TURNER AND HOOCH turned out to be a project that both Jim and I had a lot of fun working on. It came about in one very unusual way. Because I lived in L.A. producers would usually send me the projects first and then I would send them on to Jim if I felt it was something we would be interested in.

Usually, I’d read the property and then talk to Jim about it. Most of the time he wouldn’t even look at the screenplays. This time I was in Hawaii with my family vacationing and they sent it on to Jim. If it had come to me first, I doubt we would have become involved in rewriting the screenplay.

They way our involvement in TURNER AND HOOCH came about was I was sitting having breakfast on the Big Island overlooking the ocean when Jim called really excited. “This dog is going to be the next big star…” And he went on and on. Anyone who knew Jim knows that you can’t turn Jim down when he’s excited about something. His passion and enthusiasm was always infectious.

I was very reluctant to write a “dog” movie since it didn’t have any prestige attached to it and felt our career was at a higher level. Jim was really excited about writing it because he was such a dog lover. He had three dogs and literally fifty animals in the house. His wife, Cynthia, was also a huge animal lover. Jim really wanted to write his movie. Okay, if it means that much to you… Why not? I had dogs at home and loved OLD YELLER, it was Disney, they were going to make it. They had Tom Hanks as an actor and Henry Winkler was going to be the director. Why not? At this time Tom Hanks was not the mega superstar he is today.

Working with Tom was one of the best experiences I ever had in my entire career. One can’t say enough about how smart, generous, funny, inventive, sincere… The list goes on. Tom was the only actor we worked with that took an active part in building the story, the character and the ultimate film. One of the smartest men I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He deserves all the fortune and recognition that he has garnered in the last few years.

The script was a mess, not very consistent. The story was all over the place and Tom was lacking a character to play. One of the reasons Jim and I were so successful was that we would come onto a script in trouble and bring big new ideas. The major work we did here was to clean up the story, ass depth to Tom’s character by giving him something to play, giving him a character arc through line, and strengthening the love story. We also added a lot to the relationship between Tom and Hooch. We also added a lot of comedy.

Hooch was a huge animal. They had about 7 or 8 Hoochs to work with. They would train each dog a specific trick. In addition, they would paint a distinctive pattern on the animals so that at a quick glance each different animal would appear to be the same dog.

TURNER AND HOOCH was a surprising success and is listed as the second most successful dog pictures of all time behind 101 DALMATIONS. It’s constantly being shown on television and has a strong following. Watching it today, it still feels fresh and fun.

At this point in our career we were flying. TOP GUN had come out along with THE SECRET OF OMY SUCCESS and LEGAL EAGLES. We were known as hit makers with a lot of box office success. Coming in as a rewriter is always fun because the studio is desperate and you pretty much have a free hand to do what you want. They trusted us and took all of our advice except about the death of Hooch at the end of the movie.

We begged Jeff Katzenberg and Ricardo Mestres, Disney executives, not to have Hooch die at the end but they wouldn’t see it any other way. There had been a movie released earlier called “K9” where the dog was injured and everyone felt that we had to have a different conclusion. Also, Tom wanted to have something to play against and since this was a love story about the world’s neatest guy and the world’s sloppiest dog, the ending enabled Tom to have a more powerful scene. At the time I thought it was a mistake, but in looking back, it’s a more powerful ending that gives the movie more substance and drama.

TURNER AND HOOCH turned out to be a project that both Jim and I had a lot of fun working on. It came about in one very unusual way. Because I lived in L.A. producers would usually send me the projects first and then I would send them on to Jim if I felt it was something we would be interested in.

Usually, I’d read the property and then talk to Jim about it. Most of the time he wouldn’t even look at the screenplays. This time I was in Hawaii with my family vacationing and they sent it on to Jim. If it had come to me first, I doubt we would have become involved in rewriting the screenplay.

They way our involvement in TURNER AND HOOCH came about was I was sitting having breakfast on the Big Island overlooking the ocean when Jim called really excited. “This dog is going to be the next big star…” And he went on and on. Anyone who knew Jim knows that you can’t turn Jim down when he’s excited about something. His passion and enthusiasm was always infectious.

I was very reluctant to write a “dog” movie since it didn’t have any prestige attached to it and felt our career was at a higher level. Jim was really excited about writing it because he was such a dog lover. He had three dogs and literally fifty animals in the house. His wife, Cynthia, was also a huge animal lover. Jim really wanted to write his movie. Okay, if it means that much to you… Why not? I had dogs at home and loved OLD YELLER, it was Disney, they were going to make it. They had Tom Hanks as an actor and Henry Winkler was going to be the director. Why not? At this time Tom Hanks was not the mega superstar he is today.

Working with Tom was one of the best experiences I ever had in my entire career. One can’t say enough about how smart, generous, funny, inventive, sincere… The list goes on. Tom was the only actor we worked with that took an active part in building the story, the character and the ultimate film. One of the smartest men I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He deserves all the fortune and recognition that he has garnered in the last few years.

The script was a mess, not very consistent. The story was all over the place and Tom was lacking a character to play. One of the reasons Jim and I were so successful was that we would come onto a script in trouble and bring big new ideas. The major work we did here was to clean up the story, ass depth to Tom’s character by giving him something to play, giving him a character arc through line, and strengthening the love story. We also added a lot to the relationship between Tom and Hooch. We also added a lot of comedy.

Hooch was a huge animal. They had about 7 or 8 Hoochs to work with. They would train each dog a specific trick. In addition, they would paint a distinctive pattern on the animals so that at a quick glance each different animal would appear to be the same dog.

TURNER AND HOOCH was a surprising success and is listed as the second most successful dog pictures of all time behind 101 DALMATIONS. It’s constantly being shown on television and has a strong following. Watching it today, it still feels fresh and fun.

At this point in our career we were flying. TOP GUN had come out along with THE SECRET OF OMY SUCCESS and LEGAL EAGLES. We were known as hit makers with a lot of box office success. Coming in as a rewriter is always fun because the studio is desperate and you pretty much have a free hand to do what you want. They trusted us and took all of our advice except about the death of Hooch at the end of the movie.

We begged Jeff Katzenberg and Ricardo Mestres, Disney executives, not to have Hooch die at the end but they wouldn’t see it any other way. There had been a movie released earlier called “K9” where the dog was injured and everyone felt that we had to have a different conclusion. Also, Tom wanted to have something to play against and since this was a love story about the world’s neatest guy and the world’s sloppiest dog, the ending enabled Tom to have a more powerful scene. At the time I thought it was a mistake, but in looking back, it’s a more powerful ending that gives the movie more substance and drama.