Grand Canyon (1991 film)

Grand Canyon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lawrence Kasdan
Produced by	Michael Grillo Lawrence Kasdan Charles Okun
Written by	Lawrence Kasdan Meg Kasdan
Starring	Danny Glover Steve Martin Kevin Kline Mary McDonnell Mary-Louise Parker Alfre Woodard
Music by	James Newton Howard
Cinematography	Owen Roizman
Editing by	Carol Littleton
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	25 December 1991 (U.S. limited) 10 January 1992 (U.S. wide) 16 April 1992 (Australia)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$33,243,020 (USA)

Grand Canyon is a 1991 American drama feature film directed and co-written by Lawrence Kasdan and featuring an ensemble cast. About random events affecting a selection of diverse characters, the film explores the race- and class-imposed chasms which separate members of the same community. Grand Canyon was advertised as "The Big Chill for the '90s", in reference to an earlier Kasdan film.

Plot

An immigration lawyer named Mac (Kevin Kline) finds himself at the mercy of potential muggers when his car breaks down in a bad part of Los Angeles late at night. The muggers are talked out of victimizing Mac by Simon (Danny Glover), a tow-truck driver who arrives just in time. After that night Mac sets out to befriend Simon, despite their having nothing in common. Mac seems unaware that his desire to befriend Simon is actually a form of mid-life crisis, mixed with racial guilt that he is well-off while Simon is struggling financially.

Meanwhile, Mac's wife Claire (Mary McDonnell) and best friend Davis (Steve Martin) are also experiencing life-changing events, when she encounters an abandoned infant as she is jogging and becomes determined to adopt it, he after being shot in the leg by a man trying to steal his watch. A producer of violent action films, Davis suddenly becomes interested in philosophy more than box-office profits, and announces that he will devote the remainder of his career to eliminating violence from the cinema.

The film chronicles how these characters – as well as various acquaintances, co-workers and relatives – are affected by their interactions in the light of these life-changing events. In the end, all the characters converge at the Grand Canyon on a shared vacation trip, united in a place that is philosophically and actually "bigger" than all their little separate lives.

Cast

• Mac - Kevin Kline
• Simon - Danny Glover
• Claire - Mary McDonnell
• Davis - Steve Martin
• Dee - Mary-Louise Parker
• Jane - Alfre Woodard
• Roberto - Jeremy Sisto
• Deborah - Tina Lifford
• Otis - Patrick Malone
• The Alley Baron - Randle Mell
• Vanessa - Sarah Trigger
• Abandoned baby - Twin sisters Candace and Lauren Mead
• Rocstar - Shaun Baker

Additional cast

• Marlee Matlin plays an uncredited role; she is a mom using sign language to communicate with her child as several youths are being sent off to camp.
• Randle Mell, real-life husband of Mary McDonnell, plays a homeless man that Claire encounters while jogging.
• Marley Shelton can be seen in one of her first roles as Roberto's girlfriend at camp.
• Director Lawrence Kasdan plays an uncredited role; he is berated by Davis for cutting out a "money shot" (a close-up of blood and brains hitting a window) from a particularly violent action scene in one of Davis' movies.

Production

• The footage of the Los Angeles Lakers game in the film was shot before anybody knew Lakers guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson had the AIDS virus. Critic Rita Kempley, in discussing the film, pointed to this scene as proof that "... the filmmaker and his team ha[d] truly caught society on the verge."
• The character Davis is based on aggressive action film producer Joel Silver.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Critical response

Grand Canyon was with generally positive reviews from critics; it has a 7/10 "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a critical rating of 76%. Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote,

Set in Los Angeles, and gliding gracefully among a representative set of characters, the film means to move through different economic strata, age groups and racial backgrounds in its search for common experience. If the ambition to do this is ultimately more impressive than the hazy, unfocused outcome, Mr. Kasdan still deserves a lot of credit for what he has tried."

In a similar vein, Washington Post critic Rita Kempley wrote,

Grand Canyon considers the ever-widening chasms that divide us, the shifting demographic fault lines that have set society quaking like the needle on Richter's scale. ... This City of the Angels captured by Kasdan, its skies buzzing with helicopters, reminds us most of all of Vietnam. But this is not war, it's suicide, America in the latent stages of self-inflicted apocalypse. Kasdan validates our fears, but he doesn't strip us of all hope, for the central image also promises something greater than ourselves. The view from the edge can be awesome.

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly chided the film for its "... solemn zeitgeist chic," and called it "... way too self-conscious," but ultimately decided that "Grand Canyon is finally a very classy soap opera, one that holds a generous mirror up to its audience's anxieties. It's the sort of movie that says: Life is worth living. After a couple of hours spent with characters this enjoyable, the message — in all its forthright sentimentality — feels earned."

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, and wrote, "In a time when our cities are wounded, movies like Grand Canyon can help to heal." Ebert's television reviewing partner Gene Siskel also loved the film,^{[citation needed]} with Ebert placing it at the #4 and Siskel at #6 on their 1991 top ten lists.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

The film won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Box office

Grand Canyon was considered a minor failure at the box office,^{[citation needed]} taking in $33.2 million, and did not reap notable profits until it was released on video.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Phil Collins' 1993 song "Both Sides of the Story" references the scene from Grand Canyon where the young mugger tells Simon that he carries a gun to make sure people respect (and fear) him.

See also

• 1992 Los Angeles riots
• Crash

External links

• Grand Canyon at the Internet Movie Database
• Grand Canyon at AllRovi