Random Hearts

Random Hearts
Directed by	Sydney Pollack
Produced by	Martin Jurow & Marykay Powell
Written by	Warren Adler (novel) Darryl Ponicsan (adaptation) Kurt Luedtke (screenplay) David Rayfiel uncredited
Starring	Harrison Ford Kristin Scott Thomas Charles S. Dutton Bonnie Hunt Dennis Haysbert Richard Jenkins Paul Guilfoyle
Music by	Dave Grusin
Cinematography	Philippe Rousselot
Editing by	William Steinkamp
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 8, 1999
Running time	133 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$64 million (estimated)[1]
Box office	$74,608,570

Random Hearts is a 1999 film adaption of the novel of the same name. It is directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Plot

The film adaptation loosely follows the story of the novel but many of the characters have been changed. Edward Davis is now Sergeant William 'Dutch' Van Den Broeck, a Washington, D.C. police officer. Vivien Simpson is now Kay Chandler, a wealthy Republican Congresswoman with a teenage daughter. They meet when their spouses, Peyton and Cullen, are killed in a plane crash and realize that they were having an affair. The story evolves around the relationship between the two surviving spouses, as the tragedy envelopes their lives and affects his career as a police officer and her campaign for re-election to Congress.

Reaction

The film was not a commercial success; budgeted at $64 million, it made $31 million in the US and another $43 million internationally. Random Hearts received negative reviews and holds a 15% approval rating based on 85 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes^[2], and a 38% approval rating on Metacritic based on 35 reviews^[3], though several leading critics (such as Janet Maslin of the New York Times, Roger Ebert^[4] of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Bob Thomas of the Associated Press) viewed it favorably.

Production history

The film was in "development hell" for quite some years, and Kevin Costner had previously been attached to project in the early 1990s.

The bowling alley scenes were filmed at Parkway Lanes in Elmwood Park (formerly East Paterson), New Jersey. The production company renovated the interior of the building and repaired the sign outside.

Primary cast

• Harrison Ford as Sergeant William 'Dutch' Van Den Broeck
• Kristin Scott Thomas as Kay Chandler
• Charles S. Dutton as Alcee
• Bonnie Hunt as Wendy Judd
• Dennis Haysbert as Detective George Beaufort
• Sydney Pollack as Carl Broman
• Richard Jenkins as Truman Trainor
• Paul Guilfoyle as Dick Montoya
• Susanna Thompson as Peyton Van Den Broeck
• Peter Coyote as Cullen Chandler
• Kate Mara as Jessica Chandler
• Susan Floyd as Molly Roll
• Dylan Baker as Richard Judd
• Lynne Thigpen as Phyllis Bonaparte
• Reiko Aylesworth as Mary Claire Clark
• Edie Falco as Janice
• Alex Trebek as Himself, host of Jeopardy! gameshow.

References

External links

• Random Hearts at the Internet Movie Database
• Random Hearts at Box Office Mojo

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