Themes: Riches To Rags, Class Differences, Amnesia
Main Cast: Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Edward Herrmann, Katherine Helmond, Michael Hagerty
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
This screwball comedy casts real-life couple Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn in a film that finds the latter returning to her roots in a role reminiscent of Private Benjamin (1980). Hawn stars as Joanna Stayton, a snooty heiress who summons carpenter Dean Proffitt (Russell) to her lavish yacht, where she wants an expanded closet constructed that will house her valuable wardrobe. When Dean fails to build the closet out of cedar, Joanna haughtily dismisses him without payment. Later, Joanna falls overboard and is struck by another boat, causing amnesia. Seeing her story on the news, Dean constructs an elaborate scheme to pretend that Joanna is his wife Annie. Soon, the former rich snob is cleaning Dean's home and babysitting his four rambunctious boys. Although at first she's a disaster, "Annie" grows into her role and begins to love being a mom and middle-class wife. When her real husband Grant (Edward Herrmann) comes looking for her, however, her memory is jogged, and she must decide between a life of privileged ease and a life of happy housework. Overboard was the feature film debut of writer Leslie Dixon, the granddaughter of famed photographer Dorothea Lange. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Roddy McDowall - Andrew Butler; Jared Rushton - Charlie Proffitt; Jeffrey Wiseman - Joey Profitt; Brian Price - Travis Proffitt; Jamie Wild - Greg Proffitt, Charlie's Twin Brother; Frank Campanella - Capt. Karl; Harvey Miller - Dr. Norman Korman; Bill Applebaum - Coast Guard Friend; Marvin Braveman - Doctor At Hospital; Frank Buxton - Wilbur Budd, TV Broadcaster; Ray Combs - Cop at Hospital; Lucinda Crosby - Waitress; Hector Elizondo - Garbage Scow Skipper (uncredited); Robert Goldman - Crew Helmsman; Israel Juarbe - Engine Room Crewman; Mona Lyden - Gertie; Julie Paris - Grant's Girl Friend; Bing Russell - Sheriff Earl; Richard Stahl - Hosptal Psychiatrist; Paul Tinder - Coast Guard Captain; Carol Williard - Rose Budd; Tom Wright - The Wright Brothers Band; Ed Cree - Thud Gittman; Paul Fonteyn - Chef Paul; Antonio Garcia - Chef Antonio; Doris Hess - Adele Burbridge; Lisa Hunter - Grant's Girlfriend; Scott Marshall - Coast Guard Spotter Lucas; Robert Meadows - Crew; Keith Syphers - Crew; Don Thompson - Coast Guard Guy; The Wright Brother's Band; Tim Wright - The Wright Brothers Band; Lisa Beth Ross
Credit
Jim Dultz - Art Director, James Shanahan - Art Director, Nick Abdo - Associate Producer, Wayne A. Finkelman - Costume Designer, Matt Earl Beesley - First Assistant Director, Garry Marshall - Director, Sonny Baskin - Editor, Dov Hoenig - Editor, Roddy McDowall - Executive Producer, Alan Silvestri - Composer (Music Score), Harvey Miller - Songwriter, Robert Mills - Makeup, E. Thomas Case - Makeup, Bob Mills - Makeup, Lawrence Miller - Production Designer, John A. Alonzo - Cinematographer, Garry Marshall - Producer, Alex Rose - Producer, Anthea Sylbert - Producer, Judy Cammer - Set Designer, Jim Teegarden - Set Designer, Ron Yates - Set Designer, Alan E. Lorimer - Special Effects, Bruce Bisenz - Sound/Sound Designer, Hal Burton - Stunts, Leslie Dixon - Screenwriter, Larry Grusin - Screenwriter
Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) is the pampered wife of pretentious socialite Grant Stayton III (Edward Herrmann). When their yacht gets stuck in Elk Cove for repairs, Joanna employs carpenter Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell) to improve her closet space. However, when Dean asks to be paid, he's blatantly turned down by Joanna, claiming that the closet is not up to her standards. So when Joanna falls overboard and develops amnesia, Dean takes advantage of the situation and, in a stroke of retributive genius, tells her that she's his wife and the mother of his four unruly sons. Joanna, now believing that her name is Annie, struggles to become a housewife and mother for the first time. Soon, Joanna adapts to her new life and she begins to fall in love with Dean and the children; she accepts her life as the woman of the house. Eventually, her memories return to her and she leaves Dean to rejoin Grant and her "life of privilege". However, Joanna is no longer the woman she once was and she longs for her former life with Dean and the children. Joanna leaves Grant and, after a grandiose gesture made by the Proffitts, she lives happily ever after with Dean and the children, only now on her yacht, instead of Dean's shack.
