Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Anchorman:
The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Adam McKay
Produced by Judd Apatow
Written by
Starring
Music by Alex Wurman
Cinematography Thomas E. Ackerman
Edited by Brent White
Production
company
Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures
Release dates
  • June 28, 2004 (2004-06-28) (Los Angeles)
  • July 9, 2004 (2004-07-09) (United States)
Running time
 94 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $26 million[2]
Box office $90.6 million[2]

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Adam McKay, produced by Judd Apatow, starring Will Ferrell, and written by McKay and Ferrell. The film is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the new Action News format.[3] It portrays a San Diego TV station where Ferrell's title character clashes with his new female counterpart. This film is number 100 on Bravo's 100 funniest movies, number 6 on TimeOut's top 100 comedy films of all time and 113 on Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

The film made $28.4 million in its opening weekend, and $90.6 million worldwide in its total theatrical run. A companion film assembled from outtakes and abandoned subplots, titled Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, was released straight-to-DVD in late 2004. A sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, was released on December 18, 2013, with Paramount Pictures replacing DreamWorks for distribution.[4][5][6]

Plot

In 1974, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is the famous anchorman for a local San Diego television station, fictional KVWN channel 4. He works alongside his friends, who he had known since childhood, on the news team; lead field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sportscaster Champion "Champ" Kind (David Koechner), and intellectually disabled, but loyal and good-hearted chief meteorologist Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). Station director Ed Harken (Fred Willard) informs the team that they have maintained their long-held status as the highest-rated news program in San Diego, leading them to throw a wild party, where Ron unsuccessfully tries to pick up a beautiful, blonde woman, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). Ed later informs the team that they have been forced to hire Veronica Corningstone, the same woman whom Ron tried to pick up. After a series of unsuccessful attempts by the team to seduce her, she finally relents and consents to a "professional tour" of the city with Ron, culminating in a sexual relationship. Despite agreeing to keep the relationship discreet, Ron announces it on air.

After a dispute with a motorcyclist (Jack Black) involving Ron's dog Baxter being punted off the San Diego–Coronado Bridge, Ron is late to work. Veronica fills in for him on-air, gets higher ratings than Burgundy normally gets, and the couple break up. Veronica is made co-anchor, to the disgust of the team, and the two co-anchors become fierce rivals, both on and off the air. Depressed, the news team decides to buy new suits, but Brick, who was leading the way, gets them lost in a shady part of town. Confronted by main competitor Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn) and his news team, Ron challenges them to a fight. However, when several other news teams converge on the site, a full-on melee ensues, only to be broken up by police sirens and causing them to flee. Realizing that having a woman as a co-anchor is straining their reputation, Ron gets in another heated argument with Veronica, and they get in a physical fight after she insults him about his hair, further increasing tensions.

One of Veronica's co-workers tells her that Ron will read anything written on the teleprompter, so she sneaks into the station and changes the text in revenge. The next day, Ron (unaware of what he is saying) concludes the broadcast by saying, "Go fuck yourself, San Diego!", instead of his usual closing line, "You stay classy, San Diego!", subsequently provoking an angry mob outside the studio and prompting Ed to fire Ron. Realizing she went too far, Veronica tries apologizing, but Burgundy angrily dismisses her. Burgundy becomes unemployed, friendless, and heavily antagonized by the public while Veronica enjoys fame, although her male co-workers hate her. Ed also informed Champ, Brick & Brian that they are not allowed to talk to Ron if they see him or else they will be fired.

Three months later, when a panda is about to give birth, all the news teams in San Diego head to the zoo to cover the story. In an attempt to sabotage her, a rival news anchor (Tim Robbins) pushes Veronica into a Kodiak bear enclosure. When Ed cannot locate Veronica, he recruits Ron. Once at the zoo, Ron jumps in the bear pen to save Veronica, as the public watches helplessly. The news team then jumps in to save Ron. Just as a bear is about to attack, Baxter, who miraculously survived, appears and persuades the bear to spare them. As the group climbs out of the pit, Wes appears and holds the ladder over the bear pit, threatening to drop Ron in, and tells him that deep down he has always hated him, but then admits to Ron that he also respects him and pulls Ron out to safety.

After Ron and Veronica reconcile, it is shown that in years to come, Brian becomes the host of a Fox reality show named Intercourse Island, Brick is married with 11 children and is a top political adviser to George W. Bush, Champ is a commentator for the NFL before getting fired after being accused by Terry Bradshaw of sexual harassment, and Ron and Veronica are co-anchors for the CNN-esque World News Center.

Cast

Production

The first draft of Anchorman written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay was very strange and wildly different from the film's final form; Adam McKay stated that the script originally included "a musical number with sharks". Film director Paul Thomas Anderson, who used to be a producer of Anchorman, was taken aback by the script's bizarre nature, so much so that afterwards he left production, although in retrospect he mentioned lightheartedly, "I blew that [opportunity]."[7]

Even though Anchorman is set in San Diego, the real San Diego is only seen in brief aerial shots—modern shots which include numerous buildings in downtown San Diego which had not yet been built or opened during the 1970s.[8] According to the official production notes and "making of" documentary (both included on the DVD), Anchorman was actually filmed in Los Angeles, Glendale, and Long Beach on sets which were made to look like San Diego during the 1970s.[8]

The film initially centered around the reporters tracking down a clumsy yet elusive group of hippie bank robbers known as "The Alarm Clock".[9] This version of the film was met with poor test audience results, and a significant portion of the film was re-written and re-shot to replace the Alarm Clock with the panda story that appeared in the final version.[9] The original Alarm Clock version was re-edited, along with alternate takes of existing scenes, into a separate direct-to-video film entitled Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie.[9] It was released straight to DVD on December 28, 2004.[10]

The physical appearance of the Ron Burgundy character was modeled after real-life news anchorman Harold Greene who worked at KCST-TV and KGTV in San Diego, CA during the mid-1970s.[11]

Although he does not appear in the final film, John C. Reilly attended an early read through and impressed Ferrell so much that a part in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby was developed for him; he would later appear in the 2013 sequel to Anchorman.[12]

Music

The film's musical score was composed by Alex Wurman.[13] A soundtrack album compiling the songs used in the film was released on July 9, 2004.[13] The "jazz flute" solo heard in the film is played by Katisse Buckingham, a Los Angeles-based studio musician.[14][15][16]

Reception

Box office

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy grossed $85,288,303 in North America, and $5,285,885 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $90,574,188.[2] In North America, the film opened at number two in its first weekend, with $28,416,365, behind Spider-Man 2.[17] In its second weekend, the film dropped to number three in the United States, grossing an additional $13,849,313.[18] In its third weekend, the film dropped to number six in the United States, grossing $6,974,614.[19] In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number nine in the United States, grossing $3,132,946.[20]

Critical response

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 66% based on 196 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Filled with inspired silliness and quotable lines, Anchorman isn't the most consistent comedy in the world, but Will Ferrell's buffoonish central performance helps keep this portrait of a clueless newsman from going off the rails."[21] Another review aggregation website Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 63 based on 38 reviews.[22]

Empire magazine ranked Ron Burgundy #26 in their "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" poll.[23] Empire also ranked Anchorman at number 113 in their poll of the 500 Greatest Films Ever.[24] Entertainment Weekly ranked Burgundy #40 in their "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years" poll and Ferrell said, "He is my favorite character I've played, if I have to choose one ... Looking back, that makes it the most satisfying thing I've ever done".[25] He also stated later on that he had no idea that the film would take off like it did, saying "We had no idea that certain lines would be quoted the way they are and that the film would just take on this life after it left theatres, but thank god it did."[26]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying "Proving that even infantile humor can be funny, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy does make you laugh even if you hate yourself for doing so."[27] Brian Lowry of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "Ferrell has seized on a clever concept rife with possibilities – namely, women breaking the glass ceiling in male-dominated TV news during the '70s – and smartly surrounded himself with a topnotch cast."[28] Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, saying "Tightly directed by newcomer Adam McKay, a former head writer on Saturday Night Live who cooked up the screenplay with Ferrell, Anchorman never reaches the sublime heights of that modern comedy classic There's Something About Mary. Big deal—it's a hoot nonetheless and the scaled-down aspirations seem smart".[29] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three out of four stars, saying "That he can make his anchorman chauvinistic, deluded and ridiculous but still manage to give him some humanity is testimony to Ferrell's comic talents".[30] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+, saying "Yet for a comedy set during the formative era of happy-talk news, Anchorman doesn't do enough to tweak the on-camera phoniness of dum-dum local journalism".[31] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars, saying "If you sense the presence of recycled jokes from Animal House onward, you'd be right. But you'd be wrong to discount the comic rapport Ferrell has with his cohorts, notably the priceless Fred Willard as the harried station manager".[32] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Most of the time... Anchorman works, and a lot of the time it's very funny".[33]

James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Ferrell carries the movie on his broad shoulders, nailing the character perfectly."[34] Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "It's a cute, silly, likable movie without much weight or intensity, but it's also pretty funny."[35] Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly gave the film a negative review, saying "It's a long string of heavy-footed sight and sound gags that must have seemed a stitch at the drawing board, but made me squirm in my seat."[27] Bill Muller of The Arizona Republic gave the film three out of four stars, saying "For every gag that works, there's one that doesn't, and the story is too thin to keep us engaged otherwise."[27] Terry Lawson of the Detroit Free Press gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Little more than an extended Saturday Night Live skit with better wigs, real locations and a script that sputters as soon as its one-joke premise is exhausted."[36] Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald gave the film two out of four stars, saying "It's a flat, dull picture marked by sporadic flashes of ridiculous brilliance."[27] A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film three out of five stars, saying "It is not as maniacally uninhibited as Old School or as dementedly lovable as Elf, but its cheerful dumbness is hard to resist."[37] Stephen Cole of The Globe and Mail gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "Knights of Columbus! Wouldn't it be great if TV-based comedians weren't afraid of making movies that were funnier than they are?"[38] Geoff Pevere of the Toronto Star gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Like most of these sofa-spud comedies, Anchorman bears its attention-deficit disorder proudly, as it shifts tone and abruptly sidetracks."[27]

Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "Sloppy, crude, pursuing the most far-flung tangents in hopes of a laugh, Anchorman still gave me more stupid giggles than I'd care to admit if I weren't paid to."[27] Michael Booth of The Denver Post gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Always affectionate toward its people, especially when they are at their most ridiculous, Anchorman meticulously builds America's dimmest news team. And we root for them."[27] Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News gave the film three out of four stars, saying "As much credit as Ferrell deserves for keeping this nonsense from slipping off the screen, Applegate deserves as well."[27] Megan Lehmann of the New York Post gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Ferrell is funny spouting his weird stream-of-consciousness rants, but too often the plot leaves him hanging and he resorts to just Yelling Really Loud."[27] Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Most of it isn't even as funny as those supposedly humorous features that local news broadcasts sometimes end with."[27] Joe Baltake of The Sacramento Bee gave the film three out of four stars, saying "There isn't a second that goes by without Ferrell filling it with some form of comic shtick – a well-turned punch line, a goofy facial expression, a pratfall or some other kind of physical comedy business."[27] Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times gave the film two out of four stars, saying "While the film is sporadically funny, it was done much better on the small screen, decades ago."[39] Anna Smith of Time Out gave the film a positive review, saying "Takes a joke and runs with it – sometimes too far, but usually long enough to wear you down and force you to submit to its craziness."[40]

Home media

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was released on DVD and VHS on December 28, 2004.[41][42] It was released on Blu-ray on March 15, 2011.[43]

Sequel

A sequel, titled Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, was released on December 18, 2013.[44] Adam McKay, the director of the first film, returned as director.[44] The main cast, including Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate reprised their roles.[44] New cast included Meagan Good, James Marsden and Kristen Wiig.[44]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. July 30, 2004. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy". e.tv. March 8, 2012. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ "'Anchorman 2' Release Date: The Legend Continues On Dec. 20, 2013". December 19, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Is Anchorman 2 Coming?". Collider. May 4, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  6. ↑ Luippold, Ross (March 28, 2012). "'Anchorman' Sequel Confirmed: Will Ferrell As Ron Burgundy Tells News To Conan O'Brien". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  7. ↑ The Director's Cut (16 January 2016). "Episode 7: The Big Short With Adam McKay and Paul Thomas Anderson by The Director's Cut". SoundCloud. SoundCloud Ltd. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  8. 1 2 "20 Things We Learned from the 'Anchorman' Commentary". Filmschoolrejects.com. June 27, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Anchorman sequel you probably haven't seen – Movies Blog". Digital Spy. December 14, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Find The Film movie trivia". Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  11. ↑ EndPlay. "Former 10News anchor Jack White talks about consulting on Anchorman movie – Entertainment Story". 10News. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ Murphy, Mekado. "SXSW 2015: Will Ferrell Discusses Fraternities, 'Get Hard' and More". New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Anchorman: Alex Wurman, Various Artists: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Bio". Katisse Buckingham. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Katisse Buckingham". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Anchorman (2004)". Cast, Credits and Awards. New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 9–11, 2004". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 16–18, 2004". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 23–25, 2004". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 30 – August 1, 2004". Box Office Mojo. August 1, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Anchorman – The Legend Of Ron Burgundy". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  23. ↑ "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
  24. ↑ "Empire's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time". Empireonline.com. December 5, 2006. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  25. ↑ Ferrell, Will (June 4–11, 2010). "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years". Entertainment Weekly. p. 64.
  26. ↑ "Talking To The Cast And Director Of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues At The NYC Premiere". December 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Anchorman – The Legend Of Ron Burgundy – Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  28. ↑ Lowry, Brian (June 29, 2004). "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Variety. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  29. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (July 9, 2004). "Anchorman". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
  30. ↑ Puig, Claudia (July 8, 2004). "Tune in to 'Anchorman'". USA Today. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
  31. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (July 7, 2004). "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
  32. ↑ Travers, Peter (July 14, 2004). "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
  33. ↑ Ebert, Roger (July 9, 2004). "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
  34. ↑ "Reelviews Movie Reviews". Reelviews.net. July 9, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  35. ↑ Wilmington, Michael. "metromix.com – Chicago movie theaters, movie reviews, movie photos, movie news". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on August 13, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  36. ↑ "Movie: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Web.archive.org. November 29, 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  37. ↑ Scott, A. O. (July 9, 2004). "FILM REVIEW; When the Hair Made the Man". New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  38. ↑ Stephen Cole (June 29, 2004). "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on August 5, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  39. ↑ Macdonald, Moira (July 9, 2004). ""Anchorman" plays like a small-screen rerun". Seattle Times Newspaper. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  40. ↑ Smith, Anna. "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Time Out London. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  41. ↑ "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy DVD: Unrated Widescreen Edition". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  42. ↑ "Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy [VHS]: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Fred Willard, Chris Parnell, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Seth Rogen, Paul F. Tompkins, Danny Trejo, Thomas E. Ackerman, Adam McKay, David B. Householter, David O. Russell, Judd Apatow, Shauna Robertson: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  43. ↑ "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  44. 1 2 3 4 Barrett, Annie (November 27, 2013). "'Anchorman 2' gets new release date | Inside Movies | EW.com". Insidemovies.ew.com. Retrieved January 20, 2014.

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