The film is introduced by George Burns, who tells viewers that they were about to see an old-style double feature. In the old days, he explains, movies were in black-and-white, except sometimes "when they sang it came out in color."
''Dynamite Hands''
Joey Popchik, a young man from a poor family, dreams of one day becoming a lawyer. His sister is losing her eyesight, so he becomes a boxer to raise the money to have her cured. Along the way, he gets seduced by fame and fortune, and runs afoul of a crooked boxing manager. In the end, his sister is cured and Joey, so that "poetic justice could be served," races through law school to become the prosecutor who puts the villain behind bars, spouting corny courtroom aphorisms such as "a man can move mountains with his bare heart."
''Baxter's Beauties of 1933''
Legendary theatrical producer Spats Baxter learns he's dying. To support the daughter he's never known after he's gone he plans to create one last Broadway smash. Kitty Simpson, a young ingenue with dreams of performing on Broadway arrives to audition. Baxter's accountant is at heart a genius songwriter Dick Cummings. Baxter's star, Isobel Stuart, is a spoiled actress who almost destroys the entire production with her drunkenness and reckless spending of the show's money. In the end Kitty must go on in Isobel's place. Kitty becomes a star, and learns that Baxter is her long-lost father. As the curtain falls, a dying Baxter tells her, "One minute you're standing in the wings, the next minute you're wearing 'em."
The film was originally called Double Feature and was based on an idea of Larry Gelbart. He pitched the project in 1975 and was successful at Universal. He says it took him and co-writer Sheldon Keller six weeks to write the film and six months to get paid. In June 1976, Universal announced Gelbart would write, direct, and produce the film. The studio disliked the script and allowed Gelbart to take it elsewhere. Gelbart showed it to Martin Starger, the American representative of Lew Grade. Both Starger and Grade loved the script; Grade had been a backer of Gelbart's Sly Fox and he agreed to finance Double Feature. The budget was $6 million. Stanley Donen agreed to direct. Filming started in October 1977. It was decided to shoot the film using color stock that could be printed in black and white, to give the filmmakers the option of showing the film in black and white or color. The title was changed to Movie Movie, as it was felt Double Feature might be confusing. There were plans to include a Flash Gordon-type serial, but this was ultimately not filmed. George C. Scott said "Gelbart is such a good writer and the picture was so much fun I was almost ashamed to take the money." The film was extensively previewed. As a result of the preview, a newsreel used to open the film was dropped, along with a trailer for a fake movie. A new ending was shot for "Dynamite Hands," which took one day. A prologue was added starring George Burns, in which Burns explained what double features were.
Release
The film premiered at the Sutton Theatre in New York City on November 22, 1978. In the theatrical release, as George Burns leads us to expect in the film's prologue, Dynamite Hands and the mock film trailer were in black-and-white, while the musical Baxter's Beauties of 1933 was in color. Some home video editions featured the original color version of Dynamite Hands which was printed on black and white film stock during its theatrical release.
Proposed Sequel
liked the movie so much that he commissioned a sequel. In October 1978 he said this would be called Movie Movie Two and would be written by Gelbart and Keller and once more directed by Donen. However the movie failed at the box office. Grade blamed poor distribution from Warner Bros. This contributed to Grade deciding to help set up his own distribution company, with ultimately disastrous financial consequences for him and his company.
