Main Cast: Danny DeVito, Gregory Peck, Penelope Ann Miller, Piper Laurie, Dean Jones
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Norman Jewison directed Alvin Sargent's adaptation of Jerry Sterner's off-Broadway satire of the excess of the '80s, with Danny DeVito as corporate raider Lawrence Garfield -- or, as he is better known, Larry the Liquidator. Larry spends his waking hours searching for companies to take over. One morning he comes across New England Wire & Cable, a company that has seen better days but is not debt-ridden and contains plenty of cash. Licking his chops, Larry hopes to raid the company and strip its assets. But the company's president, Andrew Jorgenson (Gregory Peck), wants to continue in the wire and cable business. For help, Andrew seeks out his daughter-in-law, Kate Sullivan (Penelope Ann Miller), a New York attorney who is as obsessive about saving Andrew's company as Larry is about destroying it. When she walks into Larry's office, Larry immediately falls in love. But they are adversaries, and they have to decide if love or corporate buyouts come first. This all comes to a head during a shareholder's meeting inside the factory, where both Andrew and Larry state their cases regarding Andrew's beloved company. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Tom Aldredge - Ozzie; R.D. Call - Arthur; Mo Gaffney - Harriet; Bette Henritze - Emma; Leila Kenzle - Marcia; Peter Brocco - Garfield's Office Valet; Al Cerullo - Helicopter Pilot; William de Acutis - Pfeiffer; Brian Evers - Elton; Jeffrey Hayenga - Klein; Ken Kensei - Japanese Businessman #2; Michael Laskin - Concierge; Kathy Najimy; Philip Perlman - Garfield Supporter; Max Robinson - Ed; Shiro Oishi - Japanese Businessman #3; David Wells - Granger; Ric Kidney - Richardson; Steve White - Richard; Tessa Gaynor - Secretary; Mary Hedahl - TV Reporter; Stephanie White - Angeli; Howard Feuer
Credit
Robert Guerra - Art Director, Nathan Haas - Art Director, Christopher Cook - Associate Producer, Kelly Baker - Associate Producer, Sarah Miller Hayward - Associate Producer, Howard Feuer - Casting, Theoni V. Aldredge - Costume Designer, Norman Jewison - Director, Lou Lombardo - Editor, Michael Pacek - Editor, Hubert de la Bouillerie - Editor, Davina Belling - Executive Producer, Ellen Krass - Executive Producer, David Newman - Composer (Music Score), Jeff Wexler - Musical Direction/Supervision, David Forrest - Makeup, Kevin Jewison - Camera Operator, Steve Rose - Production Designer, Philip Rosenberg - Production Designer, Joseph E. Foley - Production Designer, Haskell Wexler - Cinematographer, Norman Jewison - Producer, Ric Kidney - Producer, Thomas Roysden - Set Designer, Jery Hewitt - Stunts, Alvin Sargent - Screenwriter, Jerry Sterner - Play Author
Other People's Money (1989), a play by Jerry Sterner. [Minetta Lane Theatre, 990 perf.] Lawrence Garfinkle (Kevin Conway) is a smug, uncouth corporate raider, who has set out to take over the conservatively managed, somewhat decrepit New England Wire and Cable Company. The company's chairman, Andrew Jorgenson (Arch Johnson), determines to resist. But the cunning, persistent Garfinkle slowly wins over many stockholders, and, far more surprisingly, he gains the affection of Kate Sullivan (Mercedes Ruehl), who is not only the daughter of Jorgenson's longtime assistant (Scotty Bloch) but also a sharp Wall Street lawyer brought in to fend off Garfinkle. While this incisively written drama succeeded handsomely Off Broadway, a highly praised road company quickly folded. But the play has met further success in regional theatres. It is virtually the only drama to deal with a major economic problem of the decade. Jerry STERNER (1938–2001) was a Bronx native and college dropout. He spent many years in the real estate business and as a Wall Street broker before abandoning it to work full time at playwriting. His first produced play, Be Happy for Me (1986), was a quick failure. The success of Other People's Money promised further hits, but Sterner's premature death intervened.
Borrowed funds invested in a money-making venture. This term implies that debt can be used to maximize investment profits or minimize risk of personal loss. Example: Through the use of other people's money, Otis was able to amass a sizable portfolio of investment properties. His principle was to borrow as much as possible and invest the proceeds in new properties.
Corporate raider Lawrence Garfield, a.k.a. "Larry the Liquidator" (Danny DeVito), always looking for the next big score, puts his sights on New England Wire and Cable, a publicly traded company that is run by old codger Andrew "Jorgy" Jorgenson (Gregory Peck) and is a major employer in a small town. Trying to stave off the takeover, Jorgy hires Kate (Penelope Ann Miller), his stepdaughter, to stall Larry. Before long, Larry becomes involved in a complicated game of cat-and-mouse in which he and Kate each struggle to maintain the upper hand. As he closes in on his goal -- taking over New England Wire and Cable, which he intends to sell off in parts and shut down operation - Larry has to decide which he lusts after more: money or Kate.
An exchange of speeches between Garfield and Jorgenson at the company's shareholders' meeting is the climax of the film. They provide an accurate and dramatic portrayal of two sides of an economic concept that Joseph Schumpeter referred to as creative destruction. In Schumpeter's vision of capitalism, innovative entry by entrepreneurs was the force that sustained long-term economic growth, even as it destroyed the value of established companies.
