Little Man Tate

Last updated

Little Man Tate
Little man tate ver1.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jodie Foster
Written by Scott Frank
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Mike Southon
Edited by Lynzee Klingman
Music by Mark Isham
Distributed by
Release date
  • October 18, 1991 (1991-10-18)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million
Box office$25 million

Little Man Tate is a 1991 American drama film directed by Jodie Foster (in her directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, a seven-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in social and psychological settings that largely fail to accommodate his intelligence. It also stars Foster, Dianne Wiest, Harry Connick Jr., David Hyde Pierce, Debi Mazar and P.J. Ochlan.

Contents

Little Man Tate was released theatrically on October 18, 1991, by Orion Pictures to critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised Foster's direction, Frank's screenplay and the performances of the cast. The film grossed $25 million domestically, on a $10 million budget.

Plot

Dede Tate is a young working-class woman of average intelligence raising alone her seven-year-old son, Fred. Fred shows every indication of being a genius. Fred's reading and mathematics abilities are remarkable, and he plays the piano "at competition level", but his intellect has isolated him from his public school classmates.

Fred's abilities come to the attention of Jane Grierson, a former music prodigy and now a psychologist running a school for gifted children. She asks permission from Dede to admit Fred to the school, in order to develop his intellectual gifts in ways that a public school cannot. Dede is reluctant, preferring that Fred have a more normal upbringing, but when no one comes to Fred's seventh birthday party, Dede consents.

Fred joins other brilliant young people, and participates in Jane's Odyssey of the Mind event for part of the spring. There he meets one of his heroes, who is one of Jane's prized pupils, the brilliant but slightly bizarre "Mathemagician" Damon Wells, a whiz at math who wears a black cape wherever he goes. After Fred unintentionally upstages Damon at one of the competitions at Odyssey of the Mind, the former is upset with the latter. Damon, however, warms up to Fred when out horseback riding on Jane's ranch, and is Fred's first insight to a world outside academia. Damon tells him: "It's not the size of a man's IQ that matters; it's how he uses it". Jane attempts to become more nurturing, but is unable to relate to Fred as anything other than a case study.

Fred is later enrolled at a university, where he studies quantum physics while his mother, aunt and cousins travel to Florida for the summer. An adult student named Eddie accidentally hits Fred with a globe when goofing around. To make it up to Fred, Eddie takes him out for a ride on his moped and shows him things such as how to shoot pool; it is good for Fred to spend time with someone who's not a genius. However, when he walks into Eddie's room while he's in bed with a woman, Fred runs out and Eddie chases after him. Eddie explains that he cannot be a babysitter for Fred; although he enjoys his company, Fred needs to find friends closer to his own age. The return to isolation takes its toll on Fred, as he suffers from nightmares in which he is treated as a freak and an outsider.

Jane is asked to bring Fred onto a TV panel discussion show on the topic of gifted children. Fred attends but breaks down. He claims his mother is dead, and recites a childish poem (a word-for-word repetition of a poem by Matt Montini, one of his former grade school classmates) before taking off his microphone and walking out of the studio. Dede witnesses some of this as it's being broadcast, and flies back to New York. Jane is unable to find Fred, but Dede discovers him back at their apartment, and embraces him, with him calling her "mom" for the first time in several years.

One year later, Fred has adjusted to the pressures of being a child genius, particularly after an even younger student is admitted to Jane's school. Dede hosts a well-attended birthday party for Fred, reconciling Fred's emotional development with his intellect.

Cast

Production

Jodie Foster, who is herself a former child prodigy, was immediately impressed by the film's narrative and was interested in directing it. Orion Pictures was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time and was skeptical about Foster directing the film. They ultimately agreed after she offered to act in the film without payment. The film includes certain autobiographical elements from Foster's life.

Most of the film was shot in Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. Other locations include the Cincinnati neighborhood of Clifton; the Village of Indian Hill; the University of Cincinnati's McMicken Hall; Miami University's Alumni Hall, Upham Hall, Hall Auditorium and the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity House, in Oxford, Ohio; and both the Wexner Center and the Ohio Theater in Columbus, Ohio.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend in North America, Little Man Tate was #6 at the box office, grossing $2.3 million. The film grossed a total of $25 million domestically, against a $10 million budget becoming a commercial success. [2]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 71% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. [3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". [4]

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four and commented on how the film's premise is similar to Foster's life, saying; "Little Man Tate is the kind of movie you enjoy watching; it's about interesting people finding out about themselves and as Foster creates this little man who sees a lot and knows a lot but is only gradually beginning to understand a lot, we can hear echoes, perhaps, of a young girl who once found it more interesting to study French than get her picture in the fan magazines". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Connick Jr.</span> American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1967)

Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and former television host. As of 2019, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16 million in certified sales. He has had seven top 20 US albums, and ten number-one US jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in U.S. jazz chart history as of 2009.

<i>The Silence of the Lambs</i> (film) 1991 horror film by Jonathan Demme

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Kasi Lemmons.

<i>Good Will Hunting</i> 1997 film by Gus Van Sant

Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American psychological drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunting, whose mathematical genius is discovered by a professor at MIT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mental calculator</span> Person exceptionally skilled at mathematical mental calculations

A mental calculator or human calculator is a person with a prodigious ability in some area of mental calculation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dianne Wiest</span> American actress (born 1948)

Dianne Evelyn Wiest is an American actress. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters and 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, one Golden Globe Award for Bullets over Broadway, the 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Road to Avonlea, and the 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for In Treatment. In addition, she was nominated for an Academy Award for 1989’s Parenthood.

<i>Home for the Holidays</i> (1995 film) 1995 film by Jodie Foster

Home for the Holidays is a 1995 American family comedy-drama film directed by Jodie Foster and produced by Peggy Rajski and Foster. The screenplay was written by W. D. Richter, based on a short story by Chris Radant. The film's score was composed by Mark Isham. The film follows Claudia Larson, who after losing her job, kissing her ex-boss, and finding out that her daughter has plans of her own for the holidays, departs Chicago to spend her Thanksgiving with her dysfunctional family.

A. Scott Frank is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Frank has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for Out of Sight (1998) and Logan (2017). His film work, credited and uncredited, extends to dozens of films. In recent years, he has worked for Netflix on television miniseries, most prominently writing and directing The Queen's Gambit.

Adam Hann-Byrd is an American actor and screenwriter most recognized for his roles in the films Jumanji, The Ice Storm, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and as the title character in Little Man Tate.

Randy Stone was an American actor, producer, and casting director. He was a co-founder of The Trevor Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. J. Ochlan</span> American actor and voice actor

P. J. Ochlan is an American actor and voice actor best known for his roles as Damon Wells in the feature film Little Man Tate and Lester Shane in the television show Police Academy: The Series. He has narrated hundreds of audiobooks and has won the Audie Award and several AudioFile Earphones Awards. Ochlan appeared on Broadway in Abe Lincoln in Illinois and in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Love's Labour's Lost for Joseph Papp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodie Foster</span> American actress (born 1962)

Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She has also earned numerous honors such as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013 and the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Foster</span> Former American child actor

Lucius Fisher "Buddy" Foster IV is an American former child actor. He is the older brother of actress and director Jodie Foster. Beginning his career at the age of eight, he had television roles from the late 1960s through the early 1970s, most notably Mayberry R.F.D. (1968–1971).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodie Foster filmography</span> Actress filmography

Jodie Foster is an American actress and filmmaker. Foster began her professional career as a child model at age three appearing in a Coppertone commercial. Following appearances in numerous advertisements, she made her acting debut at age five, in 1968 with the television sitcom Mayberry R.F.D., following which she appeared in a string of television series including Gunsmoke, The Doris Day Show, My Three Sons, Bonanza, and Kung Fu. Her film debut came with Disney's adventure film Napoleon and Samantha (1972). After receiving attention with roles in Tom Sawyer (1973), and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Foster rose to international prominence in 1976 at age 13 with three prominent releases; Taxi Driver, Bugsy Malone, and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, with the first of these earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She continued to garner praise and became a teen idol with starring roles in a array of films including; Freaky Friday (1976), Candleshoe (1977), and Foxes (1980).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Toronto International Film Festival</span>

The 16th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and September 14, 1991. Jodie Foster's directorial debut film Little Man Tate, premiered in the Gala Presentation at the festival.

<i>Gifted</i> (2017 film) 2017 American drama film

Gifted is a 2017 American drama film directed by Marc Webb and written by Tom Flynn. It stars Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer. The plot follows an intellectually gifted seven-year-old who becomes the subject of a custody battle between her maternal uncle and maternal grandmother. The film was released on April 7, 2017, by Fox Searchlight Pictures, and grossed $43 million worldwide. At the 23rd Critics' Choice Awards, Mckenna Grace was nominated for Best Young Actor/Actress. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Evans and Grace, but noted its predictability.

David Collins is an American television and film producer. He is best known for creating the reality television series Queer Eye.

<i>The Last Duel</i> (2021 film) 2021 film by Ridley Scott

The Last Duel is a 2021 epic historical action drama film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, based on the 2004 book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager. Set in medieval France, the film stars Damon as Jean de Carrouges, a knight who challenges his former friend, squire Jacques Le Gris, to a judicial duel after Jean's wife, Marguerite, accuses Jacques of raping her. The events leading up to the duel are divided into three distinct chapters, reflecting the contradictory perspectives of the three main characters. Affleck also stars in a supporting role as Count Pierre d'Alençon.

<i>Let Them All Talk</i> (film) 2020 film directed by Steven Soderbergh

Let Them All Talk is a 2020 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Deborah Eisenberg. The film stars Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest, Candice Bergen, Lucas Hedges, and Gemma Chan. Much of the dialogue was improvised by the cast, and Soderbergh shot the film using natural light and little equipment aboard the Queen Mary 2.

David Henderson-Tate was a British actor of television and film and a voice actor who performed as David Tate. He is probably best known for his work in the original radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978) and the television series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981).

References

  1. ↑ "Little Man Tate (1991)". BBFC . Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  2. ↑ Little Man Tate. Box Office Mojo.
  3. ↑ "Little Man Tate". Rotten Tomatoes. October 18, 1991. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Little Man Tate Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  5. ↑ Roger Ebert (October 18, 1991). "Little Man Tate", Chicago Sun-Times
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.