What a genius
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | What a genius |
| Original title | Real genius |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1985 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6, BBFC 15 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Martha Coolidge |
| script |
Neal Israel Pat Proft Peter Torokvei |
| production | Brian Grazer |
| music | Thomas Newman |
| camera | Vilmos Zsigmond |
| cut | Richard Chew |
| occupation | |
| |
The film Was für ein Genie (English: Real Genius ) is a comedy from 1985 . The main roles are played by Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret . The film opened in German cinemas on April 24, 1986.
action
The CIA hires Professor Jerry Hathaway to develop an illegal chemical laser weapon at Pacific Tech , a fictional technical university in the United States . This laser weapon is said to have the ability to kill individual people from space. As a result, Hathaway is forming a research team of university students to develop and perfect the laser. The students are not informed that they are developing a weapon for military use.
When the CIA insists that the laser output power be increased, Hathaway searches for new talent outside of college and becomes aware of aspiring nerd Mitch Taylor. Professor Hathaway then ensures that Mitch Taylor receives a scholarship for the winter semester at Pacific Tech. Mitch Taylor becomes the second youngest student ever to be admitted by Pacific Tech.
Mitch Taylor is assigned a room with student Chris Knight. Chris Knight is an older student and is already working on the project to develop the laser. Mitch Taylor also meets the rest of the team. This includes university assistant Kent Torokvei. Kent Torokvei sees Mitch Taylor as a threat, especially after he becomes subordinate to the freshman.
In the meantime, Hathaway buys a large property near the university and invests a lot of money to renovate and furnish it. The money for this comes from the laser project. An Air Force officer suspects Hathaway of taking money from the laser project for himself, while the professor is getting students to work on the project for him for free. The officer warns Hathaway that the government will conduct an assessment of the project if the project goes behind schedule. Since the project is already behind schedule at this point, Hathaway is trying to accelerate the development of the laser.
He succeeds and the project is successfully completed, but then the students notice how the professor has abused them when they realize that this laser can only be used for military purposes. That's why they start a campaign of revenge against him. They manage to sabotage the laser and use it to destroy his large property, while also exposing the project to Congress. It is implied that he is later settled on this matter.
background
The final scene, in which a house is destroyed from the inside out by a huge amount of popcorn , was not shot with a model, but with a real house and a lot of popcorn that the film team made themselves over a period of about 3 months .
In the following Car vs. Rain of the seventh season of the series MythBusters - The knowledge hunters referred to this scene. In various attempts it was tried to simulate whether it would be possible to destroy a house with popcorn.
Reviews
"A long-winded student geek with some puberty problems who gives away the satirical approaches of the topic."
"Trying to be funny by no means ingenious"
Web links
- What a genius in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- What a genius in the online film database
- Filming locations: 80s film locations
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with William Atherton
- ↑ IMDB film reference
- ↑ Mythbusters Results
- ↑ What a genius. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 18, 2017 .
- ↑ WHAT A GENIUS Cinema . Retrieved April 8, 2018.