1979 comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller
The In-Laws
|
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Theatrical film poster
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Directed by
| Arthur Hiller
|
---|
Written by
| Andrew Bergman
|
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Produced by
|
- Arthur Hiller
- William Sackheim
|
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Starring
| |
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Cinematography
| David M. Walsh
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Edited by
| Robert E. Swink
|
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Music by
| John Morris
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Production
company
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Release date
|
- June 15, 1979
(
1979-06-15
)
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Running time
| 103 minutes
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Country
| United States
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Languages
| English
Spanish
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Budget
| $9 million
[1]
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Box office
| $38.2 million
[2]
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The In-Laws
is a 1979 American
action comedy film
[3]
[4]
starring
Alan Arkin
and
Peter Falk
, written by
Andrew Bergman
and directed by
Arthur Hiller
. It was filmed on various locations, including
Mexico
, which served as the film's representation of the fictional
Central American
setting. A
remake
was made in 2003.
The film focuses on the fathers of a young couple. One of the fathers is a mild-mannered dentist, the other is a renegade agent of the
CIA
.
Plot
[
edit
]
The daughter of mild-mannered
Manhattan
dentist Sheldon "Shelly" Kornpett and the son of businessman Vince Ricardo are engaged to be married. At an introductory dinner in which Shelly meets his new in-law, he finds Vince suspicious; during the dinner, Vince tells a crazy story of a nine-month "consulting" trip to
1954 Guatemala
. He excuses himself to make a phone call and hides something in the basement. Later that night, Shelly pleads with his daughter not to marry into the Ricardo clan, but he is talked into giving the marriage a chance.
The following day, Vince appears at Shelly's office and asks for help with breaking into his office safe. Shelly reluctantly agrees. After Vince retrieves a black bag from his office in an old
Herald Square
office building, two armed hit men surprise Shelly. After a chase and shootout, Vince explains that he has worked for the
CIA
since the
Eisenhower administration
and robbed the
United States Mint
of engraving plates to crack a worldwide inflation plot hatched in
Central America
. He mentions he robbed the U.S. Mint on his own; the CIA had turned him down, deeming the caper too risky. Vince further upsets Shelly by mentioning he left an engraving plate in the basement of Shelly's house the previous night.
During the wedding preparations, Mrs. Kornpett discovers the engraving and brings it to her bank, where she is informed by the
U.S. Treasury Department
that it was stolen. Shelly arrives home to find Treasury officials there and speeds away, leading to a car chase through suburban
New Jersey
. Vince tells Shelly he wants him to accompany him to
Scranton, Pennsylvania
, and the ordeal will be cleared up by the time they return. At a small airport near
Lodi, New Jersey
, Vince and Shelly board a jet.
To Shelly's consternation, he notices they are flying over the
Atlantic Ocean
. Vince assures Shelly they are going to Scranton but need to stop in Tijata, a small island south of
Honduras
. When they arrive, Vince is supposed to meet a corrupt member of the country's legislature, General Jesus Braunschweiger. When they land, Jesus is shot and killed. Vince and Shelly fall under sniper fire, escape, and drive into town. At their hotel, Vince contacts the mastermind of the inflation plot, General Garcia.
Shelly calls the United States Embassy and is told by the CIA agent-in-charge that Vince is a madman who was mentally discharged from the agency. Leaving the hotel, Vince hails a taxi driven by one of the airport snipers. Shelly chases, leaping onto the roof of the car. Vince takes control of the car, crashing into a fruit market. Vince and Shelly reach the general's estate. The insane general gives them $20 million for the plates, awards them medals, and marches them in front of a firing squad. Vince stalls for time until hundreds of CIA agents, led by Barry Lutz, overwhelm the army and take Garcia into custody. Lutz reveals that Vince was telling the truth. However, Vince retires, as he has had enough. He gives Lutz the $10 million he had agreed to deliver from the general. Vince and Shelly take off with five million dollars each, giving their children a wedding gift of a million dollars each.
Cast
[
edit
]
In addition, conductor-composer
Carmen Dragon
makes a cameo appearance.
Production
[
edit
]
Andrew Bergman
says the film began when
Warner Bros.
approached him saying
Alan Arkin
and
Peter Falk
wanted to do a movie together. Bergman said:
I thought immediately, ‘Didn’t they do a movie?’ It’s like, they seemed so perfect for each other! Their personalities, you have a rabbit and a tortoise. You get a hysteric, a person who seems to have no feelings whatsoever ... and I hate constructing plots, hate it more than anything, but I love constructing characters, and this was the perfect thing where the characters were the plot. Whatever Peter said to Alan, that was the plot ... Since my stories are always about people getting in way over their heads ... this movie was the perfect type for me.
[5]
Reception
[
edit
]
On
review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The consensus summarizes: "Fueled by inspired casting,
The In-Laws
is an odd couple comedy whose clever premise is ably supported by a very funny script."
[6]
On
Metacritic
, the film received a score of 69 based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
[7]
The New York Times
film critic
Janet Maslin
wrote, "Andrew Bergman has written one of those rare comedy scripts that escalates steadily and hilariously, without faltering or even having to strain for an ending. As for Mr. Arkin and Mr. Falk, it is theirs, and not their children's, match that has been made in heaven. The teaming of their characters?
milquetoast
meets entrepreneur?is reminiscent of '
The Producers
'".
[8]
Dale Pollock
of
Variety
stated, "With 'The In-Laws,' Warner Bros. should have a first certifiable comedy hit of the summer. The Arthur Hiller-William Sackheim production brims over with laughs, but brand of screenwriter Andrew Bergman's humor (previously seen in '
Blazing Saddles
') may be too wacky for mainstream audiences."
[9]
Gene Siskel
of the
Chicago Tribune
gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "In a way I feel guilty about knocking 'The In-Laws.' It's an original comedy in a summer movie season full of remakes, sequels, and imitative ripoffs. But if the script had given us more dinner party madness and less slapstick, I might have laughed along with everyone else."
[10]
Kevin Thomas
of the
Los Angeles Times
called it "one of the funniest comedies of the year. This hilarious film, directed by Arthur Hiller and written expressly for Falk and Arkin by Andrew Bergman, wastes not a second in getting laughs."
[11]
Gary Arnold of
The Washington Post
dismissed the film as "a heavy-handed, smugly cynical farce."
[12]
David Ansen
wrote in
Newsweek
, "What makes 'The In-Laws' so engaging is not simply the escalating madness of Andrew Bergman's story (such whimsy could easily grow tiresome), but the deadpan counterpoint supplied by the two stars, who navigate their way through mounting disasters with an air of hilariously unjustified rationality. Bergman's script was tailor-made for Falk and Arkin, and they make the most of it."
[13]
The CIA showed the film at the base theater at
Camp Peary
, its Virginia training facility for recruits.
[14]
Remake
[
edit
]
The film was
remade in 2003.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Box Office Information for
The In-Laws
"
.
TheWrap
. March 19, 2009
. Retrieved
April 4,
2013
.
- ^
"The In-Laws, Box Office Information"
.
The Numbers
. Retrieved
September 27,
2012
.
- ^
"The In-Laws (1979)"
.
AllMovie
. Retrieved
September 1,
2019
.
- ^
"The In-Laws"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
September 1,
2019
.
- ^
Snetiker, Marc (January 9, 2015).
"Andrew Bergman on writing 'Blazing Saddles,' 'Striptease,' 'Honeymoon in Vegas' and more"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
- ^
"
The In-Laws (1979)
"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
August 18,
2023
.
- ^
"
The In-Laws (1979)
"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
July 10,
2022
.
- ^
Janet Maslin, "Arkin and Falk in Comic 'In-Laws': Comedy of Insanity".
The New York Times.
June 15, 1979.
- ^
Pollock, Dale (June 13, 1979). "Film Reviews: The In-Laws".
Variety
. 14.
- ^
Siskel, Gene (June 22, 1979). "Slap the stick slowly for screwball 'In-Laws'".
Chicago Tribune
. Section 4, p. 2.
- ^
Thomas, Kevin (June 10, 1979). "Outlaws as the 'In-Laws'".
Los Angeles Times
. Calendar, p. 37.
- ^
Arnold, Gary (June 15, 1979).
"'In-Laws': Nothing to Fight About".
The Washington Post
. B2.
- ^
Ansen, David (July 2, 1979). "An Odd Couple on the Loose".
Newsweek
. 68.
- ^
Gup, Ted (February 19, 1980).
"Down on 'The Farm': Learning How to Spy for the CIA"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
July 17,
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]