Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)

Want to see it?

Seen it?

0
1
2
3
4
5
Rate this movie.

Buy it now on DVD

Starting at $6.99

Want to buy it?

Write a review

Discuss it

Add to lists

Recommend it

Get recommendations

Directed by Paul Mazursky.

Starring Little Richard, Tracy Nelson, Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss, Bette Midler.

Down and Out in Beverly Hills is an updated remake of the 1932 Jean Renoir film Boudu Saved By Drowning. Philandering businessman Dave Whiteman (Richard Dreyfuss) rescues scraggly tramp Jerry Baskin (Nick Nolte) from drowning himself in Dave's swimming pool. Much against his will, Jerry is invited to enjoy the hospitality of Dave, his social-climbing wife Barbara Bette Midler, and their sexually ambivalent son Max (Evan Richards). The hapless hobo bonds only with the family dog Matisse, which fascinates Barbara to the point that she's willing to share her bed (and a few other things) with him. Dave is twice cuckolded when Jerry makes out with the maid (Elizabeth Pena), with whom he has been carrying on a torrid--and noisy--affair. He plans to wreak revenge on the tramp, but several plot twists result in Dave and Jerry becoming bosom companions. Little Richard appears as the family's easily irritated next door neighbor. Down and Out in Beverly Hills was the R-rated film which compelled the Disney Company to create its adult-oriented Touchstone Films division. The property was later cleaned up for TV consumption and converted into a short-lived Fox Network sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

[more]

Reviews and discussions

SATC is the New Masculinity Gau ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"You know how I know you’re gay? You saw the Sex and the City movie. The above clip was made a few weeks prior to the opening of SATC, which has cemented itself into film history as perhaps the most chicky chick flick ever made. But I find it even more interesting (and more pointed than actually funny) after seeing the box office figures. I wish there had been some kind of tracking done over the weekend of how much of that money came, respectively, from women, from gay men and from - God forbid - straight men. Whether or not a heterosexual man has seen SATC is now officially a gauge of his manhood. Up there with liking beer, fighting, trucks, guns, chopping wood, etc. OR, in my honest opinion, up there with being comfortable with wearing a dress, putting on eye makeup, crying, giving another man a hug, etc. I have no reason to see SATC because I never watched the TV show, but I almost feel I should sit through it to PROVE my manhood. No need for push ups and skeet shooting, as the d ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

Renoir's Boudu Saved From Drowning is the ostensible source of Paul Mazursky's hilarious satire of Beverly Hills affluence, but it seems much more like a comic version of Pasolini's Teorema. The story centers on Jerry (Nick Nolte), a homeless man who is prevented from drowning himself in a Beverly Hills swimming pool by its owner Dave Richard Dreyfuss. Dave takes in the stranger, and it soon appears that Jerry is the answer to every family member's prayers. Mazursky's dissection of upper crust anomie is surprisingly good-natured, suggesting that those in its grip are far worse off than a bum. Nolte's bewilderment at his hosts' embrace is quickly replaced by an instinctive sense of exactly how he fits into their lives, but Dreyfuss steals the movie as a man whose boredom with his lucrative business makes him comically grateful for this new diversion. Bette Midler also has an amusing turn as a shopper of world-class talents. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Tags: wealth , maid , remake , California , beverlyhills
View all