the burgeoning film makers have any talent. With Tatum O'Neal, John Ritter, Stella Stevens, George Gaynes and Priscilla Pointer.