A Fine Mess
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A Fine Mess
Plot
Blake Edwards comes a cropper in this lunk-headed slapstick homage to Laurel and Hardy, Mack Sennett, and Jerry Lewis. Ted Danson and Howie Mandell play Spence Holden and Dennis Powell, a couple of idiots who find themselves involved with a pack of gangsters. Spence is a two-bit actor who is at a racetrack location with his pal Dennis, when he overhears two small-time thugs, Wayne "Turnip" Parragella (Richard Mulligan) and Maurice "Binky" Drundza (Stuart Margolin), talk about doping a horse set to run a race. It turns out that Turnip and Binky are under orders to carry out the dastardly scheme by their underworld boss Tony Pazzo (Paul Sorvino). When Spence and Dennis are found out, they find themselves pursued all over the Los Angeles area by an angry Tony Pazzo mob in an ever-escalating series of races and chases, crashes and smashes, and shouting and screaming. ~ Paul Brenner, RoviReview
This late-period venture into screwball comedy isn't Blake Edwards's finest moment: the comedic highs are spaced a little too far for the film to cohere and it runs out of steam when it should be building up to manic heights in the third act. That said, A Fine Mess offers some little pleasures for comedy fans: Ted Danson and Howie Mandel make an engaging comedic team, gliding through the slim storyline with ease, and Stuart Margolin and Richard Mulligan give them a run for the money as a slapstick-prone pair of bumbling crooks. Edwards's direction sometimes flags in the pacing department but he structures the individual gags with skill and the results frequently get a laugh: highlights include Danson and Mandel's attempts to dodge the crooks while placing a bet and Mandel's slow-burn reaction to some unexpectedly spicy Indian food. The end result is a film of modest pleasures and this makes A Fine Mess a pleasant enough way for fans of old-school comedy to kill an afternoon. ~ Donald Guarisco, RoviCast
- Ted Danson - Spence Holden
- Howie Mandel - Dennis Powell
- Richard Mulligan - Wayne Turnip Farragalla
- Stuart Margolin - Maurice "Binky" Dzundza
- Maria Conchita Alonso - Claudia Pazzo
Credit
Philippe Gerard - Choreography, Pat Norris - Costume Designer, Blake Edwards - Director, John F. Burnett - Editor, Robert Pergament - Editor, Jonathan D. Krane - Executive Producer, Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), Dave Bartholomew - Songwriter, Anne Boston - Songwriter, Keith Burston - Songwriter, William Burton - Songwriter, John F. Calder - Songwriter, Luigi Creatore - Songwriter, Bob Crewe - Songwriter, Antoine Domino - Songwriter, Eric Douglas - Songwriter, Robert Elsey - Songwriter, Steve Farris - Songwriter, John E. Garnett - Songwriter, Bob Gaudio - Songwriter, Steve George - Songwriter, Roy Hayes - Songwriter, Larry Huff - Songwriter, Nick Jameson - Songwriter, Dennis Lambert - Songwriter, John Lan - Songwriter, William Linton - Songwriter, Darryl Littlejohn - Songwriter, Richard Page - Songwriter, Huge Peretti - Songwriter, Michael Price - Songwriter, Bobby Sandstrom - Songwriter, George David Weiss - Songwriter, David Bryant - Songwriter, Rick Sharp - Makeup, Rodger Maus - Production Designer, Harry Stradling, Jr. - Cinematographer, Tony Adams - Producer, Stuart A. Reiss - Set Designer, Roy Downey - Special Effects, Joe Dunne - Stunts, Blake Edwards - Screenwriter, Norman Steinberg - Screenwriter, Larry Williams - Featured Music| A Fine Madness (1966 Film), A Film With Me in It (2008 Film) | |
| A Fine Pair (1969 Film), A Fine Romance (1992 Film) |
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A Fine Mess
This article is about the 1985 comedy film. For the Kate Voegele album, see A Fine Mess (album).
| A Fine Mess | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Produced by | Tony Adams |
| Written by | Blake Edwards |
| Starring | Ted Danson Howie Mandel |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling, Jr. |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 8, 1986 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
A Fine Mess is a 1986 comedy film written and directed by Blake Edwards and starring Ted Danson and Howie Mandel.
The film was intended as a remake of Laurel & Hardy's classic short "The Music Box" and was to be semi-improvised in the same style as the director's earlier comedy, The Party, but studio interference, poor previews and subsequent re-editing resulted in the film becoming a fully scripted chase comedy with very little of the original ideas for the film remaining intact. Writer/director Blake Edwards actually gave television interviews telling audiences to avoid the film. For this reason, it received overwhelmingly negative reviews and was a box-office failure.
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Contents
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Plot
While filming on location at a race track, womanizing bit actor Spencer Holden, who lives life on one scam after another, overhears a couple of inept thugs named Binky and Turnip while they dope a race horse with a supposed undetectable super stimulant. The thugs find out that Spence overheard them and will do anything to catch him so that he won't go to the authorities with the information. Spence, however, enlists the help of his best friend, drive-in carhop and aspiring restaurateur Dennis Powell, to bet on the race with that horse so that they can make some guaranteed money. Spence and Dennis end up not only having to outrun the thugs, who manage to put a few bullet holes in Spence's car, but also the police after they find Spence's bullet riddled car and after the race horse, Sorry Sue, ends up dying from the drugs. Throw into the mix an antique player piano of which Dennis comes into possession, sympathetic but naive auction house employee Ellen Frankenthaler who is attracted to Dennis, and exotically beautiful Claudia Pazzo who is interested in buying the piano and who Spence can't resist, and Spence and Dennis may be in more trouble than they could have imagined.
Cast
- Ted Danson as Spence Holden
- Howie Mandel as Dennis Powell
- Richard Mulligan as Wayne 'Turnip' Parragella
- Stuart Margolin as Maurice 'Binky' Drundza
- Maria Conchita Alonso as Claudia Pazzo
- Jennifer Edwards as Ellen Frankenthaler
- Paul Sorvino as Tony Pazzo
- Rick Ducommun as Wardell
- Keye Luke as Ishimine
- Ed Herlihy as TV Reporter
- Walter Charles as Auctioneer
- Tawny Moyer as Leading Lady
- Emma Walton as First Extra
- Carrie Leigh as Second Extra
- Sharan Lea as Young Girl
- Dennis Franz as Phil
- Larry Storch as Leopold Klop
Soundtrack
| A Fine Mess | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album | |
| Released | 1986 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Label | Motown |
- "Can't Help Falling In Love" - Christine McVie
- "Easier Said Than Done" - Chico DeBarge
- "A Fine Mess" - Temptations
- "I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday" - Los Lobos
- "Love's Closing In" - Nick Jameson
- "Moving So Close" - Keith Burston & Darryl Littlejohn
- "Slow Down" - Billy Vera & Beaters
- "Stan And Ollie" - Henry Mancini
- "Walk Like A Man" - Mary Jane Girls
- "Wishful Thinking" - Smokey Robinson
External links
- A Fine Mess at the Internet Movie Database
- A Fine Mess at AllRovi
- A Fine Mess at Box Office Mojo
- A Fine Mess at Rotten Tomatoes
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