Big (film)
| 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 |
| Edited by | Barry Malkin |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox Gracie Films |
Release date | June 3, 1988 |
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18,000,000 (est.) |
| Box office | $151,668,774 (worldwide)[1] |
Big is a 1988 American comedy-drama film about a boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight. It stars Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, and Robert Loggia. The film was written by Gary Ross, with Justin Schindler and Anne Spielberg and was directed by Penny Marshall, who replaced Steven Spielberg, and is heavily insipred, though not an actual remake, by the 1987 italian film "Da grande" of director Franco Amurri.
Plot
After being humiliated attempting to impress a teenage girl at a carnival, 13-year-old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes to a fortune-telling machine, called Zoltar Speaks, and wishes that he were "big". The next morning, he discovers to his shock that he is a 31 year old grown man (Tom Hanks). Fleeing from his mother, who thinks a strange man has kidnapped her son, Josh rents a cheap hotel room in New York City with the help of his best friend, Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), and gets a data entry job at MacMillan Toy Company.
By chance Josh meets the company's owner, Mr. MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at the toy store and impresses him with his childlike enthusiasm. They end up playing a duet together on a foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks". This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. He soon attracts the attention of the beautiful, ambitious 27 year old Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), a fellow toy executive. A romance begins to develop, much to the annoyance of her current, competitive boyfriend, Paul (John Heard). As Josh becomes more and more entwined in his "adult" life by spending more time with Susan, and his new ideas becomes a valuable asset to MacMillan Toys, this eventually leads to Billy feeling annoyed and neglected by his best friend, who feels that Josh has forgotten who he really is.
Susan asks Josh to come up with proposals for a new line of toys. Although Josh is intimidated by the need to formulate the business aspects of such a proposal, Susan insists that she will handle the business side of it, and that Josh need only rely on his childlike affinity for toys to come up with a good idea, but he soon begins to feel too pressured by this new life. When he expresses doubts to Susan, and attempts to explain to her that he is really a child, she interprets this as fear of commitment on his part, and dismisses his explanation.
Longing to return to the life of a child, he eventually learns from Billy that the Zoltar Speaks machine is at Sea Point Park. In the middle of their proposal to MacMillian and other executives, Josh leaves. After Susan realizes something is wrong, she leaves as well, and encounters Billy, who tells her where Josh went. At the park, Josh finds the machine and makes a wish. He is then confronted by Susan, who, looking the machine and the fortune it gave Josh, realizes Josh was telling the truth all along. Despite her despondence over realizing that their relationship is over, Josh tells her that she was the one thing about his adult life that he wishes would not end, and suggests that she use the machine herself to join him back in childhood. She declines, indicating that her childhood was not something she remembers fondly, and takes Josh home. After sharing an emotional goodbye, Josh reverts to his true, child form, and is reunited with his mother, and later, with Billy.
Reception
Big was received with almost unanimous critical acclaim. Based on 51 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of critics gave the film a positive review.[2] The New York Times praised the performances of Moscow and Rushton, saying the film "features believable young teen-age mannerisms from the two real boys in its cast and this only makes Mr. Hanks's funny, flawless impression that much more adorable."[3]
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. In 2000, Big was ranked 42nd on the American Film Institute's 100 Years…100 Laughs list.[4] In June 2008, AFI named Big as the tenth-best film in the fantasy genre.[5] In 2008, Big was selected by Empire Magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[6]
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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.
References
- ^ "Big (1988)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ "Big (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (June 3, 1988). "Review/Film; Tom Hanks as a 13-Year-Old, in 'Big'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs". American Film Institute. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 1, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ "10 Top 10: Top 10 Fantasy". American Film Institute. 2008. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ http://www.empireonline.com/500/60.asp
External links
- Big at IMDb
- Big at AllMovie
- Big at Rotten Tomatoes
- Big at Box Office Mojo