Down and Out in Beverly Hills

`Down & Out in Beverly Hills' is a good film in retrospect. It's one of those bright, `just for fun' comedies that existed between 1982 and 1992. Sadly this genre that consisted of feel good movies such as `L.A. Story', `Mr. Destiny' and `My Blue Heaven' doesn't exist in the fast moving world of today. Anyway, the film isn't perfect and has plenty of bad flaws.

One of the problems is the way the film grips at the start, but into the last half-hour, it begins to ramble and loses your attention. It could have done with some rather un-necessary scenes being excised. In the supporting cast, the acting standard is a bit ropey. Even though the film is only 99 minutes, it only barely going into overlength and getting too nonsensical. Only one more quibble- the title. Surely they could have come up with something a bit more attractive than `Down & Out in Beverly Hills'. But the film isn't completely marred by these flaws.

The acting standard is quite good. Back in the days when we could understand what he was saying, Nick Nolte gives a terrifically eccentric performance as the happy-go-lucky tramp brought into this stylish environment. Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler are quite good in their respective roles as the neurotic husband and the spoilt rich wife. While the rest of the acting isn't anything above adequate, the characters themselves are likeable. With the flamboyantly effeminate teenage son, the anorexic daughter and even a rather pointless cameo from rock & roll superstar Little Richard.

Even if it tends to bumble a bit towards the end, the theme song (Once in A Lifetime) starts and ends the film on a good note, leaving you with nothing but memories of the good things in the movie. There are some flaws in the narrative and in general, but if you don't take the film seriously, then you'll probably like it. I did and I though it was good. So I give it 6.4/10.

To this is one of the great movies(another example would be "Ferris Buellers Day Off"), that manages to be purely entertaining from beginning to end. Not really loaded with laugh out loud gags or thought provoking drama, its just plain fun all the way through.

DOWN & OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS is a smart American remake of the French film BONDU SAVED FROM DROWNING updated to modern day Beverly Hills. In this version, a homeless man accidentally wanders onto the property of a wealthy Beverly Hills family and tries to drown himself in their pool. Upon rescue, the family takes pity on him and take him in but the bum gets a little too comfortable and begins biting the hand that feeds him (in more ways than one). Nick Nolte gives a rock solid performance as Jerry, the homeless bum who ends up running the Whiteman home. Nolte has rarely been so convincing in a role...apparently he spent several weeks on the streets of LA pretending to be homeless in preparation for the role. Richard Dreyfuss plays Dave Whiteman, the wealthy owner of a hanger company who takes Jerry in and initially envies Jerry's freedom before Jerry goes too far. Bette Midler is very funny as Dave's social climbing wife Barbara and Tracy Nelson plays their snooty college student daughter. Evan Richards also has some funny moments as the Whiteman son, Max. Paul Mazursky's spirited direction (Mazursky also cameos as one of Dave's fat-cat friends)and a clever screenplay help to make this one of the more entertaining comedy confections from the 80's. There is also a scene-stealing performance by a dog named Mike, who plays the Whiteman family pet, Matisse.

When Nick Nolte was arrested for DUI in 2002 and they published his mug shot picture I thought it was Jerry Baskin. I first saw this film during it's initial theatrical release and found it very amusing. This is a re-telling of playwright René Fauchois' Boudu sauvé des eaux that was made into a film in 1932. In this story the rescued drowning man is played by Nick Nolte who is a down and out former actor who is homeless and had but one friend, his stray dog. He can't find his dog and wanders into the backyard of a Beverly Hills dysfunctional and affluent family where he plans to end it all by drowning in their swimming pool. Homeowner Richard Dreyfuss comes to the rescue and the homeless man, Jerry becomes a wanted and unwanted guest in their home. Bette Midler is Dreyfuss' wife, Tracy Nelson is the daughter, Evan Richards is the son, Elizabeth Pena is the maid and Little Richard is the next-door-neighbor. A fun situational comedy, the screenplay was written by Paul Mazursky and Leon Capetanos who collaborated on several films with Mazursky. Mazursky is a multi-talented director/writer/producer/actor who also appears in this film. He got wrote and produced I Love You Alice B. Toklis and then went on to big success as the director of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. In the 70's he had some other notable films that he directed including Harry and Tonto and An Unmarried Woman but his only film of note in the 80's was Moscow on the Hudson and after Down and Out in Beverly Hills directed only seven other films of little note and his writing creativity seems to have stalled to as he only wrote four more screenplays in the past 20 years. Cinematographer Donald Mcalpine is this film's photographer. He's had recent success with Chronicles of Narnia. Some of his other films include Mrs. Doubtfire, Predator, My Brilliant Career and Breaker Morant. Andy Summers of the rock band the Police provides the music score. The Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime which was 6 years old was used as the theme song of the film and it suddenly became a charting single. This is a good film if you've never seen it and a good look back to the 80's. I would give it an 8.0 out of 10.

"Down and Out in Beverly Hills" is a very funny 1986 comedy from director Paul Mazursky. Nick Nolte stars as a down-and-out bum who one day, after his dog leaves him and goes to live somewhere else, tries to drown himself in the swimming pool of a rich couple. The man of the house (played delightfully by Richard Dreyfuss) saves his live and decides to take him in despite the objections of his wife (played wonderfully by Bette Midler). The bum becomes an influence over everybody in the household. Plus, their dog starts to love the bum. There are big laughs throughout the film, though the movie is a little less funny than Bette Midler's other 1986 comedy "Ruthless People". Still, "Down and Out" has some terrific performances from Midler, Dreyfuss, Nolte, and the rest of the supporting cast. But the real scene-stealer here is the performance by Mike the Dog as Matisse, the canine with a dog psychiatrist. Mike gives one of the best performances by an animal of all-time.

***1/2 (out of four)