| Nothing Lasts Forever | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Tom Schiller |
| Written by | Tom Schiller |
| Produced by | Lorne Michaels |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Fred Schuler |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Howard Shore |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1984 Americanscience fictioncomedy-drama film written and directed byTom Schiller, and starringZach Galligan andLauren Tom, with a supportingensemble cast includingBill Murray,Dan Aykroyd,Sam Jaffe,Imogene Coca,Eddie Fisher andMort Sahl.John Belushi was slated to appear, but he died six weeks before production began.
Shortly before its announced release date of September 1984,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer shelved it. The film has never been officially released theatrically or on home media in the United States, though it was eventually broadcast onTurner Classic Movies.[1][2] It was once uploaded ontoYouTube, but was taken down at the insistence ofTurner Entertainment, the copyright owner of the pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film library.[1][3]
Production, through interviews withTom Schiller,Lorne Michaels,Zach Galligan,Lauren Tom,Bill Murray and others involved, is chronicled in the bookNothing Lost Forever: The Films of Tom Schiller by Michael Streeter (BearManor Media, 2005).
The film opens to Adam Beckett, a pianist reluctantly performing Chopin to an audience inCarnegie Hall. When Beckett is asked to play an encore, he gives away that he is not actually playing, but using aplayer piano. The outraged crowd storms the stage and wraps Beckett with the piano rolls.
Adam awakens on a train in Europe and realizes it was a nightmare. He is accosted by aSwedish architect, to whom he explains his stymied dreams of becoming an artist. After encouragement from him, Adam resolves to return to America to follow his dream. Upon returning, he discovers that thePort Authority has taken control of New York and is restricting entry into the city.
Upon failing a drawing test at the Port Authority, Adam is forced to work in a menial job under a trigger-happy boss. He has to watch traffic before it enters the Holland tunnel and prevent vehicles from entering with faulty parts, such as a headlight out.
Feeling he won't be creative living under his aunt and uncle's roof, Adam moves to a hotel. He is given a room whose last occupant disappeared mysteriously, leaving all of his belongings behind, including several paintings.
At work Adam meets Mara, a fellow aspiring artist. He tags along with her toSoHo and she takes it upon herself to expose them to lots of different art forms to determine which most appeals to each of them.
His kindness to atramp leads him to be taken into an underground network where he is first cleansed by fire, then discovers that the city's tramps are controlling the destiny of all the cities in the world. They instruct him to travel to theMoon on a mission.
When Adam returns above ground he goes immediately to Mara's, but she is indifferent to him. Upset, he hurries to the city bus bound for the Moon.
In transit, the bus has different levels, one for dancing, one for dinner. Adam is the youngest by far, and one of the older ladies tells him they all have chips implanted in the back of their necks. It causes them to say Miami rather than Moon when they speak of the trip.
Upon arrival the bus is greeted by the Moon Maidens and Eloy, meant to be Adam's true love, who tells him it's too dangerous to talk. Adam jumps off the shuttle heading to the shopping at Moon-o-Rama and Eloy picks him up with a buggy to take him out of Consumerzone.
Adam awakens in an alley. He's told he must hurry to his concert inCarnegie Hall. After playing Chopin's polonaise no. 53 he receives a standing ovation. He looks up and sees Eloy waving to him from a box.
Shortly before the scheduled release date,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announcedNothing Lasts Forever was being postponed. MGM never gave the film a national theatrical release. The only theatrical screening it had was at Harkins Cinema in Thomas Mall in Phoenix, Arizona in September 1984.[4] The film has also never been available on home video in any format in the United States.[1] However, the film has been broadcast on TV networks, on BBC2 in the UK in 1994 as part of theMoviedrome strand,[5] in Italy under the title "Niente dura per sempre", in Germany under the title "Alles ist vergänglich" and onDutch television networkRTL 5 in November 1993.Warner Bros., which now owns the rights to the pre-May 1986 MGM film library (viaTurner Entertainment Co.), stated in 2003 and again in February 2006, that the film cannot be released on DVD due to unspecified "legal difficulties".[6][7]Bill Murray andDan Aykroyd have both agreed to take part in DVD special features, should the film finally be released.[8]
In 2011, the film was leaked ontoYouTube.[1]
The film made its American television debut onTurner Classic Movies on January 4, 2015 as part of their "TCM Underground" programming block.
Murray and Schiller held a screening of the film on April 13, 2004, at the BAM Cinematek inBrooklyn, New York.[9] On September 6, 2005, Murray, Schiller and Zach Galligan attended another screening, this time at Lincoln Center'sWalter Reade Theater.[10] The screening was followed by a Q&A session and a book signing ofNothing Lost Forever: The Films of Tom Schiller.[11] The film was next screened on November 12, 2005, at theSt. Louis International Film Festival.[12] On January 28, 2006, Schiller introduced a screening at theEastman House'sDryden Theatre inRochester, New York.[13] Schiller was again present for an August 22, 2007 screening at the Cinema Arts Center ofHuntington, New York.[14] The film was shown on November 6, 2009, at Olympia's Capitol Theater as part of the opening night of theOlympiaFilm Festival.[15] On April 1, 2010, it screened inLos Angeles, California atGrauman's Egyptian Theatre inHollywood as part of theAmerican Cinematheque's acknowledgment of "criminally unknown" films, with Schiller attending and answering questions.[16] On September 27, 2014, Schiller attended a screening of the film, followed by a Q&A at Sunray Cinema in Jacksonville, Florida.[17]