Talk: The Great Muppet Caper

The Great _______ Caper

I've read in several fan forums (both Muppet and not) there are people that list things with the title "The Great something Caper" as a Muppet Mention or an allusions to the title of this film. I ran some searches and came up with several "The Great something Caper" titles all of which are post-"Muppet Caper".

The Great Capers

• The Great Muppet Caper (film) - 1981
• The Great Radish Caper (episode of Fraggle Rock) - 1985
• The Great Rainbow Caper (episode of My Little Pony) - 1986
• The Great Museum Caper (Clue board game spin-off) - 1991
• The Great Blooper Caper (NBA & Comic Relief special) - 1991
• The Great Simoleon Caper (short story by Neal Stephenson) - 1995
• The Great Money Caper (episode of The Simpsons) - 2000

Is the title for "The Great Muppet Caper" a play off some "The Great something Caper" that came prior to the Muppet's film or are all of the "The Great something Caper" titles truly a possible play on this as the original inspiration? -- Brad D. (talk) 01:31, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

I say no way. Caper titles were incredibly common, as were titles with "The Great" in it- The Great Escape, The Great Race, the 1979 film The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, etc. The Thomas Crown affair was originally Crown Caper. Every episode of the Sam Spade radio series had "Caper" in it- The Cheesecake Caper, The combination of Great [Phrase] Caper mostly does seem to post-date the Muppet flick, true, but even so, I'm incredibly doubtful that they were intended, for the most part, as specific Muppet Caper homages (The Simpsons title might, given the sound of it). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 01:51, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Production credits

I know we would not normally include the film editior, or anyone as lowly the production runners. However, I have taken the liberty of including them on this occassion for the following reasons: The film editor was Ralph Kemplan who (I gather from his IMDB entry) was rather a famous film editor in the mid twentieth centuary. The Great Muppet Caper was one of the very last films he ever edited. Not only was he a famous film editor, he also started something of a dynesty of film editors. Both his son and grandson are in that business. As for the production runners, well one of them did just happen to be Lisa Henson, so I thought it worth mentioning that, given both her later work in film production, and who she is. I hope that is ok. On the matter of uncredited actors, I think it particularly worth mentioning Danny John Jules, seeing as he went on to do voice-work on Labyrinth. Emma 22:19, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

I took out production runners. The involvement of Lisa Henson is interesting, but would work better in a trivia note, about family connections in the film and insider cameos, or something. As for Kemplen, he does seem mildly interesting, and did work on The Dark Crystal, but with these exceptions, it might be better to create a page for them first, not just a blank, just to make it clearer exactly why they deserve inclusion. That's what I did with Oswald Morris, who has an even more distinguished history, a picture, and some nifty quotes about Miss Piggy. I also took out the uncredited actors, temporarily anyway, just because IMDb isn't a very good source. While the participation of John-Jules seems verified by his own bios, his specific involvement is fuzzy. I'd thought he was in the DuBonnet Club scene, but comparing with other footage of him, I'm beginning to think I have the wrong picture, and I can't pick him out in any of the street scenes. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 22:37, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Emma, did the recent cast additions you made come from IMDb or from the credits in the film? — Scott (talk) 22:36, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, they all came from IMDb. Some are probably true, some, like Trevor Howard, are very questionable to my mind; the only one fully verified is John-Jules, but like I said, I'm beginning to question not so much his inclusion as precisely what he did. So additional sourcing is needed there. I took them out of the article, but I'll park them here for the record. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 22:39, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

• Uncredited Actors (according to IMDB)

Suzanne Church as a reporter

Patti Dalton as a prisoner

Ian Hanham as a reporter

Trevor Howard as an agrressive man in restaurant

Danny John Jules as a street dancer

Rodney Lovick as a Doorman

David Ludwig as a Delivery Man

Mary Mazstead as a prisoner

The cast ones, at least where uncredited in the film were IMDB, as I mentioned. The crew ones were from the credits. Would somebody like to reaseach Ralph Kemplan and make a page about him? 23:00, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Brian Henson

An anon. user added a trivia note about Brian Henson being the kid on the tricycle pulling the bikes in the park scene. I think Brian was involved in that scene, but he was much older than tricycle age by then. Can anybody confirm or deny? -- Danny (talk) 10:15, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Jim Henson mentions that Brian is on a tricycle that pulls the bikes, and that it can be seen in the distance. That was in the behind the scenes episode of the Jim Henson Hour.Rytter 13:37, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it's also mentioned on Cameos: Brian Henson (although I've been tempted to remove it, since pulling a bike at a distance isn't exactly a cameo) and I believe The Works specifies it, though I don't have it handy to check. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 15:19, 10 August 2006 (UTC)