Main Cast: Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, Rick Moranis, Jimmy Cliff, Twiggy
Release Year: 1986
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Robin Williams' comic shtick sabotages any attempt at comic development in Harold Ramis' patchy comedy farce Club Paradise. Williams plays Jack Moniker, a Chicago fireman injured in the line of duty, who uses his disability money to open up a run-down Caribbean resort. Jack eagerly awaits the planeload of tourists who will be his first patrons. This group of low-rent jackanapes include Barry Nye (Rick Moranis) and Barry Steinberg (Eugene Levy), a couple of horny geek bachelors; Phillipa Lloyd (Twiggy) and Terry Hamlin (Joanna Cassidy) as a couple of gals on the make; and Linda White (Andrea Martin), as a bossy American tourist. While the tourists shindig around Jack's ramshackle resort, a revolution is brewing on the island headed by revolutionary Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff). Trying to prevent the revolutionary upheaval is the dissipated British governor-general of the island, Governor Anthony Cloyden Hayes (Peter O'Toole), and the pompous Prime Minister Solomon Gundy (Adolph Caesar). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Adolph Caesar - Prime Minister Solomon Gundy; Eugene Levy - Barry Steinberg; Joanna Cassidy - Terry Hamlin; Andrea Martin - Linda White; Brian Doyle-Murray - Voit Zerbe; Steven Kampmann - Randy White; Antoinette Bower - Pamela; Carl Bradshaw - Cab Driver; Peter Bromilow - Nigel; Arthur Brown - Opposition Leader; Bill W. Curry - Helmut; Joe Dorsey - Data Processing Supervisor; Robin Duke - Mary Lou; Joe Flaherty - Pilot; Bobby Ghisays - Sheik; Mary Gross - Jackie; Charles Hyatt - Mr. Banks; Simon Jones - Loby Prooth; Kashka - Jail Cell Guard; Carey Lowell - Fashion Model; Bruce McGill - Dave the Fireman; Louis Zorich - Swiss Businessman; Christopher Meredith - Flamboyant; Wallis Nicita
Credit
Tony Reading - Art Director, Trevor Albert - Associate Producer, Harold Ramis - Director, Marion Rothman - Editor, Alan Greisman - Executive Producer, David Mansfield - Composer (Music Score), Van Dyke Parks - Composer (Music Score), Jimmy Cliff - Songwriter, John Graysmark - Production Designer, William Matthews - Production Designer, Peter Hannan - Cinematographer, Bob Smith - Cinematographer, Michael Shamberg - Producer, Peter Young - Set Designer, Roy Charman - Sound/Sound Designer, Chris Miller - Screen Story, Tom Leopold - Screenwriter, Chris Miller - Screenwriter, Brian Doyle-Murray - Screenwriter, Harold Ramis - Screenwriter, Harry Shearer - Screenwriter, Janis Hirsch - Screenwriter, Ed Roboto - Short Story Author, David Standish - Short Story Author
Jack Moniker (Williams) is a Chicago firefighter who gets injured on the job. Using his disability money, he decides to retire and live the good life in a small Caribbean island named Saint Nicholas. He buys a small amount of property there and lives among other washed-up personalities such as Anthony Cloyden Hayes (Peter O'Toole). Appointed by the British crown as governor of St. Nicholas, Hayes is more concerned with vacationing than governing.
Jack befriends financially troubled reggae musician Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff), and they together form "Club Paradise," which they market as a Club Med-style resort. This attracts a handful of tourists, including Barry and Barry (Rick Moranis and Eugene Levy), who are there for the pot and the women. Much of the film involves the tourists' comic misadventures adjusting to island life and the low-rent facilities of Club Paradise.
(Brian Doyle-Murray) plays a key role, as a developer who wants to run Jack and Ernest off their property so he can build a massive high-end casino on the beach. To do that, he uses the help of the local prime minister (Adolph Caesar) and the prime minister's men to cause trouble and get Club Paradise to close "legally." When this doesn't work, the prime minister orders a military takeover of the island. Ernest builds up a resistance force, and St. Nicholas is soon threatened with the possibility of civil war.
