Box office and contract; screenplay origins; credits; cameos; sailboat; dialogue; song; mugshot; traders; career counts; trading rule; money clip; profanity; restaurant; Italian broadcast

In the discussion (20)

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:48Read transcript

The film reportedly stayed in the box-office top ten for 17 weeks.
Paramount reportedly rewarded Murphy with a $25 million five-film contract and financing for a production studio.
Writer Timothy Harris’s experience with two wealthy, cheap tennis partners reportedly inspired the Duke brothers.
Commodity research included the Hunt brothers and Silver Thursday; familiar orange juice and pork bellies helped make the trading story accessible.
The Prince and the Pauper is noted as a possible influence rather than a firmly documented adaptation.
The budget is corrected from $50 million to $15 million, with $120.6 million gross and fourth place for 1983 reported.
The performer playing Penelope is described as a model with only this film and Manhunter credited, later marrying a biology professor and related to Ansel Elgort; these are reported biographical claims.
Harris reportedly received competing claims that Russo or Katzenberg originated the idea once the film became successful.
Esposito is identified in the jail scene and Falco as the disgusted salmon witness.
The ending’s 56-foot sailboat is reported still in the Caribbean, with the Virgin Islands identified.
Murphy reportedly changed stereotyped dialogue; Murphy and Landis opposed the studio’s attempt to remove the Kools-on-the-rug line.
The quartet song is described as an American Civil War song; its title is rendered “Orelia” in the transcript.
Louis’s mugshot number matches Jake Blues’s number in The Blues Brothers.
Actual traders were used in the exchange scenes.
The veteran actors’99th and 100th film claims prompted Murphy’s joke that the three collectively made 201 films.
A 2010 commodities restriction is reported as the Eddie Murphy rule.
The money-clip fumble reportedly happened unintentionally.
Ameche reportedly agreed to say the final profanity only once because of religious convictions.
A Philadelphia Westin restaurant was named Winthorpe and Valentine.
The film is reported as an annual highly watched Italian Christmas Eve broadcast.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 00:25:39Read transcript

Ebert gave 3.5 stars, praising character-based comedy beyond simple racial-prejudice lessons.

Mount Rushmore for Butlers

Coleman; Alfred; Clue’s butler; Hobson; Jeffrey added; Annie, Alice and Belvedere considered

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 00:40:02Read transcript

Coleman is included in the proposed butler Mount Rushmore.
Alfred is included.
Tim Curry’s Clue butler is included.
Hobson from Arthur is included.
Annie’s unnamed possible butler is floated uncertainly.
Jeffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is endorsed.
Alice from The Brady Bunch raises an eligibility question about maids versus butlers.
Mr. Belvedere is added with uncertainty about his caretaker role.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Investment size; Murphy jail scenes; sympathetic sex-worker characters; smoothies; Beeks’s fate; Ophelia and Coleman

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 00:48:35Read transcript

How much the heroes invested and whether their island stay represents retirement or vacation remain unresolved; savings may have restored their finances without enormous wealth.
This film’s jail scene is preferred to 48 Hrs., though the latter is considered a more iconic character introduction.
Curtis’s Ophelia is proposed as the best sympathetic sex-worker character, while Roberts is preferred in response; physical rescue and emotional rescue are compared.
Coleman’s drink prompts the joking question of whether he invented smoothies and a proposed expensive namesake drink.
The length of Beeks’s voyage to Africa is questioned.
Why the gorilla is at the Philadelphia station and what treatment Beeks experiences remain unresolved.
The costume going unnoticed and Beeks surviving for a year are questioned.
Poor animal care and the trip’s unsanitary conditions are offered as dark explanations for Beeks’s predicament.
A suggested Ophelia-Coleman sexual encounter is rejected because she is understood to love Louis.

Recasting Couch

Chevy Chase as Louis

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:05:53Read transcript

The earlier Chase-for-Aykroyd idea is the only change proposed.

Casting What-Ifs

Pryor and Wilder; Aykroyd pay cut; Curtis casting resistance; Milland to Ameche; Liddy as Beeks; Moranis and Thomas

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:09:51Read transcript

The project was originally developed for Pryor and Wilder.
Pryor’s burn injury reportedly prevented his participation, and Paramount backed Murphy.
Murphy reportedly resisted working with Wilder because of the established Pryor-Wilder association.
The Vietnam-veteran hustle is attributed to the original plan to cast Pryor.
Aykroyd reportedly took a major pay cut after studio doubts about his solo appeal.
Landis insisted on Curtis despite Paramount’s resistance.
Ray Milland reportedly failed a physical, leading to Ameche’s return from a long acting gap.
G.Gordon Liddy reportedly declined Beeks because of the gorilla ending.
Moranis and Thomas were intended as the baggage handlers before Franken and Davis.

Picking Nits

Louis’s benefits; Dukes’ shared home; salmon; Coleman’s loyalty; crop-report news and forgery; dark handoff; infection risk

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 01:22:01Read transcript

Louis’s apparent wealth despite his salary is explained by employer-provided house, butler and other benefits that can be withdrawn.
The wealthy Dukes sharing a home without visible spouses or families seems odd; thrift, companionship, widower or lifelong-bachelor possibilities are offered.
A joking suggestion that the Dukes are lovers draws objections that they are clearly brothers; the billionaire description is also corrected.
Separate wings in a family compound and economical storytelling are defenses of the shared residence.
Louis’s hunger and intoxication are revisited as the explanation for the salmon.
Coleman switching sides is explained by being treated as a person and included in the team.
Local television covering delivery of a crop report seems implausible.
The method of fabricating the crop report is not shown and must be accepted.
The Dukes should verify Beeks’s identity before exchanging money in a dark garage.
Ophelia getting into bed with a coughing Louis raises an infection concern, countered by memories of routinely sharing winter illnesses.

Best Double Feature

Poster unavailable

48 Hrs.

Poster unavailable

Sullivan’s Travels

Poster unavailable

Silver Streak

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:33:43Read transcript

48 Hrs. is the straightforward choice.
Sullivan’s Travels is proposed for its screwball treatment of a privileged person posing as homeless.
Silver Streak receives another endorsement.

Producer review

Strong film with a message; newer comedies may be funnier

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:36:30Read transcript

The film is liked but may be less funny than Step Brothers while being a better movie because it has a subject and message. — Craig Horlbeck
Older comedies such as The Breakfast Club and Parenthood are contrasted with the bit-driven laughs of Anchorman, leaving the quality-versus-funniness distinction unresolved. — Craig Horlbeck