Big (film)
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| Big | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster for Big. | |
| Directed by | Penny Marshall |
| Written by | Gary Ross Anne Spielberg |
| Produced by | James L. Brooks Robert Greenhut |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Elizabeth Perkins Robert Loggia John Heard |
| Cinematography | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates | June 3, 1988 (USA) |
Running time | 104 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18,000,000 (est.) |
Big is a 1988 comedy film about a boy who wished to be aged to adulthood by a magical fortune-telling machine. It stars Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton, David Moscow, Jon Lovitz and Mercedes Ruehl. The movie was written by Gary Ross, with Justin Schindler, and Anne Spielberg. Penny Marshall directed, replacing Steven Spielberg whose sister was one of the writers.
Plot
After being humiliated while trying to impress an older teenage girl at a carnival, Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes to a wish/fortune-telling machine (called Zoltar Speaks) and wishes that he were "big". The next morning, he sees a face in the mirror he does not recognize. Overnight, he has become a 30-year-old man. (Tom Hanks).
Josh, after having a cycle around town as an adult, reluctantly decides to show his mother his new look. As soon as he enters his house and tries to explain, his mother sees him and runs and screams around her own home. Josh's mom then brandishes a steak knife at Josh, unaware that what appears to be a menacing intruder is really her son. Eventually, screaming blood-curdlingly, she drives the now 30-year-old out of her house, and then finding Josh gone believes he has been kidnapped. In desperation, Josh corners his 13-year-old best friend Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), and convinces him of his true identity (by singing a secret song only they know). With Billy's help, Josh rents a cheap room in Manhattan and gets a lowly data-entry job at the MacMillan Toy Company.
In a memorable scene, he meets the company's owner, MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at the FAO Schwarz toy store, and impresses him with his childlike enthusiasm. They end up playing a duet together on a giant foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing Chopsticks and Heart and Soul. This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job for a kid: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. With his insight into what sells to children, he quickly rises up the corporate ranks.
He soon attracts the attention of the beautiful, ambitious Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), a fellow toy executive, and a romance begins to develop, much to the annoyance of her current boyfriend, Paul (John Heard). In time, Josh sees his friendship with Billy start to fade as his relationship with Susan begins to grow, and he is faced with a choice: return to his old life with his family and friends, or remain an adult with Susan. Ultimately, he decides to return to his normal life and seeks out the Zoltar machine, wishing himself back to childhood. Susan catches up to Josh right after he makes his wish. He tries to convince her to join him, but she isn't willing to relive her adolescence again. Susan drives Josh home and they part, with a hint that they may meet later, when he has grown up.
It is widely rumored[1] that a different ending was used in test screenings, in which Josh is in class, and a "new girl in school" is brought into the classroom. Her resemblance to Susan and a shot of Josh's reaction imply that this is Susan, having also become young by using the Zoltar machine. There is no mention or evidence of this ending on the Extended Edition DVD released in 2007.
Acclaim
Big, was received with almost unanimous critical acclaim, and is considered by many critics the gold standard of movies in which a child is trapped in an adult's body. Many critics praised Tom Hanks for his "believable" and "adorable" performance.[2]
Big was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks) and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.
The film is number 23 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
Is one of the few PG-rated movies to use the word "fuck" in its uncut version; furthermore the word is used by one of the young actors, Rushton, rather than an adult.
Broadway musical
In 1996, Big was made into a musical for the Broadway stage. It featured music by David Shire, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., and a book by John Weidman. Directed by Mike Ockrent, and choreographed by Susan Stroman, it opened on April 28, 1996.
DVD
Big has been available on DVD since 1999.
A two-disc extended edition, named either the "Extended Edition" or "Family Fun Edition", was released on May 8 2007 in Regions 1 and 4; this DVD adds 25 minutes of extra footage to the original cut, making the film 130 minutes, as well as providing the original version on the first disc and additional features on the second disc. On October 22, 2007, the DVD was released in Region 2.
Filming locations
The Carnival at the beginning of the movie was one of the largest traveling carnivals in the US, Reithoffer Shows Inc. They set up the carnival specifically for the movie. Besides having the company named in the special thanks section of the credits, you can read the company name on the Super Loop operators shirt. The movie takes place partially at Playland amusement park in Rye, New York. Young Josh lives in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.
The house that was used as the Baskin residence is located at 437 Greenmount Road in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. It can be viewed by clicking on this link: http://www.zillow.com/aerial/DualMapPage.htm?zpid=37859824.
The MacMillan Toy Company office outside and lobby shots where the movie was filmed was also the New York Toy Fair showroom for Hasbro Toys which closed in 2004
Many parts of the movie were filmed on Ossining, NYs Main Street and South Highland Avenue.
Cultural references
- The keyboard scene was parodied in an episode of The Simpsons, where Homer plays an off-key rendition of "Rock Around The Clock" and a near-perfect rendition of the Simpsons main theme at the toy store.
- In an episode of the Family Guy entitled "The Story on Page One" Stewie is angry about being so small and stumbles upon a Zoltar Speaks machine from the movie. When Stewie says "I wish I was BIG" Zoltar responds with a card that reads "I wish I could weigh people."
- There is a homage to Big at the end of an episode of NewsRadio entitled "Arcade". Video of scene on Putfile
- In the popular Game Boy Advance games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Emerald, there is a TV inside the house of the main character; if a player faces it, the main character will say: "There is a movie on TV. Two men are dancing on a big piano keyboard. Better get going!"
- The Zoltar machine was featured in a Microsoft Windows Live Messenger on-line advertising campaign.
- In the web comic Looking For Group, a guy looking like the Zoltar Genie walks in behind a window, stroking his beard while a small Richard wishes to be big.
See also
Spin-offs
Similar films
- Da grande (1987)
- Like Father Like Son (1987)
- Vice Versa (1988)
- 18 Again! (1988)
- Jack (1996)
- Seventeen Again (2000)
- Freaky Friday (2003)
- Naani(Telugu)(2003)
- 13 Going on 30 (2004)
- New(Tamil) (2004)
- 17 Again (2008)
References
External links
- Articles needing cleanup from February 2008
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from February 2008
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from February 2008
- 1988 films
- 20th Century Fox films
- Fantasy-comedy films
- 1980s romantic comedy films
- Films directed by Penny Marshall
- Coming-of-age films
- American films
- English-language films