The Dream Team (1989 film)
| The Dream Team | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Howard Zieff |
| Written by | John Connolly David Loucka |
| Produced by | Christopher W. Knight |
| Starring | Michael Keaton Christopher Lloyd Peter Boyle Stephen Furst |
| Cinematography | Adam Holender |
| Edited by | Carroll Timothy O'Meara |
| Music by | David McHugh |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000,000 |
| Box office | $28,890,240 (USA) |
The Dream Team is a 1989 comedy film directed by Howard Zieff and produced by Christopher W. Knight for Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures. It stars Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle and Stephen Furst as mental-hospital inpatients who are left unsupervised in New York City during a field trip gone awry. John Connolly and David Loucka wrote the screenplay.
Plot
Dr. Jeff Weitzman (Dennis Boutsikaris) is a psychologist working in a sanitarium in New Jersey. His primary patients are Billy, Henry, Jack and Albert. Billy (Keaton) is the most normal of the group and their unofficial leader, though he is a pathological liar with delusions of grandeur and violent tendencies. Henry (Lloyd) is obsessive/compulsive and he has deluded himself into thinking he is one of the doctors at the hospital, often walking around with a clipboard, lab coat and stethoscope. Jack (Boyle) is a former advertising executive who believes he is Jesus Christ. Finally, Albert (Furst) is a man-child who only says things what he hears during baseball games, particularly from former ball player and commentator Phil Rizzuto.
Convinced that his patients need some fresh air and some time away from the sanitarium, Dr. Weitzman persuades the administration to allow him to take them to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, he accidentally encounters two crooked cops just as they murder another officer. The doctor then gets knocked unconscious trying to get away and is put in the hospital. The group is now stranded in New York City, forced to cope with a place which is often more bizarre than their sanitarium. One of the both comic and serious plot twists is that the inmates have to listen to Albert's baseball jargon in order to get clues as to what happened to Dr. Weitzman, because he is the only one who witnessed it (he is just afraid to say it because of his catatonic condition). Two other running gags throughout the film are: Henry's threats to report psychologically disturbing behavior of the other patients (never realizing his own problems until near the end); and Billy's violent, unpredictable but ultimately harmless behavior in several different scenarios.
After Dr. Weitzman's beating and coma, it is up to the patients to save their doctor from being murdered by the crooked cops. They end up having to both use and overcome their delusions and disorders in order to save the only man who ever tried to help them, with both the police and the killers looking for them. Three revisit scenes from their pasts: Billy (former girlfriend Bracco), Henry (his wife & daughter), and Jack (his former employer).
Throughout the film there are minor scenes showing the interaction between the two crooked police officers (Philip Bosco and James Remar) and what their plans are in framing the patients for the murder of Officer Alvarez earlier in the film.
Cast
- Michael Keaton as Billy Caufield
- Christopher Lloyd as Henry Sikorsky
- Peter Boyle as Jack McDermott
- Stephen Furst as Albert Ianuzzi
- Dennis Boutsikaris as Dr. Jeff Weitzman
- Lorraine Bracco as Riley
- Milo O'Shea as Dr. Newald
- Philip Bosco as O'Malley
- James Remar as Gianelli
- Michael Lembeck as Ed, Riley's boyfriend
- Jack Duffy as Bernie
- Larry Pine as Canning
- Ted Simonett as a yuppie
- John Stocker as Murray
- Lizbeth MacKay as Henry's wife
- Ron James as Dwight
- Freda Foh Shen as a TV newscaster
- Donna Hanover as a field reporter
- Jihmi Kennedy as the tow truck driver
Reception
The movie had a positive reception.[1][2]
Box office
Dream Team debuted at No.2 at the American Box Office.[3]
References
- ^ "Review/Film; Out of the Asylum, Into Manhattan". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ^ "Movie Reviews : 'Dream Team' Wakes Up to an Old Running Gag". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
- ^ "WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : 'Major League' Wins Season Opener". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-05-14.