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Brewster's Millions (1985)
Richard Pryor and John Candy make an engaging screen team in an amiable comedy about greed and avarice called Brewster's Millions that is more than passing entertainment thanks to a clever story and a professional cast.
Pryor plays Montgomery Brewster, a minor league baseball player who learns that he has a great uncle (who's white) whose bigotry about being related to a black man motivates him to impose what he thinks is an impossible caveat to an inheritance to his only living relative: The rich uncle informs Brewster via a videotaped will that he will give him 30 million dollars but he has to spend every penny of it in 30 days, without acquiring any assets, and if he does it, he will then inherit 300 million dollars. The only thing is he can't tell anyone about the arrangement.
Candy plays his BFF Spike who happily climbs aboard the gravy train and Lonette McKee plays Drake, the straight-laced accountant who has been hired by the estate to keep track of Brewster's spending.
This is actually the third version of this story, which was previously filmed in 1921 and 1945, but the story has been effectively updated for the 1980's, a perfect time to resurrect this story as the 1980's were definitely the "me gimme mine" decade where everything was all about who has the most toys. We snicker when his Uncle states in the will that he has a plan to make Brewster sick of spending money because this looks like a dream on the surface but we are surprised at the beginning of the third act when Brewster actually admits that he's sick of spending money. Not to mention the fact that watching him piss away all this money is making him look like a bum in the eyes of Drake, who Brewster is, of course, attracted to.
The comic situations that can arise from such a premise are expertly mounted by director Walter Hill (48 HRS) whose unobtrusive direction never gets in the way of Pryor's slick interpretation of this central character, who is a lot smarter than he initially appears on the surface...the will does allow him to hire people to work for him and it is a lot of fun watching him buying a staff with such ease by throwing enough money at him. This story seems to be about the evils of money, but money still looks pretty good by the time the credits roll. Pryor and Candy have a strong supporting cast behind them including Pat Hingle, Jerry Orbach, Joe Grifasi, Stephen Collins, Tovah Feldshuh, and in his last theatrical film, David White, who played Larry Tate on Bewitched. It's predictable but Pryor keeps his character smart and likable and the film is rich with re-watch appeal.
Richard Pryor and John Candy make an engaging screen team in an amiable comedy about greed and avarice called Brewster's Millions that is more than passing entertainment thanks to a clever story and a professional cast.
Pryor plays Montgomery Brewster, a minor league baseball player who learns that he has a great uncle (who's white) whose bigotry about being related to a black man motivates him to impose what he thinks is an impossible caveat to an inheritance to his only living relative: The rich uncle informs Brewster via a videotaped will that he will give him 30 million dollars but he has to spend every penny of it in 30 days, without acquiring any assets, and if he does it, he will then inherit 300 million dollars. The only thing is he can't tell anyone about the arrangement.
Candy plays his BFF Spike who happily climbs aboard the gravy train and Lonette McKee plays Drake, the straight-laced accountant who has been hired by the estate to keep track of Brewster's spending.
This is actually the third version of this story, which was previously filmed in 1921 and 1945, but the story has been effectively updated for the 1980's, a perfect time to resurrect this story as the 1980's were definitely the "me gimme mine" decade where everything was all about who has the most toys. We snicker when his Uncle states in the will that he has a plan to make Brewster sick of spending money because this looks like a dream on the surface but we are surprised at the beginning of the third act when Brewster actually admits that he's sick of spending money. Not to mention the fact that watching him piss away all this money is making him look like a bum in the eyes of Drake, who Brewster is, of course, attracted to.
The comic situations that can arise from such a premise are expertly mounted by director Walter Hill (48 HRS) whose unobtrusive direction never gets in the way of Pryor's slick interpretation of this central character, who is a lot smarter than he initially appears on the surface...the will does allow him to hire people to work for him and it is a lot of fun watching him buying a staff with such ease by throwing enough money at him. This story seems to be about the evils of money, but money still looks pretty good by the time the credits roll. Pryor and Candy have a strong supporting cast behind them including Pat Hingle, Jerry Orbach, Joe Grifasi, Stephen Collins, Tovah Feldshuh, and in his last theatrical film, David White, who played Larry Tate on Bewitched. It's predictable but Pryor keeps his character smart and likable and the film is rich with re-watch appeal.