Brewster's Millions (1985)

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers:

George Barr McCutcheon (novel)
Herschel Weingrod (writer) ...

Release Date:

22 May 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

An American excess story.

Plot:

A minor league baseball player has to waste $30m in 30 days in order to inherit $300m; however he's not allowed to tell anyone about the $300m deal.

Plot Keywords:

Politics | Spelling | Political | Politican | Baseball

Cast

Richard Pryor	...	Montgomery Brewster
John Candy	...	Spike Nolan
Lonette McKee	...	Angela Drake
Stephen Collins	...	Warren Cox
Jerry Orbach	...	Charley Pegler
Pat Hingle	...	Edward Roundfield
Tovah Feldshuh	...	Marilyn
Hume Cronyn	...	Rupert Horn
Joe Grifasi	...	J.B. Donaldo
Peter Jason	...	Chuck Fleming
David White	...	George Granville
Jerome Dempsey	...	Baxter
David Wohl	...	Eugene Prevost
Ji-Tu Cumbuka	...	Melvin
Milt Kogan	...	Heller

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Norway:7 | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

101 Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The bar in which Montgomery and Spike start a brawl is called Torchy's, the same name of the bar Eddie Murphy shook down in director Hill's 48 Hrs. (1982). The Torchy's waitress of Brewster's Millions who phones in the brawl to the police is played by Margot Rose, who appeared in 48 Hrs as the girlfriend of a character who (we're told) used to tend bar at Torchy's. And in yet another nod to Hill's 1982 box-office hit, the car driven by Brewster's personal photographer is a sky-blue Cadillac convertible, the same type of heap driven by Nick Nolte in that earlier film.

Goofs:

Continuity: On the cover of USA Today it shows a picture of Monty Brewster in front of a podium with his "None of the Above" slogan. The article was to highlight the Yankees exhibition game, and before Brewster had decided to start his mayoral campaign.

Quotes:

Monty Brewster: What are you gonna vote?
Crowd: [in unison] None of the above!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "I Love the 80's 3-D" (2005) (mini)

Soundtrack:

In the Nick of Time

Comedy Gold

I cant understand the low IMDb rating for what is a very funny film with two great stars in Richard Pryor and John Candy. Even though its a re-make and very much of its time (the 1980's) there is till plenty of entertainment to be had. Some of the areas of the film are still very relevant if you really could vote for none of the above isn't that a better vote than many of todays politicians? In tone this film is very similar to another 80's comedy - Trading Places, although this is the slightly lesser film it's still very enjoyable with plenty of comedy highlights. Pryor is outstanding and with the talented John Candy in support the film certainly doesn't lack laughs. There is even a message attached in places about the perils of greed and money but the ending feels quite abrupt and it would be nice to see the other characters re-action to the outcome.

8/10 - A bright and breezy comedy.