Funny Bones
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| Funny Bones | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Chelsom |
| Produced by | Peter Chelsom Simon Fields |
| Written by | Peter Chelsom Peter Flannery |
| Starring | Oliver Platt Jerry Lewis Lee Evans Leslie Caron Richard Griffiths Sadie Corre Oliver Reed George Carl Freddie Davies Ian McNeice |
| Music by | John Altman |
| Cinematography | Eduardo Serra |
| Editing by | Martin Walsh |
| Distributed by | Hollywood Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 31, 1995 (United States) September 29, 1995 (United Kingdom) |
| Running time | 128 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $532,268 |
Funny Bones is a 1995 comedy-drama film from Disney's Hollywood Pictures. It was written, directed and produced by Peter Chelsom, co-produced by Simon Fields, and co-written by Peter Flannery. The music score was by John Altman and the cinematography by Eduardo Serra. The film stars Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis, Lee Evans, Leslie Caron, Richard Griffiths, Sadie Corre, Oliver Reed, George Carl, Freddie Davies and Ian McNeice.
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[edit] Plot
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Tommy Fawkes is the failed son of a famous father, comedy legend George Fawkes. After flopping big with his own awkward Las Vegas stand-up comedy act, Tommy returns to Blackpool, England, where he was born and spent childhood summers with a family of performers known as the Parkers until leaving at aged six, 30 years previously.
Disguised with a new identity, Tommy's intention is to seek out unique performers (who have the gift of humor that he lacks) and purchase their acts so he can return to the U.S. and become the success he thinks his father wants him to be.
Tommy encounters his father's old partners Bruno and Thomas, the Parker Brothers, from whom his father learned everything he knew. Once great performers of Blackpool, they now work only as ghouls on a ghost train at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Circus.
Tommy also sees the performance of a brilliant younger comic, Jack Parker, who truly is a naturally gifted performer. Jack is also psychologically troubled, having been manipulated by a corrupt policeman known as Sharkey into helping him steal valuable wax eggs from French smugglers, one of whom is accidentally killed by a boat propeller.
At a club, Tommy also meets Jack's mother Katie, who used to be married to Bruno. Even though Tommy is in disguise, she suspects that he is somehow connected to the family.
After attempting to buy an act from the Parkers, a disillusioned Tommy eventually realises that his father stole his original act from the Parker brothers when he left England. He then reveals himself to be Tommy Fawkes. Katie have a conversation with him and tell him that Jack Parker is his half-brother.
Tommy phones his father about the revelation. George Fawkes, worried when Tommy vanished from Las Vegas without a word, gets on the next plane to Blackpool.
Jack begins teaching Tommy the tricks of the trade. George arrives and has a heart-to-heart talk with Tommy, telling him that some people are funny down to the bone and some aren't – Tommy, unfortunately, is not.
George goes to Bruno Parker to ask what Jack (his son) is like. Bruno tells him that Jack is the funniest of them all, but has paid a terrible price. During a performance as a child, Jack killed a co-performer who used to pick on him during an act involving a metal bar and a newspaper, explaining Jack's psychological problems.
As part of their reconciliation, George arranges for the Parkers to top the bill at a Blackpool Tower Circus public event. Jack, however, is still hounded by the policeman Sharkey and not permitted to perform.
During an elaborate Egyptian act in which she appears, Katie manages to get rid of Sharkey via a sarcophagus, which is then kidnapped by the French smugglers.
The wax eggs they smuggled containing a mystical, ancient Chinese rejuvenating powder. Jack had previously placed the powder within a makeup tin, which Bruno and Thomas accidentally use, helping them to perform brilliantly.
Toward the end of the show, in the last act of the presentation, a crook which looks like a criminal, Jack, is seen climbing a giant pole he is eating and making acrobacies up there and when he gets down from the pole, lots of policeman run towards him, so he climbs again and one of the police men too. The crook them smack the policeman in the face with a glass bottle (with such a strength that reminds the previous Jack's violence in that killing acting years ago), we see the police officer really falling from the pole but Jack is strong enough to hold his arms in mid-air and so the camera shows that Tommy is the policeman and is really afraid of dying and then Jack, the crook, says to the hanged Tommy: I'm beginning to like you. Jack is laughing and Tommy, after the sudden death felling passes away, gazes upon the audience in amazement and finds at last the feeling of an actor he was searching for all his life.
[edit] Cast
- Oliver Platt as Tommy Fawkes
- Jerry Lewis as George Fawkes
- Lee Evans as Jack Parker
- Leslie Caron as Katie Parker
- Richard Griffiths as Jim Minty
- Sadie Corre as Poodle Woman
- Oliver Reed as Dolly Hopkins
- George Carl as Thomas Parker
- Freddie Davies as Bruno Parker
- Ian McNeice as Stanley Sharkey
- Christopher Greet as Lawrence Berger
- Peter Gunn as Nicky
[edit] Home media
Funny Bones was released on DVD on September 2, 2003.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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