Ed Wood (1994)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 59
Fresh: 54 | Rotten: 5
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up to fete the life and work of cult hero Ed Wood, with typically strange and wonderful results.
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 3
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up to fete the life and work of cult hero Ed Wood, with typically strange and wonderful results.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 99,686
My Rating
Movie Info
Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography. The film follows Wood (Johnny Depp) in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never-weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), whom he tries to help
Sep 28, 1994 Wide
Aug 13, 2002
Buena Vista Pictures
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Cast
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Johnny Depp
Ed Wood -
Martin Landau
Bela Lugosi -
Sarah Jessica Parker
Dolores Fuller -
Patricia Arquette
Kathy O'Hara -
Bill Murray
Bunny Breckinridge -
Jeffrey Jones
Criswell -
Vincent D'Onofrio
Orson Welles -
Lisa Marie
Vampira -
G.D. Spradlin
Reverend Lemon -
Max Casella
Paul Marco -
Brent Hinkley
Conrad Brooks -
Juliet Landau
Loretta King -
George Steele
Tor Johnson -
Norman Alden
Cameraman Bill -
Don Amendolia
Salesman -
Vinny Argiro
TV Horror Show Director -
Ray Baker
Doctor -
Matthew Barry
Valet -
Gretchen Becker
TV Host's Assistant -
Ned Bellamy
Dr. Tom Mason -
Mickey Cottrell
Hammy Alien -
Reid Cruickshanks
Stage Guard -
Danny Dayton
Soundman -
Stanley de Santis
Mr. Feldman -
Carmen Filpi
Old Crusty Man -
Ryan Holihan
Frantic Usher -
Charlie Holliday
Tourist -
Don Hood
Southern Backer -
Rance Howard
Old Man McCoy -
Maurice LaMarche
Orson Welles [uncredite... -
Gene Lebell
Ring Announcer -
Ric Mancini
Photographer #2 -
Ralph Monaco
Waiter -
Korla Pandit
Indian Musician -
Mary Portser
Backer's Wife -
Clive Rosengren
Ed Reynolds -
Anthony Russell
Busboy -
Edmund L. Shaff
Executive #2 -
Vasek Simek
Professor Strowski -
Mike Starr
Georgie Weiss -
Leonard Termo
Makeup Man Harry -
Patti Tippo
Nurse -
Gregory Walcott
Potential Backer -
Melora Walters
Secretary #2 -
Biff Yeager
Rude Boss -
-
King Cotton
Hick Backer -
-
Alan Martin
Vampira's Assistant -
Conrad Brooks
Bartender -
-
Charles C. Stevenson Jr.
Another Backer -
Louis Lombardi
Rental House Manager -
Jonathan Ross
Camera Assistant -
Bobby Slayton
TV show host -
John Rice
Conservative Man
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All Critics (59) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (5) | DVD (41)
Beguiling rather than thrilling, oddly charming instead of transporting, meaning that Disney will have its work cut out for it with what is at heart a cult movie and a film buff's dream.
It certainly succeeds as a funny, touching tribute to tenacity, energy, ambition and friendship.
Mr. Depp isn't best known as a comic actor, but he gives a witty and captivating performance, bringing wonderful buoyancy to this crazy role.
Outrageously disjointed and just as outrageously entertaining, the picture stands as a successful outsider's tribute to a failed kindred spirit.
The movie's black and white photography convincingly recaptures the look and feel of 1950s sleaze, including some of the least convincing special effects in movie history.
Given the finished film, one also has to wonder if Ed Wood was interesting enough to base a two- hour movie on.
A more-than-competent transfer of one of American cinema's unsung gems, but Ed Wood deserves Criterion-level respect.
Burton wraps it all in his singular vision, devoid of bells and whistles and all the more potent for its comparative subtlety.
Depp-led cult-director bio delves into cross-dressing, kink.
Typically, Burton's storytelling is sometimes erratic, but his emphasis on humanizing marginal characters -- a project that seems central to his artistic agenda -- is as strong as ever.
The film's greatest achievement is to avoid the easy, patronizing laughs and instead see the near heroic qualities of a patently untalented artist.
It's refreshing to see Burton in a relatively upbeat mood, but he picked the wrong story to give an optimistic spin.
I loved the acting, Johnny Depp and Landau are awesome, the B&W look is perfect and the story is kind of cute, but where is the genius in this flick? Am I missing something?
[Tim Burton's] own jazz-hands dance to the spirit of movie-making.
Buena Vista Home Video's long-delayed DVD release of Ed Wood makes the wait worthwhile.... The chief attraction among the extras is the informative and entertaining commentary audio with Tim Burton, Martin Landau....
Droll and witty, Burton's tribute evokes the career of Hollywood's "worst" director by making a most stylishly polished production
My favorite deleted scene: Bill Murray as Wood's transsexual wanna-be crony serenading a mariachi band in a meat locker with "Que Sera Sera" in an eccentric sexual swoon.
Landau is wonderfully real, and with the movie's humor providing an ideal counterbalance, his touching performance enriches the film tremendously, and legitimizes it.
If you love movies, you've got a little Ed Wood inside you.
Tim Burton, fidèle à son talent et à sa réputation, transforme un scénario déjà bien concocté en un film des plus divertissants
Tim Burton's best movie.
Audience Reviews for Ed Wood
Super Reviewer
-
- Vampira: You're watching our Halloween movie, 'White Zombie', starring Bela Lugosi, John Harron, Madge Bellamy, and a bunch of other people I've never heard of.
-
- Bela Lugosi: I refuse to drive in this country. Too many madmen.
-
- Bela Lugosi: GODDAMN, it's cold!
- Ed Wood: It'll warm up once you're in it.
- Bela Lugosi: FUCK YOU! You come out here!
-
- Criswell: Eddie, we're in show biz. It's all about razzle-dazzle. Appearances. If you look good, and you talk well, people will swallow anything.
-
- Ed Wood: Listen, I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime, grab some dinner, maybe?
- Vampira: You mean a date? I thought you were a fag
- Ed Wood: No, no, I'm just a transvestite.
-
- Georgie Weiss: Why would Lugosi wanna do a sex-change flick?
- Ed Wood: Because he's my friend!
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