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The Incredible Shrinking Woman

 
The Incredible Shrinking Woman

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The Incredible Shrinking Woman



 
 
The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a 1981
1981 in film

Events*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate , a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica Corporation to sell it....
 science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
/comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 film, starring Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin

Mary Jean ?Lily? Tomlin is an United States actor, comedian, writer and Theatrical producer. During her 40-year career she has also been nominated for an Academy Award, and has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award....
, Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin

Charles Grodin is an United States actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host....
, Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty

Ned Thomas Beatty is an United States actor. He now lives in the Springville, California, area....
, John Glover
John Glover (actor)

John Soursby Glover, Jr. is an United States award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville ....
 and Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an United States Tony Award-winning actor. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007....
, and directed by Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher

Joel Schumacher , is an United States film director, screenwriter and film producer. He is best known for directing St. Elmo's Fire , The Lost Boys, Falling Down, Flatliners, The Client , Batman Forever, A Time to Kill , The Phantom of the Opera , Phone Booth , The Number 23 and Batman & Robin ....
. The film was written by Tomlin's longtime life partner and frequent collaborator, Jane Wagner
Jane Wagner

Jane Wagner is an United States of America writer, film director and Record producer. Wagner is best known as Lily Tomlin's comedy writer, collaborator and life partner. ...
. The original music score was composed by Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Ciani

Suzanne Ciani is an Italian American pioneer in electronic music and one of the few women to blaze a trail in the genre. She received classical music training at Wellesley College and obtained her Master of Arts in music in 1970 at University of California, Berkeley where she met and was influenced by the idiosyncratic synthesizer designer...
. This film is a take-off on the 1957 science fiction classic The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Incredible Shrinking Man

The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold and adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson from his novel The Shrinking Man ....
, and credited as based on Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson is an United States author and screenwriter, typically of fantasy fiction, Horror film, or science fiction.Born in Allendale, New Jersey, New Jersey to Norway immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943....
's novel
Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
, The Shrinking Man.

Kramer is an ordinary suburban wife and mother until she gets exposed to a strange mixture of household chemicals, including "Galaxy Glue", a new product from her husband's advertising agency
Advertising agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services....
.






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The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a 1981
1981 in film

Events*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate , a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica Corporation to sell it....
 science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
/comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 film, starring Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin

Mary Jean ?Lily? Tomlin is an United States actor, comedian, writer and Theatrical producer. During her 40-year career she has also been nominated for an Academy Award, and has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award....
, Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin

Charles Grodin is an United States actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host....
, Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty

Ned Thomas Beatty is an United States actor. He now lives in the Springville, California, area....
, John Glover
John Glover (actor)

John Soursby Glover, Jr. is an United States award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville ....
 and Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an United States Tony Award-winning actor. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007....
, and directed by Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher

Joel Schumacher , is an United States film director, screenwriter and film producer. He is best known for directing St. Elmo's Fire , The Lost Boys, Falling Down, Flatliners, The Client , Batman Forever, A Time to Kill , The Phantom of the Opera , Phone Booth , The Number 23 and Batman & Robin ....
. The film was written by Tomlin's longtime life partner and frequent collaborator, Jane Wagner
Jane Wagner

Jane Wagner is an United States of America writer, film director and Record producer. Wagner is best known as Lily Tomlin's comedy writer, collaborator and life partner. ...
. The original music score was composed by Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Ciani

Suzanne Ciani is an Italian American pioneer in electronic music and one of the few women to blaze a trail in the genre. She received classical music training at Wellesley College and obtained her Master of Arts in music in 1970 at University of California, Berkeley where she met and was influenced by the idiosyncratic synthesizer designer...
. This film is a take-off on the 1957 science fiction classic The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Incredible Shrinking Man

The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold and adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson from his novel The Shrinking Man ....
, and credited as based on Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson is an United States author and screenwriter, typically of fantasy fiction, Horror film, or science fiction.Born in Allendale, New Jersey, New Jersey to Norway immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943....
's novel
Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
, The Shrinking Man.

Plot summary

Pat Kramer is an ordinary suburban wife and mother until she gets exposed to a strange mixture of household chemicals, including "Galaxy Glue", a new product from her husband's advertising agency
Advertising agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services....
. Soon after, she begins to shrink. As she becomes smaller and smaller, she finds it nearly impossible to fulfill her role as wife and mother. Eventually, she becomes a celebrity of sorts, appearing on the Mike Douglas
Mike Douglas

Mike Douglas, born Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr. , was an United States entertainer....
 show. Soon she is less than a foot tall, making her a doll to her children.

Pat is kidnapped by a group of mad scientist
Mad scientist

A mad scientist is a stock character of Genre fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous, benign or neutral, and whether psychosis, eccentricity , or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if they even have a coherent scheme....
s, who make it seem she perished in the kitchen garbage disposal
Garbage disposal

A garbage disposal, food waste disposer, waste disposal unit, or garburator / garbarator is a device, usually electrically-powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain and the Trap which shreds food waste into pieces small enough to pass through plumbing....
. The scientists plan to shrink everyone in the world. With the help of the lab custodian and a super-intelligent gorilla
Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest of the living primates. They are ground-dwelling herbivores that inhabit the forests of Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies....
, she escapes. Pat shrinks to microscopic size and falls into a puddle of spilled household product chemicals - which makes her return to normal size. The film ends with Pat's homecoming, however when her foot makes her shoe split open - the audience is led to believe Pat will now grow to giant size.

This film carries an anti-consumer message, since a collection of perfumes, cleansers, and assorted household products is what caused Pat to shrink, and some consider it an early acknowledgment of multiple chemical sensitivity
Multiple chemical sensitivity

Multiple chemical sensitivity is described as a chronic condition characterized by adverse effects from exposure to low levels of chemicals or other substances in modern human environments....
 disorder.

The attack on consumerism has also been associated with early criticism of the Reagan Administration
Reagan Administration

The United States President of the United States of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Reagan Administration, was a Republican Party administration headed by Ronald Reagan from January 20, 1981 to January 20, 1989....
 and Corporate America
Corporate America

Corporate America is an informal phrase describing the world of corporations within the United States not under government ownership. Its negative connotations imply financial or ideological self-interest, greed, resistance to entitlements and the irresponsible promotion of counter-socialist self-interest at the expense of government and comp...
 that was present during the 1980's, although at the time of the film's release, Reagan had only been president for ten days.

Production Notes

  • This was originally planned to be a 3D film, but the idea was ultimately scrapped.


  • Prop products shown in the film included "Cheese Tease", an aerosol cheese spray; "Galaxy Glue", a household super glue; "Breathe Easy", a feminine hygiene spray; and the prototype for a new perfume called "Sexpot".


  • Actor Dick Wilson
    Dick Wilson

    Dick Wilson, born Riccardo DiGuglielmo , was a England-born United States character actor who played the role of finicky grocery store manager Mr....
     plays a fussy supermarket manager - much like his famous Charmin tissue TV commercial character: Mr. Whipple
    Mr. Whipple

    Mr. George Whipple is a fictional supermarket manager featured in television advertisement and print advertising that ran in the United States and Canada from 1964 to 1985 for Charmin toilet paper....
    .


  • Mike Douglas sings the song "Little Things Mean A Lot" on his show before Pat Kramer comes out on stage.


  • A scene was cut where Pat Kramer shrinks some more while backstage at The Mike Douglas Show. Judith Beasley comes to the rescue by fashioning a tiny dress for Pat to wear from the cut sleeve of her own blouse. In the final version, Judith is shown in the studio audience with one of her sleeves missing.


  • Lily Tomlin plays four characters in this film: lead character Pat Kramer, her neighbor Judith Beasley (from her Broadway shows), Tomlin's Laugh-In characters "Ernestine" (a telephone operator
    Telephone operator

    A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain List of country calling codess which cannot...
    ) and "Edith Ann" (a little girl) who wanders in the lab.


  • Rick Baker played Sidney the Gorilla. In 1981, he was the very first recipient of the Oscar for Best Make-Up for "An American Werewolf in London" when the category was first introduced. Baker's career, especially his early fascination with gorillas and his work in three movies featuring them is told in the TV documentary "Gorillas: Primal Contact."


  • In one of the many editions of his books of movie reviews, Roger Ebert took special notice of the sets and color scheme in the film, as have several other reviewers since its release.


Cast

  • Lily Tomlin
    Lily Tomlin

    Mary Jean ?Lily? Tomlin is an United States actor, comedian, writer and Theatrical producer. During her 40-year career she has also been nominated for an Academy Award, and has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award....
     .... Pat Kramer/Judith Beasley
  • Charles Grodin
    Charles Grodin

    Charles Grodin is an United States actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host....
     .... Vance Kramer
  • Ned Beatty
    Ned Beatty

    Ned Thomas Beatty is an United States actor. He now lives in the Springville, California, area....
     .... Dan Beame
  • Henry Gibson
    Henry Gibson

    Henry Gibson is an United States actor and songwriter, perhaps best known as a cast member of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. His stage name may have been based upon that of the dramatist Henrik Ibsen, and he often pronounced his surname as though it were "Ibsen", particularly when performing as "The Poet" on that comedy-variety show....
     .... Dr. Eugene Nortz
  • Elizabeth Wilson
    Elizabeth Wilson

    Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an United States Tony Award-winning actor. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007....
     .... Dr. Ruth Ruth
  • Mark Blankfield .... Rob
  • Maria Smith .... Concepcion
  • Pamela Bellwood
    Pamela Bellwood

    Pamela Bellwood is an American actress most famous for her role as Claudia Blaisdel Carrington on the 1980s prime time soap opera, Dynasty ....
     .... Sandra Dyson
  • John Glover
    John Glover (actor)

    John Soursby Glover, Jr. is an United States award-winning actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor in the TV series Smallville ....
     .... Tom Keller
  • Nicholas Hormann .... Logan Carver
  • Jim McMullan .... Lyle Parks (as James McMullan)
  • Shelby Balik .... Beth Kramer
  • Justin Dana .... Jeff Kramer
  • Rick Baker
    Richard A. Baker

    Richard A. "Rick" Baker is an Academy Award-winning prosthetic makeup artist known for his realistic creature effects.Baker was born in Binghamton, New York, the son of Doris and Ralph B....
     .... Sidney (as Richard A. Baker)
  • Mike Douglas
    Mike Douglas

    Mike Douglas, born Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr. , was an United States entertainer....
     .... Himself
  • Dick Wilson
    Dick Wilson

    Dick Wilson, born Riccardo DiGuglielmo , was a England-born United States character actor who played the role of finicky grocery store manager Mr....
     .... Store Manager
  • Sally Kirkland
    Sally Kirkland

    Sally Kirkland is an Academy Award-nominated United States actress....
     .... Store Cashier


Soundtrack


  1. "Galaxy Glue" By Linda November (Billy Davis
    Billy Davis

    Billy Davis may refer to:*Billy Davis , American songwriter, record producer, and singer*Billy Davis, Jr. , American singer, member of the group The Fifth Dimension...
    )
  2. "Little Things Mean A Lot" By Mike Douglas
    Mike Douglas

    Mike Douglas, born Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr. , was an United States entertainer....
  3. "Don't Tell me Why" By The Brainiacs


See also

  • The Stuff
    The Stuff

    The Stuff is a 1985 satire comedy horror film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, and Paul Sorvino....


External links