Quick Change
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the magic trick, see Quick-change.
| Quick Change | |
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 Quick Change movie poster |
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| Directed by | Howard Franklin Bill Murray |
| Produced by | Bill Murray Robert Greenhut |
| Written by | Howard Franklin Jay Cronley (book) |
| Starring | Bill Murray Geena Davis Randy Quaid Jason Robards Tony Shalhoub Phillip Bosco |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Cinematography | Michael Chapman |
| Editing by | Alan Heim |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
| Release date(s) | July 13, 1990 |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Quick Change is a 1990 comedy film starring Bill Murray, who also co-directed with the film's screenwriter Howard Franklin. Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, and Jason Robards co-star. Other cast members include Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Phil Hartman, Victor Argo, Kurtwood Smith, Bob Elliott, and Phillip Bosco. It is based on a book of the same name by Jay Cronley.
The film is set in New York City, particularly in Manhattan and Queens, with scenes taking place on the New York City Subway and within John F. Kennedy International Airport. Times Square, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty are also briefly seen.
Quick Change remains the only directorial credit of Bill Murray's career.
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[edit] Plot
Murray's character Grimm, dressed as a clown, robs a bank in Midtown Manhattan by ingeniously setting up a hostage situation and slipping away with an enormous sum of money. He then tries to leave town with his accomplices; girlfriend Phyllis (Davis) and best friend Loomis (Quaid). However, it appears that all of New York City is against their escape. A con-artist/thief robs the trio of everything except the bank money, which they have taped under their clothes. They are almost gunned down by the stressed incoming tenant of Grimm's apartment (Hartman), as members of the fire department responding to a call try to push their hydrant-blocking car out of the way only to make it roll away. When the trio flags down a cab, the panicky driver (Shalhoub) is revealed to be relentlessly non-fluent in English. Loomis jumps from the cab when he sees a "real cab" and is knocked out after running into a newstand. Phyllis finally gets a chance to announce that she is pregnant with Grimm's child. An anal-retentive bus driver (Bosco) and a run-in with some mobsters add further complications. Throughout the course of the flick, the world-weary chief of the New York City Police Department (Robards), doggedly but fruitlessly tries to nab the trio. A final confrontation onboard a jumbo jet at the airport allows the robbers to escape, but the chief gets the consolation prize of having a major crime-boss (Smith) dropped in his lap.
[edit] Critical Reaction
This little-known film features what many critics claim one of Murray's finest performances: a jaded man who has just had too much of The Big Apple. The film also features strong performance by the supporting cast, particularly Robards as the cop, who, while almost as burned out as Murray, is still determined to capture the robbers as a swan song to finish his long career.
[edit] Trivia
- Tony Shaloub called the ethnicity of his cab driver character as "indeterminate." He made up a language for him. (Film Freak Central)
