Themes: Wishes Come True, Fish Out of Water, Age Disparity Romance
Main Cast: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, Jared Rushton, Robert Loggia
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
More than anything else, 13-year old New Jerseyite Josh (David Moscow) wants to be "big". That's the wish he makes at an odd-looking amusement pier fortunetelling machine. The next morning, Josh wakes up-only to discover that he's grown to manhood overnight! (At this point, the part is taken over by Tom Hanks). Still a 13-year-old mentally and emotionally, Josh decides to hide out in New York City until he can figure out what to do next. He lucks into a job with a major toy company run by kid-at-heart McMillan (Robert Loggia). By cannily bringing a child's eye view to McMillan's business, Josh rises to the top-and in process, he falls in love with fellow employee Susan (Elizabeth Perkins). But he's still a kid, and he'd like to go back to his own world and own body. Written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, Big proved a crucial success for budding director Penny Marshall, who'd work harmoniously with Hanks again on the radically different A League of Their Own. The cinematography was by Barry Sonenfeld, who went on to become a director himself with The Addams Family. That Big was heavily reliant upon the input of Tom Hanks and Penny Marshall was proven by the failed attempt to turn the property into a Broadway musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
While Josh Baskin in Big was not Tom Hanks's first major role, it began to transform the star of Bachelor Party and Dragnet into one of the leading movie actors of the 1990s. Director Penny Marshall and screenwriters Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg tell their story with understated intelligence and a marvelous feel for the mind of a 12-year-old, a time when adolescent obsessions are just starting to edge into the child's psyche. Both physically and emotionally, Hanks does a nearly flawless job of putting the soul of a 12-year-old boy into the body of a 35-year-old man. His awkward gangliness and clumsy over-enthusiasm look and feel as if he's not yet used to the body he's grown into, and his naivete is convincing, unforced, and utterly winning. Josh never seems childish, but rather like a child who is out of his element and determined not to let it show (which, of course, just makes it show all the more). Hanks also had the good fortune to be cast alongside Elizabeth Perkins, whose sharp but sneakily charming personality has rarely been used to better advantage, and Jared Rushton, who in his scenes with Hanks achieves the goofy rapport of two kids talking after school with someone almost three times his age. Hanks's and Marshall's feel for details and willingness to take a subtle approach raise the film well above Vice Versa or Like Father, Like Son, two similarly themed films which took a much broader tone, making clear how big a difference a light touch can make. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
David Moscow - Young Josh; Mercedes Ruehl - Mrs. Baskin; Jon Lovitz - Scotty Brennen; Mark Ballou - Derek; Oliver Block - Freddie Benson; Vinnie Capone - Photon Laser Gunfighter; Josh Clark - Mr. Baskin; Kimberlee M. Davis - Cynthia Benson; James Eckhouse - Supervisor; Nancy Giles - Administrative Woman; Paul Herman - Schizo; Lela Ivey - Bank Teller; Bruce Jarchow - Photographer; Dana Kaminski - Personnel Receptionist; Erika Katz - Cynthia's Friend; Gary Klar - Ticket Taker; Samantha Larkin - Girl Friend of Cynthia; Paul L.Q. Lee - 4th Executive; George J. Manos - Limousine Driver; Peter McRobbie - Executive #3; Kevin Meaney - 2nd Executive; Dolores Messina - Real Estate Agent; Keith Reddin - Payroll Clerk; Rockets Redglare - Motel Clerk; Tracy Reiner - Test Market Researcher; John Rothman - Phil; Debra Jo Rupp - Miss Patterson; Jaime Tirelli - Spanish Voice; Judd Trichter - Adam; Allan Wasserman - Gym Teacher; Max Raven - Carnival Strongman; Jon Levita; Chris Dowden - 2nd Brother; Linda Gillen - Woman In Red Dress; Gordon Press - Moving Man; Pasquale Pugliese - Tenor/Dough man; Vaughn Sandman - Boy on Baseball Field; Edward Schick - Piano Player; Jordan Thaler - Administrative Clerk; Mildred R. Vandever - Receptionist; Alec Von Sommer - 1st Brother; Susan Wilder - Karen; Harvey Miller - Personnel Director
Credit
Speed Hopkins - Art Director, Tom Warren - Art Director, Juliet Taylor - Casting, Paula Abdul - Choreography, Patricia Birch - Choreography, James L. Brooks - Co-producer, Robert Greenhut - Co-producer, Gary Ross - Co-producer, Anne Spielberg - Co-producer, Judianna Makovsky - Costume Designer, Penny Marshall - Director, Barry Malkin - Editor, Judianna Makovsky - Composer (Music Score), Howard Shore - Composer (Music Score), Alan Bergman - Songwriter, Marilyn Bergman - Songwriter, Kimberly A. Bradstreet - Songwriter, Mario Cipolina - Songwriter, Johnny Colla - Songwriter, Joel Frankel - Songwriter, Bobby Gosh - Songwriter, Marvin Hamlisch - Songwriter, Chris Hayes - Songwriter, Sean Hopper - Songwriter, Billy Idol - Songwriter, Huey Lewis - Songwriter, David Pomeranz - Songwriter, Patrice Rushen - Songwriter, Freddie Washington - Songwriter, Steve Stevens - Songwriter, Bill Gibson - Songwriter, Mickey Scott - Makeup, Tony Jannelli - Camera Operator, Santo Loquasto - Production Designer, Barry Sonnenfeld - Cinematographer, Juliet Taylor - Producer, Susan Bode-Tyson - Set Designer, Les Lazarowitz - Sound/Sound Designer, Gary Ross - Screenwriter, Anne Spielberg - Screenwriter, Elizabeth Shelton - Assistant Costumer Designer, George De Titta, Jr. - Set Decorator, Hoagy Carmichael - Featured Music, Frank Loesser - Featured Music, Glenn Miller - Featured Music
After being humiliated attempting to impress an older teenage girl at a carnival, Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes to a wish/fortune-telling machine, called Zoltar Speaks and wishes that he were "big." The next morning, he sees a face in the mirror he does not recognize. Overnight, he has become a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). With the help of his 13-year-old best friend, Billy Francis Kopecki (Jared Rushton), Josh rents a cheap room in New York City and gets a lowly data-entry job at the MacMillan Toy Company. He meets the company's owner, MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at the FAO Schwarz toy store, and impresses him with his childlike enthusiasm. They end up playing a duet together on a Big piano, a foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks." This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job for a kid: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. He soon attracts the attention of the beautiful, ambitious Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), a fellow toy executive. A romance begins to develop, much to the annoyance of her current boyfriend, Paul (John Heard). As Josh becomes more and more entwined in his "adult" life, much to the annoyance of Billy, he soon begins to wish for the carefree life of a child again and becomes determined to find the Zoltar Speaks machine to reverse the wish. He eventually finds it, and wishes to be a kid again. Susan gives him one last kiss, on the forehead, before Josh walks out of her car, and as he does so, turns back into a kid again. He goes to his house and he and his mother share a happy moment and show how much they missed each other.
Reception
Big was received with almost unanimous critical acclaim. Based on 51 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of critics gave the film a positive review.[2]The New York Times praised the performances of Moscow and Rushton, saying the film "features believable young teen-age mannerisms from the two real boys in its cast, and this only makes Mr. Hanks's funny, flawless impression that much more adorable."[3]
The alternate ending shows young Josh sitting in his classroom at school when he turns around to notice a young female classmate whom he recognizes as Susan.[citation needed] This long rumored ending was confirmed by Anne Spielberg in an interview on British television.
.jpg)
