Foolin' Around

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Foolin' Around
Foolin' Around.jpg
VHS cover
Directed by Richard T. Heffron
Written byMichael Kane
David Swift
Produced by Arnold Kopelson
Starring Gary Busey
Annette O'Toole
Eddie Albert
Tony Randall
Cloris Leachman
John Calvin
Cinematography Philip H. Lathrop
Edited by Peter Zinner
Music by Charles Bernstein
Production
company
GCC Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • October 17, 1980 (1980-10-17)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2 million

Foolin' Around is a 1980 American comedy romance sport film directed by Richard T. Heffron and starring Gary Busey and Annette O'Toole. The film was shot on location in Minneapolis and St. Paul. [1] The theme music was performed by Seals and Crofts.

Contents

Plot

College student Wes (Gary Busey) who comes from Oklahoma to a university in Minnesota, signs up to participate in a psychological experiment where he meets Susan (Annette O'Toole). The two are instantly attracted to each other. Besides the problem of their differing socio-economic backgrounds, Susan is also engaged. However, Susan's grandfather recognizes her fiance's opportunism and when he sides with Wes, their relationship is given more of a chance, in spite of the concern Susan's mother has about social status.

Cast

Production

Susan's house, where Wes comes to play tennis and crashes her bridal shower, was the original Pillsbury family home called "Southways"—so named because one must go "south a ways" to reach this most singularly significant estate on Lake Minnetonka. The address is 1400 Bracketts Point Road, Orono, Minnesota. It is a large, 32,461 square foot home situated on 12.91 acres, built in 1918. 1,700 feet of lakeshore, cottage guest house, greenhouse, 13 garages, outdoor pool and tennis court, and attached tandem 4-car garage. It was listed for $54M, dropped to $24M, and dropped again to $7.9M, eventually selling for $11,327,239 in August 2018. [2] The mansion was demolished one day after new owners closed on the property.

Critical reception

Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review:

Foolin' Around is an affable, meandering comedy with a nice cast and nowhere much to go... The rich-girl scenes are perked up considerably by Cloris Leachman, though... Richard T. Heffron's direction has a television blandness (most of his other work has been in television), but he keeps the story moving briskly even when it's familiar. The performances vary widely, from Tony Randall's peculiarly humorless turn as a diabolical and/or drunken butler, to Miss O'Toole's personable but innocuous heiress, to the rough-hewn, easygoing Mr. Busey and Eddie Albert, as a construction mogul who thinks Mr. Busey may grow up to be just like him. Mr. Calvin is also noteworthy, for making Whitley much less of a dope than stock characters like Whitley usually are. [3]

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References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080750/locations [ better source needed ]
  2. "Zillow". Zillow.com. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  3. Original New York Times review