Taking Care of Business (film)

Taking Care of Business

Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan
Directed by Arthur Hiller
Produced by Geoffrey Taylor
Written by Jill Mazursky
J.J. Abrams
Starring
Music by Stewart Copeland
Cinematography David M. Walsh
Edited by William H. Reynolds
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
  • August 17, 1990 (1990-08-17)
Running time
 108 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $14 million
Box office $20,005,435

Taking Care of Business is an American 1990 comedy film, starring James Belushi and Charles Grodin. It was directed by Arthur Hiller.

The film was released in the U.K. under the title Filofax.

Plot

A convicted car thief and diehard Chicago Cubs fan, Jimmy Dworski (Belushi) wins tickets to the World Series. Unfortunately, he still has a couple of days left to serve in prison and the warden (Héctor Elizondo) won't let him leave and come back. With the help of other inmates, Jimmy stages a riot so he can sneak out of prison to see the game. On the way, he finds the filofax of uptight and spineless yuppie advertising executive Spencer Barnes (Grodin), which promises a reward if it is found.

Over the next day, Jimmy takes on Barnes' identity —- staying in the Malibu beach house of Spencer's boss, flirting with the boss's daughter, even taking a meeting with a powerful Japanese food company magnate named Sakamoto (Mako Iwamatsu). The fake "Spencer"'s unorthodox methods, such as beating the magnate at tennis and telling him about the poor quality of his food products, gets the attention of the taken aback Sakamoto. However his unconventional negotiations with the food company insults some of the executives, seemingly ruining Spencer's reputation. Meanwhile, lacking his precious filofax, the real Spencer Barnes is spiraling into the gutter. Losing all his clothes, his car and money, he has to rely on an old college acquaintance, the neurotic and overbearing Debbie Lipton (Anne De Salvo) who keeps trying to rekindle a relationship with him.

Finally Jimmy and Spencer come together at a meeting with the advertising executives, where Spencer is sacked by his boss. As a consolation Jimmy takes Spencer to the World Series, where Jimmy makes a spectacular catch on a home-run ball hit by Mark Grace, who makes a cameo. When security goes after Jimmy, who was spotted on the Jumbotron, they escape by using Spencer's filofax to slide down a support wire and out of the stadium. Spencer patches up his marriage with his wife, who had become exasperated with his overworking. Jimmy sneaks back into prison with Spencer's help, serves his last couple of hours and is released, only to find Spencer waiting to pick him up. With the promise of a beautiful girlfriend and a well-paying job in advertising working with Spencer, Jimmy's future looks bright, as does that of his beloved Cubs, who won the World Series.

Cast

Reception

The film gained negative reviews.[1]

Production

Baseball scenes for Taking Care of Business were filmed at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in California.

The film grossed $20 million in the USA.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Taking Care of Business' Is Bankrupt of Laughter". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
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