Once Around (1991)

Director:

Lasse Hallström

Writer (WGA):

Malia Scotch Marmo (written by)

Release Date:

18 January 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Bellas were one big happy family. Then Renata met Sam...

Plot:

Renata Bella feels like a failure at life and career. But when Renata attends a seminar on selling real estate...

Plot Keywords:

Salesman | True Love | Wedding | Christmas | Pregnancy

Cast

Richard Dreyfuss	...	Sam Sharpe
Holly Hunter	...	Renata Bella
Danny Aiello	...	Joe Bella
Laura San Giacomo	...	Jan Bella
Gena Rowlands	...	Marilyn Bella
Roxanne Hart	...	Gail Bella
Danton Stone	...	Tony Bella
Tim Guinee	...	Peter Hedges
Greg Germann	...	Jim Redstone
Griffin Dunne	...	Rob
Cullen O. Johnson	...	Sonny
Joan Gay	...	Aunt
Lou Criscuolo	...	Uncle
Myra Taylor	...	Trainer #1
Michael Steve Jones	...	Trainer #2
Sabah Shayan	...	Belly Dancer (as Sabah)
Caroline Parton	...	Honey Beach
John Bennes	...	Minister
Archie Fallon	...	Little Boy
Reverend William Wolkovich	...	Lithuanian Priest
Dorothy Stevenson-Bigby	...	Justice of the Peace
Allen A. Mele	...	Roving Violinist
Barry Reed	...	Young Joe Bella
Heather Reed	...	Young Renata Bella
Susan Reed	...	Young Jan Bella
Jonathan A. Cramer	...	Young Tony Bella
Gerald A. Benullo	...	Wedding Guest
Sal Ruffino	...	Wedding Guest
David H. Kramer	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Robyn Finn	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Garry Goodrow	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jim Kirk	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Dominic Marcus	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Dominic Anthony Marcus)
Craig Sechler	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Myrtha D. Severe	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kate Skinner	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Susan Telcher	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Sheilagh Weymouth	...	Additional Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nicholas de Wolff	...	Jason Bella (uncredited)

Directed by
Lasse Hallström

Writing credits (WGA)
Malia Scotch Marmo		(written by)

Produced by
G. Mac Brown	....	executive producer
Richard Dreyfuss	....	co-producer
Griffin Dunne	....	producer
Amy Robinson	....	producer

Original Music by
James Horner

Cinematography by
Theo van de Sande

Film Editing by
Andrew Mondshein

Casting by
Fran Kumin
Meg Simon

Production Design by
David Gropman

Art Direction by
Dan Davis

Set Decoration by
Gretchen Rau

Costume Design by
Renee Ehrlich Kalfus		(as Renée Kalfus)

Makeup Department
Michael Maddi	....	prosthetic makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
G. Mac Brown	....	unit production manager
Diana Pokorny	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Louis D'Esposito	....	first assistant director (1991)
Donald J. Lee Jr.	....	second assistant director

Art Department
David Brace	....	lead man
Michael W. Foxworthy	....	art director: Boston
Mark Ricker	....	third props
Jeffrey Schlatter	....	construction coordinator
Robert Topol	....	master scenic artist
M. Tony Trotta	....	camera scenic artist

Sound Department
Elliot Deitch	....	sound editor
Lee Dichter	....	sound re-recording mixer
Neil L. Kaufman	....	sound editor
Michael Kirchberger	....	supervising sound editor
George A. Lara	....	foley mixer
Danny Michael	....	sound mixer
Paul P. Soucek	....	first assistant sound editor
Ira Spiegel	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Karine Albano	....	electrician: Boston
Larry Huston	....	Steadicam focus puller
Jenny Kane	....	electrician
John R. Kaplan	....	grip: Boston
David Larue	....	grip
John Sosenko	....	camera operator: "a" camera
Jeffery J. Tufano	....	first assistant camera
William M. Weberg	....	grip (uncredited)

Casting Department
Craig Fincannon	....	location casting
Mark Fincannon	....	location casting
Carolyn Pickman	....	location casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lucy W. Corrigan	....	assistant costume designer
Jennifer Lax	....	costumer supervisor

Editorial Department
Jennifer Davidoff Cook	....	apprentice editor
Alexandra Stone	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Shawn Murphy	....	scoring mixer
John Neufeld	....	orchestrator
James Horner	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Dorothy Aufiero	....	production coordinator
Andrew D. Cooke	....	location manager
Benjamin C. Dewey	....	location coordinator
Alan Jacques	....	projectionist
Blair Bellis Mohr	....	production coordinator (as Blair Bellis)
Carol Shedd	....	assistant production coordinator
Lucille Smith	....	production auditor
Alexandra Stone	....	assistant to director
Michael W. Stroud	....	production executive
Nadia Venesse	....	dialect coach
Lori Eastside	....	choreographer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Cinecom Entertainment Group
• Double Play
• Dreyfuss / James Productions
• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• United International Pictures (UIP) (1991) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (1991) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (video)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2009) (Australia) (DVD)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (Argentina)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (Spain)
• Universal Pictures

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Cinecom Entertainment Group

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In this, as in almost all films where an attempt is made to characterize a Boston accent, players don't understand that Bostonians would never not pronounce the r at the end of a word if the next word begins with a vowel. The classic "Park the car in Harvard Yard" is supposed to be pronounced thusly, "Pahk the car in Hahvad Yahd."

Quotes:

Jan Bella: For chrissakes - he puts money in women's breasts!

An utterly superb film

An extremely well-crafted script developing a wide range of individual psychologies within an extended family, together with good casting and acting make this an exceptional film. None of the characters is, to my taste, naturally attractive or charismatic, but as personalities striving to maintain stability in their lives, they are fascinating and fuel a continual dramatic tension.

Dreyfuss plays the most enigmatic character, the one "tearing apart" the family, and so has the central role, but his past remains a mystery. When we first encounter him he is alone, a man in his sixties perhaps, staring out over the sea, with behind him a divorce only recently finalized. He delivers a materialistic and self-gratifying speech, with horrifically inappropriate humor, to a flock of aspiring condominium salespeople and proceeds to "fall in love" and quickly marry the immature "baby" member of the film's subject family. But behind his frequently obnoxious salesman's rhetoric and showy possessions, just who is he, and what are his motives? Why did his prior marriage fail? What scars does he bear from the 40s, when he was born in Lithuania and somehow escaped with at least his mother for the States? While looking out over the sea was he contemplating suicide? Was suicide in his mind when he met the simpleton girl on a rooftop with no guard rail and opted to grab on to her for help? His background is eclipsed behind the family's bourgeois Italian-American heritage, as though only Italian ethos can matter, or can be stylishly accepted - so he's given little opportunity to explain. Otherwise, the emptiness and tactlessness of his impromptu speeches seem to underscore an ingrained sense of the absurd and perhaps of despair.

Dreyfuss' character has large gaps, gaping scars - like the ragged edges of a piece of a puzzle, a piece that fits perfectly into the poorly developed, ragged edges of the family's youngest and otherwise socially inept and professionally helpless daughter. Together they form a whole - not necessarily people we'd like to know or befriend, but - but they drive the film to a dramatic climax.

As said, this film develops the characters of a extended family - not just the two above. This is a film well worth seeing and thinking about - and it seemed to me, just off and on (and in some close-ups) a little Swedish in its sensitivity.