Freaky Friday (1976 film)
| Freaky Friday (1976) | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gary Nelson |
| Written by | Mary Rodgers |
| Produced by | Ron Miller |
| Starring | Barbara Harris Jodie Foster John Astin |
| Cinematography | Charles F. Wheeler |
| Edited by | Cotton Warburton |
| Music by | Johnny Mandel |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution Company |
Release dates | December 17, 1976 |
Running time | 95 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Freaky Friday is a 1976 American comedy film starring Jodie Foster as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris as her mother.
Plot
The film opens on Friday the 13th when Annabel Andrews (Jodie Foster) just after a quarrel with her mother, Ellen Andrews (Barbara Harris) leaves for school. Soon after, joining a friend at a diner for breakfast, Annabel (at the diner) and her mother (in their kitchen at home) wish aloud, "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day." In a choatic way Annabel and Ellen switch places. So, Ellen plays 13-year-old Annabel, and Annabel plays Ellen for day. Annabel has a crazy day with the carpet cleaners, the drape cleaners, Ms. Mary Kay, the grocery boy, their dog, and the alcoholic maid. Ellen ruins red film class, destroys and explodes about eighteen typewriters, gets lost during marching band, and loses Annabel's field hockey game. She eventually just runs away to Bill Andrews' office. When she sees the young and attractive new secretary she invades her work by explaining how vicious and tough a woman Ellen is. So, Ellen gets Annabel's braces off, then gets a makeover and a new wardrobe. During all this, Annabel (as Ellen) plays baseball with Ben (Sparky Marcus), (Annabel's brother whom she names Ape Face) and learns how Ben idolizes Annabel and adores whatever she does. Annabel also works a crush on an old friend, Boris Harris, who now has a huge crush on Mrs. Andrews. Eventually, Bill (John Astin) calls Annabel (as Ellen) and forces her to cook dinner for twenty-five which she, Ben, and Boris destroy in the making. Ellen (as Annabel) is eventually taken away to waterski for Bill's work. However, Ellen is tricked into flying away on the skis. Annabel, Boris, and Ben end up driving in Ellen's car and get in a huge, epic and comical car chase. While, both in the air Ellen and Annabel wish to return to their own bodies which happens with a shocking twist. Ellen returns to her body but ends up watersking and Annabel returns to her body but still ends up driving Ellen's car. Annabel drives to the marina and drives Ellen's car into the river, while Ellen, who has jumped onto a parachute kite flies crazily into the river. She and Annabel happily forgive each other. In the ending scene, Annabel and Boris (who appear to be on the verge of going steady) and Ben are about to go out for pizza, while Ellen is unsuccessfully trying to tell Bill about the story. Bill refuses to believe it and he and Ben quarrel about how fun a Saturday in each other's place would be. They each wish to be each other, and the film ends with them about to change places while Ellen nervously throws some playing cards into the air.
Production Notes
The film is based on a novel by Mary Rodgers, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each others' lives. The cause of the switch is left unexplained in this film, but occurs one Friday the 13th, when Mrs. Andrews and Annabel, in two different places, say about each other at the same time "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day." Rodgers adds a waterskiing subplot to her screenplay. The cast includes John Astin, Ruth Buzzi, Dick Van Patten, and Charlene Tilton.
Neither Barbara Harris nor Jodie Foster did any actual waterskiing in the film. In both cases, these scenes were achieved with the use of professional waterskiiers in long shot on location, and cutaway shots of the actresses in front of a green-screen projection. Foster did, however, play field hockey in the film.
Cast
- Barbara Harris ... Ellen Andrews
- Jodie Foster ... Annabel Andrews
- John Astin ... Bill Andrews
- Patsy Kelly ... Mrs. Schmauss
- Dick Van Patten ... Harold Jennings
- Vicki Shreck ... Virginia
- Sorrell Booke ... Mr. Dilk
- Alan Oppenheimer ... Mr. Joffert
- Ruth Buzzi ... Opposing coach
- Kaye Ballard ... Coach Betsy
- Marc McClure ... Boris Harris
- Marie Windsor ... Mrs. Murphy*
- Sparky Marcus ... Ben Andrews
- Ceil Cabot ... Miss McGuirk
- Brooke Mills ... Mrs. Gibbons†
- Karen Smith ... Mary Kay Gilbert
- Marvin Kaplan ... Carpet cleaner
- Al Molinaro ... Drapery man
- Iris Adrian ... Bus passenger
- Barbara Walden ... Mrs. Benson
- Shelly Jutner ... Hilary Miller
- Charlene Tilton ... Bambi
- Lori Rutherford ... Jo-Jo
- Jack Sheldon ... Lloyd
- Laurie Main ... Mr. Mills
- Don Carter ... Delivery boy
- Fuddle Bagley ... Bus driver
- Fritz Feld ... Mr. Jackman
- Dermott Downs ... Harvey manager
- Jimmy Van Patten ... Cashier
* Although incorrect (the character is referred to in dialogue as "Ms. Murphy"), this is how the credit appears on-screen.
† Although incorrect (the character is referred to in dialogue as "Miss Gibbons"), this is how the credit appears on-screen.
Remake
The movie was remade twice, the first being a 1995 television movie starring Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann. The second remake was a 2003 feature length film directed by Mark Waters, with Lindsay Lohan as the daughter and Jamie Lee Curtis as the mother.
Parodies
- "Those Freaky McGuires", an episode of Lizzie McGuire, follows a similar plot to "Freaky Friday" with Lizzie (Hilary Duff) and her brother Matt (Jake Thomas) switching places.
- In "Versa Day" an episode of Disney Channel show Phil of the Future, Lloyd forces Phil and Pim to switch bodies because of excessive arguments.
- In "Freaky Friday", an episode of 8 Simple Rules, Cate switches places with Bridget, C.J. changes places with Grandpa Jim, and Rory switches places with his hamster. Kerry is the only one who did not change places with anyone.
- The Wrong Coast, a claymation series that parodies movies, did a parody called "Sort Of But Not That Freaky Friday".
- "The Switch" an episode of The Secret World of Alex Mack, Alex Mack switches place with her mother who must now learn how to control her powers. They are left confused and scared.
- Shin-Chan, a Japanese cartoon, did a parody where Shin swaps bodies with his mother Mitzi, titled "Trading Faces" in the English FUNimation dub.
- In "Manic Monday", an episode of the American anime series Kappa Mikey, Lily and Mitsuki acquire friendship bracelets from a mysterious peddler (a parody of the fortune cookie situation in the 2003 film). Later, while wearing the bracelets, they wish for each other's lives and switch bodies right in front of each other. The peddler tells them they'll switch back when they've each learned an important trait they lack that the other has.
- Mexican comedy series Papá Soltero (Single Daddy) had an episode where Cesar and one of his sons exchanges bodies during the breakfast and both have to experience each other's life just to have catastrophic consecuences for their lives until they find out that they were just daydreaming and began to understand each other.
- In "Quinceanera", an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place, to avoid having to wear the customary frilly ball gown, Alex Russo (Selena Gomez) uses the body switching spell to change places with her mother, Theresa, who never had a Quinceanera of her own.