Rubin and Ed
Encyclopedia
Rubin and Ed is an American
independent
comedy
-buddy
film
written and directed by Trent Harris
and released in 1991
. It is about an eccentric, unsociable young man who is forced by his mother to make some friends before she'll return his stereo to him. He is joined on a trip through a desert by a pyramid scheme
salesman, to assist in finding a location to bury a frozen cat.
Crispin Glover
appeared on Late Night with David Letterman
in 1987 dressed and in character as Rubin Farr. This caused much confusion to David Letterman
as he, after almost being kicked in the face by Glover, walked off his own set while still on the air.
plays Rubin Farr, a reclusive slacker with a pageboy haircut who lives with his mother, is in love with a bikini model whose poster is on his bedroom wall and wears a pair of "magic", super-hero-like black platform shoes. Rubin spends his days staring at the poster in his bedroom and mourning the death of his pet cat by listening to Mahler
as he paces and squeaks the dead cat's yellow plastic squeaky mouse. Concerned that her son has no friends and no real direction, Rubin's mom takes away his stereo, and therefore his means of mourning, until Rubin goes out and "makes friends". This results in an awkward attempt by Rubin to pick up a woman at the swimming pool by telling her, "I want you to meet my mother", of course, no go. Enter Howard Hesseman
as Ed Tuttle, a down on his luck real estate salesman who tries to get Rubin to attend a seminar that is part of a pyramid scheme.
Ed has problems of his own. He is a part of an organization that makes money through a pyramid scheme
, and Ed has been less than successful in recruiting new members. He also suffers quite a bit of verbal abuse from his ex-wife, Rula, played by Karen Black
. Ed meets Rubin and asks him questions as a part of the organization's survey. While Ed sees this as a way to get a new member to attend the seminar, Rubin sees Ed as a way to get his stereo back from his mom. Rubin agrees to go to the seminar if Ed will come to the apartment to meet his mother first. Ed agrees and arrives at Rubin's apartment at exactly 6:00 pm, the agreed upon time. Rubin stalls Ed by leaving the room because his mother isn't home from work yet. While waiting for Rubin Ed helps himself to some ice water and discovers Rubin's dead cat in the freezer -- and drops it on the kitchen floor. Rubin explains to Ed that he hasn't found the perfect burial site for his pet and now unhappy with Ed then that he will not be attending the seminar -- he demands the Ed leave. Seeing an opportunity, Ed offers to help Rubin find a good place to bury the cat if Rubin will attend the seminar. Rubin "agrees" and places kitty's corpse in a cooler, then into the trunk of Ed's car, jumps into the driver's seat, drives past the seminar and straight into the desert. Things go awry, and start to really get weird as they stop for beer, drink said beer, become drunk, then lost and wander through the desert for hours, maybe days, in search of the perfect spot to bury kitty. The two bicker throughout, Rubin hallucinates, gets lost and at one point, in the throes of dehydration, drinks water from the cooler of his now thawing dead cat. Ed manages to wander out of the desert and finds civilization and a pay phone, but then returns to the desert to search for Rubin. He finds Rubin passed out in a cave, which ultimately becomes the perfect place to bury Rubin's dead pet.
There are touching moments though, such as when Rubin and Ed finally bury the cat, Ed looks at Rubin to see him crying and realizes that however strange Rubin is, he is another human being in anguish because he has lost the only thing that ever loved him. Later, Rubin sees the way Ed's vicious ex-wife treats him and, empathizes by flinging from his foot his magic platform shoe...It seems that finally Rubin has made a friend.
in Salt Lake City
, Hanksville
, and Goblin Valley State Park
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
-buddy
Buddy film
The buddy film is a film genre in which two people of the same sex are paired. The two often contrast in personality, which creates a different dynamic onscreen than a pairing of two people of the opposite sex. The contrast is sometimes accentuated by an ethnic difference between the two...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
written and directed by Trent Harris
Trent Harris
Trent Harris is an independent filmmaker based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He wrote and directed the offbeat 1991 comedy Rubin and Ed, in which Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman wander the desert looking for a suitable place to bury a frozen cat. In 2001 he released The Beaver Trilogy, a...
and released in 1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
. It is about an eccentric, unsociable young man who is forced by his mother to make some friends before she'll return his stereo to him. He is joined on a trip through a desert by a pyramid scheme
Pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...
salesman, to assist in finding a location to bury a frozen cat.
Crispin Glover
Crispin Glover
Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...
appeared on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
in 1987 dressed and in character as Rubin Farr. This caused much confusion to David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
as he, after almost being kicked in the face by Glover, walked off his own set while still on the air.
Plot
Crispin GloverCrispin Glover
Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...
plays Rubin Farr, a reclusive slacker with a pageboy haircut who lives with his mother, is in love with a bikini model whose poster is on his bedroom wall and wears a pair of "magic", super-hero-like black platform shoes. Rubin spends his days staring at the poster in his bedroom and mourning the death of his pet cat by listening to Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
as he paces and squeaks the dead cat's yellow plastic squeaky mouse. Concerned that her son has no friends and no real direction, Rubin's mom takes away his stereo, and therefore his means of mourning, until Rubin goes out and "makes friends". This results in an awkward attempt by Rubin to pick up a woman at the swimming pool by telling her, "I want you to meet my mother", of course, no go. Enter Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:...
as Ed Tuttle, a down on his luck real estate salesman who tries to get Rubin to attend a seminar that is part of a pyramid scheme.
Ed has problems of his own. He is a part of an organization that makes money through a pyramid scheme
Pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...
, and Ed has been less than successful in recruiting new members. He also suffers quite a bit of verbal abuse from his ex-wife, Rula, played by Karen Black
Karen Black
Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
. Ed meets Rubin and asks him questions as a part of the organization's survey. While Ed sees this as a way to get a new member to attend the seminar, Rubin sees Ed as a way to get his stereo back from his mom. Rubin agrees to go to the seminar if Ed will come to the apartment to meet his mother first. Ed agrees and arrives at Rubin's apartment at exactly 6:00 pm, the agreed upon time. Rubin stalls Ed by leaving the room because his mother isn't home from work yet. While waiting for Rubin Ed helps himself to some ice water and discovers Rubin's dead cat in the freezer -- and drops it on the kitchen floor. Rubin explains to Ed that he hasn't found the perfect burial site for his pet and now unhappy with Ed then that he will not be attending the seminar -- he demands the Ed leave. Seeing an opportunity, Ed offers to help Rubin find a good place to bury the cat if Rubin will attend the seminar. Rubin "agrees" and places kitty's corpse in a cooler, then into the trunk of Ed's car, jumps into the driver's seat, drives past the seminar and straight into the desert. Things go awry, and start to really get weird as they stop for beer, drink said beer, become drunk, then lost and wander through the desert for hours, maybe days, in search of the perfect spot to bury kitty. The two bicker throughout, Rubin hallucinates, gets lost and at one point, in the throes of dehydration, drinks water from the cooler of his now thawing dead cat. Ed manages to wander out of the desert and finds civilization and a pay phone, but then returns to the desert to search for Rubin. He finds Rubin passed out in a cave, which ultimately becomes the perfect place to bury Rubin's dead pet.
There are touching moments though, such as when Rubin and Ed finally bury the cat, Ed looks at Rubin to see him crying and realizes that however strange Rubin is, he is another human being in anguish because he has lost the only thing that ever loved him. Later, Rubin sees the way Ed's vicious ex-wife treats him and, empathizes by flinging from his foot his magic platform shoe...It seems that finally Rubin has made a friend.
Production
Rubin and Ed was filmed in UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, Hanksville
Hanksville, Utah
Hanksville is a small town in Wayne County, Utah, United States, at the junction of State Routes 24 and 95. The town is just south of the confluence of the Fremont River and Muddy Creek, which together form the Dirty Devil River, which then flows southeast to the Colorado River...
, and Goblin Valley State Park
Goblin Valley State Park
Goblin Valley State Park is a state park of Utah, USA.Its eminent feature is its thousands of hoodoos and hoodoo rocks, which are formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some as high as several meters...
.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:... |
Ed Tuttle |
| Crispin Glover Crispin Glover Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the... |
Rubin Farr |
| Karen Black Karen Black Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot... |
Rula |
| Michael Greene | Mr. Busta |
| Brittney Lewis | Poster Girl |
| Anna Louise Daniels | Rubin's Mom |
| Ray Gordon Ray Gordon Ray Gordon is a former NBL Melbourne Tigers player who was a member of the Tigers inaugural NBL championship team in 1993. He is now married with 4 children in Australia.-References:*... |
Barking Man |
| Dorene Nielsen | Ed's Mom |
| Frank Magner | Bob |
| Aaron Tranberg | Desk Sergeant |
| Patrick Michael Collins | Lacky |
| Jonathan Chapin | Brat |
| Jane Mendenhall | Woman By Pool |
| James Nielsen | Ed's Dad |
| Diane St. Cyr | Bonnie |
| Michael Scott | Jimbo |