1994 American film
Richie Rich
is a 1994 American
comedy film
directed by
Donald Petrie
and based on the comic
character of the same name
created by
Alfred Harvey
and
Warren Kremer
. The film was distributed by
Warner Bros.
under their
Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
label. The film stars
Macaulay Culkin
(in his final film as a child actor
until he began work as an adult actor in 2003
),
John Larroquette
,
Edward Herrmann
,
Jonathan Hyde
, and
Christine Ebersole
, while
Reggie Jackson
,
Claudia Schiffer
, and
Ben Stein
appear in cameo roles. Culkin's younger brother,
Rory Culkin
, played the part of Young Richie Rich. In theaters, the film was shown with a
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner
cartoon called
Chariots of Fur
, and was followed by the 1998
direct-to-video
sequel
Richie Rich's Christmas Wish
.
Plot
[
edit
]
Richard "Richie" Rich, Jr.
is "the world's richest boy", living in
Chicago
with his
billionaire
parents Richard Sr. and Regina. Under the care of his loyal butler
Herbert Cadbury
, scientist Professor Keenbean, and his dog Dollar, Richie enjoys a luxurious but lonely life. At his father's reopening of the local United Tool factory, Richie sees union rep Diane Koscinski's daughter Gloria and her friends playing
sandlot ball
, and later tries to befriend them.
Lawrence Van Dough, the greedy
CFO
of Rich Industries, plots with head of security Ferguson to kill the Riches and steal their fortune, believed to be stored in the family's secret vault. As the Riches prepare for a visit to England, Ferguson plants a bomb among their gifts for the Queen's birthday. Cadbury convinces Regina to let Richie stay home instead, and arranges for a day of fun with the sandlot kids, accompanied by Diane. Though initially bribed by Cadbury, the kids decline the money after genuinely having fun with Richie.
Flying the plane themselves, Richard and Regina discover the bomb just before it explodes, crashing the plane into the ocean. Stranded on a life raft, Richie's parents are presumed dead, and Van Dough takes control of Rich Industries. He attempts to close the factory, prompting Richie to assume leadership of the company himself, with Cadbury as his legal guardian and business proxy. Determined to seize the Riches' fortune, Van Dough has Cadbury framed for the bomb and arrested, and subsequently petitions successfully to take over as Richie's legal guardian. He then regains control of Rich Industries removing Richie as the company's leader, evicts the rest of the Rich family servants, and installs his own security team at Rich Manor to keep Richie prisoner.
Overhearing Van Dough's plan to have Cadbury killed in jail, Professor Keenbean warns Richie, who sneaks out and rescues Cadbury. They enlist the help of Gloria and Diane, while Van Dough and Ferguson threaten Keenbean into revealing that the family vault requires a
voice-activated
code from Richard and Regina. At sea, Richard manages to repair his "Dadlink", a device allowing Richie to track him anywhere in the world. Using Gloria's computer, Richie finds the Dadlink's signal, but Ferguson intercepts the coordinates and captures Richard and Regina.
Richie and Gloria rally the sandlot kids to break into Rich Manor with Cadbury and Diane, using Keenbean's inventions against Van Dough's men. Unfortunately Richie and Cadbury find out that the Dadlink reveals that Richard and Regina are in Richie's room, and Van Dough and Ferguson anticipated their arrival. Meanwhile one of Van Dough's men named Nash captures Diane, Gloria, Pee-Wee, Omar, and Tony outside. Van Dough forces Richard and Regina to take him to the vault, while Ferguson and Nash forces Richie, Cadbury, Diane, Gloria, Pee-Wee, Omar, and Tony into the molecular reorganizer. Ferguson and Nash's plan to turn them into bedpans was thwarted by Professor Keenbean thanks to him getting Nash stuck to his invention of Cementia on the steps, and knocking a blinded Ferguson out with help from his invention Robobee. Richie manages to take a bag of Keenbean's inventions to save Richard and Regina.
Holding Richard and Regina at gunpoint, Van Dough is led to the vault hidden within "
Mount Richmore
", their gigantic mountainside family portrait. Inside, he is furious and outraged to discover no money (which is actually in multiple banks, the
stock market
, real estate, and insurance companies), but what the Riches actually value most: treasured family mementos and heirlooms. Richie confronts Van Dough, who shoots him, but the bullets prove harmless thanks to Keenbean's bulletproof spray. Van Dough pursues the Riches down the side of the mountain. The Rich Family gets under attack by lasers shot from an angry Ferguson. Cadbury follows Ferguson and they had a bad fight which Ferguson manages to win at first, but Cadbury manages to regain consciousness and takes out Ferguson on the head with a concrete picture of Regina, keeping the Rich family safe. Cadbury fires a laser at Van Dough, and Van Dough was hanging on upside down for dear life. Although Richard doesn't like firing staff, he allows Richie to fire Van Dough and Regina punches him in the face.
Days later, Richie plays baseball with Gloria and his new friends for the United Tool team on Rich Manor's yard, coached by Cadbury, who shares a kiss with Diane. Van Dough and Ferguson serve as the manor's gardeners as part of their
work release
, while Richard and Regina are overjoyed that Richie has finally found what money cannot buy: friends.
Cast
[
edit
]
- Macaulay Culkin
as
Richie Rich
- Rory Culkin
as Young Richie Rich
- Peter Lampley as Baby Richie Rich
- John Larroquette
as Laurence Van Dough - the greedy
CFO
of Rich Enterprises, who plots to steal the Rich family fortune.
- Edward Herrmann
as Richard Rich Sr - the father of Richie.
- Jonathan Hyde
as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury - the Rich family's trustworthy butler.
- Christine Ebersole
as Regina Rich - the mother of Richie.
- Stephi Lineburg as Gloria Koscinski - the best friend of Richie.
- Michael McShane
as Professor Keenbean - a brilliant inventor who works for Rich Industries.
- Mariangela Pino
as Diane Koscinski - the mother of Gloria.
- Chelcie Ross
as Ferguson - the Rich family's rude and tough security chief, who plots with Van Dough to usurp the Rich empire.
- Michael Maccarone as Tony
- Joel Robinson as Omar
- Jonathan Hilario as Pee Wee
- Reggie Jackson
as himself - Richie's private baseball coach.
- Matt DeCaro
as Dave Walter - the plant manager for United Tool.
- Claudia Schiffer
as herself - Richie's private aerobics instructor.
- Ben Stein
as Economics Teacher
- Sean A. Tate as Reynolds
- Joel Ellegant as Ellsworth
- Justin Zaremby as Reginald
- Eddie Bo Smith as Ambler
Production
[
edit
]
Though set in
Chicago
, the house and grounds at which most of
Richie Rich
is filmed are those of the
Biltmore Estate
in
Asheville, North Carolina
. Some scenes, however, are filmed in Chicago, including a fencing scene filmed at
DePaul University
's Cortelyou Commons & the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood including the Francisco stop on the CTA Brown line. The
roller coaster
in the backyard is the former
stand-up roller coaster
Iron Wolf
at
Six Flags Great America
. In contrast to the famous publication and animated series, a few characters are eliminated to accommodate the film: among them are Irona the robot maid.
Data East
was one of few regular pinball companies that manufactured
custom pinball
games e.g. for the film
Richie Rich
. This pinball machine was based on
The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard
machine.
[1]
Reception
[
edit
]
The film has been met with mixed reception. A
Los Angeles Times
reviewer praised the actors' portrayal of characters in the film.
[2]
Roger Ebert
gave the film 3 out of 4 stars saying he was surprised how much he enjoyed it and said that though it was not the greatest film, he liked that it had style and did not go for cheap payoffs.
[3]
Richie Rich
earned a
Razzie Award
nomination for Macaulay Culkin as Worst Actor for his performance in the film (also for
Getting Even with Dad
and
The Pagemaster
) but lost the award to
Kevin Costner
for
Wyatt Earp
.
[4]
Richie Rich
received a 26% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With Macaulay Culkin barely registering any emotion,
Richie Rich
feels disjointed and free of a sense of fun and wonderment."
[5]
On
Metacritic
, the film has a
weighted average
score of 49 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
[6]
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
[7]
The film grossed $38 million at the box office in the United States and Canada
[8]
and the same internationally
[9]
for a worldwide total of $76 million on a $40 million budget.
[10]
[11]
It was an even bigger
home video
success, with $125 million in VHS rentals
[12]
and, as of April 1997, $44.2 million in retail sales, the studio receiving 75%.
[13]
Year-end lists
[
edit
]
Sequel
[
edit
]
Richie Rich's Christmas Wish
is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel starring
David Gallagher
in the titular role.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Internet Pinball Machine Database: Data East 'Richie Rich'
"
.
Archived
from the original on 9 October 2016
. Retrieved
14 November
2016
.
- ^
Thomas, Kevin (1994-12-21).
"MOVIE REVIEW: Culkin's 'Richie Rich': Comedy-Adventure With Heart"
.
The Los Angeles Times
.
Archived
from the original on 2011-02-28
. Retrieved
2010-12-31
.
- ^
Ebert, Roger.
"Richie Rich Movie Review & Film Summary (1994) - Roger Ebert"
.
Archived
from the original on 14 October 2012
. Retrieved
14 November
2016
.
- ^
"Razzie Awards"
.
Internet Movie Database
. 1995. Archived from
the original
on 2009-02-07
. Retrieved
2022-07-27
.
- ^
"Richie Rich"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. 21 December 1994.
Archived
from the original on 24 May 2024
. Retrieved
1 January
2022
.
- ^
"Richie Rich Reviews"
.
Metacritic
.
Fandom, Inc.
Archived
from the original on May 2, 2023
. Retrieved
May 2,
2023
.
- ^
"Home"
.
CinemaScore
. Retrieved
2022-09-19
.
- ^
"Richie Rich | Boxofficemojo"
.
Archived
from the original on 2018-08-05
. Retrieved
2010-12-06
.
- ^
Klady, Leonard (February 19, 1996). "B.O. with a vengeance: $9.1 billion worldwide".
Variety
. p. 1.
- ^
Natale, Richard (1995-01-03).
"New Year Box Office Starts Off With Bang Movies: At $15.5 million, 'Dumb' stole the show during the long holiday weekend. But many other movies filled the seats as well"
.
The Los Angeles Times
.
Archived
from the original on 2012-01-30
. Retrieved
2010-12-31
.
- ^
"Richie Rich (1994) - Box Office Mojo"
.
Archived
from the original on 5 August 2018
. Retrieved
14 November
2016
.
- ^
Harvey Capitalizes on Ghost, Rich Kid
,
Billboard
- ^
Matzer, Marla (1997-04-16).
"Direct-to-Video Family Films Are Hitting Home"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
Archived
from the original on 2012-05-16
. Retrieved
4 June
2011
.
- ^
P. Means, Sean (January 1, 1995). "
'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same".
The Salt Lake Tribune
(Final ed.). p. E1.
External links
[
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]