Trama

On the eve of their children's marriage, NYC in-laws Sheldon Kornpett and Vince Ricardo embark on a series of misadventures involving the CIA, the Treasury Department and Central American dictators.

In preparation for his daughter's wedding, dentist Sheldon Kornpett meets Vince Ricardo, the groom's father. Vince, a manic fellow who claims to be a government agent, then proceeds to drag Sheldon into a series of chases and misadventures from New York to Central America.—Scott Renshaw <as.idc@forsythe.stanford.edu>

A mild-mannered dentist is about to marry off his daughter, but he's never met the boy's father. When the father of the groom comes to dinner, he brings with him weird behavior and an international plot that involves stolen plates for U.S. currency. This is bad enough, but it occurs to him that no one would be suspicious of a dentist, and he begins to ask for a few favors that have people trying to kill our hero.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Perhaps the the best word one could use to describe this storyline would be "serpentine," so let's dig in. We start with an armored truck marked as belonging to the US Treasury Department. The truck is hijacked in a rather clever way, but the thieves aren't looking for the money inside; instead there's something else in there that they're after, but we're not sure what it is yet. The thieves get away and one of them meets with a man named Vince, played by Peter Falk. He gives the ill-gotten gains to Vince and tells him that he needs to pay the fee for it the next day. Vince is appalled by the short timeline but promises to work something out. From there we meet a mild-mannered Manhattan dentist named Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin). His daughter Barbara (Penny Peyser) is about two days away from getting married to Tommy Ricardo (Michael Lembeck). He and his wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) are going to meet Tommy's parents for the first time. All they know about Tommy's dad is that he's involved with international business deals somehow. Tommy and his parents show up late for the dinner...and we learn that his father is Vince. Sheldon is a little suspicious of Vince, because he's telling some weird stories about a nine-month stint in Guatemala that involves giant tsetse flies with beaks, and the Guacamole Act of 1917. At an introductory dinner in which Sheldon meets his new in-law Vince, he finds Vince suspicious; during the dinner, Vince tells a crazy story of a nine-month "consulting" trip to 1954 Guatemala. Vince's son and wife (Arlene Golonka) seem oblivious. At one point in the dinner Vince excuses himself to make a phone call, and he hides something in the basement. Later that night, Sheldon pleads with his daughter not to marry into the Ricardo clan, since he doesn't trust Vince, but he is talked into giving the marriage a chance. The following day, Vince appears at Sheldon's office, claiming that he wanted to say hello. He asks Sheldon for help with a five-minute errand that involves breaking into Vince's office safe. Sheldon reluctantly agrees. After retrieving a mysterious black bag from Vince's cramped office in an old Herald Square office building, two armed hit men surprise Sheldon. After a chase down a fire escape and the ensuing shootout, Vince explains to Sheldon-in the middle of a crowded diner, no less-that he has worked for the CIA since the Eisenhower administration and robbed the United States Mint of engraving plates to crack a worldwide inflation plot hatched in Central America. He also mentions that he's gone rogue, because the CIA thought the caper was too risky and turned him down. Vince claims that Sheldon is not involved. However, if Vince is caught, he will be jailed for 20 years and fired from the CIA. Vince further upsets Sheldon by mentioning he left one of the engraving plates in the basement of Sheldon's house the previous night. While taking a delivery of supplies for the wedding, Mrs. Kornpett discovers the engraving and brings it to her local bank, where she is informed by the U.S. Treasury Department that it was stolen. Sheldon arrives home to find vehicles from the Treasury Department parked out front, and he high-tails it out of there, leading to a car chase through suburban New Jersey. After shaking the Feds, Sheldon calls Vince and explains what happened. Vince tells Sheldon he wants him to accompany him to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the whole ordeal will be cleared up by the time they return. At a small airport near Lodi, New Jersey, Vince and Sheldon board a private jet. We get a very funny scene aboard the plane involving one of the plane's crew, played by James Hong. To Sheldon's dismay, during the flight he notices they are flying over the ocean. Vince assures Sheldon they are still going to Scranton, but they need to make a brief stop along the way in Tijata, a small island south of Honduras. When they arrive, Vince is supposed to meet a corrupt member of the small country's legislature, General Jesus Braunschweiger. But shortly after they land, Jesus is shot and killed before he can greet and debrief the two. Vince and Sheldon fall under sniper fire and, using the general's car, escape and drive into town. At their hotel, Sheldon, understandably tired of the ordeal, refuses to be shot at anymore. Vince agrees to leave him out of the rest of the operation. Sheldon goes to the lobby on a pretense and calls the United States Embassy to tell the story so far. Barry Lutz, the CIA agent-in-charge (Ed Begley Jr.) tells him that Vince is a madman who was mentally discharged from the agency a year earlier . Sheldon tells this to Vince, who prevents him from escaping, assuring Sheldon that the embassy told him that specifically to get Sheldon off the trail. Sheldon is still reluctant. Leaving the hotel, Vince hails a taxi driven by one of the airport snipers. Sheldon realizes who it is and chases after it, eventually leaping onto the roof of the car. Vince takes control of the car, crashing into a fruit market. The car chase resumes, this time with Sheldon INSIDE the car. They manage to get away and they reach the general's estate. General Garcia (Richard Libertini) gives them $20 million for the plates, awards them medals, and promptly marches them in front of a firing squad. Vince stalls for time until hundreds of CIA agents, led by Barry Lutz, overwhelm the army and take Garcia into custody. Lutz reveals that Vince was telling the truth the entire time. However, Vince suddenly announces his retirement, as he has had enough and he's looking forward to grandchildren. He gives Lutz the $10 million he had agreed to deliver from the general. The general overhears this and protests that he gave them $20 million but Vince says he's clearly crazy. We next find ourselves at the wedding. Everybody's there but Vince and Sheldon. They get ready to start without the fathers but suddenly a helicopter shows up and lowers a cable with Vince and Sheldon, sitting on a plank and wearing top hats and tails. They say that the wedding can start in five minutes, once the Paramus Symphony Orchestra, whom they've hired for the day, has tuned up. The men each give their children a million dollars as a wedding gift. Suddenly a government vehicle shows up and it's Lutz. He's furious at Vince. Sheldon is about to confess, but before he can, it comes out that Lutz is only angry about not being invited to the wedding. The orchestra begins to play and the wedding goes forward.