Psycho's Movie Reviews #106: Turner & Hooch: Movie Vs TV Show (1989 Vs 2021)

The Turner & Hooch franchise consists of American buddy cop-crime comedy-thrillers including three instalments: one theatrical film, one television special continuation of that film {We don't speak of this though}, and one legacy sequel television series. The plot comedically revolves around schedule-regimented law enforcement officers, who are teamed-up with disorderly dogs during crime scene investigations.

Though the original film was met with a mixed response from critics, the film was a box office success and has since acquired recognition as a cult classic. The film is noteworthy, as the script cost The Walt Disney Company's Touchstone Pictures the most amount of money at that point in time. The television continuation release was met with negative reception.

The franchise will continue with the Turner & Hooch television series in 2021.

Turner & Hooch (1989)

Turner & Hooch is a 1989 American buddy cop comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Beasley the Dog as the eponymous characters respectively. The film also co-stars Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson and Reginald VelJohnson. It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode and co-written by Daniel Petrie Jr., who also served as an executive producer.

Following the film's success, it spawned a franchise including a television movie sequel, and a legacy sequel television series.

Touchstone Pictures acquired the screenplay for Turner & Hooch for $1 million, which was the highest amount ever paid by Touchstone for any script at the time.

Plot:

Scott Turner is a police investigator in Cypress Beach, California. Bored with the lack of serious crime with his current work, Turner is set to transfer to a much better position in Sacramento, leaving fellow investigator David Sutton to replace him. Turner shows David around in the three days left before his transfer, meeting with long time friend Amos Reed for a final time. The two investigators are then called to the discovery of $8,000 found at the local beach.

That same evening, Amos is murdered by an affiliate of local seafood magnate Walter Boyett when Amos reveals his suspicions of Boyett's operations. Turner is alerted to the crime the following morning, resulting in Scott taking in Hooch, Amos' pet Dogue de Bordeaux and the only witness to his murder. Scott immediately takes Hooch to the new town veterinarian Emily Carson. Scott pleads with Emily to take in Hooch as he has no experience of handling such an animal before. However, Emily insists that Hooch will be good for Scott, who lives alone.

Immediately returning home, Hooch's noisy, destructive nature clashes intensely with Scott's meticulous routine and lifestyle. Scott leaves Hooch alone one night to buy dog food, only to return to a home that has been completely ransacked by Hooch unintentionally. Furious, Scott kicks Hooch out, only for him to return later with Emily's female dog, Camille. Seeing an opportunity to jettison Hooch, Scott drives both Hooch and Camille back to the veterinary clinic, only to be caught by Emily as he leaves. Emily invites Scott inside, and the two proceed to continue painting the house that Emily earlier abandoned for the night. Scott leaves later on and, although he expresses his lack of interest in taking things further with Emily, it becomes clear that the two are starting to like each other.

Scott takes Hooch to the police precinct the next day, where a wedding occurs just across the street. Hooch recognizes the wedding photographer as Amos' killer and gives chase. The murderer is able to escape from his pursuers, but Scott is able to identify the killer as Zack Gregory, a former Marine with several prior arrests who also fits the profile of Amos' killing (Scott had earlier speculated that Amos' murderer must have had special experience in killing as the stab wound performed on Amos ensured total discretion). Scott also speculates that Amos wasn't murdered in a robbery attempt, but in order for Zack to cover up an illegal operation near to where he lived. This theory matches with Amos' regular complaints to Scott about the noises he heard going on at Boyett Seafood, the company that has Zack registered as an employee.

Celebrating the approval to search Boyett Seafood, Scott treats Hooch but notices his refusal to eat. Scott considers this a consequence of Amos' death, the long term owner and presumably, only companion to Hooch. Scott and Hooch start to establish a closer bond. The next day, the police search Boyett Seafood, but find no evidence of any illegal activity. With his transfer pending the following day, Scott is relieved of jurisdiction of the case, which is given to David by Police Chief Howard Hyde.

Frustrated with reaching a dead end in the case, Scott meets with Emily, leading the two to spend the night together. In a eureka moment, Scott finally realizes why the earlier search of Boyett Seafood turned up nothing—instead of searching for imports, Boyett Seafood was actually exporting goods. Armed with this new lead, Scott takes Hooch back to the factory to stake-out. The following morning, David arrives upon Scott's request with the earlier recovered $8,000 from the beach. On a hunch, Scott commands Hooch to trace the scent of the money to anything he can find within the factory, ultimately returning with the exact type of bag the wad was discovered in.

Scott travels to the Lazy Acres Motel, the false address at which Zack Gregory was listed as a tenant. Scott interrogates the Motel owner into revealing where Zack is, only to be held up at gunpoint by him moments later. Zack orders Scott into his car to drive away, but Scott crashes the Cadillac into a concrete barrier, propelling Zack through the windshield and pinning him down by the neck, while assistance is provided by Hooch. Scott interrogates Zack, who reveals that he killed Amos, and also reveals that Walter Boyett is in on the illegal money trade going on at his factory, but is not in charge of it, to Scott's surprise.

Scott returns with Hooch to the factory, and is unexpectedly joined by Chief Hyde. Already suspicious of Zack's earlier confession, Scott confronts Hyde, believing him to be in charge of the money laundering operation at the docks, using the gigantic ice cubes to hide the cash being sent out of the country. A gunfight soon occurs between Scott on the one hand and Hyde and Boyett on the other. Hooch is able to ambush Boyett from above, although Boyett shoots Hooch in the process.

Confronting Hyde, Scott is seemingly coerced by the corrupt Police Chief to frame Boyett, who is subsequently killed by Hyde. However, Hyde knows that Scott is an entirely honest police officer, and calls his bluff. A mortally wounded Hooch manages to get up, and briefly distract Hyde long enough for Scott to kill him.

Scott races to Emily's clinic to tend to Hooch, who has suffered severe blood loss, and eventually dies. Later, Turner is made police chief while Sutton becomes leading investigator. Turner also marries Emily, with the couple now caring for Camille and her litter of puppies, one of whom looks and acts exactly like Hooch.

Production:

Hooch's real name was Beasley, and he was a Dogue de Bordeaux (French mastiff). He had a stunt double named Igor, and Animal Makers created an exact replica of Hooch for the death scene. Beasley was born in a dog kennel in Merrimac, Wisconsin, owned by Peter Curley. Beasley was later purchased along with three other dogs for production of the film. The dogs were trained by Clint Rowe, who makes a brief appearance in the film as an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals officer.[citation needed] Beasley died in 1992, aged 14.

It was rumored for years — and confirmed by their friend, actor and director Ron Howard in 2020 — that Henry Winkler, the original director, and Hanks had a falling-out on the set which led to Winkler's replacement by Spottiswoode. According to Winkler, he was fired thirteen days into the production by studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. Winkler said of his firing: "Let's just say I got along better with Hooch than I did with Turner."

Many scenes were filmed on location in Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Moss Landing, California. "Cypress Beach" is fictional, using mostly Pacific Grove for shots such as the police department, the wedding foot chase, and the car chase down Ocean View Ave.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

Turner & Hooch gained a mixed response from critics, with a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Tom Hanks makes Turner and Hooch more entertaining than it might look on paper, but ultimately, this is still a deeply silly comedy about a cop and a canine". Despite this, the film was still a box office success. No plans were made for a sequel despite its revived popularity following Hanks' rise to success.

NBC did a television pilot based on the film in 1990. It aired in the summer with another dog pilot, "Poochinski" under the banner, "Two Dog Night".

Turner & Hooch has been referred to in various films and television shows, including the NBC/ABC medical sitcom Scrubs, in which main characters J.D. and Turk modify shift schedules so that Doctors Turner and Hooch are teamed up as a surgical team in the episode "My Faith in Humanity" (Doctor Turner was played by Jim Hanks, Tom Hanks' brother). They actually make a good team, and are disappointed when they have to disband. Another episode has Turk offended at JD's assumption that Turner and Hooch was an interracial buddy movie, an assumption made based on the aforementioned Hooch. In the second season of Castle, Beckett and Castle compare themselves to Turner and Hooch, with Castle being Hooch. This comparison returned in the Castle season 7 episode "Kill Switch".

During an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, O'Brien gave Tom Hanks a preserved dog skeleton, claiming it was his old friend Hooch. As one of O'Brien's first guests on The Tonight Show, Hanks improvised a song from an alleged Turner & Hooch stage musical. During the 2006 Academy Awards, Tom Hanks played in a sketch about acceptance speeches that ran on too long. In his comedic lengthy speech, he thanked Hooch.

The 2014 Tamil film Naaigal Jaakirathai is based on this film.

Budget $13 million

Box office $71.1 million

My Review:

This is one of the funniest films with a dog in it. The relationship between Turner and Hooch is what makes this film so funny. Turner (Hanks) is a police detective and his only witness to the murder is Hooch a drooling pooch - together they must find out who killed Hooch's owner. Turner never expected to gain such a lovable side-kick as Hooch. This duo is sure to tickle your funny bone.

Tom Hanks is very convincing and enjoyable in his role as a neat-freak cop, and the dog, surprisingly (I never thought I'd write this) is a great actor. There are predictable and very typical eighties moments in "Turner and Hooch," but overall I thought the movie was a very enjoyable cop-doggy comedy, and it has a very nice ending to it ("This is not yours!").

When compared to other cop-dog movies like "K-9," it's a wonder that Turner and Hooch isn't on the top 250!

If you like crazy, silly comedy police/governmental type of stories such as "Spies Like Us", "The Naked Gun", "Police Academy" "Fletch" or "Dragnet" then it is a good chance you will get quite a few laughs out of Turner and Hooch.

This film had its ups and downs, it opened the same year as the Jim Belushi dog/cop movie "K-9" and while this one performed better than that movie I prefer it to this one. This one had its charms, but overall I think it suffers from a weak plot device to get the dog in Hanks' character possession. While in "K-9" it made perfect sense, Belushi's character needed a drug sniffing dog and he ended up with his. In this one though the dog's owner is killed and Hanks takes the dog in the hopes it will somehow identify the killer. Granted it is a movie, but it is still a bit far fetched that this cop would think a dog is his best lead to catch a killer, and it seems even more implausible that a super neat person would take this super messy dog into his home. Still, it makes from some funny scenes here and there with a rather funny scene where the dog is wrecking the house while poor Hanks is out spending a ton of money on said dog for chew toys and such. There is also a rather funny stake out scene too. The film sometimes loses its lustre with a few to many needless characters such as Reginald VelJohnson. I like the guy in "Die Hard", but here he is just another person to take away screen time from Hanks and the dog. There are a few other pointless people in this as well, and this has a rather bad ending in my opinion as well (sorry, but dogs do not have perfect clone puppies like that). Overall, I say this was an okay film, just not nearly as good to my as "K-9"; 7/10.

Turner & Hooch (2021) (Disney+ Series)

Turner & Hooch is an American buddy cop, action-comedy television series based on, and a continuation of, the 1989 film of the same name. The series, created and written by executive producer Matt Nix, serves as a legacy sequel and is produced in association with Flying Glass of Milk Productions, Wonderland Sound and Vision and 20th Television, starring Josh Peck, Lyndsy Fonseca, Carra Patterson, and Vanessa Lengies. It is the third overall instalment in the eponymous franchise. The series premiered on July 21, 2021, as a Disney+ exclusive.

Premise:

U.S. Marshal Scott Turner inherits an unruly dog named Hooch, who may become the partner he needs. Together, the partnership, alongside the rest of the Turner family, discover that Turner's father's death may not have been accidental.

Production

Development:

In 1990, Touchstone Television developed a TV pilot based on the Touchstone Pictures film Turner & Hooch, with Thomas F. Wilson starring as Scott Turner and Beasley the Dog reprising his role from the film as Hooch. The pilot was not green-lit for a series order, and was ultimately aired as part of The Magical World of Disney in July 1990. A television series reboot developed by Matt Nix was announced to be in development for the Disney+ streaming service in December 2019, officially receiving a 12-episode order in February 2020; Josh Peck was cast as Scott Turner. That same month, Lyndsy Fonseca and Carra Patterson joined the cast, while Josh Levy was revealed to be co-executive-producing the series. On March 6, Vanessa Lengies joined the cast. In January 2021, it announced that McG would direct the pilot and also serve as executive producer.

Casting:

On September 22, 2020, the day filming began, Anthony Ruivivar, Brandon Jay McLaren, and Jeremy Maguire joined the cast in lead roles, while Becca Tobin joined in the recurring role. In January 2021, Paul Campbell was cast in the recurring role.

Filming:

Filming for Turner & Hooch was originally scheduled to begin on April 27, 2020, taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Fonseca filmed the series concurrently with Fox's 9-1-1: Lone Star. Filming was delayed and began on September 22, 2020, and was scheduled to conclude on April 19, 2021.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

Turner & Hooch was initially announced to be released on July 16, 2021, on Disney+, and would release its 12 episodes weekly until October 1. However, on June 16, 2021, it was announced that after the success of the Wednesday release of Loki, Disney+ would be moving most of its original premieres to Wednesdays. As a result, Turner & Hooch was released on July 21, 2021. The Red Carpet Premiere took place in Los Angeles on July 17, 2021.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 57% based on 21 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Likeable, but slight, Tuner & Hooch features a mighty fine pooch, but those looking for more narrative meat may want to try a different bone." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Daniel Fienberg of Hollywood Reporter gave the show a negative review and stated, "I'm not even complaining when I call Turner & Hooch a forgettable, one-joke series. It's hard to know what else it could have been." Brian Lowry of CNN gave the show a negative review and stated, "Even if Hooch sits at attention like a good dog, after a few episodes of Turner & Hooch, it's hard to share that patience or loyalty." Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone gave the show 2.5 out of 5 and stated, "It leans much too hard into the corny aesthetic of those kinds of light-hearted dramas, creating something too silly and childish for most adults, yet likely too old-fashioned for their own children."

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the show 6 out of 10 and stated, "Nothing feels dumbed down or muted, though the dog dilemma involving Hooch being thrust upon an unwilling owner feels like a questionable situation now instead of a light-hearted romp." Ashley Moulton of Common Sense Media gave the show 3 out of 5 and an '11+' age rating, stating, "Dog-loving teens may enjoy this show, which is relatively tame in most aspects besides the violence, but many will roll their eyes at the cheesy dialogue and storylines."

Budget $13,000,000

Box office $52,079,915

My Review:

Honestly when I first saw the trailer / posters for this show I was thinking this was going to be a boring uninteresting TV show that would disappear after the 1st season but now I am hoping for 2nd season!

I had no idea this tv series is a kind of sequel / spin off to an older movie and honestly it didn't matter as the TV show doesn't require you know anything about the movie to watch it.

At first glance the characters seemed kind of generic and bland and even a little 2 dimensional but they grew as the series progressed. The 1st episode had me thinking this was going to be a slow paced no action type of series but it actually has plenty of action and a decent story.

I'll be honest though, I had some high hopes for Turner and Hooch. I thought you didn't need to be serious for a good show, innocent and light could also work if delivered well. However Turner and Hooch is a blend of unrealistic and extremely convenient story lines. Laura, for example, is supposed to be a credible detective and be smarter than her ex husband cop and doesn't get in any trouble.

I know Disney has a reputation for creating a certain brand and type of show/film. However pushing yourself in the corner could lead to an unimpressive show. I feel a more serious show with real villains, real danger but also being a barrel of laughs could have been a hit. For e.g. You could have had Scott as an underdog officer who couldn't get a break until he met Hooch. He could also have a complex and estranged sister. The list and blend of ideas could go on. But instead you had bland and lame characters who are just painful to watch. Complex and unique characters give more meaning to a show, not almost perfect fake ones. Missed opportunity here team.

All in all I have been enjoying the series a lot more than I had expected for a variety of reasons. A lot of the shows these days seem to concentrate on CGI, nudity, a lot of cussing and gore, which this doesn't seem to care about any of that. It has been a clean fun adventure that is watchable with the whole family

I may be one of a few people out there who still enjoys clean family friendly films but I hope there is enough of us that this series gets at least a second season! 6/10.

Overall Review:

In 1989, just months after he earned his first Oscar nomination for Big, and a few years before he went on a run of critical and commercial success that’s nearly unrivalled in the history of cinema, Tom Hanks starred in a series of middling movies that never would’ve suggested the megastar he’d become. One of these was Turner & Hooch, which starred Hanks as fastidious small-town cop Scott Turner, whose life is upended when he takes in a big, messy French mastiff named Hooch. It was a modest success, but reviews were mixed, and many audience members seemed more charmed by Beasley the Dog than by the human acting alongside him. Heck, it wasn’t even the most popular movie of that year to pair a comic actor with a police dog: Jim Belushi’s K-9 out grossed it by $7 million. But because Hanks went on to become an American institution while Belushi went on to do According to Jim, the reputation of Turner & Hooch has grown significantly over the decades, leading to this week’s premiere of a television sequel series on Disney+.

In the new show, Josh Peck plays Scott Turner’s son, also named Scott, a U.S. Marshal in San Francisco who was estranged from his father at the time of the elder Scott’s recent passing. This Scott is even more of a neat freak than his namesake — his closest friend is his robot vacuum — and hilarity ensues when his clean and tidy life is disrupted by the arrival of yet another Hooch as an inheritance from his dad.

This is the Disney+ formula, more or less: Use intellectual property that Disney owns to inspire series that Gen-Xers and millennials will watch with their kids. Everything old is new again, and who doesn’t like a good boy that drools a lot? The nostalgia is especially potent here, since the showrunner is Burn Notice creator Matt Nix, and Nix is at his best when he’s paying homage to the TV action dramas he grew up watching.

But a show that spans eras and target demographics is a very tricky beast to keep on the leash. Netflix says Cobra Kai is a huge hit (or became one after the streamer rescued it from YouTube), but Game Changers Season One barely made a ripple, and Disney has yet to announce a renewal. And on a creative level, trying to offer something for everyone risks not really satisfying anyone.

That’s the kind of storytelling limbo in which this Hooch largely finds itself. Had a show exactly like it existed around the time Splash was in theatres, the young me would have happily gobbled up every episode like Hooch going to town on his food bowl. But it leans much too hard into the corny aesthetic of those kinds of light-hearted dramas, creating something too silly and childish for most adults, yet likely too old-fashioned for their own children. It’s a show whose premiere climaxes with a gun-wielding Turner warning the bad guy, “Drop it! Or you’re dog food!” And one where the second episode is… a PG-rated Die Hard homage where Scott battles terrorists in a hotel while barefoot and wearing a baggy undershirt?

To Nix’s credit, he seems to understand that this is all a lark, so he doesn’t sweat the details too much. After Hooch helps Scott and his partner Jessica (Cara Patterson) crack a case, their boss James Mendez (Anthony Ruvivar) impulsively decides to turn them into a K-9 unit; during the scene, it’s a wonder Ruvivar doesn’t just look to the the pilot’s director, McG, to ask if this is really a thing that is happening right now. The goal is to put the title characters together as quickly as possible, and to have Scott jogging faithfully after his unwanted new pet/partner as Hooch demonstrates nearly superhuman powers of deduction. “We’re trailing an FBI agent because your dog got a hunch?” Jessica asks sceptically in an early scene, before quickly signing onto Team Hooch along with Erica (Vanessa Lengies), a dog trainer who works for the Marshals. Anything that gets in the way of Hooch’s crime-biting ascendance is not to be bothered with.