Doctor Detroit

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Doctor Detroit

Doctor Detroit film poster
Directed by Michael Pressman
Produced by Robert K. Weiss
Written by Bruce Jay Friedman
Carl Gottlieb
Starring Dan Aykroyd
Howard Hesseman
Fran Drescher
Music by James Brown (theme song, "Get up Offa That Thing/Dr. Detroit")
Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography King Baggot
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) May 6, 1983
Running time 89 min.
Country US
Language English
Budget US$8,000,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Doctor Detroit is a 1983 comedy film, written by Bruce Jay Friedman and Carl Gottlieb. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Lynn Whitfield, Fran Drescher, and Donna Dixon, with a special appearance by James Brown. The film was directed by Michael Pressman.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

A shy but gentle man named Clifford Skridlow is a professor of comparative literature at the financially-strapped fictional Monroe College in Chicago. A chance encounter with four beautiful women at a restaurant changes his life forever when it's revealed that they are actually high-class prostitutes. Smooth Walker, the girls' pimp, is in financial (and physical) danger due to his enormous debt with the gruff "Mom," a Chicago mob boss. Smooth invents a fictitious business partner, the flamboyant and no-nonsense "Doctor Detroit," in an attempt to save himself from Mom's wrath. Through a series of comical misunderstandings, Cliff is conned into becoming Smooth Walker's patsy, this Doctor Detroit, and embarks on a dangerous mission to protect the girls from Mom while keeping his secret from his strait-laced parents while simultaneously attempting to secure a large endowment for the struggling university.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

  • The end of the film promises a sequel, Doctor Detroit II, the Wrath of Mom. It's possible that this was merely a joke, parodying The Wrath of Khan.
  • James Brown performed the theme song to the film "Get up Offa That Thing/Dr. Detroit".
  • Devo performed the "Theme From Doctor Detroit" and had another track in the film, "Luv-Luv". There was an EP with the "Theme from Doctor Detroit", "Luv-Luv", and a remix of the theme released, as well as a music video for the theme incorporating footage from the film.
  • Dan Aykroyd married Donna Dixon after working with her on this project.
  • Futurama's villainous "Mom" appears to reference the "Mom" in Doctor Detroit, in that her henchmen are all-clad in grey, double breasted, chauffers uniforms, much like the henchmen in Doctor Detroit.

[edit] External links

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