Mark Edlitz’s “Movies Go Fourth” restores your faith in Hollywood

To have an affinity for the fourth film in a franchise is akin to favoring a single “Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans” for dessert. Let’s say the appetizer was top-notch, maybe the most amazing thing you have ever eaten in your life. The salad is pedestrian, but not awful. The main course was largely tasteless, where it wasn’t charred beyond recognition. Now there is your single bean for dessert. Is it the flavor of a decadent chocolate cake, or is it earwax?

This is where Mark Edlitz’s “Movies Go Fourth” comes in, a thorough assessment of the good, the bad, and the ugly of fourth films throughout Hollywood history, accompanied by a host of interviews with some of the creative talent behind them. Edlitz even admits that the most common question from friends and interview subjects about “Movies Go Fourth” is simply why. If you’re a devotee of film and the stories behind them, then I can tell you that “Movies Go Fourth” will leave you very happy that Edlitz had an answer.

From the start, you can tell Edlitz is passionate about cinema in general, with an encyclopedic knowledge of film that is engaging. The book begins with a look at the different types of “fourth films”: the ones that kill franchises, the ones that reinvigorated franchises, and so many more iterations that one wouldn’t even think of. It’s a fascinating dissection of the fourth film that goes beyond bad vs good.

It’s the interviews that Edlitz has with creative talents within the industry – screenwriters, actors, directors – that elevates “Movies Go Fourth”. He connects with his contacts, pointing out intimate details of their career and the film in question that often leaves the interviewee impressed. While the focus is primarily on that fourth film, Edlitz engages with questions about other projects the interviewee has been involved with. He's done his homework, looking for themes and other facets of the work that may have been minimalized, perhaps not even recognized, in the final cut of the film.

This results in some great reveals. Without spoilers, there’s a look at Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man 4’ that was never made (and great insight into Raimi himself), an interview with the creator of Sico the robot from ‘Rocky IV’, my personal favorite interview from the book with Don Murray from ‘Conquest for Planet of the Apes’, and an unexpected spoiler for the which ‘Star Wars’ film is actually fourth (hint: it’s not ‘A New Hope’ or ‘The Phantom Menace’). The book also doesn’t shy away from calling out responsibility for a script that gets totally revamped by the studio, changing the writer’s original intention for something completely different. Edlitz’s interview with actor Lance Guest, for example, signed on to ‘Jaws: The Revenge’ based on the original script that took its ridiculous premise and made it logical, but that logic was thrown aside.

Because of all that, “Movies Go Fourth” offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and, in doing so, ultimately restores one’s faith in Hollywood. Each creator that is interviewed worked on their respective projects believing they were doing something good, something different, and something they believed in beyond pay. It’s heartwarming to know that despite the money that’s involved in Hollywood productions, those behind it or in front of it do have artistic integrity.

And if you know me at all, the fact that ‘Killer Tomatoes Eat France’ is included in the list of fourth films at the end of the book put the cherry on top. So let's give Mark Edlitz's "Movies Go Fourth" an appropriate 4 out of 4.

Happy trails,

Lloyd