Only the Lonely is a 1991 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Chris Columbus. It starred John Candy, Ally Sheedy, Maureen O’Hara and Anthony Quinn.
Plot summary
Danny Muldoon is a Chicago policeman and falls in love with Theresa Luna, who works in a funeral home. Their courtship is difficult because Rose, his overbearing Irish mother, continuously makes Danny feel guilty whenever he spends time away from her. The fact that Theresa is not Irish (she is Sicilian and Polish) only exacerbates the situation.
Rose's neighbor, Nick Acropolis, meanwhile, attempts to woo her. Rose is salty towards him in the beginning, but as she gradually softens her stance regarding Danny's relationship with Theresa, she also ultimately warms up to Nick.
Cast
Casting
Chris Columbus wrote the part of Rose specifically for Maureen O'Hara, but did not know that she had retired from acting and was living in the Virgin Islands. Columbus contacted O'Hara's brother Charles B. Fitzsimons, a producer and actor in the film industry, to ask him to send O'Hara a copy of the script, which he did, telling her, "This you do!". O'Hara read the script and loved it. She was reported to have replied back to Fitzsimons, "This I do!". However, she would not commit until she met co-star John Candy. The two formed an instant rapport and she quickly signed to do the film.[citation needed]
Co-star Jim Belushi recounts a story. On the set of Only the Lonely, the producers stuck Maureen O’Hara in a tiny trailer. When John Candy complained on her behalf, he was told the budget was being spent on the picture, not on accommodations for old movie stars. Candy gave O’Hara his luxurious trailer and slept on a cot in cramped quarters for three days until the money men acquiesced.
John Hughes co-produced the film. This movie marked Macaulay Culkin's third movie with Hughes and Candy (after Home Alone and Uncle Buck).
Quotes
Rose: Oh, that's a lovely dress you wearing.
Danny: Isn't it?
Theresa: Oh, thank you!
Rose: Even though it is a little big on top.
Danny: Ma!
Rose: Well, it is, you said so yourself.
Danny: Ma!
Theresa: No, no that's a problem I have, I'm not really that endowed on top.
Danny: No, no, no, no, no.
Rose: You're built like a thirteen year old boy.
Rose: I had a Polack friend once. She was incredibly stupid...
Danny: Don't do this, Ma.
Rose: ...Julie Kapowski. She was the stupidest woman that I ever knew. She believed that black cows... [laughs] ...black cows squirted chocolate milk!
Danny: [Danny has just scored a date with Theresa and runs into some funeral attendees] Yeah! Oh... sorry... but I just got lucky in there with a girl.
[funeral attendees look shocked]
Danny: Not in that way... she does everybody in there... not in that way. But she probably did that guy there... I gotta go.
Nick Acropolis: Rose! Rose, I am trying again. Will you please accept these flowers?
Rose: I don't want them. And I don't date Greeks.
Nick Acropolis: You know, you and I could make each other so happy. Greek men are great lovers.
Rose: And Greek men never bathe.
Nick Acropolis: I bathe twice a day! Three times! When I do my sit-ups. Feel that stomach. Hard like an eighteen-year-old's. Come on, feel it!
Rose: I'm not feeling anything of yours.
Doyle: If I'd gotten married, I wouldn't be where I am now.
Spats: In a tavern?
Doyle: Free! Living like a king!
Spats: You live at the Y.
Danny: I'll pick you up at seven. Where do you live?
Theresa: Here.
Danny: With the stiffs?
Theresa: Um, my father and I have an apartment upstairs.
Danny: Oh! Yeah, sure! That's uh... convenient.
External links
