Allie Fox is a brilliant but stubborn inventor who has grown fed up with the American Dream and consumerism. Furthermore, he believes that a nuclear war is on the horizon as a result of American greed and crime. After Allie and his eldest son Charlie acquire the components at a local dump, he finishes assembling his latest creation, an ice machine known as Fat Boy. Allie's boss, Mr. Polski, an asparagus farm owner, complains that Allie is not tending to the asparagus, which is rotting. Allie, Charlie, and Allie's youngest son, Jerry, meet Mr. Polski, and Allie shows him "Fat Boy." The machine leaves Polski unimpressed. As he drives past the fields, a dejected Allie comments on immigrants picking asparagus, and says that where they come from, they might think of ice as a luxury.
The next morning, Allie throws a party for the immigrant workers before telling his family that they're leaving the United States. On board a Panamanian barge, the family meets Reverend Spellgood, a missionary, his wife, and their daughter, Emily. Allie and the Reverend clash due to their opposing religious views. When the barge docks in Belize City, the families disembark and go their separate ways. From a drunken German, Allie purchases a small village called Jeronimo in the rainforest along the river.
Mr. Haddy takes Allie and his family upriver to Jeronimo. Allie meets the inhabitants and proceeds to build a new, "advanced" civilization, inventing many new things in the process. The locals, including Mr. Haddy, a boatman who takes the Fox family to Jeronimo, take kindly to Allie and his family. However, Allie's will to build a utopian civilization keeps them working to their limits. Reverend Spellgood arrives to convert Jeronimo's citizens. In the process, Allie and Spellgood angrily denounce each other, leading to a permanent schism: Allie believes Spellgood to be a religious zealot; Spellgood believes Allie to be a communist. Allie sets to construct a huge version of "Fat Boy" that can supply the town with ice. Upon completing the machine, Allie hears rumors of a native tribe in the mountains that has never seen ice. Allie recruits his two sons to carry a load of ice into the jungle to supply the tribe. Upon arriving, Allie finds that the load has melted and that the tribe has already been visited by missionaries.
When Allie returns to Jeronimo, he learns that Spellgood has left with much of the populace, scaring them with stories of God's biblical destruction. The near-empty town is visited by three rebels, who demand to use Jeronimo as a base. Allie and his family agree to accommodate them while Allie concocts a plan to be rid of them. Set on freezing them to death, Allie bunks the rebels up in the giant ice machine, tells Charlie to lock its only other exit, and activates it. The rebels, waking in panic, try to shoot their way out. To Allie's horror, the rebels' gunfire sets off an explosion within the machine. By the next morning, both the machine and the family's home is in ruins, and chemicals from the destroyed machine have severely polluted the river.
Forced downstream, Allie and his family arrive at the coast. Mother and the children rejoice, believing they can return to the United States. Allie, refusing to believe his dream has been shattered, announces that they have all they need on the beach and tells them that the United States has been destroyed in a nuclear war. Settling on the beach in a houseboat he has built, and refusing assistance from Mr. Haddy, Allie believes that the family has accomplished building a utopia. One night, the storm surge from a tropical cyclone nearly forces the family out to sea until Charlie reveals that he has been hiding motor components (secretly given to him by Mr. Haddy), allowing them to start the motor on the boat.
Forced to travel upstream once again, Charlie and Jerry grow resentful of their father. Coming ashore when the family stumbles across Spellgood's compound, Allie sees barbed wire and mutters that the settlement is a Christian concentration camp. While the rest of the family sleeps, Charlie and Jerry sneak over to the Spellgood home. They find out that the United States was not destroyed and that Emily will assist them in escaping from Allie. Before Charlie can persuade Mother and his sisters to leave, Allie sets Spellgood's church on fire. Spellgood shoots Allie, paralyzing him from the neck down. The family escapes aboard the boat.
The family begins traveling downriver again, with Allie drifting in and out of consciousness. Allie asks his wife if they are going upstream. She lies to him for the first time. Charlie's narration reports the death of Allie but gives hope that the rest of the family can live their lives freely from now on.
Producer Jerome Hellman bought the rights to Theroux's novel as soon as it was published, and Weir committed to filming it. Jack Nicholson was originally offered the lead role, but backed out over salary disputes.[2][3]
As the film went into pre-production, and Weir was in Central America scouting for locations, the financial backing for the film fell through and the project was suspended indefinitely.[4] In the meantime, Weir was approached to direct Witness starring Harrison Ford. The film, which was Weir's first American production, was a critical and commercial success, garnering eight Academy Award nominations including Weir for Best Director, Ford for Best Actor, and the film itself for Best Film. During the production of Witness, Weir discussed The Mosquito Coast with Ford who became interested in the role of Allie Fox (though Ford's agent was less enthusiastic). With Ford attached to the project, financial backing and distribution for the film was easier to find (ultimately from Saul Zaentz and Warner Bros.).[4]
Filming began the week of February 7, 1986, in Belize and finished there on April 26 before moving to Georgia. Weir and Ford famously missed the Academy Awards ceremony for which they had both been nominated for Witness,[2] which won two Oscars, for Best Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
The film contains the last feature film role of Butterfly McQueen, who had a prominent role in Gone with the Wind. She plays a lapsed churchgoer, and in real life was a vocal atheist.[5]
Reception
The film was initially a critical and commercial disappointment but has since received much stronger modern reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Harrison Ford capably tackles a tough, unlikable role, producing a fascinating and strange character study."[6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade B− on an A+ to F scale.[8]
Siskel & Ebert were split, Siskel giving the film a "thumbs up" and Ebert giving it a "thumbs down,"[9] criticizing Allie Fox for being "boring." However, he did compliment Ford's performance.[10]Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "utterly flat."[11] In her review for The Washington Post, Rita Kempley wrote:
Sooner or later a man of invention will pollute paradise, a grand contradiction that gives Mosquito its bite and Ford inspiration for his most complex portrayal to date. As a persona of epic polarities, he animates this muddled, metaphysical journey into the jungle.[12]
In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Sheila Benson wrote, "He's orchestrated The Mosquito Coast's action to match Fox's progressive mental state, from rage to explosion to squalls and finally to hurricane velocity; however, the film leaves us not with an apotheosis, but exhaustion."[13] In his review for The Globe and Mail, Jay Scott wrote, "The Mosquito Coast is a work of consummate craftsmanship and it's spectacularly acted, down to the smallest roles ... but its field of vision is as narrow and eventually as claustrophobic as Allie's."[14] The negative reviews the film received prompted Harrison Ford to defend the film in the media:
There have been mixed reviews and I think the film has been very unfairly treated in some quarters. I have never seen a serious film treated so badly by the critics. And I think they're wrong. I don't mind saying I'm here trying to counter those negative reviews.... I'm not defensive about the picture, but I want the public to hear another point of view. Critics see a film and then rush to review it. This is the sort of movie that really doesn't sink home for about three days. It is disturbing and makes you think. It stays with you.[15]
With a production budget of $25million, the film made a little over $14million in North America.[16][bettersourceneeded] Despite being one of his least commercially successful films, Ford has defended it, saying in a 1992 interview:[17]
It's the only film I have done that hasn't made its money back. I'm still glad I did it. If there was a fault with the film, it was that it didn't fully enough embrace the language of the book (by Paul Theroux). It may have more properly been a literary rather than a cinematic exercise. But I think it's full of powerful emotions.
Rosalie Anderson MacDowell is an American actress and former fashion model. MacDowell is known for her starring film roles in romantic comedies and dramas. She has modeled for Calvin Klein and has been a spokeswoman for L'Oréal since 1986.
Harrison Ford is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has been a leading man in films of several genres and starred in many major box-office successes, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide. Ford is the recipient of various accolades, including the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, an Honorary César, and an Honorary Palme d'Or, in addition to an Academy Award nomination.
Peter Lindsay Weir is an Australian retired film director. He is known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), Fearless (1993), The Truman Show (1998), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010). He has received six Academy Award nominations. In 2022 he was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement career. In 2024, he received an honorary life-time achievement award at the Venice Film Festival.
Witness is a 1985 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Peter Weir. The film stars Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, with Josef Sommer, Lukas Haas, Jan Rubeš, Danny Glover, Alexander Godunov, Patti LuPone and Viggo Mortensen. Its plot focuses on a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her son, who becomes a target after he witnesses a brutal murder in a Philadelphia railway station.
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman. The film, starring Robin Williams, is set in 1959 at a fictional elite boarding school called Welton Academy, and tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.
Nuns on the Run is a 1990 British comedy film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, also featuring Camille Coduri and Janet Suzman. The film was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by HandMade Films. Many of the outdoor scenes were shot in Chiswick, White City and Kings Cross. The soundtrack was composed and performed by Yello and also features George Harrison's song "Blow Away" in addition to Steve Winwood's "Roll With It". The film was released on 16 March 1990.
Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name and the 2021 television series of the same name.
Peggy Sue Got Married is a 1986 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Kathleen Turner as a woman on the verge of a divorce, who finds herself transported back to the days of her senior year in high school in 1960. The film was written by husband-and-wife team Jerry Leichtling and Arlene Sarner.
Eugene Kal Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune who co-hosted movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.
The Secret of NIMH is a 1982 American animated fantasy adventure film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut and loosely based on Robert C. O'Brien's children's novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. It features an ensemble cast consisting of Elizabeth Hartman in her final film role as its protagonist, Mrs. Brisby, with Peter Strauss, Arthur Malet, Dom DeLuise, John Carradine, Derek Jacobi, Hermione Baddeley and Paul Shenar in supporting roles. It was produced by Bluth's production company Don Bluth Productions in association with Aurora Productions.
At the Movies was an American movie review television program produced by Disney–ABC Domestic Television in which two film critics share their opinions of newly released films. Its original hosts were Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, the former hosts of Sneak Previews on PBS (1975–1982) and a similarly titled syndicated series (1982–1986). After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert worked with various guest critics until choosing Chicago Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper as his regular partner in 2000.
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.
Presumed Innocent is a 1990 American legal thriller film based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Scott Turow. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, and written by Pakula and Frank Pierson, it stars Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raúl Juliá, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Winfield and Greta Scacchi. The film follows Rusty Sabich (Ford), a prosecutor who is charged with the murder of his colleague and mistress Carolyn Polhemus (Scacchi).
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a 1990 American action comedy film noir mystery film directed by Renny Harlin and written by David Arnott, James Cappe, and Daniel Waters based on a story by Arnott and Cappe. The film stars comedian Andrew Dice Clay as the title character, Ford Fairlane, a "Rock n' Roll Detective", whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles. True to his name, Ford drives a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner in the film.
Justin Paul Theroux is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained recognition for his work with director David Lynch in the mystery film Mulholland Drive (2001) and the horror film Inland Empire (2006). He also appeared in films such as Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), American Psycho (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Strangers with Candy (2005), Miami Vice (2006), Wanderlust (2012), The Girl on the Train (2016), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), On the Basis of Sex (2018), Bumblebee (2018), and Lady and the Tramp (2019).
For Love or Money is a 1993 American romantic comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Michael J. Fox and Gabrielle Anwar.
Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie is a 1995 American science-fiction/adventure/comedy short film written and directed by Bob Gale.
The Mosquito Coast is a novel by author Paul Theroux. Published in 1981, it won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was the Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year.
The Mosquito Coast is an American drama television series developed by Neil Cross and Tom Bissell based on the novel of the same name by Paul Theroux published in 1981. It is also loosely adapted from the 1986 film which starred Harrison Ford. The series stars Justin Theroux, nephew of Paul, and Melissa George in lead roles, with Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman rounding out the main cast. Justin Theroux also serves as executive producer of the series, along with Rupert Wyatt who directed the first two episodes.
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