| | | | Don't Tell Her It's Me
(1989) |
ritten by Sarah Bird and based on her bestselling novel 'The Boyfriend School', "Don't Tell Her It's Me" is a genuinely uplifting story of love with wry social comment on the theme of 'Why we shouldn't judge books by their covers'.
The same is true of this movie. An uninspiring marketing job by the studio had put off more people than it encourages, which is a shame because what lies within is a classic modern fairytale with a genuinely good heart.
Gus (Guttenberg) plays a shy cartoonist recovering from Hodgkins' disease which has left him sadly swollen and hair-less.
His sister Lizzie, played by Shelley Long is a successful romantic novellist with a string of successful hits, herself a quirky eccentric. Long's character is worried about her brother's lack of romance and sets about fixing him up. To this end she introduces him to a beautiful young reporter, Emily Pear (played by Gertz), who she meets at at a book signing and the comedy of manners ensues.
The point is, of course, that the young reporter is not interested in Gus at all, mainly because of his looks, although she is at pains to say that this is not the reason. Gus's sister resolves to use her experience as a romance specialist to transform Gus into one of the heroes of her novels, and in this way make him interesting enough for Gertz's character to take notice of.
What follows is pure low budget magic... Sincerely and charmingly played by all concerned the movie is one of those rare ones that transcends is humble budget and somewhat cheesy premise and is a genuine joy to watch.
Sadly under promoted, this movie tends to be found languishing in the late night schedules of cable TV stations and was, until recently, unavailable to buy on any format. Thankfully, MGM have now rectified this with a commendable release on DVD.
The movie was filmed in and around Charleston, South Carolina and although technically was released on video and cable (where most people will have seen it) in the 90's, was made in 1989 and is an 80's movie in character. Like many 80's films, it will not appeal to harsh realists who will find its fanciful fairy tale premise too sickly to swallow.
 Don't forget that Don't Tell Her It's Me is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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Don't be put off -if you like romantic comedies it's warmly recommended -go for it!
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You can now correct/update any item of trivia by clicking the "Update" button next to it...
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Director, Mowbray, says that he specifically liked the comedy he saw in the story. "I look for the embarrassing moments in everyday life. When you're trapped in a farce, it's not funny. It can be a nightmare. But it's funny to someone, or an audience who's watching", the director explained. 
Originally the production was to have been made in Texas. The novel, on which the film is based, was set in Austin, which is where the writer lived.
In Sarah Bird's book, Jamie Gertz character's name was Gretchen Griner and the persona adopted by Gus was that of a character from a novel Gretchen was writing, not Shelly Long's character. -Thanks to Stephanie
The movie has since been shown on cable and subsequently released on DVD with the title "The Boyfriend School".
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Rediscover your favorites! If you like
Don't Tell Her It's Me or 80's Romantic Comedy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Can't Buy Me Love ..... Say Anything ..... Some Kind Of Wonderful ..... Sixteen Candles ..... Valley Girl ..... Switching Channels ..... Grandview, U.S.A. ..... Dance 'til Dawn ..... Mannequin ..... Teen Wolf ..... Secret of My Success ..... Secret Admirer ..... Pretty In Pink ..... She's Having a Baby ..... Dream A little Dream .....[More]
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Sarah Bird, the writer, wrote the original novel because she "got so damn tired of the incredible amount of condescension heaped on the genre [of romance novels] by people who had no idea how hard they were and how difficult the craft was to master." She was apparently very disappointed in the finished film. As well as hating the title, "Don't Tell Her it's Me", which she thought was "totally forgettable", she said "It was a surreal experience and completely enjoyable right up until the point at which I sat down and watched the movie. And then, the dream ended". She says "It was such a shock". Ironically, the movie is now marketed under the original title of "The Boyfriend School". Since I wrote the above, Sarah Bird herself very kindly wrote in to say:
"There was a critical feeding frenzy around the movie for several reasons. Numbers one and two were S. Guttenberg and Shelley Long -At that time, the two actors critics most loved to hate. The third was the studio, Hemdale, which was in the process of imploding when the movie came and went bankrupt shortly after. It was owned by one John Hemdale a former boxer/street tough from England who very famously and very disastrously declared in an interview that it is cheaper to not pay your bills and let your debtors come after you in court than it is to operate legitimately. So, no one was pulling for Hemdale Studios at that point. The last and possibly most important reason is Steve Guttenberg's "choices". I never intended for Gus' bout with cancer to be the huge visual element that SG decided it should be. He did some research that led him to demand the fairly grotesque make-up he wore in the beginning. This was too much of a violation of the conventions of the romantic comedy for most critics, viewers, and, frankly, for myself." -Thanks to Sarah Bird, The Writer Of The Movie
The little girl, "Piglet" was actually played by twins, Caroline and Sally Lund.
Gus's makeup would mean that Guttenberg had to endure six hour cosmetic makeup sessions.
To be able to empathise with his character, Steve Guttenburg spent weeks with people who were being treated for the same disease.
Writer Sarah Bird had never written a screenplay before 'Don't Tell Her It's Me'. Bird said "That was not only the first script I'd ever written, but, literally, the first one I'd ever READ! I wrote it when I was about 3/4 of the way through the novel as a way to get to know Gus since I didn't want to rewrite the entire book in prose form from his POV." Her thoughts after her first screenplay were: "The big lesson was how much the visual overwhelms the verbal and how you have to write visually. It makes little difference how clever the dialog is if the screenplay is not written with the visual in mind."
Hurricane Hugo devastated South Carolina, where the film eventually was made, causing production to be halted for two weeks. Most of the work had already been done. Many of the exteriors seen in the movie were sadly destroyed.
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|  |  |  | | Don't Tell Her It's Me
Locations |
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Don't Tell Her It's Me was filmed at locations in Charleston, South Carolina.
Steve Guttenberg's character's house is located on Sullivans Island, a barrier island just outside Charleston. The house sits on a dock directly behind the home of a close family friend. They filmed many scenes directly from her back yard. To protect her privacy, I can't release her home address as one would have to be in her backyard to even get a glimpse of the house used as Steve Guttenberg's. It's not visable from the street. Honestly, it's not much to see these days. It's fallen into extreme disrepair. It's currently vacant and both the house and the dock are falling apart. [Thanks to Linda ]
The gas station where the robbery transpired was called the 'Limehouse Gas Station' on Spring Street at the foot of the Ashley River Bridge in Charleston. It was an old time honored landmark and sadly destroyed by Hurrincane Hugo in 1989. The building was demolished and removed. Many teenagers in the 50's, 60's and 70's would fill up before heading up to Folly Beach on weekends.
The apartment house the Jamie Gertz lived is on Society Street in the city of Charleston, known to Charlestonians as living 'downtown'. We are not sure of the street number of the house. Almost all the houses look the same. They are called 'Shotgun' or 'Singles' houses. Originally built in the late 17 and 1800's, these houses were single family dwellings with 3 or 4 floors, porches cascading the entire length of the house. The houses were placed 'sideways' in order to be able to build more houses on the street. They almost always were made entirely of brick, with a long driveway horizontal the entire length of the house reaching the back where the gardens were. The driveway is often embellised with a wrought iron gate, such as the one in the movie. The homes eventually became too expensive to maintain as single dwellings and were converted into apartments, 1 or 2 to each floor.
To give you an idea of the grandeur of the neighboorhood, probably 2 doors down from the filmed building, a home at 66 1/2 Society Street is currently on the market for $697,500!! (no, that is not a typo)
Gus and Emily go rinding among Charleston's beautiful scenery, some shot on Highway 61 also known as the Avenue of Oaks. Some of the oak trees are hundreds of years old. They form a gracefull roof over the highway with their magnificent limbs arching on both sides till they touch each other.
[Thanks to Audrey Chubb for the above excellent locations info]
The airport at the end of the film is the Charleston International Airport. [Thanks to Laura]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Charleston, South Carolina (or any other) filming locations used for Don't Tell Her It's Me? [Please send them in]
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Comments: Released under the name "The Boyfriend School". Great news! |
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Michael Gore's excellent soundtrack was only ever released on a small, independent label, and only on cassette as far as I can tell. I have never seen a copy on sale. (In fact I have never seen a copy, period!).
-Can anyone help out with additional info?
The group "The Cowboy Junkies" is mentioned in the movie. David Barrett of the group contributed the song "Ready for Love" that was used in the film.
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Soundtrack Available:
Used Vinyl LP / Tape
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