Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is the title of an American comedy film which was released on July 9 2004. It stars Will Ferrell as pompous TV news anchor Ron Burgundy and Christina Applegate (as Veronica Corningstone), David Koechner (as sportscaster Champ Kind), Steve Carell (as slow-witted weatherman Brick Tamland), and Paul Rudd (as field reporter Brian Fantana).
Fred Willard and Chris Parnell co-star as high-ranking executives of the station. Bill Kurtis narrates.
It was written by Ferrell and Adam McKay, and directed by McKay.
The movie is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the then-new Action News television-program format. It portrays a San Diego TV station where one female reporter (Applegate) struggles to become the first "Anchorwoman".
This movie contains more Frat Pack members than any other, with 5 making appearances. It also contains Steve Carell, who is usually considered to be the 7th and newest member. Owen Wilson is the only Frat Pack member who does not appear in the movie.
Characters
Ron Burgundy, (played by Will Ferrell), a five-time Emmy award-winning journalist, is the main anchor for the Channel Four News Team. Always confident, he is nevertheless ignorant, egotistical, and not very intelligent (he believes "diversity" is "an old, old wooden ship used during the Civil War era" and that "San Diego" is a German phrase for "whale's vagina") but also remains the rock for the entire group. He develops an infatuation for newcomer Veronica Corningstone, initially having trouble wooing her with tried and true measures that allegedly won him many bimbo-type women in the past. He has a great fondness for scotch whiskey. He loses his job when, instead of saying his catchphrase, "Stay classy, San Diego", he says "Go fuck yourself, San Diego" due to teleprompter reliance.Veronica Corningstone, (played by Christina Applegate), joined the Channel Four News Team, hired from Asheville, North Carolina to comply with newly instituted "diversity standards". Burgundy develops an infatuation for her, culminating in a date. The two characters fall in love, though their affections are interrupted by a rivalry when Corningstone replaces Burgundy on one broadcast. When she is made co-anchor tensions between the two come to a head, culminating in Burgundy's termination when Corningstone sabotages his teleprompter, altering his signature sign-off from "You stay classy, San Diego" to "Go fuck yourself, San Diego". Veronica is a hit as the new anchor on the show, but reconciles with Burgundy after he tries to save her from a bear. At the end of the movie she is co-anchor with Ron for the first world-wide news network.
Brian Fantana, (played by Paul Rudd), is a lustful field reporter for the Channel Four News Team. He absurdly overestimates his personal qualities. For example, he wears a cologne called "Sex Panther," which his friend Burgundy describes as smelling of pure gasoline and other coworkers describe as smelling like "Bigfoot's dick", a used diaper filled with Indian food, feces covered in burnt hair and numerous other bad things. Fantana nonetheless believes it to be a powerful aphrodisiac, stating "60% of the time, it works every time". At the end of the film, it is explained that he hosts the Fox Network's Intercourse Island. It is revealed at the beginning of the film that his penis is called The Octagon, and his testicles are James Westfall and Dr. Kenneth Noisewater. Fantana is perhaps the voice of the group.
Champ Kind, (played by David Koechner), is the southern sportscaster for the Channel Four News Team. He vehemently opposes the adoption of co-anchor Veronica Corningstone, asserting, "It is anchorman, not anchorlady, and that is a scientific fact!" At the end of the film, it is declared that Kind, whose signature catchphrase is "Whammy!", became an NFL commentator before being fired for sexually harassing Terry Bradshaw. Champ is a stocky, balding man who always wears a ten-gallon hat. In a deleted scene of the movie, there is a flashback sequence where Champ raps aggressively at an African American maid who is a bit older than him.
Brick Tamland, (played by Steve Carell), is described as being (in the future) diagnosed as mentally retarded with an IQ of 48. He has a habit of stating unrequested or irrelevent information such as how he likes to eat ice cream, and that he really enjoys a nice pair of slacks or that he just burnt his tongue, and the fact that he asks Veronica to come to "the pants party," a mistake of the sexual saying "There's a party in my pants, and you're invited". At the time the story takes place he is employed as a weatherman for the Channel Four News Team. His condition is the source of much of the film's comedy, especially in the anchorman battle mid-point in the movie, wherein he murders a rival by throwing a trident (During a summary of the battle, he says, "There were horses, a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident"). He is treated as something of a mascot by the rest of the people who work at Channel Four, and in many ways, his personality is dog-like: not bright, but good hearted and loyal. Much of the time, the group has to watch their friend as if they were watching a child. At the end of the film, it is explained that Tamland married, had eleven children and became a top political advisor to President George W. Bush.
Wes Mantooth, (played by Vince Vaughn), is lead anchor of the competing Channel Nine News Team and Burgundy's rival. Mantooth is consistently irritated by his being second in the ratings, causing him to ultimately initiate an anchorman battle against Burgundy and three other news teams. He ultimately draws up Burgundy on a ladder from a bear pit, explaining that while he hates him, he nonetheless respects him as a journalist. In an earlier cut of the movie, Mantooth was revealed to be Burgundy's brother, but this scene was deleted from the final print. His mother's name is revealed to be Dorothy Mantooth.
Ed Harken, (played by Fred Willard), is the producer of the Channel Four News station. His youngest son, Chris (who does not appear in the film) is very ill-behaved. It is revealed that he goes to a Catholic School and has shot a bow and arrow into a crowd while on LSD, was caught reading German pornography in school, and took a marching band hostage with a gun. Ed's assistant is Garth Holladay.
Garth Holladay, (played by Chris Parnell), is Ed's assistant at the Channel Four News station. No one listens to what he says, and he doesn't have much of a job there. Ron Burgundy was his hero, before he used his "poop-mouth" language during a news broadcast.
Frank Vitchard, (played by Luke Wilson), is a competing news anchor whose station is third in the ratings. During the movie, he gets one arm chopped off in the anchorman battle, and another arm eaten by a bear.
Trivia
- The title has to some appeared to be a satirical reference to the film .
- The commentary track on the DVD features most of the cast members as well as guests such as Lou Rawls and Andy Richter.
- The film Wake Up, Ron Burgundy was assembled from unused footage from Anchorman.
- Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Fred Armisen, Paul F. Tompkins, Jerry Minor and Tim Robbins have cameo roles. In addition, Stiller's father, Jerry Stiller, can be seen in the background of a bar scene which takes place close to the film's finale.
- The character Ron Burgundy was featured in a short piece that imagined him auditioning for a spot on ESPN's SportsCenter when the network was just beginning. Ironically, ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Company, with which DreamWorks (the distributors of this film) co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg had a fallout with.
- This film is number 100 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
See also
External links
- [Official movie site]
- [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
- [}}}] at Box Office Mojo
- [Director Adam McKay discussing Anchorman] on Fresh Air with Terry Gross
- [In Focus interview with Will Ferrell]
- [IGN Visits the Set of Anchorman]
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