Moving Violations
| Moving Violations | |
|---|---|
 Moving Violations movie poster | |
| Directed by | Neal Israel |
| Written by | Neal Israel, Pat Proft (screenplay) Paul Boorstin, Sharon Boorstin (story) |
| Produced by | Joe Roth Harry J. Ufland |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Robert Elswit |
| Edited by | Tom Walls |
| Music by | Ralph Burns |
Production company | SLM Production Group |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $10,600,000 (USA) |
Moving Violations is a 1985 comedy film starring John Murray, Jennifer Tilly, Brian Backer, Sally Kellerman, Nedra Volz, Clara Peller, Wendie Jo Sperber and Fred Willard. It was directed by Neal Israel and was the film debut of Don Cheadle.
Synopsis
The film follows a group of people in Birch County, California, a fictionalized city/county which is very similar to real-life Los Angeles, who after being ticketed for numerous traffic violations and as a result lose their licenses and driving privileges (and their vehicles impounded), are ordered by Judge Nedra Henderson (Sally Kellerman) to attend a driving course program in order to get their licenses and their vehicles back. However, the assigned teacher for this course, Deputy Henry "Hank" Halik (James Keach), is also conspiring with the judge in a plan to make sure these offenders fail miserably, and at any cost, so they can sell their impounded vehicles. Their actions make one of the offended individuals, landscaper Dana Cannon (John Murray), very suspicious of their scheme and he enlists his fellow students to expose the plot.
Cast
- John Murray as Dana Cannon
- Jennifer Tilly as Amy Hopkins
- James Keach as Deputy Henry 'Hank' Halik
- Brian Backer as Scott Greeber
- Sally Kellerman as Judge Nedra Henderson
- Ned Eisenberg as Wink Barnes
- Clara Peller as Emma Jean
- Wendie Jo Sperber as Joan Pudillo
- Nedra Volz as Mrs. Loretta Houk
- Fred Willard as Terrence 'Doc' Williams
- Lisa Hart Carroll as Deputy Virginia Morris
- Nadine Van der Velde as Stephanie McCarty
- Ben Mittleman as Spencer Popodophalos
- Don Cheadle as Juicy Burgers Worker
- William Forward as Police Officer #1
- Robert Conrad as Sheriff Robert Fromm (uncredited)
- Willard E. Pugh as Jeff Roth
- Dedee Pfeiffer as Cissy
- Michael McManus as Farmer #1 (as Mike McManus)
Trailer
The trailer contains several scenes and lines of dialogue that were not in the final film, including the traffic school classroom scene with the offending drivers, in which the classroom is much smaller than the one featured in the actual film.
Production
Writer and director Israel himself attended traffic school.[1]
Reception
The film was reviewed poorly by Janet Maslin at The New York Times, who described it as an "especially weak teen-age comedy even by today's none-too-high standards."[1] In a later appraisal, David Nusair of Reelfilm.com wrote that Moving Violations contains "enough laughs to be had here to warrant a mild recommendation."[2]
Notes
- ^ a b "SCREEN: 'VIOLATIONS,' A TEEN-AGE COMEDY". New York Times. April 20, 1985.
- ^ Moving Violations, Reelfilm.com, July 8, 2005.
