Big Trouble (1986 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Big Trouble is a 1986 American comedy film. It was director John Cassavetes' last film. He took over from screenwriter Andrew Bergman (who was going to direct). The cast reunited Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, co-stars of The In-Laws, also featured Beverly D'Angelo, Charles Durning and Valerie Curtin.
The film's plot was so similar to that of Double Indemnity that, prior to production, Columbia Pictures was forced to trade the ownership of their unused script called Back to the Future with Universal Pictures (rights-holder for Double Indemnity) to reuse the plot of the earlier film.
Plot
Leonard Hoffman is a Los Angeles insurance agent with a problem on his hands. He has teenage triplets who are all gifted musicians, but wife Arlene insists that the kids attend college at Yale, requiring more than $40,000 in tuition, rather than less expensive schools like nearby UCLA.
This situation is on Leonard's mind when he pays a business call to the Beverly Hills mansion of Steve and Blanche Rickey. He is met by a flirtatious and scantily clad Blanche, who explains a problem of her own—Steve is dying, with less than a week to live, but accidentally let his life-insurance policy lapse.
A scheme is hatched involving a policy with a double-indemnity clause. Steve has to die in an unexpected fashion for this to happen, but he may or may not cooperate.
Cast
- Peter Falk as Steve Rickey
- Alan Arkin as Leonard Hoffman
- Beverly D'Angelo as Blanche Rickey
- Charles Durning as O'Mara
- Robert Stack as Winslow
- Paul Dooley as Noozel
- Valerie Curtin as Arlene Hoffman
- Richard Libertini as Dr. Lopez
- Steve Alterman as Peter Hoffman
- Jerry Pavlon as Michael Hoffman
- Paul La Greca as Joshua Hoffman
- John Finnegan as Det. Murphy
- Karl Lukas as Police Captain
- Maryedith Burrell as Gail
- Edith Fields as Doris
- Rosemarie Stack as Mrs. Winslow
- Barbara Tarbuck as Helen
- Warren Munson as Jack
- Al White as Mr. Williams
- Teddy Wilson as Porter
- Gloria Gifford as Wanda
- Herb Armstrong as Night Security Guard
- Jaime Sánchez as Chief Terrorist
