For Immediate Release on Entertainment Drive Released By Beck/Smith No Report for Monday, February 18th - Presidents Day Rat Pack Feel to Dreyfuss Pic Hollywood -- Feb. 19, 1996 -- Richard Dreyfuss takes on a neatly-trimmed white hair look -- which reminds us a bit of Frank Sinatra's Caesaresque style -- in his currently-filming "Trigger Happy" movie. It's a black comedy about Las Vegas gangsters. Richard's hair isn't the only thing about "Trigger Happy" that gives one a feeling of Sinatra. The movie was penned by, and is being directed by, Larry Bishop -- longtime buddy of Richard's and son of onetime Rat Packer Joey Bishop. Larry says he didn't intentionally infuse the movie with a Rat Pack sensibility, but now that many people have remarked that they've noticed that ol' Vegas feeling about "Trigger Happy," he figures, "Some things in your subconscious just bubble up when you're writing." Actually, setsiders have been comparing the feeling of "Trigger Happy" to that of the 1960 "Ocean's Eleven," which starred Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop -- among others. Larry was a kid when that tale of a plan to rob seven casinos simultaneously was made. He looks upon "Ocean's Eleven" as "one of the most amoral films ever made, because they have no reason at all for robbing these casinos. I mean, even in films like 'Reservoir Dogs,' they're desperate for money. But these [characters] didn't care. They had no conscience. It would never occur to them to apologize for anything....These guys didn't need cash. They had all the cash they wanted. They're into expanding their power." Larry concludes of the movie he's making now: "On top it's Rat Pack, underneath it's 'Waiting for Godot.'" Hmmm. The cast, by the way, also includes Ellen Barkin, her ex-husband Gabriel Byrne, Jeff Goldblum, Burt Reynolds, Gregory Hines -- and cameos by a bunch of names (a la "Ocean's Eleven") including Richard Pryor, Angie Everhart, Rob Reiner, and Billy Idol. We caught up with Best Actor Oscar nominee Dreyfuss ("Mr. Holland's Opus") on the "Trigger Happy" set at L.A.'s Wiltern Theater the other day, when he had an all-white suit augmenting that white hair for a ritzy nightclub scene. There were more than a hundred fabulously dressed extras; the women in glittering rhinestone-bedecked gowns and sexy strapless satin dresses, the men in tuxedos. Only Richard was in white. He's the big boss in the picture. "I've played gangsters before," he reminded us. Most notably, "in 'Dillinger,' 23 years ago. But this movie is a lot less violent and bloody." It was Barkin who left setsiders breathless. She was wearing a shimmery black sheer dress that left nothing on top to the imagination. Basketball Movie a Self-Sell Hollywood -- Feb. 20, 1996 -- A movie with former "Cheers" barmaid Rhea Perlman coaching an inner-city high-school basketball team might sound like a tough sell -- it does to us. However, producer Daniel Paulson insists, "I didn't have to sell it all all" when he made his deals for the big-screen "Sunset Park." The feature, formerly titled "Coach," is due in April. Paulson says the fact it's a true story has everything to do with its acceptance. "There was a '60 Minutes' piece showing this little Debbie McIntosh, who is 5-foot-2, bonding with these 6-foot-4 and -5 basketball players in Harlem. They showed her coaching them, and getting tough with them, you know, like: 'If you don't get your grades up, goddamn it, you're off this team!' She not only took this rag-tag, previously losing team to the championships, she helped change a lot of lives. We had a clip of one of the star players of the team, when he guested on 'Arsenio Hall.' He'd been a homeless kid, but Debbie had arranged for him and his family to get into a shelter. He's talking about making it to the championship, and saying, 'I owe it all to my coach,' and they cut to Debbie in the audince, crying. I put the two clips together, and people could see what it was. I didn't have to say a word." The key people who said "Go" on the movie project included film exec Mike Medavoy, Rhea Perlman, and Danny DeVito (whose Jersey Films co-produced the picture). Ironically, the formerly homeless star player couldn't be used in the film, nor was his story told. According to Paulson, "He's now playing NCAA ball, and if we'd paid him it might've affected his eligibility." Anne-Marie Johnson's Found Her Niche on "Melrose Place" Hollywood -- Feb. 21, 1996 -- "Melrose Place" actress Anne-Marie Johnson said she was "nervous and a little bit uncomfortable" when she recently joined the cast of Fox's popular nighttime soap. "Whenever you enter a show that's been together for a long time...it's like I was the freshman class," says Johnson, who plays attorney Alycia Barnett on the show. "But the cast and crew were very nice and very accomodating, so that kind of wore off." The former star of such series as "What's Happening Now," "In the Heat of the Night" and "In Living Color," says she was fine once she reminded herself, "I'm not a novice. I said, 'What am I worried about?' I've been in the business a lot longer than a lot of them, so that nervousness went by the wayside." Johnson says, because "Melrose Place" has an order for 32 shows this season, "We're doing two episodes at a time in the same week." She explains that confusion is kept to a minimum because "there's a blue script and a red script and they divide the cast and crew into a blue team and a red team. So one day the blue team will be doing one show and the next day the red team will be doing the show." Johnson says she's finding such double duty a snap. "We did that once in a while on 'In the Heat of the Night' and ours were completely different stories. 'Melrose Place' is in a soap opera form and it's such a large cast, my hours are great." Race Major Theme of "Buddies" Hollywood -- Feb. 22, 1996 -- There'll be plenty of pointed humor on ABC's March 5-debuting "Buddies" sitcom. It has race as its premise -- but the show's writer-producers are primarily aiming at viewers' funnybones. That's the word from Carmen Finestra, one of the trio behind "Home Improvement" and Wind Dancer Productions, which is bringing us the new comedy. "Buddies" stars David Chappelle and Chris Gartin as a pair of longtime pals, one black, one white, who have a video business together. One's in the last breath of bachelorhood, the other's a newlywed. One has a highly race-conscious father (Richard Roundtree), the other has a mother-in-law (Judith Ivey) who is unconsciously prejudiced. According to Finestra, all 11 episodes of "Buddies" so far are "at least race-conscious." Four focus on race-themed storylines. Gartin's character "does not have a complete knowledge of black culture," and viewers will see his ignorance from time to time. "When they go to a department store and a security guard starts following them, for instance, Chris assumes the guard is following them both. Then David says, 'Let's split up. Then we'll see who he's following' -- and of course, the guard follows David." In another instance, there's "a reference David makes to a horror movie on TV. He says it's just started. Chris wonders, 'How do you know?' And David says, 'I see the brother's still alive. They're always the first to go.'" The "Home Improvement" team got together with comic David Chappelle thanks to Jeffrey Katzenberg. Before Katzenberg left Disney, he suggested to Finestra and his partners Matt Williams and David McFadzean that Chappelle would work well in a sitcom. Meanwhile, the team wanted to do a sitcom about "a unique extended family" involving a black and a white friend. Thus the match was made. "The interesting thing about David is, he's not a strident comedian," Finestra comments. "His success comes more by charm, understatement, and sly looks." Copyright (c) 1996 Beck/Smith Ent.