"This was my first title and the first time we worked with Wayne Fitzgerald," says animator Bob Kurtz. He had been contacted as the title designer and they wanted us to do the animation."

"The character of Max Dugan doesn't come into the film until about half hour. So, we wanted to do a background story of who Max Dugan was. We did these surreal animated scenes and then made the transition to live footage. But then I got a call from Herbert Ross [the director] who said, "There's too sad an ending to the film, because the guy is going to die. We're going to cut out the animated credits", and I said, "Wait a minute. I have an idea for the ending." Kurtz laughs.

"I met with Ross the next day and described what I wanted to do. At the end of the film, the dying character leaves on an airplane. They loved it. Our titles were saved by adding an end title."

"We were left pretty much alone. They had a problem. We solved it. They were happy. That was it."

Bob Kurtz, founder of the Burbank-based animation studio Kurtz & Friends, writes, designs and directs animated short films, title sequences and tv commercials. His first animated main title was Max Dugan Returns (1983). More recently, he completed the main title animations for The Pink Panther (2006) and Are We Done Yet? (2007)

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Full credits

Title Designer
Wayne Fitzgerald
Animation Director
Bob Kurtz
Writer/Designer
Robert Peluce
Production Company
20th Centry Fox
Director (film)
Herbert Ross

Links

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