ANCHORMAN: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy [2004]

"There was a time, a time before cable. When the local anchorman reigned supreme. When people believed everything they heard on TV. This was an age when only men were allowed to read the news. And in San Diego, one anchorman was more man then the rest. His name was Ron Burgundy. He was like a god walking amongst mere mortals. He had a voice that could make a wolverine purr and suits so fine they made Sinatra look like a hobo. In other words, Ron Burgundy was the balls."

Anchorman Ronald Joseph Aaron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team stormed onto the big screen in the Summer of 2004.  Actor Will Ferrell and his writing partner Adam McKay, both formerly of Saturday Night Live, had pitched the script more than a dozen times before finally getting the green light to proceed into production.  The original draft of the script by the pair suggested several actors for lead roles:

• John C. Riley as chauvinistic sportscaster "Champ" Kind - Riley had to drop out due to filming The Aviator
• Ben Stiller as reporter Brian Fantana - Stiller ended up playing Spanish anchor, Arturo Mendes
• Chris Parnell as empty-headed weatherman Brick Tamland - Parnell played Garth Holliday, assistant news director, a role written with Dan Aykroyd in mind
• Amy Poehler as female anchor and Burgundy love interest Veronica Corningstone - Poehler took smaller role as an indignant bank teller during a robbery but was cut from the film

Produced by Judd Apatow and directed by McKay, as many as 20 takes of certain scenes were filmed as the talented group of actors improvised and riffed.  So much footage was filmed that an entire second full-length "movie", Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (below) was edited together from the unused footage and released directly to video.  This alternate film also featured performances by Maya Rudolph, Justin Long, Kevin Corrigan and Public Enemy's Chuck D all rescued from the cutting-room floor.

As originally released in theaters, the film was rated PG-13 although several scenes were edited in for the Unrated home video release.  The movie is chock full of quotable lines and is one of several fine comedies from the Class of 2004 including 50 First Dates, Dodgeball and Mean Girls, all of which earned more than Anchorman at the box office.

The film is vaguely set in the mid-70s and has a soundtrack of songs from the era.  Todd Homme was the executive music supervisor for the film and he has served in similar capacity on the films Small Soldiers and Almost Famous.  The official soundtrack album for Anchorman (above) features Will Ferrell in character as Ron Burgundy introducing each song and he can be heard openly weeping throughout one of the songs.

The original version of "Afternoon Delight" was a surprise Grammy-winning smash hit on American radio airwaves in 1976.  The Starland Vocal Band was sort of an American ABBA, made up of two married couples who could harmonize.  One couple had written "Take Me Home, Country Roads" with John Denver and he signed the band to his Windsong label and they even hosted their own Summer variety show on CBS.  He tells the story in this clip from The Merv Griffin Show:

Speaking of groovy television shows, check out the clip below of Tom Jones and the dancers from his own TV show in 1969.  The song is "Help Yourself", which is used in Anchorman during the animated scene.

The blue-eyed soul of Hall & Oates's "She's Gone" closes out the music video portion of our program today with a live performance from The Old Grey Whistle Test.  The song was originally released in 1974 and peaked at #60 on the Hot 100 during an eight week stay.  Re-released in in 1976, the single spent twenty additional weeks on the Hot 100, peaking at #7 for two weeks in October and November.

The Spotify playlist below features the original songs featured in Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy and a few from Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie as well.

The boys are back in town, ready for the Eighties in Anchorman 2, coming Decmeber 2013.

Stay classy...
and thanks for stopping by!