40 Pounds of Trouble | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Norman Jewison |
Written by | Marion Hargrove |
Based on | Little Miss Marker by Damon Runyon |
Produced by | Stan Margulies |
Starring | Tony Curtis Suzanne Pleshette Larry Storch |
Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
Edited by | Marjorie Fowler |
Music by | Mort Lindsey |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal-International Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,750,000 (US/ Canada) [1] |
40 Pounds of Trouble is a 1962 comedy film directed by Norman Jewison and starring Tony Curtis, Suzanne Pleshette, Larry Storch, and Phil Silvers. It is a retelling of Damon Runyon's 1932 short story Little Miss Marker . [2]
It marks Jewison's feature film directorial debut, after several years as a television director; [3] it also marks Stanley Margulies' feature film producer debut, after having been executive producer on the television series Tales of the Vikings for Brynaprod. [4] [5] The film was shot on location at Disneyland and at Harrah's Club in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. [6] [7] It was the first motion picture ever to receive permission from Walt Disney to film at the amusement park. [8] [9] [10] Producers Curtis and Stanley Margulies sent Disney a copy of the script and were surprised when the noted figure phoned them three days later to give his approval, with only a minor alteration to the script. [9] It was the only released film completed by Curtis and Margulies' film production company Curtis Enterprises, as the pair would form a new company, Reynard Productions, shortly afterwards.
40 Pounds of Trouble had a limited one-day-only New Year's Eve screening at select theaters across the United States, on the night of December 31, 1962. [11] [12] Theaters showed the film from one to three times that night in celebration of the oncoming new year. [13] The film had its official world premiere on January 18, 1963, at the Carib-Miami-Miracle Theaters in Miami, Florida, [14] and the next day at Harrah's Club's South Shore Room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada which Curtis and his wife Christine Kaufmann attended. [15] [16] The film then opened to the rest of the United States during the last week of January and first week of February 1963. It was a success and the film was nominated for a Golden Laurel Award for Top Comedy and Curtis was nominated for a Golden Laurel Award for Top Male Comedy Performance.
A casino manager, Steve McCluskey, and his club singer, Chris Lockwood, find their hands full when they agree to take in a troublesome young girl named Penny Piper, left behind in the casino by her gambling father. The little girl hinders the manager's plans to keep his gaming licence. Penny thinks that Steve needs to get married and settle down, so she starts trying to match make, trying to set him up with Chris. Steve is still reeling from his failed first marriage and is apprehensive about another trip to the altar. The movie's culmination involves a long slapstick pursuit through many parts of Disneyland as a disguised Steve, Chris, and Penny elude capture by a private detective. Other scenes show a backdrop of scenic Lake Tahoe. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Actor | Role |
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Tony Curtis | Steve McCluskey |
Suzanne Pleshette | Chris Lockwood |
Larry Storch | Floyd |
Howard Morris | Julius |
Edward Andrews | Herman |
Stubby Kaye | Cranston |
Warren Stevens | Swing |
Kevin McCarthy | Louie Blanchard |
Phil Silvers | Bernie "the Butcher" Friedman |
Claire Wilcox | Penelope "Penny" Piper |
Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist) | Witch Vocals in Snow White's Adventures |
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times summed up the film:
40 Pounds of Trouble is witless remake of a Runyon Story... Blunt promotion, thin humor fill script... The trouble with 40 Pounds of Trouble is that it is just too hackneyed and dull. [2]
Wilcox has been especially praised in her scene in the courthouse. [21]
One of the first films to be shot at Disneyland. [22]
Alfred Damon Runyon was an American journalist and short-story writer.
Tony Curtis was an American actor with a career that spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films, in roles covering a wide range of genres. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.
Little Miss Marker is an American Pre-Code 1934 comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Hall. It was written by William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, and Gladys Lehman after a 1932 short story of the same name by Damon Runyon. It stars Shirley Temple, Adolphe Menjou and Dorothy Dell in a story about a young girl held as collateral by gangsters. It was Temple's first starring role in a major motion picture and was crucial to establishing her as a major film star. It was inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1998 and has been remade several times.
Norman Frederick Jewison was a Canadian filmmaker. He was known for directing films which addressed topical social and political issues, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. Among numerous other accolades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades, for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987). He was nominated for an additional four Oscars, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a BAFTA Award. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999.
Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly 60 years. He achieved major popularity when he starred in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S. Army post in which he played Master Sergeant Ernest (Ernie) Bilko. He also starred in the films It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). He was a winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Phil Silvers Show and two Tony Awards for his performances in Top Banana and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He also wrote the original lyrics to the jazz standard "Nancy ".
Penny Singleton was an American actress and labor leader. During her 6 decade career on stage, screen, radio and television, Singleton appeared as the comic-strip heroine Blondie Bumstead in a series of 28 motion pictures from 1938 until 1950 and the popular Blondie radio program from 1939 until 1950. Singleton also provided the voice of Jane Jetson in the animated series The Jetsons from 1962 to 1963.
The Judy Garland Show is an American musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963–1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found success with several television specials featuring the star. Garland, who for years had been reluctant to commit to a weekly series, saw the show as her best chance to pull herself out of severe financial difficulties. Despite it being cancelled relatively early on, it is now revered and considered an important piece of television history.
Harrah's Entertainment was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven golf courses under several brands. In 2013, it was the fourth-largest gambling company in the world, with annual revenues of $8.6 billion. It was acquired in 2020 by Eldorado Resorts, which then changed its own name to Caesars Entertainment.
Suzanne Pleshette was an American actress. Pleshette was known for her roles in theatre, film, and television. She received nominations for three Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. For her role as Emily Hartley on the CBS sitcom The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978) she received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Ford Rainey was an American film, stage, and television actor.
Harrah's Lake Tahoe is a hotel and casino in Stateline, Nevada. Harrah's is branded with the name of its former owner and operator, William F. Harrah. It is now owned by Vici Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The 18-story tower and 512 rooms, plus 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) casino make it one of the largest resorts at South Lake Tahoe.
Bally's Lake Tahoe is a casino hotel in Stateline, Nevada. It is owned by Edgewood Companies and operated by Bally's Corporation. The property includes a 48,456 sq ft (4,501.7 m2) casino and a 438-room hotel on a 21-acre (8.5 ha) site. It is the home to the Ciera Steak + Chophouse. The entire property underwent a $25-million remodel in 2015, with all guest rooms, the casino, 1,200-seat showroom, and exterior being upgraded.
Dennis Wayne Harrah is an American former professional football player who was an offensive lineman for 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes. He played for and graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School in Charleston, West Virginia - now Stonewall Jackson Middle School.
Little Miss Marker is a 1980 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Walter Bernstein and based on a short story by Damon Runyon. It stars Walter Matthau, Tony Curtis, Julie Andrews, Bob Newhart and new arrival Sara Stimson. The film is a remake of the 1934 film of the same name starring Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou.
Steve Gravers was an American character actor who appeared in numerous television shows and several films in a career that lasted from 1952 until his death in 1978.
Bryna Productions is an American independent film and television production company established by actor Kirk Douglas in 1949. The company also produced a handful of films through its subsidiaries, Michael Productions, Joel Productions and Douglas and Lewis Productions, and outside the United States through Brynaprod. Other subsidiaries included Eric Productions, which produced stage plays, Peter Vincent Music, a music publishing company, Bryna International, a photographic service company, and Public Relations Consultants, which supervised the publicity of its early films. Douglas named the main company after his mother, Bryna Demsky, while its primary subsidiaries were named after his sons: Michael Douglas, Joel Douglas, Peter Douglas and Eric Douglas. In 1970, Bryna Productions was renamed The Bryna Company, when Douglas welcomed his children and second wife into the firm. Nevertheless, Michael, Joel and Peter, wanting to establish individual identities, went on to form their own independent film production companies.
Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corporation and changed its own name to Caesars Entertainment on July 20, 2020.
Edward Lewis was an American film producer and writer. As producer, he worked on nine films in partnership with actor Kirk Douglas; from 1958 to 1966, Lewis was Vice-President of Kirk Douglas film production company, Bryna Productions, as well as its subsidiaries, Brynaprod, Joel Productions and Douglas and Lewis Productions. He also produced nine films directed by John Frankenheimer. Lewis also wrote several books.
Curtleigh Productions was an American independent film and television production company established by actor and actress husband-and-wife team Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. The company was formed in 1955 and produced a handful of major motion pictures during its span, including Mister Cory, Sweet Smell of Success, The Vikings, The Defiant Ones, and Taras Bulba. Although plans originally called for co-starring vehicles for the couple, Leigh took little interest in developing properties. Following the couple's divorce in 1962, Curtis continued to develop and produce properties previously acquired through Curtleigh Productions, first channeling the corporate structure through his own outfit, Curtis Enterprises, then forming a new film production company, Reynard Productions.
Curtis Enterprises was an American company established by actor Tony Curtis in 1961. The company was formed following the dissolution of Curtis' previous film production company, Curtleigh Productions, which he had co-founded with his first wife Janet Leigh in 1955. The couple separated, and then divorced, in 1962 leading Curtis to branch off on his own. The company served multiple purposes over the years, principally as the actor's hiring company, through which it would loan-out Curtis' acting services to film production companies and studios. It also functioned as a film and television production company, a music production company, and as an organizer for Curtis' art shows.