Themes: Playing the Field, Unrequited Love, Parenthood
Main Cast: Burt Reynolds, Beverly D'Angelo, Norman Fell, Paul Dooley, Elizabeth Ashley
Release Year: 1981
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
The directorial debut of actor and stand-up comedian David Steinberg concerns a single man who decides that he wants to be a dad -- without the complication of a wife. Burt Reynolds stars as Buddy Evans, the manager of Madison Square Garden. A longtime lothario, Buddy has always been very content as a bachelor, but he has begun to feel lately that he'd like to experience fatherhood. His yearnings receive plenty of fuel from his best friends Larry (Norman Fell) and Kurt (Paul Dooley), and from his parental-mentor relationship with a young boy, Tad (Peter Billingsley). So Buddy decides to seek out a woman who will bear his baby for a price, with no strings attached. He finds Maggie Harden (Beverly D'Angelo), a beautiful young music student working as a waitress and yearning for the financial resources to study in Paris. She agrees to serve as Buddy's temporary companion, but as the months pass and her pregnancy progresses, Maggie begins to fall in love with Buddy, who doesn't return her affections -- at first. Steinberg would go on to have greater success as a television sitcom director, calling the shots for several episodes of hit series in the '80s amd '90s. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Lauren Hutton - Jenny Lofton; Juanita Moore - Celia; Peter Billingsley - Tad; Jacqueline Brookes - Aunt Ethel; Kay Armen - Claudia Feinstein; Jane Cecil - Woman at Music School; Susanna Dalton - Gloria; Tony di Benedetto - Butcher; MacIntyre Dixon - Nature-Walk Teacher; Murphy Dunne - Singing Telegram Man; Roger Etienne - Waiter; Irena Ferris - Connie, Laughing Girl at Bar; Elaine Giftos - Woman in Bar; Linda Gillin - Cathy; Frank Hamilton - Old Man on Boat; Toni Kalem - Diane Cassabello; Mike Kellin - Tour Guide; Carol Locatell - Ms. Werner; Ken Magee - Man in Bar; Bob Maroff - Ticketman at Garden; Elsa Raven - Prenatal Nurse; Derek Thompson - Workman at Garden; Eugene Troobnick - Falalfel Vendor; Brad Trumbull - Salesman in Oak Room; Alfie Wise - Cabbie; Victoria Young - Patti; John Gilgreen - Salesman in Oak Room; Dick Wieand - Mario; Frank Bongiorno - News Vendor; Hector Troy - Carlos
Credit
Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, Benjamin Rosenberg - First Assistant Director, David Steinberg - Director, Donn Cambern - Editor, David Shire - Composer (Music Score), Jack T. Collis - Production Designer, Peter Smith - Production Designer, Bobby Byrne - Cinematographer, Lawrence Gordon - Producer, Hank Moonjean - Producer, Jerry Tokofsky - Producer, John H. Anderson - Set Designer, Jack Solomon - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Kenworthy - Sound/Sound Designer, Charlie Peters - Screenwriter
