Just like the others, the Nineteen Eighties have been good to John Sweet, who transitioned from the Canadian sketch comedy collection SCTV to getting his breakout position alongside Invoice Murray in 1981’s Stripes. Despite the fact that Sweet misplaced the position of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters to fellow SCTV alum Rick Moranis, he went on to play important elements alongside Tom Hanks in Ron Howard’s Splash and Richard Pryor in Brewster’s Thousands and thousands. But it surely was Hughes who actually understood use Sweet, placing him within the lead for Planes, Trains and Vehicles, The Nice Outdoor (with Dan Aykroyd), and Uncle Buck.
Bartholomew vs. Neff may have been the subsequent step for the 2 comedy greats and a manner for Stallone to reinvent himself. Furthermore, the script had the help of Carolco Photos, which had simply loved its personal string of hits with Area of Goals, Complete Recall, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
So what occurred? Why did Bartholomew vs. Neff by no means materialize on display screen? Two phrases: Curly Sue.
Whereas in preproduction for Bartholomew vs. Neff, Hughes made Curly Sue, a cutesy comedy starring Jim Belushi and Alisan Porter, the younger actress enjoying the titular child. Curly Sue managed to barely make again its price range, however the movie was ravaged by critics, who notably blamed Hughes for holding to a components he created with Dwelling Alone.
As Simon Brew at Movie Tales writes, Hughes took the criticism to coronary heart and misplaced his ardour for steering. As he fell again, curiosity in Bartholomew vs. Neff waned. Ultimately, Carolco moved its stars onto different initiatives: Sweet would be a part of Richard Lewis within the interval comedy Wagons East! whereas Stallone went onto the strong catastrophe flick Daylight. Hughes would by no means direct one other film once more.
John Sweet died of a coronary heart assault in March of 1994, as Wagons East! was ending manufacturing. In line with Vince Vaughn, who lived close to the director in Lake Forest, Illinois, Sweet’s dying might have one thing to do with Hughes’ retirement from directing, much more than the critics who hated Curly Sue. “He talked lots about how a lot he cherished Sweet;” Vaughn instructed Self-importance Truthful in 2010; “if Sweet had lived longer, I believe John would have made extra movies as a director.”