Scrooged is a
1988-Top grossing films :source: http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1988&p=.htm- Awards :Academy Awards:* Alice * Alien Nation, starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin* Amsterdamned...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
, a modernization of
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens FRSA , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print...
'
novellaA novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is disagreement as to what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count...
,
A Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens about a curmudgeon and his secular conversion and redemption after being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve...
. The film was produced and directed by
Richard DonnerRichard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer. The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
, and the cinematography was by
Michael ChapmanMichael Chapman A.S.C. is an American cinematographer whose prominence owes most to his innovative work of the 1970s and 1980s....
. The screenplay was written by
Mitch Glazer-Biography:Glazer was born in Key Biscayne, Florida and was raised in Miami, the son of Leonard and Zelda Glazer, an English teacher. Glazer is a relative of Sidney Glazier and Tom Glazer. He attended Miami Beach High School. He attended Clark University before transferring to NYU...
and
Michael O'DonoghueMichael O'Donoghue was a 20th century American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of the highly influential American television program Saturday Night Live.-...
. The original music score was composed by
Danny ElfmanDaniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American musician, best known for composing music for television and movies, and leading the rock band Oingo Boingo as singer/songwriter from 1976 until its breakup in 1995. He is a frequent collaborator with long-time friend Tim Burton, and has scored all but...
.
The cast includes:
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live, and went on to star in films including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.-Early years:Murray, the fifth...
,
Karen AllenKaren Jane Allen is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark...
,
Bob "Bobcat" GoldthwaitRobert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, rabid stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice...
,
John ForsytheJohn Forsythe is an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning three decades, as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels ,...
,
Carol KaneCarolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress, known for her work on stage, screen and television.- Early life :Kane was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Joy, a jazz singer, teacher, dancer, and pianist, and Michael Kane, an architect who worked for the World Bank. Her family is...
,
David JohansenDavid Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He was a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in the New York...
,
John HousemanJohn Houseman was an English actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
,
John GloverJohn Soursby Glover, Jr. is an American award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville.-Personal life:...
, and
Robert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and...
. It also features cameo appearances by
OlympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
gymnastGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, balance and grace. Artistic gymnastics is the best known and most popular of the gymnastics sports governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique...
Mary Lou RettonMary Lou Retton is an American gymnast. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.-Personal life:...
, musicians
Larry CarltonLawrence Eugene Carlton is an American jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and a singer, from Torrance, California. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
,
Miles DavisMiles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
,
David SanbornDavid Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B...
, and
Paul ShafferPaul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer. Currently, he is the bandleader and sidekick on the Late Show with David Letterman...
, actor/singer
Robert GouletRobert Gerard Goulet was an American Grammy- and Tony Award- winning entertainer. He rose to international stardom in 1960 as Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe's hit Broadway musical Camelot. His long career as a singer and actor encompassed theatre, radio, television and film...
, and actors
Jamie FarrJamie Farr is an American television and film actor and popular game show panelist. He is best known for playing the role of cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Klinger in the 1970s and 1980s television sitcom M*A*S*H....
,
Buddy HackettLeonard Hacker was an American comedian and actor. In his later life, he and his wife set up the Singita Animal Sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley, California.-Early life:...
,
Lee MajorsLee Majors is an American actor, primarily known for several high profile roles on television in the 1960s, '70s and '80s....
, and
Pat McCormickPat McCormick was an American actor and comedy writer known for playing Big Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit and its two sequels. He wrote for a number of performers such as Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller and Johnny Carson as well as for shows including Get Smart...
as well as the Solid Gold Dancers.
Scrooged is a
1988-Top grossing films :source: http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1988&p=.htm- Awards :Academy Awards:* Alice * Alien Nation, starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin* Amsterdamned...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
, a modernization of
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens FRSA , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print...
'
novellaA novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is disagreement as to what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count...
,
A Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens about a curmudgeon and his secular conversion and redemption after being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve...
. The film was produced and directed by
Richard DonnerRichard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer. The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
, and the cinematography was by
Michael ChapmanMichael Chapman A.S.C. is an American cinematographer whose prominence owes most to his innovative work of the 1970s and 1980s....
. The screenplay was written by
Mitch Glazer-Biography:Glazer was born in Key Biscayne, Florida and was raised in Miami, the son of Leonard and Zelda Glazer, an English teacher. Glazer is a relative of Sidney Glazier and Tom Glazer. He attended Miami Beach High School. He attended Clark University before transferring to NYU...
and
Michael O'DonoghueMichael O'Donoghue was a 20th century American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of the highly influential American television program Saturday Night Live.-...
. The original music score was composed by
Danny ElfmanDaniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American musician, best known for composing music for television and movies, and leading the rock band Oingo Boingo as singer/songwriter from 1976 until its breakup in 1995. He is a frequent collaborator with long-time friend Tim Burton, and has scored all but...
.
The cast includes:
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live, and went on to star in films including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.-Early years:Murray, the fifth...
,
Karen AllenKaren Jane Allen is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark...
,
Bob "Bobcat" GoldthwaitRobert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, rabid stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice...
,
John ForsytheJohn Forsythe is an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning three decades, as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels ,...
,
Carol KaneCarolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress, known for her work on stage, screen and television.- Early life :Kane was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Joy, a jazz singer, teacher, dancer, and pianist, and Michael Kane, an architect who worked for the World Bank. Her family is...
,
David JohansenDavid Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He was a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in the New York...
,
John HousemanJohn Houseman was an English actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
,
John GloverJohn Soursby Glover, Jr. is an American award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville.-Personal life:...
, and
Robert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and...
. It also features cameo appearances by
OlympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
gymnastGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, balance and grace. Artistic gymnastics is the best known and most popular of the gymnastics sports governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique...
Mary Lou RettonMary Lou Retton is an American gymnast. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.-Personal life:...
, musicians
Larry CarltonLawrence Eugene Carlton is an American jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and a singer, from Torrance, California. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
,
Miles DavisMiles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
,
David SanbornDavid Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B...
, and
Paul ShafferPaul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer. Currently, he is the bandleader and sidekick on the Late Show with David Letterman...
, actor/singer
Robert GouletRobert Gerard Goulet was an American Grammy- and Tony Award- winning entertainer. He rose to international stardom in 1960 as Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe's hit Broadway musical Camelot. His long career as a singer and actor encompassed theatre, radio, television and film...
, and actors
Jamie FarrJamie Farr is an American television and film actor and popular game show panelist. He is best known for playing the role of cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Klinger in the 1970s and 1980s television sitcom M*A*S*H....
,
Buddy HackettLeonard Hacker was an American comedian and actor. In his later life, he and his wife set up the Singita Animal Sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley, California.-Early life:...
,
Lee MajorsLee Majors is an American actor, primarily known for several high profile roles on television in the 1960s, '70s and '80s....
, and
Pat McCormickPat McCormick was an American actor and comedy writer known for playing Big Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit and its two sequels. He wrote for a number of performers such as Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller and Johnny Carson as well as for shows including Get Smart...
as well as the Solid Gold Dancers.
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live, and went on to star in films including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.-Early years:Murray, the fifth...
's real-life brothers,
BrianBrian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. An alumnus of Saturday Night Live, he is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II and Groundhog...
,
JohnJohn Murray is an American actor.He has eight siblings, including actors Bill Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan who travels around the country portraying St. Catherine of Siena...
, and
JoelJoel Murray is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Early life:Murray, one of nine children, was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois , the son of Lucille , a mail room clerk, and Edward J. Murray II, a lumber salesman. Murray, along with his siblings, grew up in an Irish...
also appear in the film.
The film was marketed with references to the film
GhostbustersGhostbusters is a 1984 science-fiction comedy film written by co-stars Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis about three eccentric New York City parapsychologists-turned-ghost exterminators. The film was released in the United States on June 8, 1984 and like several films of the era, teamed Aykroyd and/or...
which had been a great success four years earlier in 1984. In the USA, the tagline for
Scrooged was, "
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live, and went on to star in films including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.-Early years:Murray, the fifth...
is back among the ghosts, only this time, it's three against one." In Brazil, it's named "Os Fantasmas Contra-Atacam" (The Ghosts Strike Back). In
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, the film was titled "Los fantasmas atacan al jefe" (The Ghosts Attack the Boss). In
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, the movie was released as "S.O.S. fantasmi" ("S.O.S. ghosts").
Plot
Francis "Frank" Xavier Cross (
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live, and went on to star in films including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.-Early years:Murray, the fifth...
) is a conceited, cynical television programming executive. He has found great success and wealth but only by becoming coldhearted and cruel. In the opening scenes, he can be seen working out in a room with a wallpaper border that reads "Cross: (n) A thing they nail people to".
His ruthless concentration on his lucrative, fast climbing career has cost him his true love, the warm-hearted Claire Phillips (
Karen AllenKaren Jane Allen is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark...
). It has also alienated him from his family, having only an "at arm's length" relationship with his brother James (
John MurrayJohn Murray is an American actor.He has eight siblings, including actors Bill Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan who travels around the country portraying St. Catherine of Siena...
), and obliterated any chance of his having a happy and fulfilling life. Frank grossly overworks his assistant Grace Cooley (
Alfre Woodard-Personal life:Woodard was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to African American parents: Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H. Woodard, an entrepreneur and interior designer. Woodard attended Bishop Kelley High School, a private Catholic school in Tulsa. She studied drama at Boston University, from where...
), forcing her to constantly break plans with her family and neglect her mute son Calvin; and when a disturbing TV commercial is criticized by staff member Eliot Loudermilk (
Bobcat GoldthwaitRobert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, rabid stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice...
), Frank responds by firing Loudermilk on Christmas Eve.
When Cross is given the task of heading up a live Christmas Eve broadcast of
A Christmas Carol, his life begins to mirror the story he's producing. The decomposed corpse of his mentor, 1970s-media mogul Lew Hayward (
John ForsytheJohn Forsythe is an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning three decades, as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels ,...
) — who had died of a heart attack during a game of golf — comes back to life and visits him to tell him the error of his ways, and to announce the visitation of three Ghosts later on.
The first ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Past (
David JohansenDavid Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He was a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in the New York...
) appears as a maniacal New York City cab driver and takes Frank back to his childhood in 1955, to his late teens in 1968 when he had and his first job at the TV station, in 1969 for Frank and Claire's anniversary, and in 1971 the year in which Frank chose "Frisbee the Dog" and his job over Claire. The sequences show how Frank gradually became the person he is now.
The second ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Present (
Carol KaneCarolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress, known for her work on stage, screen and television.- Early life :Kane was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Joy, a jazz singer, teacher, dancer, and pianist, and Michael Kane, an architect who worked for the World Bank. Her family is...
) then appears as a life-size pixie who delights in punching and slapping Frank; she shows him how, in the present, his brother James misses him and Grace's family lives in poverty thanks to his stinginess.
The final ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Future appears, as a seven-foot-tall ghoul with a TV screen for a face, and shows Frank a future where Calvin has ended up in a mental hospital, Claire has become as cold and uncaring as he is, and only James and James' wife attend his cremation-style funeral.
As he feels his own body being burned, Frank finally sees the error of his ways and begs for a second chance. He awakens back in his office, right as the live broadcasting of "A Christmas Carol" is wrapping up. The reformed Frank rehires Loudermilk at a considerable salary increase, steps in front of the rolling studio cameras, and publicly wishes his viewers a Merry Christmas. Calvin urges him to add Tiny Tim's phrase, "God Bless Us, Everyone", finally breaking free of his mute condition. Claire appears in the studio and Frank reconciles with her, sharing a romantic kiss as Grace and the other television workers begins to sing "
Put a Little Love in Your Heart"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" is a song originally performed by Jackie DeShannon in 1968, who composed it with her brother, Randy Myers, and Jimmy Holiday...
".
Most of the characters in the movie represent characters in Dickens'
A Christmas Carol. Frank Cross is
Ebenezer ScroogeEbenezer Scrooge is the main character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight fisted, greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which engender happiness...
and his brother James is Scrooge's nephew
FredFred is Ebenezer Scrooge's nephew and only living relative. Fred is also a gentleman of some means, but unlike his miserly uncle, he is a kind-hearted, generous, cheerful, and optimistic man who loves Christmas. Fred believes that there is good to be found in everyone, even his misanthropic uncle...
. Elliot Loudermilk (
Bobcat GoldthwaitRobert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, rabid stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice...
) is a timid yesman who is fired, and transforms into a deranged alcoholic. He represents the orphan boy that Scrooge accosts early in the story, then solicits help from to spread good cheer once he reforms, and Grace represents
Bob CratchitRobert "Bob" Cratchit is a fictional character, the abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol.-Synopsis:...
. Grace's son, who is withdrawn/
autisticAutism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood...
, is
Tiny TimTiny Tim is a fictional character in the classic story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. He is the son of Bob Cratchit...
. Lew Hayward, Frank's former boss, is
Jacob MarleyJacob Marley is a fictional character whose ghost appears in the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.- Connection with Ebenezer Scrooge :...
. Herman and his fellow indigents are the "portly gentlemen" who are collecting for charity and are refused financial help. Claire is Scrooge's former fiancée, Belle. The three ghosts have the same names. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a stereotypical loudmouthed New York cab driver with a
Staten IslandStaten Island is a borough of New York City in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
accent. The Ghost of Christmas Future appears as the grim reaper, with a TV screen for a face. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a
campierCamp is an aesthetic sensibility wherein something is appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. When the usage appeared, in 1909, it denoted: ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical, and effeminate behaviour, and, by the middle of the 1970s, the definition comprised: banality,...
female version of the ghost in the original story with a penchant for violence. There are other key characters that are in Scrooged but do not really represent anyone in the original story, such as Preston Rhinelander (
Robert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and...
), CEO of the company that owns Frank's network. He continually makes inane requests, such as including more household pets on Television broadcasts. Brice Cummings (
John GloverJohn Soursby Glover, Jr. is an American award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville.-Personal life:...
), who also has no counterpart in the original story, is Frank's slimy, opportunistic assistant who is hired by Rhinelander (to Frank's dismay) and is after Frank's job.
Cast
- Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live, and went on to star in films including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.-Early years:Murray, the fifth...
as Francis Xavier "Frank" Cross
- Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allen is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark...
as Claire Phillips
- John Forsythe
John Forsythe is an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning three decades, as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels ,...
as Lew Hayward
- John Glover
John Soursby Glover, Jr. is an American award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville.-Personal life:...
as Brice Cummings
- Bobcat Goldthwait as Eliot Loudermilk
- David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He was a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in the New York...
as the Ghost of Christmas PastThe Ghost of Christmas Past is a character in the well-known work of the English novelist Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.The Ghost of Christmas Past was the first of the three spirits that haunted the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in order to prompt him to repent...
- Carol Kane
Carolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress, known for her work on stage, screen and television.- Early life :Kane was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Joy, a jazz singer, teacher, dancer, and pianist, and Michael Kane, an architect who worked for the World Bank. Her family is...
as the Ghost of Christmas PresentThe Ghost of Christmas Present is a character in one of the best-known works of the English novelist Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. The Spirit closely resembles Father Christmas from local folklore....
- Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and...
as Preston Rhinelander
- Nicholas Phillips as Calvin Cooley
- Michael J. Pollard
-Early life:Born Michael John Pollack, Jr. in Passaic, New Jersey, he is the son of Sonia and Michael John Pollack. He attended the Montclair Academy and the Actors Studio.-Career:...
as Herman
- Alfre Woodard
-Personal life:Woodard was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to African American parents: Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H. Woodard, an entrepreneur and interior designer. Woodard attended Bishop Kelley High School, a private Catholic school in Tulsa. She studied drama at Boston University, from where...
as Grace Cooley
- Mabel King
Mabel King was an American film, stage and TV actress.-Early life and stage career:Washington was born Donnie Mabel Elizabeth Washington in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Rosalie Washington. She was raised in Harlem where she eventually became a gospel and nightclub singer...
as Gramma
- John Murray
John Murray is an American actor.He has eight siblings, including actors Bill Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan who travels around the country portraying St. Catherine of Siena...
as James Cross
- Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr is an American television and film actor and popular game show panelist. He is best known for playing the role of cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Klinger in the 1970s and 1980s television sitcom M*A*S*H....
as Jacob MarleyJacob Marley is a fictional character whose ghost appears in the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.- Connection with Ebenezer Scrooge :...
- Buddy Hackett
Leonard Hacker was an American comedian and actor. In his later life, he and his wife set up the Singita Animal Sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley, California.-Early life:...
as Ebenezer ScroogeEbenezer Scrooge is the main character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight fisted, greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which engender happiness...
- Pat McCormick
Pat McCormick was an American actor and comedy writer known for playing Big Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit and its two sequels. He wrote for a number of performers such as Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller and Johnny Carson as well as for shows including Get Smart...
as the Ghost of Christmas PresentThe Ghost of Christmas Present is a character in one of the best-known works of the English novelist Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. The Spirit closely resembles Father Christmas from local folklore....
(on the TV show within the film)
- Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. An alumnus of Saturday Night Live, he is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II and Groundhog...
as Earl Cross
- Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.-Personal life:...
as Tiny Tim
- Jean Speegle Howard
Jean Speegle Howard was an American actress who acted primarily in film and on television. Howard made appearances in over 30 television shows, mostly sitcoms, such as Married.....
as Mrs. Claus in the Television Promo
- Mary Ellen Trainor
Mary Ellen Trainor is an American actress who may be best remembered as either Dr. Stephanie Woods in Lethal Weapon or as Harriet Walsh in The Goonies...
as Ted, an IBC Executive
- Bruce Jarchow
Bruce Jarchow is an American film and television actor, most notable for his recurring roles as H. Gordon Jennings in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show....
as Wayne, an IBC Executive
- Reina King
Reina King is an American film and television actress. She began her acting career with the role of Caroline , the adopted child of Roger and Nadine on the TV sitcom What's Happening Now!! -- a sequel to the popular 1970s TV sitcom What's Happening!!...
as Lanell Cooley
- Jack McGee as IBC Carpenter
- Kathy Kinney
Kathy Kinney is an American actress. She is a versatile character actress who gained considerable popularity in the late 1990s for playing Mimi Bobeck, the outrageously made-up, flamboyantly vulgar, and vindictive nemesis of Drew Carey on the sitcom The Drew Carey Show...
as IBC Nurse
- Rebeca Arthur
Rebeca Arthur is an American actress. She is best known as Mary Anne on Perfect Strangers .-Filmography:* 2000 The Watcher * 1997 Men Seeking Women...
as Tina, at the Christmas Party
- Roy Brocksmith
Roy Brocksmith was an American actor.-Biography:Brocksmith was born in Quincy, Illinois, the son of Vera Marguerite and Otis E. Brocksmith, who was a mechanic. He graduated from Quincy University in 1970. He then moved to New York City where he began a career on Broadway...
as Mike the Mailman
- Sachi Parker
Sachiko Parker is an American actress. The daughter of Shirley MacLaine and businessman Steve Parker, she has numerous film and television credits most recently starring in the Japanese-language film The Witch of the West is Dead, which showed at the Palm Springs Film Festival....
as Belle
- Delores Hall
Delores Hall is an American stage and television actress who made her Broadway debut as a replacement in the ensemble of Hair.- Muziektheater carrière :...
as Hazel
- Anne Ramsey
Anne Ramsey was an American actress who is probably most famous for her roles as Mama Fratelli in Richard Donner's The Goonies, and as Mrs...
as Homeless Woman
- Logan Ramsey
Logan Carlisle Ramsey, Jr. was an American character actor of television and film for nearly 50 years. Largely a TV actor, he appeared on, among others: The Edge of Night, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, Charlie's Angels, Mork and Mindy, Knight Rider and Night...
as Homeless Man
- Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model.-Early life:Malick was born Wendy Malick in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Gigi, a former model, and Ken Malick, who worked in sales. She is Jewish...
as Wendie Cross
- Joel Murray
Joel Murray is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Early life:Murray, one of nine children, was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois , the son of Lucille , a mail room clerk, and Edward J. Murray II, a lumber salesman. Murray, along with his siblings, grew up in an Irish...
as a Guest at James Cross' Christmas Party
- Mitch Glazer
-Biography:Glazer was born in Key Biscayne, Florida and was raised in Miami, the son of Leonard and Zelda Glazer, an English teacher. Glazer is a relative of Sidney Glazier and Tom Glazer. He attended Miami Beach High School. He attended Clark University before transferring to NYU...
as a Guest at James Cross' Christmas Party
- Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue was a 20th century American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of the highly influential American television program Saturday Night Live.-...
as the Priest at Cross' Funeral
- Steve Kahan
Steve Kahan is an American character actor who has appeared many films, his best known film role is in the Lethal Weapon film franchise as Capt. Ed Murphy. Kahan's cousin is director Richard Donner, who has cast Kahan in many of his films...
as IBC Technician
- Amy Hill
Amy Marie Hill is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Mrs. DePaulo in That's So Raven, the babysitter, Mrs. Kwan, in The Cat in the Hat, and the voice of Jasmine Lee on The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.-Biography:Hill was born in Deadwood, South Dakota to a Japanese...
as IBC Technician
Cameos
- Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was an American Grammy- and Tony Award- winning entertainer. He rose to international stardom in 1960 as Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe's hit Broadway musical Camelot. His long career as a singer and actor encompassed theatre, radio, television and film...
as Himself
- John Houseman
John Houseman was an English actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
as Himself
- Lee Majors
Lee Majors is an American actor, primarily known for several high profile roles on television in the 1960s, '70s and '80s....
as Himself
- Miles Davis
Miles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
, Larry CarltonLawrence Eugene Carlton is an American jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and a singer, from Torrance, California. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
, David SanbornDavid Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B...
and Paul ShafferPaul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer. Currently, he is the bandleader and sidekick on the Late Show with David Letterman...
as Street Musicians
- Solid Gold Dancers
Solid Gold was an American syndicated music countdown television series which aired from 1980 to 1988, usually on Saturday in the early evening time slot...
as Themselves
Reception
On
Siskel & Ebert & The Movies,
Gene SiskelEugene "Gene" Kal Siskel was an American film critic. Alongside colleague Roger Ebert, he pioneered the classic review show Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.-Early life and career:...
gave it thumbs up while
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
gave it thumbs down. Currently, the film has a 61% score on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
.
Al GreenAlbert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer who was popular in the 1970s, and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
and
Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox is a Scottish musician and recording artist. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lennox showed aptitude in music when she was a child and later studied classical music at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
's version of the song "
Put a Little Love in Your Heart"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" is a song originally performed by Jackie DeShannon in 1968, who composed it with her brother, Randy Myers, and Jimmy Holiday...
", featured in the film, reached #9 in the US, and was a top 40 hit in several countries worldwide.