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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.