The playmate
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The playmate |
| Original title | the toy |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1982 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Donner |
| script |
Carol Sobieski , Francis Veber |
| production |
Phil Feldman , Ray Stark |
| music | Patrick Williams |
| camera | László Kovács |
| cut |
Richard A. Harris , Michael A. Stevenson |
| occupation | |
| |
The playmate is an American comedy film from the year 1982 by Richard Donner . It is the remake of the French comedy The toy of 1976 .
action
Jack Brown is an unemployed journalist who just can't find a job after graduating from college and whose house is about to be foreclosed. So he looks for a job that is far below his qualifications as an academic and starts as a cleaner in the company of US Bates. At night he is cleaning and playing in the department store when he is observed from a hiding place by Bates son Eric and his staff. Eric was allowed to choose any toy he wanted, but after seeing how clumsy Jack was playing around, all he wanted was Jack. But Jack refuses to go and is difficult to persuade. Only when several hundred dollars are pushed into his hand does he agree to be gift wrapped and sent to Bates' villa.
And there he insists on his dignity and can only be persuaded with a lot of money and buy to take care of Eric for a week and to play with him. Jack learns that Eric feels left alone by his father, which is why he now sees the job personally. But by Mr. Bate's wife Fancy he is humiliated at a dinner party as her stepson's new toy, which is why he leaves the property angrily. And after Eric angrily ruins the party over it, Jack receives a check that makes the foreclosure of his house unnecessary, so he goes back to work. But Eric continues to play his pranks, which is why Jack first has to explain that you don't have to buy friends, but rather earn them.
And so Jack tries to playfully teach Eric how a newspaper works. After interviewing Mr. Bates' staff and revealing some dirty little stories, they illegally print their newspaper and distribute it around town for free. Of course, Mr. Bates is not at all enthusiastic about it and orders both of them to his office, where he demands that they take back their newspaper, since it is a matter of lies. But despite Eric's protest that he only wrote the truth, Mr. Bates says that whoever has the money can determine what the truth is. And since he has the money, he determines they are lies. And so he offers Jack a job in his newspaper, which Jack accepts. Of course Eric is disappointed, he believes that Jack has betrayed his ideals, but he has to think about his family and that he needs a job to survive so that he cannot afford the luxury of ideals.
But Jack helps Eric after all, because at a party by Mr. Bates for the Senator, both cause anger and confusion, which causes most of the guests of honor to flee and this party is also a disaster. When Mr. Bates tries to drive away the two troublemakers, he ends up in the pool and has to be rescued by Jack. In gratitude for this, Mr. Bates asks Jack if he could not tell him how he could live better with his son and Jack tells him.
Reviews
The film received very bad reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes website only counted one positive out of nine professional reviews, which corresponds to a value of 11%. The film was also received by the general public with rather average reactions, because at the same time 55% of 15,555 users rated the film positively. This in turn is more than confirmed by the online film archive IMDb , another platform on which normal users can submit their film reviews, because there 4677 users gave the film a below-average 5.3 out of 10 possible points. (As of September 21, 2011)
In the liberal daily New York Times , Vincent Canby criticized the film because he could hardly bring himself to watch this film to the end, which was probably due to the "poorly executed gags" that were "copied directly from the French original". The two main actors Richard Pryor and Jackie Gleason are "wasted" in the film, because Gleason looks "as if he came from the hairdresser all the time" and Pryor did not come close to his standard level despite great efforts.
background
In the documentary series E! True Hollywood Story gave Scott Schwartz that he many of the scenes that he and Jackie Gleason played, characterized ruined that he was not with the improvisational style klarkam Gleason, as he had learned in drama school that you had to recite his lyrics by heart while Gleason just kept playing.
Awards
- At the Young Artist Award 1982 Scott Schwartz was recognized as best supporting actor in a feature film
publication
The playmate started in US cinemas on December 10, 1982, and with grossing over the first weekend of 6.3 million US dollars, the also restarted The Incredible Journey in a Crazy Spaceship and Just 48 Hours came in second and refer to three of the movie charts. In total, it grossed 47.1 million US dollars and has since been the eleventh most successful remake of a French film since 1980. The film opened in cinemas on April 15, 1983 in West Germany . The film has been available on VHS since January 31, 1989.
Web links
- The playmate in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The playmate in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on September 22, 2011
- ^ The Toy (1982). rottentomatoes.com, accessed September 21, 2011 .
- ↑ Vincent Canby : 'TOY' A COMEDY WITH PRYOR AND GLEASON on nytimes.com, December 10, 1982, accessed on September 21, 2011
- ↑ December 10-12, 1982 at boxofficemojo.com (English), accessed September 21, 2011
- ↑ The Toy at boxofficemojo.com (English), accessed September 21, 2011