Rabbit Test (film)

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Rabbit Test
Rabbit Test (1978) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joan Rivers
Written byJoan Rivers
Jay Redack
Produced by Edgar Rosenberg
Starring
Cinematography Lucien Ballard
Edited byStanford C. Allen
Music by Pete Carpenter
Mike Post
Production
companies
Distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date
  • April 9, 1978 (1978-04-09) [1]
Running time
84 minutes [2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish [1]
Budget$997,000 [3]
Box office$4.7 million [4]

Rabbit Test is a 1978 American comedy film about the world's first pregnant man, directed and co-written by Joan Rivers and starring Billy Crystal in his film debut. [5]

Contents

This was the only directing effort by Joan Rivers, who also plays a nurse in a brief scene, while her daughter Melissa Rivers also has a bit part. Rivers' husband, Edgar Rosenberg, was producer. It was the only theatrical feature to be scored by the team of Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. Michael Keaton made his feature film debut in a small non-speaking role.

The title is a reference to the Friedman test, commonly known as the rabbit test, a medical procedure used for several decades in the 20th century to determine pregnancy.

Plot

Lionel Carpenter (Billy Crystal) is a night-school teacher who has bad luck with women. He remains a virgin until his brash cousin Danny (Alex Rocco) sets him up with a one-night stand. Soon after, Lionel starts feeling nauseated and vomits, eventually doing so onto Segoynia Savaka (Joan Prather), one of his immigrant students. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as it gives him an excuse to ask her out on a date, and a romance develops.

When Lionel meets Segoynia's fortune-telling grandmother (played by Roddy McDowall in drag), she intuits that he is the world's first pregnant man. This results in a series of gags relating to his pregnancy and people's reactions to it. One side plot has Lionel being pursued by the Army because the President of the United States is afraid of what effect the widespread ability of men to conceive will have on population growth.

In the ending sequence, which is patterned after the Nativity, Lionel finally goes into labor. The camera rises to Heaven, where God announces to the viewers the successful delivery: "Oh my god... It's a girl!"

Cast

The main cast includes the following: [2]

Production

When all the major studios turned Rivers down for funding, she raised about half the film's $997,000 budget by remortgaging her home and convincing her father to do the same, and raised the other half with a series of investment deals. [3] [6] [7] Rivers explained how she got so many cameos on a tiny budget: "We had no money to spare. I made up a letter: 'Dear so-and-so, we'd love to have you be in a part; there is no money, no point in arguing, etc.'" All involved did stints for scale ($185), with a bonus if the film made over $18 million. [3] Another $1 million was allotted for promotion and publicity. [8]

Release

The film opened in pre-release on February 17, 1978, in six cities (Nashville, Rochester, Columbus, Houston, Denver and Portland) [9] before an official opening in Los Angeles on April 7. [1]

Reception

Rabbit Test drew negative reviews from the majority of critics.

Joan Rivers heavily promoted the film by visiting theaters in Chicago showing the film. When she visited the Portage Theater on Chicago's northwest side, she arrived in a limo, told jokes, signed autographs, took photos with fans, and received a standing ovation from theater patrons during her visit.[ citation needed ]

The film received a 1.7/10 by the judges at its 2018 screening at The Secret Cinema, surpassing Wild Rovers (2.3/10) to become the lowest-rated film to be shown there.

Despite the negative reviews the film received, Rabbit Test was a box office hit, grossing over $12 million in its first four months of release. [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Rabbit Test - Details". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Rabbit Test' Film Depicts First Pregnant Man Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.
  3. 1 2 3 Baumoel, Lois (April 17, 1978). "Joan Rivers Says Teamwork Helped 'Rabbit Test' Meet Tight Schedule". BoxOffice . SE8.
  4. ↑ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 293. ISBN   978-0-8357-1776-2. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  5. ↑ "Rabbit Test". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Franklin, BarbaraJane (July 22, 1978). "Standing the 'Rabbit Test'". Screen International . p. 24.
  7. ↑ "Rabbit Test - History". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  8. ↑ McDowell, Edwin (June 9, 1978). "TV Talk Shows Leave a Trail of Gold". The New York Times . D1.
  9. ↑ "Hefty 'Rabbit' Grosses In 6 Prerelease Dates". BoxOffice . February 27, 1978. 10.
  10. ↑ Ebert, Roger (April 25, 1978). "Rabbit Test". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  11. ↑ Siskel, Gene (April 26, 1978). "'Rabbit': A lot of bathwater but very little baby". Chicago Tribune . Section 5, p. 7.
  12. ↑ "Film Reviews: Rabbit Test". Variety . February 22, 1978. 19.
  13. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (April 8, 1978). "Joan Rivers' Directorial Debut With 'Rabbit Test'". Los Angeles Times . Part II, p. 10.
  14. ↑ Arnold, Gary (May 2, 1978). "Joan Rivers' 'Rabbit' Fails the Test". The Washington Post. B9.
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