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Down and Out in Beverly Hills

5.2

1,001

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Original title

Down and Out in Beverly Hills

Year

1986

Running time

102 min.

Country

United States

Director

Paul Mazursky

Screenwriter

Paul Mazursky, Leon Capetanos. Theater: Rene Fauchois

Cast

Music

Andy Summers

Cinematography

Donald McAlpine

Producer

Touchstone Pictures, Silver Screen Partners II

Genre

Comedy | Remake

Synopsis

This hilarious Hollywood retelling of the classic Jean Renoir French farce Boudu Saved from Drowning emerges as a wry commentary on society's excess and has distinguished itself as an instant classic. Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) directs and Nick Nolte (Cape Fear, The Prince of Tides) stars as a vagrant who decides to kill himself by jumping into the swimming pool of rich wire-hanger magnate Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, The Goodbye Girl). Dreyfuss takes the bum into his dysfunctional home and soon Nolte and his murky past are causing everyone, from Dreyfuss's wife (Bette Midler) to his maid and mistress (Elizabeth Peña) to reexamine their own lives. Featuring a neurotic dog, an anorexic daughter, a sexually confused son, and Little Richard as a neighbor, this riotous household and its strange yet sympathetic inhabitants are the ingredients for one of the freshest, funniest comedies in years.

Awards: 1986: Golden Globes: 2 Nominations including Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

1986: Writers Guild of America (WGA): Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay

1986: National Society of Film Critics (NSFC): nominated to Best Cinematography.

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Critics' reviews

"Let me just say that 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' made me laugh longer and louder than any film I've seen in a long time."

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"What's funny is director Mazursky's extraordinarily fine eye and ear for capturing the way the wealthy residents of Beverly Hills walk, talk, dress and think."

Gene Siskel: Chicago Tribune
"For all its genuinely funny moments and its mix of outrageousness and insights, Down and Out remains curiously unsatisfying in the way it resolves the Nolte character."

Sheila Benson: Los Angeles Times
"As a comedy of manners it has a dependably keen aim, with its most wicked barbs leavened by Mr. Mazursky's obvious fondness for his characters."

Janet Maslin: The New York Times
"Peppy and pleasurable, this is one of the most sheerly beautiful comedies ever shot"

Pauline Kael: The New Yorker
"It’s a loving caricature of the nouveau riche (Beverly Hills variety) and although it is more of a comedy of manners than a well-developed story"

Variety Staff: Variety
"It betokens some kind of desperation (or perhaps the fact that this was produced by Disney's adult offshoot) that the comedy rests increasingly on the cute antics of the family dog."

Time Out
"Once you overlook the laborious contrivance of Jerry's background, Down and Out in Beverly Hills is a sharp, sweet comedy of affluent manners."

Jay Scott: The Globe and Mail

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User history

Down and Out in Beverly Hills

1986

Paul Mazursky

5.2

(1,001)