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Big

year 1988decade 80sdirector Penny Marshallgenre Comedygenre Dramagenre Romance

104 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Hanks Josh Baskin
Robert Loggia MacMillan
John Heard Paul
Jon Lovitz Scotty Brennen
David Moscow Young Josh Baskin
Mercedes Ruehl Mrs. Baskin
Harvey Miller Personnel director
Debra Jo Rupp Miss Patterson
Josh Clark Mr. Baskin
Kimberlee M. Davis Cynthia Benson
Oliver Block Freddie Benson
Erika Katz Cynthia's friend
Allan Wasserman Gym teacher
Mark Ballou Derek
Gary Klar Ticket taker
Alec Von Sommer First brother
Chris Dowden Second brother
Rockets Redglare Motel clerk
Jaime Tirelli Spanish voice
Paul Herman Schizo
Nancy Giles Administrative woman
Jordan Thaler Administrative clerk
Dana Kaminski Personnel receptionist
Tracy Reiner Test market researcher
James Eckhouse Supervisor
Linda Gillen Woman in red dress
Mildred R. Vandever Receptionist
Bert Goldstein First executive
Kevin Meaney Executive #2
Peter McRobbie Executive #3
Paul J. Q. Lee Executive #4
Keith W. Reddin Payroll clerk
Lela Ivey Bank teller
Dolores Messina Real estate agent
Gordon Press Moving man
George J. Manos Limousine driver
Vinny Capone Photon laser gunfighter
Susan Wilder Karen
Pasquale Pugliese Tenor/Dough man
Tom Coviello Singing waiter
Richard Devia Singing waiter
Teddy Holiavko Singing waiter
Augusto Mariani Singing waiter
Alfredo Monti Singing waiter
Sergio Mosetti Singing waiter
Armando Penso Singing waiter
Edward Schick Piano player
F. Benjamin Stimler Boy in leaves
Jonathan Isaac Landau Boy in leaves
Samantha Larkin Girl friend of Cynthia
Bruce Jarchow Photographer
Vaughn Sandman Boy on baseball field

Big | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Mallory Rubinhost Van Lathan theme One Word Movie Month
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Performance study; piano choreography; deleted scenes; Zoltar; unknown baby; baseball; expanded piano

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:44Read transcript
  • The hotel-room fear reinforces Hanks's convincing child performance; he reportedly studied David Moscow and watched the child rehearse scenes with Perkins to copy delivery, eye contact and nervous habits.
  • Reported research credits Ross and Anne Spielberg's 1985 script, Oscar nominations for Hanks and screenplay, Marshall's first female-directed hundred-million grosser, an $18 million budget and $151.7 million gross as the fourth-biggest 1988 film. A claim this was Marshall's first directed film is raised without correction here.
  • FAO Schwarz chopsticks remains a scene choice; a reported Playboy interview describes exhausting rehearsals and Hanks/Loggia insisting on doing it themselves despite available doubles.
  • A deleted sequence has Susan inspect Josh's wallet after his confession and find a Mattingly card and Zoltar ticket, then test his behavior the next morning; retaining it is proposed because it would motivate her realization.
  • The deleted Bubblicious test is defended as a bridge to Susan believing Josh; objections note adults also enjoy the gum and that suspecting his childhood before bed could make her complicit. Cutting it for that reason is speculation, not confirmed production history.
  • An unpicked-up 1990 pilot is distinguished from a successful Big series; film-to-TV failures are compared with Clueless and later successful reimaginings Friday Night Lights and Parenthood.
  • Deleted research scenes include tuxedo shopping and another hotel payphone call to hear the mother's voice; the wallet sequence remains the only major proposed restoration.
  • Zoltar Speaks was reportedly invented for the film, then copyrighted and made commercially available; a later San Antonio encounter supplied a personal example.
  • Josh's baby sister is reportedly uncredited and unidentified; the possibility she was someone's child is speculation.
  • The Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Bop routine was reportedly Hanks's idea after his son learned it at camp.
  • The filmed Yankees–Royals game is identified as July 1987, with Tim Stoddard pitching to Ángel Salazar and Bo Jackson on first.
  • A deleted Billy-family scene reportedly features Frances Fisher as his mother; the sentence about family dysfunction is garbled.
  • The walking piano was reportedly built larger for the film and remained at FAO Schwarz; a Ringer feature is recommended.
  • The insect-robot idea reportedly already existed as Transformers Insecticons in 1985, making Josh's supposedly original insight a copy.

Just One Oscar

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:03Read transcript
  • Hanks is proposed as the deserved Oscar winner over actual winner Hoffman; the full nominee field is Hoffman for Rain Man, Hackman for Mississippi Burning, Hanks for Big, Olmos for Stand and Deliver and von Sydow for Pelle the Conqueror. Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons is an additional overlooked possibility.
  • Hanks is the unanimous hypothetical Oscar recipient; Marshall's direction or screenplay are alternatives only if Hanks is excluded.

Casting What-Ifs

De Niro; Ford; Winger; Quaid (uncertain); Dreyfuss; Penn; Travolta

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:36Read transcript
  • De Niro reportedly was attached as Josh and helped the film get greenlit; the panel strongly rejects him as a fit despite admiration for his acting.
  • Spielberg briefly considered directing with Ford; the idea is partly defended but challenged as too sexually charismatic, with Regarding Henry a comparison.
  • Brooks reportedly brought Marshall aboard after her departure from Peggy Sue Got Married; a female version with Winger was considered, but Marshall's quoted contemporary objection says the reversed sexual premise would be unacceptable.
  • Quaid reportedly told Larry King he declined Big for Everybody's All-American; the report is treated as possible rather than certain.
  • Jared Rushton reportedly read with Richard Dreyfuss for Josh.
  • Rushton reportedly also read with Sean Penn, considered an especially strange Josh possibility.
  • Travolta reportedly wanted Josh but the studio rejected him during his career slump; the panel thinks his comic innocence might have worked, though not as well as Hanks.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Giant piano at FAO Schwarz

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:47Read transcript
  • The giant-piano scene is called an all-time favorite: its organic crowd, choreography and shared play connect Josh and Mac, with childhood nostalgia producing tears rather than merely admiration.
  • Josh waking in an adult body is a scene candidate, including inspecting himself, the tiny bicycle and failed attempt to convince his mother; Ruehl's panicked reaction is praised.
  • The frightening hotel-room sequence is nominated for Hanks's sustained performance in a fixed wide shot, convincingly showing a terrified child.
  • Josh's immediate promotion to product-development vice president is followed by comic abuse of his secretary, including television errands and removing commercials.
  • The I don't get it toy-pitch meeting is a scene candidate, especially the building-versus-bug reasoning and the room immediately embracing his alternative.
  • The company cocktail party is nominated, with Josh’s strange social greetings and Susan’s professional flirting.
  • The trampoline visibly changes Susan’s character and disarms her initially sexual assumptions.
  • The bunk-bed glow-in-the-dark compass gift is disarmingly sweet.
  • The paddleball argument is a scene candidate for Josh refusing to surrender the ball and calling out changing rules.
  • The second wish and return-home ending are scene candidates; the autumn street shot is a cinematic-shot choice, with filming locations and Billy's easy access to the city questioned.
  • Josh's first Zoltar wish is an additional scene candidate, with Shore's changing score introducing magical realism.
  • The opening friendship with Billy is also admired.
  • The piano is the clear final scene winner despite many candidates; the reverse I don't get it meeting is another meaningful alternative, showing adulthood replacing Josh's instinctive insight.

Roger Ebert's review

Rating not yet verified
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:54Read transcript
  • No Ebert star score is supplied; a host guesses two and a half after reading his favorable language but preference for Vice Versa's comedy and Reinhold's physical humor. The guessed rating must not become a structured score.
  • Vice Versa's actual exchange of bodies is distinguished from Big's one-person aging transformation, with Shazam another comparator.

What’s Aged the Best?

Moscow/Hanks resemblance; childlike behavior; apartment fantasy; carnivals; friendship

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:22Read transcript
  • The facial resemblance between young Josh and Hanks is an aged-best casting achievement, followed by a tangent about Moscow's reported engagement to Washington.
  • Hanks's quick childlike nodding and Susan's hardened careerist characterization have aged well; adults' alarm at Josh's behavior supplies comedy.
  • Cashing the $187 check and showing Billy the office are aged-best moments.
  • Cynthia's big hair, denim jacket and role as a twelve-year-old ideal preserve a specific 1988 look; Josh appearing on a missing-child milk carton is another memorable detail.
  • The mother's demand for proof of her son's identity prompts Josh's delayed recognition and singing, with Lovitz looking on, nearly earning a separate scene nomination.
  • Walkie-talkies are admired as a film device, with disagreement over real-life use and comparisons to Stranger Things, Nextel chirps and FaceTime.
  • The toy-filled adult apartment remains an aged-best childhood wish-fulfillment fantasy, compared with Richie Rich and Blank Check.
  • Carnivals are an aged-best setting for family, crushes, snacks and possibility, despite Josh's humiliating height rejection.
  • Pepsi, Bubblicious and Pizza Hut placement is disputed between aged-best effectiveness and aged-worst conspicuousness; a Coke machine would improve the fantasy apartment for one speaker.
  • Billy's tireless loyalty is aged-best: clothes, city help, Zoltar search, resume invention, locker-combination Social Security number and sharing a cherry exemplify childhood friendship, contrasted with adulthood's competing obligations.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Glossed-over kidnapping; absent father

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:21Read transcript
  • The glossed-over kidnapping subplot is the main weak-link complaint: repeated calls and letters should generate police tracing and sustained attention, while Josh's mother is being traumatized.
  • Josh's absent father is another weak-link concern after his early appearances; an imagined parallel search thriller is a joke, as is the immediately retracted claim of a deleted jail scene.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Old video games; Susan’s reaction; hiring failures; sexual office politics; thin Susan characterization

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:41Read transcript
  • Primitive 1988 text-heavy video games are an aged-worst choice, defended as thematically preparing Josh for fantasy and consequential decisions.
  • The unexplained improvement in Josh's clothes invites a proposed shopping montage; another reading links the change to his relationship with Susan and imagines her directing it.
  • Susan dismissing Josh's detailed confession is criticized; her later that-explains-it remark is interpreted as a sexual joke about his inexperience, not an established explanation outside the discussion.
  • The office's sexual politics and Susan's tender response after learning Josh is thirteen have aged badly; she did not know during the relationship, but the final reaction still troubles the panel.
  • McMillan's hiring process is an aged-worst failure: an incomplete Social Security number and unverified college claim should prevent immediate recruitment.
  • Susan needs fuller career and relationship characterization beyond Paul's list of partners; deleted workplace scenes might help, but a dissent says much of the cut material merely repeats her hostility. Her undefined relationship with Paul remains confusing.
  • The entire final scene is an aged-worst choice because Susan accepts the revelation too calmly; shock, distress and concern over consequences would be more plausible.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Bigger; secret child; failed adult Josh; father’s search; Susan de-aging (disputed)

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:09Read transcript
  • A dark sequel imagines adult Josh meeting a child from the relationship and using Zoltar again to recover time, with Looper-like paradoxes and Bigger or Chip Off the Old Big Block title jokes.
  • A prequel where Billy was already an adult is joked about; the remake category favors a sequel titled Bigger, including the earlier secret-child possibility.
  • A sequel with Susan becoming thirteen is divisive: a soulmate-and-shared-aging defense meets objections that changing her life to pursue a child is disturbing; Benjamin Button is a comparison rather than justification.
  • Another Bigger pitch is a tragedy about adult Josh failing to recapture his childhood corporate success, with an imagined bankrupt McMillan and the problem of eventually resembling his vanished adult self.
  • Big: The Hunt for Josh is proposed as a separate father-search story in the mode of Hardcore, potentially involving Wayne Jenkins.

Recasting Couch

No changes; father could be removed or developed

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:36Read transcript
  • No recasting is wanted; the only possible improvement is either removing Josh's father or casting someone with enough material to register.

Apex Mountain

Eighties Tom Hanks; Elizabeth Perkins; movie toy companies; Mark Gastineau jerseys; Zoltar machines

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:40Read transcript
  • An era-specific Apex for eighties Hanks is proposed as the culmination of his ascent, distinct from his nineties and twenty-first-century phases; the multiple-mountain definition is challenged but the breakthrough is accepted.
  • Perkins receives an unqualified affirmative Apex choice.
  • Loggia is rejected for this-film Apex, with Scarface and Independence Day suggested as stronger possibilities.
  • Movie toy companies receive an affirmative Apex choice for McMillan Toys.
  • Playland as a film location is rejected here because Fatal Attraction's visit is the preferred peak.
  • Body-swap films receive a probable but disputed Apex, with Lohan's Freaky Friday and 13 Going on 30 alternatives and disagreement over whether aging into oneself counts as swapping.
  • Mark Gastineau jerseys receive an affirmative Apex choice, while the later Gastineau Girls era is a comparison.
  • Susan's Subaru XT6 is floated without a clear affirmative conclusion.
  • Missing-child milk cartons are rejected as an Apex choice.
  • Zoltar machines receive an emphatic affirmative Apex choice.
  • Amusement-ride height markers are proposed as a possible peak because they trigger the story, but no definitive comparison settles it; their continued use prompts a safety discussion.

Picking Nits

Vanished carnival; rapid job; Susan’s tolerance; police failures; Billy’s freedom; pillow; recognition; team loyalties; loft lease

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:46Read transcript
  • The carnival disappearing completely overnight is questioned, with a defense that traveling carnivals dismantle surprisingly quickly.
  • Josh finding work within roughly two days seems too rapid for a frightened child; the hotel giving him urgent motivation is a partial defense.
  • Susan overlooking the caviar incident, hyperactive limo behavior, toy apartment and bunk-bed innocence seems implausible; concern rather than another date would be expected.
  • Repeated calls to Josh's mother should be traced while the kidnapping investigation remains active.
  • Billy's parents accepting daily city trips and a basketball excuse until ten at night is implausible; the deleted dysfunctional family helps explain neglect, while police should follow the missing child's best friend.
  • Coworkers hear Josh make what sounds like a ransom call from his cubicle yet do not report it, another investigative failure.
  • Josh hugging an uncovered hotel pillow is a hygiene nitpick, partly defended by his frightened age.
  • The mother's failure to recognize the grown child is disputed: his underwear, mole and private details warrant more questions, but immediate fear of a home invader explains rejection.
  • Billy's Mets sign conflicts with established Yankees fandom, alongside Josh's Giants/Jets mixture; supporting every New York team is the proposed explanation.
  • Leasing a Soho loft and arranging equipment without proper identity, Social Security number or banking raises practical questions; cheaper eighties rents do not solve verification, and help from Billy or the company is speculation.
  • Josh watching the class photograph and entering the school would look suspicious in a later investigation, an additional missed nitpick.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Apartment; electronic comics; Susan’s aftermath; secret and money; drugs; charges; Zoltar wishes; reintegration

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:49Read transcript
  • The apartment aftermath question imagines Josh and Billy returning to play until the locks are changed.
  • The electronic Choose Your Own Adventure comic's proposed seven-dollar cost and $18.95 retail price seem incompatible with advanced technology, raising business-model doubts.
  • Susan's next five years are imagined as traumatic secrecy, therapy and possible self-destruction; friends and coworkers would ask about the vanished boyfriend. These are dark hypothetical consequences, not established onscreen outcomes.
  • Josh's reintegration raises questions about Billy keeping him grounded, children keeping the secret and the unexplained money left from his brief executive salary; estimates of his pay are disputed.
  • A darker version imagines Josh encountering cocaine and other drugs at eighties business parties, compared with Less Than Zero and Succession; this is explicitly a hypothetical divergence.
  • The panel debates possible charges against Susan and her lack-of-knowledge defense; a recalled age-of-consent claim is podcast commentary, not independently verified legal information.
  • Zoltar's broader powers raise the question of other fulfilled wishes and a possible anthology series following a new wish each episode.
  • Josh inventing video highlights or YouTube is joked about; a more optimistic forecast says his extraordinary experience might help him succeed, though returning to thirteen-year-old life remains difficult and his actual adult habits were limited.

The Andy and Red – Zihuatanejo Award for What Happens the Next Day?

Adult Josh vanishes; kidnapping investigation implicates future Josh and Susan

The panel is imagining how this might look in the future.

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:04Read transcript
  • Adult Josh's disappearance could generate another missing-person case, link his photo to the child's kidnapping and place his future adult likeness on a watch list; Susan might be accused or disbelieved like Sarah Connor. These are speculative sequel/next-day consequences.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

End intimate contact immediately upon learning a partner is a child

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:51:59Read transcript
  • The life lesson demands immediate nonsexual boundaries once an adult learns a partner is a child; Susan should treat Josh as a nephew rather than retain intimate contact.

Who Won the Movie?

Selection unclear in transcript

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:52:39Read transcript
  • The winner cue is followed by a selection transcribed tell me and agreement; the candidate's identity is not safely established by the written source, so no named final ballot should be inferred from earlier Hanks praise.

More from the conversation

Big is introduced as the fourth installment of One-Word Movie Month and an exceptionally frequent cable rewatch; it followed Like Father, Like Son, Vice Versa and 18 Again in a one-year body-swap cycle.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:17Read transcript
The film's Oscar-nominated Hanks performance is called indispensable; casting Williams is a hypothetical illustration of how the premise might become too strange, explicitly not a reported casting possibility.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:08Read transcript
Hanks's lovable face, wordless reactions, physical innocence and childlike enthusiasm make the adult body convincingly contain a child; losing that shameless enjoyment with age gives the comedy emotional weight.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:14Read transcript
Josh's instinctive honesty in toy meetings and unembarrassed play are read as authenticity contrasting with cynical, self-conscious adult compromises.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:17Read transcript
Susan's careerist defenses fall away around Josh, suggesting the warmer person beneath them survived adult pressures.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:42Read transcript
Big is proposed as Hanks's second-hardest role after Cast Away; his commercial success may obscure acting stature compared with Day-Lewis, Pacino and De Niro.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:03Read transcript
Sleepless and Saving Private Ryan illustrate Hanks making different forms of grief and exhaustion credible; his late-eighties-to-nineties choices are admired despite Bonfire of the Vanities.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:52Read transcript
Nothing in Common's angry son opposite Gleason is defended as an overlooked step in Hanks's range, alongside Philadelphia and Forrest Gump; transformative actors such as Day-Lewis and Oldman are comparisons rather than proof Hanks lacks seriousness.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:17Read transcript
Hanks's Letterman and Saturday Night Live appearances made him a comic insider; that ease may reduce appreciation of his acting, while Big's physical comedy and deliberately awkward movement remain its strength.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:47Read transcript
The movie depends on believing the adult performer is a frightened thirteen-year-old, especially in the hotel sequence.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:18Read transcript
Vice Versa and Lohan's Freaky Friday are defended as body-swap comparisons; Wonder Woman 1984 is a joking example, and Like Father, Like Son is recalled.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:59Read transcript
Hanks must sell a child's corporate rise and make an inappropriate adult-child romance emotionally affecting; the script reportedly had a final mouth kiss changed to the forehead, while the remaining intimate touch is still uncomfortable.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:34Read transcript
An imagined parent's response demands boundaries and an explanation from Susan; the adult sexual experience, mother's kidnapping trauma and Susan learning the truth are predicted to scar everyone, with a dark sequel or Boogie Nights prequel joked about.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:11Read transcript
Zoltar's unexplained power is defended as magical realism; Susan seeming more accepting of fifteen or sixteen than thirteen is compared critically with House of the Dragon's age dynamics.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:37Read transcript
The circulating alternate ending in which a young Susan joins Josh's classroom is explicitly described as debunked and rejected as a tonal disaster, not presented as an actual released ending.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:39Read transcript
Perkins's softer performance contrasts with About Last Night; career comparisons include Indian Summer, He Said She Said, Miracle on 34th Street and Weeds, with disagreement over Indian Summer's quality.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:01Read transcript
Loggia's warm toy-company boss is praised against a run including Scarface, Jagged Edge and an HBO Chicago Seven film; he wants childhood joy rather than empty business ritual and spends Saturdays at FAO Schwarz.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:21Read transcript
A passage from Ebert's Phantom Menace review about losing appreciation for everyday wonders is applied to the piano scene; it is explicitly not his Big review.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:20Read transcript
The scene prompts grief for childhood wonder and the vanished original FAO Schwarz location, including memories of visits and of hoping to recreate the film's playfulness.
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:19Read transcript
Forget Me Nots during the apartment visit is a competing needle drop; the trampoline visibly changes Susan's character, and the bunk-bed compass gift is disarmingly sweet despite her initially sexual assumptions.
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:47Read transcript
Josh's apartment inventory is admired: trampoline, Pepsi machine, pinball, bunk beds and Gumby chair.
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:12Read transcript
Dream-room additions include beanbags, a huge television, tabletop hockey and Ms. Pac-Man; The Toy and Silver Spoons prompt a rich-child fantasy tangent, with The Toy's racial premise explicitly criticized.
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:51Read transcript
Big remains the preferred title; hottest takes are explicitly skipped because no one has a choice.
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:54Read transcript
The Lovitz–Hanks Saturday Night Live partnership is recalled as context for their chemistry, including men hitting on women sketches.
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:20Read transcript
Hanks's exceptional commercial run is compared with Bogart, Williams and Cruise; a challenge says he lacks a consensus all-time masterpiece beyond possible Toy Story, while Forrest Gump's cultural impact is defended against Oscar backlash.
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:09Read transcript
The sports-loyalty discussion recalls Larry Bird algebra and the Knicks' weak period, explaining why Josh might look beyond New York basketball.
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:02Read transcript
The closing explicitly credits producer Isaiah Blakely and confirms one more episode remains in One-Word Movie Month.
Approx. transcript time · 01:52:49Read transcript