Themes: Saintly Fools, Fish Out of Water, Unlikely Heroes
Main Cast: Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst, Dennis Boutsikaris
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The eponymous team consists of four residents of a New Jersey psychiatric hospital: ex-postal worker Henry Sikorsky (Christopher Lloyd), who fancies himself a doctor; one-time ad agency exec Jack McDermott (Peter Boyle), suffering from a Messiah/martyr complex; writer Billy Caulfield (Michael Keaton), who cannot abide the "idiots" in the world (namely, everyone but himself); and TV-obsessed Albert Ianuzzi (Stephen Furst). Permitted a field trip to a baseball game, the four unfortunates wander off when psychiatrist Dr. Weitzman (Dennis Boutsikaris) is waylaid by two corrupt police officers after he witnesses them killing a third cop. The innocent inmates are accused of attacking Dr. Weitzman, but it is they who team up to bring the actual culprits to justice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lorraine Bracco - Riley; Milo O'Shea - Dr. Newald; Philip Bosco - O'Malley; James Remar - Gianelli; MacIntyre Dixon - Dr. Verboven; Michael Lembeck - Ed; Cynthia Belliveau - Nurse; Michelyn Emelle - Duty Nurse Harriet; Barry Flatman - Arrogant Yuppie; Myra Fried - Floor Nurse; Jack Gilpin - Dr. Talmer; Donna Hanover - Field Reporter; Kay Hawtry - Nurse; Bruce Hunter - Yuppie; Jihmi Kennedy - Tow Man; Maxine Miller - Newald's Secretary; Dennis Parlato - TV Newscaster; Nicholas Pasco - Man Out Window; Marilyn Peppiatt - Floor Nurse; Larry Pine - Canning; Ted Simonett - Yuppie; Brad Sullivan - Sgt. Vincente; Wayne Tippit - Capt. Lewitt; Robert Weil - Caesar; Tico Wells - Station Attendant; J.R. Zimmerman - Hospital Guard; Ron James - Dwight; Dwayne McLean - Old Gent; Don Saunders - Security Guard; Patricia Idlette - Woman at Police Station; Richard Fitzpatrick - Dr. Bauer; Victor Ertmanis - Man in Mets Jersey; Michael Beatty - Intern; Greg Beresford - Field Reporter; Stewart Bick - Paramedic; Patricia Carroll Brown - Nurse; Dick Callahan - Bartender; Janet Feindel - Senior Nurse; Eric Fink - Priest; Frierson Family Singers - Gospel Group; Shelley Goldstein - Waitress; Henry Gomez - Guard; Max Haines - Guard; Olivia Horton - Henry's Daughter; Jack Jessop - Dr. Meekum; John Liddle - Cop; Jane Luk - Admissions Nurse; Lizbeth MacKay - Henry's Wife; Ellen Maguire - Canning's Secretary; James O'Regan - Litterbug; Alphonsus E. Platt - Gospel Musician; Kenneth Raybourne - Gospel Musician; Chick Roberts - Old Guard; A. Frank Ruffo - Relative; John Stocker - Murray; Harold Surratt - Pastor Lester; Al Therrien - Security Guard; Marty Waldman - Salesman; Freda Foh Shen - TV Newscaster; Jack Duffy - Bernie
Credit
Gregory Keen - Art Director, Christopher Nowak - Art Director, John Connolly - Co-producer, David Loucka - Co-producer, Ruth Morley - Costume Designer, Howard Zieff - Director, C. Timothy O'Meara - Editor, David McHugh - Composer (Music Score), Patricia Green - Makeup, Allen Weisinger - Makeup, Henri Fiks - Camera Operator, Todd Hallowell - Production Designer, Adam Holender - Cinematographer, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Producer, Brian Grazer - Producer, Christopher W. Knight - Producer, Jaro Dick - Set Designer, John Alan Hicks - Set Designer, Elena Kenney - Set Designer, Robert James - Set Designer, Neil Trifunovich - Special Effects, Danny Aiello III - Stunts, Hugh A. O'Brien - Stunts, John Connolly - Screenwriter, David Loucka - Screenwriter, Mike Harris - Set Decorator
Dr. Weitzman (Dennis Boutsikaris) is a psychologist working in a sanitarium in New Jersey. His primary patients are Billy, Henry, Jack and Albert. Billy (Keaton) is the most normal of the group and their unofficial leader, though he is a pathological liar with delusions of grandeur. He also seems to be a rage-a-holic. Henry (Lloyd) is obsessive/compulsive and he has deluded himself into thinking he is one of the doctors at the hospital, often walking around with a clipboard, lab coat and stethoscope. Jack (Boyle) is a former ad executive who seems to believe he is Jesus Christ. Finally, Albert (Furst) is a man-child who only says things that he hears during baseball games, particularly from former ball player and commentator Phil Rizzuto. Convinced that his patients need some fresh air and some time away from the sanitarium, Dr. Weitzman persuades the administration to allow him to take them to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, he accidentally stumbles across two crooked cops murdering another officer. The doctor then gets knocked unconscious trying to get away and is put in the hospital. The group is now stranded in New York City, forced to cope with a place which is often more bizarre than their sanitarium. One of the both comic and serious plot twists is that the inmates have to listen to Albert's baseball jargon in order to get clues as to what happened to Dr. Weitzman, because he is the only one who witnessed it (he is just afraid to say it because of his catatonic condition). Two other running gags throughout the film are: Henry's (Lloyd's) threat to report psychologically disturbing behavior of the other patients (never realizing his own problems until near the end); and Billy's (Keaton's) violent, unpredictable but ultimately harmless behavior in several different scenarios.
After Dr. Weitzman's beating and coma, it is up to the patients to save their doctor from being murdered by the crooked cops. They end up having to both use and overcome their delusions and disorders in order to save the only man who ever tried to help them, with both the police and the killers looking for them. Throughout the film there are minor scenes showing the interaction between the two crooked police officers (Philip Bosco and James Remar) and what their plans are in framing the patients for the murder of Officer Alvarez earlier in the film.
