Lost in Yonkers (film)

Last updated
Lost in Yonkers
Lost in yonkers poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Martha Coolidge
Written by Neil Simon
Based on Lost in Yonkers
by Neil Simon
Produced by Ray Stark
Starring
Cinematography Johnny E. Jensen
A. Troy Thomas
Edited bySteven Cohen
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • May 14, 1993 (1993-05-14)(United States)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million [1]
Box office$9 million

Lost in Yonkers is a 1993 American film adaptation of Neil Simon's 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, directed by Martha Coolidge. It stars Irene Worth, Mercedes Ruehl, and Richard Dreyfuss. It was the first theatrical feature film to be edited on Avid Media Composer. It was the last film to use the 1981-1993 Columbia Pictures logo.

Contents

Plot

In 1942, following the death of their mother, 15-year-old Jay Kurnitz and his 13-year-old brother Arty move from the Bronx to Yonkers to live temporarily with their strict, stern Grandma Kurnitz and her daughter Aunt Bella, so that their father Eddie can take a traveling sales job and pay off his late wife's medical debt. Grandma's harsh upbringing of her own children has estranged all of them but Bella, who has the mind and emotions of a child despite being in her mid-30s. Grandma, whom Eddie has avoided visiting and who did not get along with his now-deceased wife, at first refuses to take in the boys, but Bella is happy to see them and uncharacteristically stands up to Grandma, threatening to move out into "the home" for those with mental conditions and leave Grandma all alone if she doesn't let the boys stay.

Jay and Arty do not enjoy living under Grandma's strict rules. Upon learning from Bella that Grandma has hidden $15,000 somewhere in the house and attached candy store, the boys try to find it so they can pay off their father's debt and he can return home. Meanwhile, the boys' Uncle Louie, a mobster, returns to his mother's house to hide from another mobster, Hollywood Harry, who is stalking him hoping to get what Louie has in a black bag. Louie responded to Grandma's harsh upbringing by becoming tough and independent, and starting a life of thievery and crime at a young age. Louie encourages the boys to have similar "moxie", but also reveals to them that Grandma herself was traumatized at age 12, when she saw police kill her father and was herself permanently disabled in the ensuing riot. As a result, Grandma believes people must be "like steel" in order to simply survive.

Bella has fallen in love with Johnny, the head usher at the local movie house, who like her is mentally slow and lives with his parents. Bella and Johnny plan to get married and open their own restaurant, for which they need $5000, which Bella hopes to convince Grandma to give her. After agonizing about how to discuss this with Grandma, Bella announces it at a family dinner attended by Louie and their sister Gert, whose fear of Grandma caused her to develop a speech impediment. Grandma disapproves of the match, causing Bella to break down crying and leave the house, moving in with Gert. That night, Jay helps Louie steal Hollywood Harry's car and escape with the black bag. Louie later calls Bella to tell her he's now the "richest guy in Guadalcanal."

Bella now has $5000 (later revealed to have been given to her by Louie) but discovers that Johnny is too afraid to marry her or open a restaurant. She returns to Grandma's house where they have an emotional confrontation. Grandma's stern harshness is shown to be her reaction to not only her own childhood trauma, but also grief from the deaths of her husband and two of her children at young ages. Bella agrees to move back in with Grandma on the condition that Bella will lead a more independent life. Eddie returns from his business travels and reclaims his sons, who leave Grandma a loving farewell card. In the final scene of the film (which implies, but does not explicitly show, Grandma's death), Bella leaves Yonkers for good and sends Eddie and the boys a postcard from Florida, where she has gotten a restaurant job.

Cast

Broadway play

After eleven previews, the Broadway production, directed by Gene Saks, opened on February 21, 1991, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it ran for 780 performances. The original cast included Jamie Marsh, Irene Worth, Mercedes Ruehl, and Kevin Spacey.

Reception

The film holds a score of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews. [2] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F. [3]

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four and wrote, "All of the performances are good, but one of them, by Mercedes Ruehl, casts a glow over the entire film." [4] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "A wonderful play about a classically unhappy household that has been turned into a typical, mechanical Neil Simon joke machine. Simon's stage words rarely transfer well to the more realistic arena of film, and this is no exception. Another liability is that Richard Dreyfuss hams his way through a role that was played with dignity and poignancy on stage by Kevin Spacey." [5] Janet Maslin of The New York Times described the film as "sometimes more picturesque than powerful. But it conveys all the warmth and color of the original material." [6] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "Story of a domineering old woman's tyranny over two generations of offspring is adroitly structured and contains strong human elements, but what proved so affecting onstage seems a bit pat and calculated when viewed in closeup." [7] Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "essentially deep-dish Neil Simon, which is, after all, not so very deep. But neither is the play negligible; it has a felt, melancholy undertow, and Ruehl and Worth, who both won Tonys for their performances on Broadway, bring out its full, racking sadness." [8] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "In the film version, with Ruehl and Worth repeating their Tony-winning roles, Simon intensifies the barrage of belly laughs and bathos. Director Martha Coolidge, whose Rambling Rose was a model of graceful literary adaptation, seems at a loss with the crass material." [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Simon</span> American playwright, writer, and academic (1927–2018)

Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three Tony Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006.

<i>The Goodbye Girl</i> 1977 film directed by Herbert Ross

The Goodbye Girl is a 1977 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Neil Simon and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings and Paul Benedict. The film, produced by Ray Stark, centers on an odd trio of characters: a struggling actor who has sublet a Manhattan apartment from a friend, the current occupant, and her precocious young daughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Siskel</span> American film critic (1946–1999)

Eugene Kal Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He is best known for co-hosting various movie review television series with colleague Roger Ebert.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's death in 1999.

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

Mercedes J. Ruehl is an American screen, stage, and television actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, two Obie Awards, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards.

<i>Lost in Yonkers</i> Play by Neil Simon

Lost in Yonkers is a play by Neil Simon. The play won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

<i>The Prisoner of Second Avenue</i> 1975 film by Melvin Frank

The Prisoner of Second Avenue is a 1975 American black comedy film written by Neil Simon, directed and produced by Melvin Frank and starring Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft. Neil Simon adapted the screenplay from his 1971 Broadway play.

<i>Another You</i> 1991 film by Maurice Phillips

Another You is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Maurice Phillips and produced and written by Ziggy Steinberg. It stars Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Mercedes Ruehl, Vanessa Williams and Kevin Pollak. It was released in the United States on July 26, 1991.

<i>Fool for Love</i> (1985 film) 1985 American drama film by Robert Altman

Fool for Love is a 1985 American psychological drama film directed by Robert Altman, and starring Sam Shepard, Kim Basinger, Harry Dean Stanton, Randy Quaid, and Martha Crawford. It follows a woman awaiting the arrival of her boyfriend in a derelict motel in the Mojave Desert, where she is confronted by a previous lover who threatens to undermine her efforts. It is based on the 1983 stage play of the same name written by Shepard, who also adapted the screenplay.

<i>A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story</i> 2006 film directed by Agnieszka Holland

A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story is a 2006 American biographical drama television film directed by Agnieszka Holland and starring J. D. Pardo, Mercedes Ruehl, and Avan Jogia. It premiered on Lifetime in the United States on June 19, 2006. The film dramatizes the events surrounding the 2002 murder of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teenager who was murdered after acquaintances discovered that she had male genitalia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Worth</span> American actress (1916–2002)

Irene Worth, CBE, born Harriett Elizabeth Abrams, was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the British and American theatre. She pronounced her first name with three syllables: "I-REE-nee".

<i>Whats Cooking?</i> (film) 2000 British film

What's Cooking? is a 2000 comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha and starring Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick, Joan Chen, Lainie Kazan, Maury Chaykin, Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard, and Dennis Haysbert.

<i>Max Dugan Returns</i> 1983 film by Herbert Ross

Max Dugan Returns is a 1983 American comedy-drama film written by Neil Simon and directed by Herbert Ross. Starring Jason Robards in the title role along with Marsha Mason and Donald Sutherland, it marks the film debuts of both Sutherland's son Kiefer and Matthew Broderick, and is both the last of five Simon-Ross collaborations and the last of Simon's films starring Mason.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Marsh</span> American actor

Jamie Marsh/Galen is an American theatre, television and film actor.

<i>The Amati Girls</i> 2001 film by Anne De Salvo

The Amati Girls is a 2001 American drama film written and directed by Anne De Salvo. It stars Cloris Leachman, Mercedes Ruehl, Dinah Manoff, Sean Young, Lily Knight, Lee Grant, and Edith Fields.

<i>84 Charing Cross Road</i> (film) 1987 film by David Hugh Jones

84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David Jones, and starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Mercedes Ruehl, and Jean De Baer. It is produced by Bancroft's husband, Mel Brooks. The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself is an adaptation of the 1970 epistolary memoir of the same name by Helene Hanff — a compilation of letters between Hanff and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968. Several characters who are not in the play were added for the film, including Hanff's Manhattan friends and Doel's wife Nora.

Danny Gerard is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Alan Silver in the CBS television series Brooklyn Bridge. He also starred in the short lived CBS series Blue Skies and the unaired NBC pilot News at Twelve.

<i>The Sluggers Wife</i> 1985 film by Hal Ashby

The Slugger's Wife is a 1985 romantic comedy film about a baseball star who falls for a singer. Written by Neil Simon, directed by Hal Ashby and produced by Ray Stark, the film stars Michael O'Keefe, Rebecca De Mornay, and Randy Quaid. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released on March 29, 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Grimaldi</span>

Dennis Grimaldi is an American theatrical producer, director, and choreographer who has worked on Broadway, Off Broadway, television, and on London's West End.

<i>Neil Simons I Ought to Be in Pictures</i> 1982 film by Herbert Ross

I Ought to Be in Pictures is a 1982 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and based on Neil Simon's 1980 play of the same name. The film stars Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Dinah Manoff. Other actors who have supporting roles are Lance Guest, Eugene Butler, David Faustino, Martin Ferrero and Michael Dudikoff.

References

  1. ↑ "AFI|Catalog". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. ↑ "Lost in Yonkers". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  4. ↑ Roger Ebert (May 14, 1993). "Lost In Yonkers". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 2019-04-05.
  5. ↑ Siskel, Gene (May 14, 1993). "Siskel's Flicks Picks". Chicago Tribune . Section 7, page D.
  6. ↑ Maslin, Janet (May 14, 1993). "Simon's Serious Comedy Of Contemporary Nostalgia". The New York Times . C10.
  7. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (May 10, 1993). "Reviews: Lost in Yonkers". Variety . 236.
  8. ↑ Rainer, Peter (May 14, 1993). "Neil Simon Gets Serious in 'Lost in Yonkers'". Los Angeles Times . F8.
  9. ↑ Travers, Peter (May 27, 1993). "Lost in Yonkers". Rolling Stone . No. 657. p. 58.
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.