The Pick-up Artist | |
---|---|
Directed by | James Toback |
Written by | James Toback |
Produced by | Warren Beatty David Leigh MacLeod |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
Edited by | David Bretherton Angelo Corrao |
Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production company | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 81 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $15 million |
Box office | $13,290,368 |
The Pick-up Artist is a 1987 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by James Toback, starring Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr. in the lead roles.
Jack Jericho is a 21-year-old womanizer, who is constantly honing his craft. Driving around the city in a red convertible, he regularly jumps out and charms women wherever he goes. The principal at the school where he teaches reprimands him for hitting on students' mothers.
Outside of a club, Jack hits on Lulu, who is waiting in her mobster boyfriend Alonzo's convertible. Alonzo comes up and threatens Jack, who goes inside. Mobster Fernando insists he wants Randy, a young redhead in the bar who is getting noticed by many, including Jack.
Lulu follows Randy into the restroom, trying to convince her to go out with Fernando. Randy refuses, and points out Lulu should not be doing his dirty work. Outside, Lulu argues with Alonzo, who decides to leave her there. Jack sees this, offers her a lift and later a cop interrupts them as they are necking.
The next morning, Jack helps his grandmother at home with her insulin. On his way back out, the landlord reminds him the rent is overdue. Seeing Randy in the street, she surprises Jack by agreeing to have a quick fling in his car, but refuses to give him her number. He follows her to work, seeing her being harassed before heading in.
Jack discovers that Randy Jensen is an independent museum tour guide who beats Jack at his own game. Randy's indifference only causes him to become smitten with her. Jack books a tour with one of his school groups, so he can continue flirting. Randy is too busy for romance, trying to keep her alcoholic gambler father Flash Jensen, out of harm's way.
Jack follows Randy to her apartment, pleading, as he cannot stop thinking about her. Alfonzo and his goons then arrive to demand over $25,000 she owes them. Randy is reminded about the offer to have the debt forgiven if she spends the evening with mobster Fernando, but she again refuses. Randy has until noon the next day to deliver the money. Jack offers to help her, to no avail.
They go to Coney Island and Jack tries to win her a prize shooting baskets but fails. They go the museum's planetarium where Randy works to get her pay check. They both go in to watch the show. There, Randy says she is going to be right back, but actually leaves.
Randy gets on a bus for Atlantic City unbeknownst to Jack. She starts up a conversation with fellow passenger Harriet, who talks about her long string of failed relationships. Randy suggests she keeps her interaction with men casual, so she cannot get hurt.
Going to his friend Phil's cafe, Jack tells him about falling for Randy and the $25,000. They go together to see Flash, trying to find her. Realising she has gone to Atlantic City, Phil drives them down. Just as they arrive, Randy is at the brink of winning all they need at black jack. Overhearing a couple of mobsters talking to Flash, Jack realises she is his daughter and not his girlfriend.
Alonso was called in by the mobster running the casino, so he is also there and tries to block them from authorizing a large bet by Randy. Her $13,000 bet does not pay off. Jack catches up to her, and convinces Randy to let him help her. He sells his car for a little over $2,000, and after eating, they return to the casino. Playing the roulette table, Jack wins $35,000 which he uses to pay off Alonso.
Although Jack has freed Randy and Flash of their debt and declares he wants them to be together forever, she insists they are bad for each other. He tears up his sheet of women's numbers and walks away. Back in NYC, Jack pays the missing two months' rent, then encounters Randy outside. She invites him to dinner and they walk off together.
James Toback wrote the film for Warren Beatty who liked the script but was reluctant to play a character driven by his erotic compulsions. Toback then considered Robert De Niro but ultimately decided the role should be played by a younger actor. [1]
The film was at Paramount. Then in 1984 Beatty bought it and set up the production at Fox. Toback says the film was "not even remotely" based on Beatty. "The guy in the script chases after people. Warren always has people chasing after him." [2]
It was Toback's fourth film as director. He says his first three "were all dark movies that ended unhappily. Now I'm taking a vacation from dread and gloom. If you were casting Pick Up Artist 30 years ago you would have wanted Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. No two actors would have been more wrong for my other movies." [2]
The film has gained generally mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 58% rating based on 24 reviews. [3] [4] [5] [6]
The film opened at number 5 at the US Box Office, and finished 85th for the year in 1987, with a $13.9 million domestic gross. [7] [8]
The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1987, then on DVD on December 16, 2003. [9]
Henry Warren Beatty is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1999, the BAFTA Fellowship in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2008.
Molly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, writer, and translator. She began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life before being nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the drama film Tempest (1982). Ringwald became a teen idol following her appearances in filmmaker John Hughes' teen films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986). These films led to the media referring to her as a member of the "Brat Pack." Her final teen roles were in For Keeps and Fresh Horses.
Atlantic City is a 1980 romantic crime film directed by Louis Malle from a screenplay by John Guare. It stars Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon in the leading roles, with a supporting cast featuring Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren, and Al Waxman. A co-production between French and Canadian companies filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in September 1980 and in the United States later that year by Paramount Pictures.
Bugsy is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. The film stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Bebe Neuwirth, and Joe Mantegna. It is based on the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with wife and starlet Virginia Hill.
Pretty in Pink is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. A cult classic, it is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film.
Pandora's Box is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and starring Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Francis Lederer. The film follows Lulu, a seductive young woman whose uninhibited nature brings ruin to herself and those who love her. It is based on Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora.
Sixteen Candles is a 1984 American coming-of-age comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of films Hughes would direct, centering on teenage life. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success, earning $23.6 million against a $6.5 million budget, and launched Ringwald to fame.
Casino is a 1995 epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi from the latter's nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. It stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak, and James Woods. The film was the eighth collaboration between director Scorsese and De Niro.
Some Kind of Wonderful is a 1987 American teen romantic comedy-drama film directed by Howard Deutch and starring Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Lea Thompson. It is one of several successful teen dramas written by John Hughes in the 1980s.
Surrender is a 1987 American comedy film that was written and directed by Jerry Belson. It stars Sally Field, Michael Caine, Steve Guttenberg, Peter Boyle, Iman, and Jackie Cooper in his final film role.
Kill Me Again is a 1989 American neo-noir thriller film directed by John Dahl, and starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley and Michael Madsen.
Romeo Is Bleeding is a 1993 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Peter Medak, written and produced by Hilary Henkin, and starring Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis, and Roy Scheider. It follows a psychosexual cat-and-mouse game between a corrupt cop (Oldman), and a ruthless mob assassin (Olin) who begins to unravel his carefully constructed double life. The film's title was taken from a song by Tom Waits.
Eureka is a 1983 psychological drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Gene Hackman, Rutger Hauer, Theresa Russell, Mickey Rourke, and Joe Pesci. It follows the life of a Klondike prospector who becomes one of the world's wealthiest men after striking gold in 1925, but, 20 years on, fears that he is being preyed upon by his daughter and her social-climbing husband, as well as a mobster attempting to usurp the Caribbean island he owns. The screenplay is loosely based on the unsolved murder of Sir Harry Oakes in the Bahamas in 1943.
The Doctor is a 1991 American drama film directed by Randa Haines. It is loosely based on Dr. Edward Rosenbaum's 1988 memoir A Taste Of My Own Medicine. The film stars William Hurt as Jack McKee, a doctor who undergoes a transformation in his views about life, illness and human relationships.
Havana is a 1990 American drama film starring Robert Redford, Lena Olin, Alan Arkin and Raul Julia, directed by Sydney Pollack with music by Dave Grusin. The film's plot concerns Jack Weil (Redford), an American professional gambler who decides to visit Havana, Cuba to gamble in 1958 on the eve of the Cuban Revolution.
Kaleidoscope is a 1966 British comedy crime film directed by Jack Smight and starring Warren Beatty and Susannah York.
Two Girls and a Guy is a 1997 American black comedy-drama film written and directed by James Toback and produced by Edward R. Pressman and Chris Hanley. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner.
Tempest is a 1982 American adventure comedy-drama romance film directed by Paul Mazursky. It is a loosely based, modern-day adaptation of the William Shakespeare play The Tempest. The picture features John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raúl Juliá and Molly Ringwald in her feature film debut.
Love and Money, also known as Love & Money, is a 1982 American drama film directed by James Toback and starring Ray Sharkey.
Hit and Run is a 2012 American action comedy film written by Dax Shepard, with David Palmer and Shepard co-directing. The film stars Shepard and Kristen Bell, with Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Arnold, and Bradley Cooper, and follows a man who has been placed in Federal Witness Protection going on the run with his girlfriend to escape a mobster. It was released on August 22, 2012, received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $16 million.