Themes: Fish Out of Water, Americans Abroad, Culture Clash
Main Cast: Tom Hanks, John Candy, Rita Wilson, Tim Thomerson, Gedde Watanabe
Release Year: 1985
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Tom Hanks and John Candy were reunited for the first time since Splash in this period comedy about Peace Corps worker during the optimistic period of the Kennedy presidency. Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks) is an upper-class heel who has to flee the country to escape his gambling debts and so sneaks aboard an airplane filled with Peace Corps volunteers en route to Thailand. On the plane he is befriended by well-meaning Peace Corps worker Tom Tuttle (John Candy). Once in Thailand, the workers become involved with building a bridge, and Lawrence becomes involved with the local Communists, an opium lord, and the CIA. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
George Plimpton - Lawrence Bourne, Jr.; Ernest Harada - Chung Mee; Allan Arbus - Albert Bordonaro; Xander Berkeley - Kent Sutcliffe; Ji-Tu Cumbuka - Cicero; Clyde Kusatsu - Souvanna; Jacqueline Evans - Aunt Eunice; Chick Hearn - Announcer; Virginia Kiser - Evelyn Bourne; Jude Mussetter - Bootsy; Carlos Romano - Beatty; Duncan Ross - Noble; Shakti - Lucille; Prof. Toru Tanaka - Sumo Guard; Harry Yorku - Ai Po; Duan Ji-shun - Cicero; Guillermo del Rio - Sumo Guard; Pamela Gual - Tammy; Phillip Guilmant - Yale President; Lonnie Wun - Sumo Guard; Joyce Robinson; Penny Ellers
Credit
Jose Rodriguez Granada - Art Director, Theodore R. Parvin - Associate Producer, Nicholas Meyer - Director, B.J. Davis - Second Unit Director, Harvey Keith - Second Unit Director, Ronald Roose - Editor, James Horner - Composer (Music Score), Claude Hitchcock - Musical Direction/Supervision, Del Armstrong - Makeup, James L. Schoppe - Production Designer, Jack N. Green - Cinematographer, Ric Waite - Cinematographer, Walter Parkes - Producer, Richard Shepherd - Producer, Arturo Brito - Set Designer, Raul Esquivel - Special Effects, B.J. Davis - Stunts, Keith F. Critchlow - Screenwriter, Carl Gottlieb - Screenwriter, David Isaacs - Screenwriter, Ken Levine - Screenwriter
Tom Hanks stars as Lawrence, a rich kid with a large debt in the 1960s. After his father refuses to help him out, Lawrence escapes his angry debtors by jumping on a Peace Corps flight to Southeast Asia. There he is assigned to build a bridge for the local villagers with Washington State University Grad Tom Tuttle (from Tacoma, Washington), and the beautiful and down-to earth Beth Wexler. What they don't realize is that the bridge is coveted by the U.S. Army, a local Communist force, and a powerful drug lord. Together with the help of At Toon, the only English speaking native, they must fight off the three opposing forces and find out what is right for the villagers, as well as themselves.
