| | | | The Wizard of Speed and Time
(1988) |
his is a movie about dreams and reality, corruption and idealism.
It's about Hollywood. The year is 1977 - the year of "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters", the rebirth of movie imagination and technical wizardry.
And our story is about one of those special effects wizards ...an eccentric filmmaker, hidden off on a Hollywood hillside, who is about to get the chance of a lifetime.
Discovered through a pirated videotape, MIKE JITTLOV is summoned to a major film studio by director Lucky Straeker (STEVE BRODIE) and sleazy producer Harvey Bookman (RICHARD KAYE). They're making a TV spectacular all about special effects, and want Mike to create "a whirlwind tour de force" sequence that just might be used in the show.
Because Mike is unknown and non-union, he can't be officially hired. But if his work is good enough, it could be bought as "stock footage" and be seen on their nationwide show.
It is an incredible opportunity, a filmmaker's dream.
It is also a Herculean challenge, since the show's airdate is just a few weeks away. Mike contacts his friends, Brian Lucas (DAVID CONRAD) and Steve Shostakovich (JOHN MASSARI), who decide to pool their ingenuity and savings to create a sensational effects showcase of stop-motion, speed-motion, animation, rotoscoping, and every other form of special effect.
Mike is elected to act as a magical wizard who brings an entire film studio to life, with marching tripods, dancing cameras and flying filmcans - and who then leaves Hollywood at super-speed, racing around the world to perform a marathon of effects miracles.
In true Hollywood tradition, most of this will be accomplished in Mike's garage.
As the adventure builds, a love interest also evolves between Mike and Cindy Light (PAIGE MOORE) - an aspiring actress who met him at the studio, and who chooses to help him at the risk of losing her own job on the show.
The small crew struggles to film through windstorms, lightning storms, insane bureaucracy, throngs of tourists, and a totally unexpected sabotage of their work by the TV special's crooked producer...
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Quite possibly one of the rarest movie gems you'll ever find - 'The Wizard of Speed and Time' is a micro-budget special effects tour de force about, you guessed it, making a micro-budget special effects tour de force.
I beg you to see this film, to get hold of it any way you can (it's damned hard, I tell you.
I paid £20 for it on eBay - and worth every damn penny!) - if you're a fan of films as a whole, it will urge to grab a camera and go and make movie magic. And repeat viewings do not dull the experience - many, many in-jokes, secret messages, one-frame-gags, this is a film that demands to be put on DVD so it can be seen frame-by-frame.
Written, directed, special effects by and starring Mike Jittlov, a man who should be considered a genius but is more likely simply dubbed 'eccentric'.
The great, nay, wonderful thing about this film is the sheer energy, fun and passion that so obviously was present in the making transferring effortlessly to the audience.
First seeing this on video when I was 12, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker - 'Wizard' gave me the hope and belief that no matter what, I would make it (hey, I live in England, and I'm still struggling to make it).
This is a film about hope, about following your dreams and seeing them come to light (a great 80's theme if ever there was one -Ed). And also has a great big dig at the industry as a whole.
And the special effects? Stop motion? Optical effects? Old hat, I hear you shout. Well, two fingers to you, because for a film chock full of old practices this hasn't dated a jot.
Mike Jittlov - We salute you - and I mourn the fact that you never seemed to make it big...
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Endless one-frame messages are inserted into various effects shots - all proclaiming along the lines of 'Follow Your Dream'. 
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Jittlov's original "Wizard" short was featured in a Disney special about special effects (Which also heavily featured the newly released "The Black Hole"). -Thanks to J. Charles Hazelwood
Jittlov has a new website and he's stated he's making a concerted effort into learning about the various filmmaking techniques one can use with PC software. -Thanks to J. Charles Hazelwood
Frank LaLoggia - Director of "The Lady in White") plays one of the disguised policemen.
In the original short the Wizard slips on a banana peel and flies over a jetliner, crashing into the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland. In the remake he flies over a Space shuttle and crashes into the Olympic stadium. Both feature Jittlov himself giving the dive a rating of 9.7, which makes the other judges beat him up. -Thanks to J. Charles Hazelwood
Mike Jittlov went on to work on all sorts of projects. In the film 'Ghost' (starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore & Whoopi Goldberg) the 'Dark Spirits' that come to claim the souls of those that have done evil were created/animated by Mike Jittlov. -Thanks to Martin Bennett
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check out this list: ..... Tootsie ..... Raising Arizona ..... Good Morning, Vietnam ..... Blues Brothers ..... Heathers ..... Fast Times At Ridgemont High ..... This Is Spinal Tap ..... Naked Gun ..... Adventures In Babysitting ..... Airplane ..... License To Drive ..... Money Pit ..... Porky's ..... Risky Business ..... Twins ..... Soul Man .....[More]
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Over four years in the making, "WIZARD" actually had its genesis many years earlier. In 1969, while a UCLA student, Jittlov created "Speed" -a filmshort that followed a green-jacketed dynamo running and flying at
super-speed over Los Angeles streets.
Effects shots used early on in the film are actually taken from work Jittlov produced before making 'Wizard'. -Thanks to Jeff Warner
The short film "Speed" was the basis for (or renamed into) another short known as "The Wizard of Speed and Time", shown at science fiction conventions in the mid 70's before the full length version was made. He also made a collage-animated rock video (5 years before MTV existed) called "Fashion-nation" using a Petula Clark song. -Thanks to Jeff Warner
By doing his own camerawork, artwork, editing and sound, Jittlov had discovered subliminal techniques, which when coupled with his superspeed cinematography would evoke amazing responses from audiences. "I found out why time-lapse animation has such a magical fascination on viewers and how to use movies to boost self-healing and intellect... for a few hours, anyway."
Apparetly, the studio personel were all whimsically named after cigarette brands, "because they were always burning somebody".
With a small crew and two cars, they filmed as they drove up to San Francisco and Northern California, then over to Nevada and Las Vegas. "It was crazy, we had no plans and no script. We were shooting in these heavy-union towns without permits, and I'm running down the street in a green robe with a smoking torch." recalled Jittlov.
A 'Mickey Mouse' spaceship was actually used for 'The Mickey Mouse Club'.
The suitcase on wheels in this movie was no special effect. It was an actual suitcase custom-built by Customs By Eddie Paul in El Segundo, CA. This unique stunt vehicle was totally functional with a top speed of about 40mph. -Thanks to Brian
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|  |  |  | | The Wizard of Speed and Time
Locations |
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The Wizard's house was Mike Jittlov's house; The Wizard's garage: Mike Jittlov's garage...
...In general, if it is shown to belong to Jittlov in the movie, it really
does. The Los Angeles locations are easily locatable on a Los Angeles map. The whole movie was shot in and around the northern Los Angeles home of Jittlov, around the hills beneath the Hollywood sign, and suchlike. Certain quick shots of hills and valleys in Mike's short films were photo cutouts from travel magazines, animated by Mike on his famous(infamous?) JACAMPAC animation complex.
A few moments in the Wizard Run sequence were shot in Las Vegas, but they barely count, since they were no more than a few seconds at most.
There is a rumor that Harvey Bookman's pool (which the Wizard is thrown into and stays in beyond the lung capacity of most mortals) is actually Bill Shatner's pool in the Hills of Beverly, but that is unsubstantiated.
[Thanks to Clayton George]
The tunnel sequence was on the east side of the tunnel in griffif park just below the observitory. The same place the crash for the Warren bety film "Heaven can wait" was shot and the 1969 Into of the VW Thing was shot. [Thanks to Chris Roberts]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Los Angeles, S. California filming locations used for The Wizard of Speed and Time? [Please send them in]
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Written by unknown John Massari, the soundtrack fits beautifully - bouncy, jolly, infectious.
There are also a number of catchy songs and themes - with a 'It's A Small World' type of addictiveness!
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Soundtrack Available:
On CD
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