The Brady Bunch Movie is a 1995 comedy film adaptation of the 1969-1974 television series The Brady Bunch.
The film features all the original regular characters, all played by new actors. It also took the unusual route of placing the original sitcom characters, with their 1970s fashion sense and 1970s sitcom family morality, in a contemporary 1990s setting, and parodied the resulting culture clash. The movie was a hit and was followed by A Very Brady Sequel in 1996, and a television movie called The Brady Bunch in the White House in 2002.
Plot
The film opens with a montage of scenes reflecting life in the 1990s, with heavy traffic, rushing commuters and homeless people on the street.
Mr. Dittmeyer (Michael McKean), an unscrupulous real estate developer, explains to his boss that almost all the families in his neighborhood have agreed to sell their property as part of a plan to turn the area into a shopping mall. The only exception is one family, which prompts Dittmeyer's angry boss to ask, "What's their story?" which leads into the opening blue-box credits of The Brady Bunch.
The concept of the film is that although it is set in the 1990s, the Brady Bunch family are still portrayed as their 1970s television incarnations and are unaware of the disparity between their lives and their surroundings.
The parents, Mike (Gary Cole) and Carol (Shelley Long) are having breakfast prepared by their housekeeper Alice (Henriette Mantel) while the six children prepare for school. Jan (Jennifer Elise Cox) is jealous of her elder, popular sister Marcia (Christine Taylor); Cindy (Olivia Hack) is tattling about things she's hearing; Greg (Christopher Daniel Barnes) is dreaming of becoming a singer; Peter (Paul Sutera) is nervous that his voice is breaking; Bobby (Jesse Lee Soffer) is excited about his new role as hall monitor at school.
Cindy gives Mike and Carol a letter from Dittmeyer and his family, stating that the Bradys face foreclosure on their house if they do not pay $20,000 in back taxes. The two initially ignore the crisis, but when Mike's architectural design is turned down by two potential clients, he tells Carol that they may have to sell the house. Cindy overhears this and tells the rest of the Brady kids and they look for work to raise money to save the house, but their earnings are nowhere near enough to reach the required sum.
In a subplot, Marcia is asked by Doug Simpson (Shane Conrad) to go to the school dance with him, when she has already promised to go with Charlie (R.D. Robb). Marcia explains the "difficulty" of the choice to her friend Noreen (Alanna Ubach), unaware that Noreen is a lesbian and is attracted to Marcia herself. Marcia ends up breaking her promise to Charlie. On the night of the dance, Doug takes Marcia to a lookout point where he French kisses her, only for her to say that she's not interested. Doug abandons her at the side of the road, but Marcia is rescued when a limousine arrives. Marcia later arrives at the dance and introduces the star performer of the night, Davy Jones. He gets a rousing reception from the teachers, and when the backing rock band charges up his performance, the kids respond, too. Marcia apologizes to Charlie, who forgives her and asks her to dance with him.
Mr. Dittmeyer discovers that the Bradys have past-due property taxes and confronts Mike, only to learn that Mike has finally sold one of his designs and has the money he needs. Dittmeyer secretly meets with the client, claiming (falsely) that Mike's design resulted in a building collapse, which causes Mike to lose his advance.
On the night before the Bradys have to move out, Marcia suggests that they enter a "Search for the Stars" contest, the prize of which is exactly $20,000. Jan, having originally suggested this and been rejected, runs away from home. Cindy sees her leave and tattles, and the whole family goes on a search for her. They use their car C.B. radio, and their transmission is heard by Schultzy (Ann B. Davis), the driver who picks Jan up and convinces her to return home.
The next day the children join the "Search for the Stars" contest with a dated performance that receives poor audience response compared to the more modern performances of other bands. However, the Bradys win because the judges are Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, stars of the 70s themselves. Mr. Dittmeyer's plan is ruined. The Bradys also convince their neighbors to withdraw their homes from the market, securing the neighborhood.
The film ends with the arrival of Grandmother Brady (Florence Henderson), who finally convinces Jan to stop obsessing over Marcia, only for Cindy to start feeling jealous of Jan.
In the end credits, the Bradys are in their traditional blue boxes, but updated for the time.
Cast
Cameos by original actors
- Ann B. Davis, the original Alice, plays a trucker. Her character's name, Schultzy, was a reference to her most famous role prior to The Brady Bunch, that of Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz, on the The Bob Cummings Show (a.k.a., "Love That Bob!").
- Christopher Knight, the original Peter, plays a coach who stops two boys from bullying the film's Peter in a cafeteria scene.
- Barry Williams, the original Greg, plays a music director who rejects the film's Greg's attempts to sell his song.
- Florence Henderson, the original Carol, plays Grandma Brady.
Locations
The film was shot entirely in Los Angeles, California, with the Brady Bunch house being located in Sherman Oaks. The school scenes were shot at Taft High School in Woodland Hills.
References to the original series
- In the film, every time the Bradys are in their backyard or the house itself, the shot composition, camera movements and the lighting and colors reflect the look of the original series. Whenever they leave these areas the film switches to the more naturalistic look of contemporary cinematography, featuring steadicam shots and more realistic-looking exterior lighting.
- Through the movie, there are moments and plotlines which were taken straight from episodes from the original television series. In addition to Alice and Sam, and Mike's employment as an architect (working under his supervisor, Mr. Phillips), moments include:
- "My Sister's Shadow" — Jan's jealousy of Marcia.
- "Dough Re Mi" — Peter's voice breaking.
- "Law and Disorder" — Bobby's being a safety monitor at school.
- "The Tattletale" — Cindy being a tattletale.
- "Where There's Smoke," "Dough Re Mi" and "Adios Johnny Bravo" and various other episodes — the Brady kids (either Greg as a solo act or the kids as a group) performing as a musical act.
- "The Subject Was Noses" — Marcia getting hit in the face with a football, and Greg's suggestion to Marcia to use the excuse "Something suddenly came up." In the TV series, Greg uses the line when he breaks off a date to go out with a more desirable girl; here, the tables are reversed - girls use the line on Greg so they don't have to go out with him.
- "Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up?" — Jan's black wig.
- "Getting Davy Jones" — Marcia getting Davy Jones to sing at the school dance.
- Peter never utters his most famous catchphrase, "Pork chops and applesauce" (from "The Personality Kid"), but the phrase appears on the kitchen's blackboard menu and in the film's trailer. Peter, however, does say to Bobby "Mom always says, 'Don't play ball in the house'" (from "Confessions, Confessions").
- The show's disappearance of Tiger, the family dog, was mentioned by Carol when she tells Mike "Go get 'em Tiger" and remarks to herself "Tiger... Tiger... What ever happened to that dog?" This is an allusion to Tiger's real-life death.
- Toward the end of the film, one of the Bradys' neighbors, Steve Yeager (played by James Avery), says that he had visited them once and he remarks that he's shocked that there was only one bathroom for nine people and that he did not see a toilet at all. This is a remark to the fact that on the show, viewers never saw a toilet.
- Mrs. Whitfield (played by Beverly Archer), the teacher whom safety monitor Bobby shakes down for stealing school supplies, was the real name of the on-set school teacher for the children cast in the original Brady Bunch series.
- Marcia and Greg attend Westdale High School, as they did in the show.
- The 1973 song "It's a Sunshine Day" (originally featured in "Amateur Nite") was included in this film, in the scene where the Bradys go to Sears. However, the song has been slowed down, and some parts have been cut out.
- When talking to the investors, Mr. Dittmeyer claims that a building that Mike designed had collapsed. The story was loosely similar to the final act of the TV movie A Very Brady Christmas.
- There is a white mouse that appears briefly in the red wagon in the backyard. This is a reference to "The Impractical Joker", where Jan hid Greg's science project mouse in a laundry hamper, only to have him escape.
References to the 1970s
- At the beginning of the Battle of the Bands scene, the Partridge Family's bus (MTV's remake) passes in front of the camera.
- In the scene when Marcia and Jan audition for modelling, music is played on a classic tape player and the theme played is of Charlie's Angels.
- The Bradys win the "Search for the Stars" contest based on the decision of the three judges: The Monkees' Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones.
- The "Taxi Driver" theme song is played.
- Marcia plays Davy Jones' 8-track tape version of his Bell Records solo album while in the car with Greg. The car is a mid 70s Ford station wagon.
- Mr. Brady's car is a mid-70s Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible.
Critical reception
The film's response among critics was positive. Although bearing a 59% "Rotten" rating on rottentomatoes.com, the consensus stated, "Though lightweight and silly, The Brady Bunch Movie still charms as homage to the 70s sitcom." The film was also a surprise hit making it to number 1 at the box office.
Trivia
- The producers originally wanted Spike Jonze to direct the film.
- A number of scenes shown in trailers were cut at the last minute because producer Sherwood Schwartz objected.[citation needed] These included a grunge band scene in the garage with Greg and Eddie, and a seduction scene between Mrs. Dittmeyer and Peter. Some of these scenes were edited back in for the network TV showings, but not for the DVD edition.
- The producers had sought to film the original house that had been used for exterior shots during the original Brady Bunch series, but the owner of the North Hollywood, California home refused to restore the property to its 1969 appearance. Instead, the filmmakers erected a facade around a house in nearby Encino and filmed scenes in the front yard.
- TV airings of the movie include extra scenes that are not present in the theatrical version, nor the VHS or DVD releases.
See also
External links
