kelvin@ut-sally.UUCP (Kelvin Thompson) (07/16/85)
_Brewster's_Millions_
by Kelvin Thompson
_Brewster's_Millions_ is a bad, dishonest movie. It professes to be
about the American Dream, but American viewers will recognize none of the
movie's characters or environs.
Which is not to say the movie does not feature actors holding American
citizenship. The movie stars Richard Pryor (_The_Wiz_, _Richard_Pryor_
_Live_on_the_Sunset_Strip_) as a minor-league baseball player who comes
into a huge inheritance from a distant uncle, Hume Cronyn (_Impulse_,
_Honky_Tonk_Freeway_). Along for the fun are a pretty paralegal, Lonette
McKee (_The_Cotton_Club_), and Pryor's buddy from the baseball team,
Canadian John Candy (_Splash_). Theresa Russell (_The_Last_Tycoon_,
_Bad_Timing_) is not in the movie.
The movie may have some humorous moments, but the viewer's enjoyment of
them is hampered by the fact that he is seeing the same old nonexistent
characters doing the same old nonexistent things. As in 99% of all other
Hollywood movies, the professions of the characters in _Brewster's_ fall
into two basic categories: Exciting Professions, and Writers'
Professions.
Included in the former category are those professions which make for more
exciting plotlines, e.g. doctors, lawyers, policemen, soldiers,
criminals, show-biz people, and extremely rich people. Writers may be
forgiven for occasionally using one of these professions to spice up a
story, but viewers are tired of every other character in motion
characters making an Exciting living.
In the other category are those professions which writers are familiar
with -- professions of most of the people that writers know. These
Writers' Professions include: writers, authors, playwrights, journalists,
college professors, people in advertizing and PR firms, architects,
interior decorators, and show-biz people. When a writer wants to portray
somebody in an "everyday" type of profession, he or she almost invariably
picks one of these.
In all too many movies every single major character has one of these two
kinds of professions, and the viewer has a difficult time thinking of even
a dozen movies in which *none* of the characters has one of these
professions. Also, a disproportionate number of films are about issues
concerning these professions. The viewer realizes these tendencies do
not reflect the true distribution of jobs because he himself knows only a
few people in any of these professions, and he has day-to-day dealings
with no one in these professions.
Also, the viewer realizes that the only class of movies that consistently
have no major characters in Exciting or Writers' Professions are those
movies like _Mask_ and _Norma_Rae_ that are based on the lives of real
people. The critical and financial successes of these movies show that
it is not public distaste for these kinds of films that keeps them from
distribution, but rather the screenwriters' laziness and unwillingness to
research either unusual or extremely usual professions.
Despite the fact that Pryor claims to be the "people's" actor, his movie
is as replete with these phony professions as anything else coming out of
Hollywood. He does deserve some credit for having the central character
and his sidekick be on a *minor* league baseball team, but they are still
technically in show biz. And once the plot gets its big twist, Pryor
becomes and out-and-out Very Rich Person. Even secondary characters in
_Brewster's_ fall into these overused categories: McKee's fiance is a
lawyer *and* an interior designer.
In _Brewster's_Millions_ Pryor might have taken a powerful stand for the
portrayal of legitimate professions in the cinema. Instead, *Pryor's*
millions have dulled what used to be a keen talent and produced another
ho-hum Hollywood comedy.allynh@ucbvax.ARPA (Allyn Hardyck) (07/17/85)
In article <2361@ut-sally.UUCP> kelvin@ut-sally.UUCP (Kelvin Thompson) writes: > and Pryor's buddy from the baseball team, Canadian John Candy (_Splash_). Aw, ya flubbed up, Kelvin! You were supposed to list a real obscure John Candy film - I mean everyone knows he was in Splash. Couldn't you have listed perhaps _Tunnelvision_ (his role was suitably microscopic there) or _Going Berserk_ (never generally released)? Or - valgame Dios - didn't you know he was in them? Disappointed, allyn
daemon@decwrl.UUCP (The devil himself) (07/18/85)
>> Aw, ya flubbed up, Kelvin! You were supposed to list a real obscure John >> Candy film - I mean everyone knows he was in Splash. Couldn't you have >> listed perhaps _Tunnelvision_ (his role was suitable microscopic there) or >> _Going_Berserk_ (never generally released)? Or - valgame Dios - didn't >> you know he was in them? How about _The_Clown_Murders_ ? John Candy was also in that one (that is not to be taken as a recommendation). -Roy- decwrl!decvax!rhea!vlnvax!karlson