The Garr/Coleman/Mull Rule

Roger Ebert has a rule that has come to be known as the Stanton-Walsh rule. It states that,  “no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.” To tell the truth, I have no idea where he originally wrote that. However, he does stand behind it, though he has come to claim that 1999’s Wild, Wild West invalidates that rule. As regards Stanton or Walsh, I can’t say one way or the other. It might be true, as I can’t think of any movies in which either of them were involved that was without some merit.

Nevertheless, I have my own rule. It is as follows: No movie that was made in the 70s or 80s and that features Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, or Martin Mull can be entirely without merit.

I admit, I have not seen every movie that Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, or Martin Mull made during that time. For example, I missed Teri Garr in The Sting II, which was probably awful. I also missed Martin Mull in pretty much everything he did after Clue (1985). Furthermore, the 80s was not a good time for movies, unless one considers box office receipts to be the sole arbiter of a movie’s quality. In fact, outside of maybe a few early 80s exceptions, the entire decade was devoid of any great movies. It was nothing more than Steven Spielberg and George Lucas movies, or Spielberg/Lucas knockoffs. All big-budget, soul-less, blockbuster garbage. A number of fun movies, but great? Still, the decade was the decade of the feel-good movie, and it was in that environment that I grew up, and, for better or worse, have a fondness for.

I’m not going to go over every movie they were in, or why I liked them. However, I will do a quick rundown of some of their better features.

Teri Garr: Young Frankenstein, Mr. Mom, Tootsie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (this was before Spielberg got too wonderful for words. It was still Spielbergesque in the truest sense, but he didn’t lose his shit until The Color Purple and beyond. Besides, Teri Garr was in it), and After Hours. She was also in an episode of the original “Star Trek.”

Dabney Coleman: North Dallas Forty, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Modern Problems, War Games, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Dragnet.

Martin Mull: My Bodyguard, Take this Job and Shove it, Mr. Mom, Private School, and Clue.

In the end, maybe this rule is flawed, and maybe Garr’s, Coleman’s, and Mull’s body of work don’t come close to M. Emmet Walsh, and Harry Dean Stanton. However, within the realm of really stupid, feel-good movies, nobody was as dependable as the Big Three.