The Addams Family (film)

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The Addams Family
The Addams Family promotional movie poster
Directed by	Barry Sonnenfeld
Produced by	Scott Rudin
Written by	Charles Addams(characters) Caroline Thompson Larry Wilson
Starring	Angelica Huston Raul Julia Christopher Lloyd Elizabeth Wilson Christina Ricci Judith Malina Carel Struycken Jimmy Workman
Music by	Marc Shaiman
Cinematography	Owen Roizman
Editing by	Dede Allen Jim Miller
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA) Orion Pictures (non-USA via Columbia Pictures)
Release date(s)	22 November 1991
Running time	99 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Addams Family is a 1991 comedy film based on the popular characters, The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams.

The movie was originally developed by Orion Pictures (which at the time owned the rights to the television series on which the movie was based). However, due to the studio's financial problems, Paramount began co-producing the film and ended up releasing the movie in the US, with Orion retaining the international rights.

The Addamses are a family of wealthy and eccentric individuals who live together in a Second Empire mansion and share a common interest in the bizarre and the macabre. The characters first appeared in cartoons in The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s, and later gained popularity in the defunct TV series, The Addams Family. The film centers around the day to day life of the family, and the return of Gomez Addams's long-lost brother Fester, played by Christopher Lloyd. The film also stars Raúl Juliá, Anjelica Huston, and Christina Ricci.

[edit] Plot

The film opens at Christmastime. Gomez is kissing the breast of Morticia; Lurch is sweeping the entrance; and Pugsley is hanging Wednesday. Gomez (Raúl Juliá) reflects sorrowfully on all the years he has lost with his absent brother Fester, whom he has not seen for 25 years after a falling out between them. Gomez' lawyer, Tulley Alford, proposes a "Fester Addams Offshore Retirement Fund," the entire purpose of which is to pay off Alford's debt to a loan shark. Gomez, oblivious to the real purpose, still turns the offer down on the principle that they should not discuss new business until the next quarter.

Alford's wife Margaret meets with Morticia (Anjelica Huston) in hopes she will donate something to a charity auction. Morticia offers to donate a bejewelled finger trap, then invites the Alfords to a séance in which they would attempt to contact Uncle Fester's spirit.

Tulley returns to work to find his loanshark, Ms. Craven, and her son Gordon (Christopher Lloyd), waiting for him. Gordon roughs Tulley over until he discovers the gold doubloons Gomez has paid him for his monthly expenses. Tulley notices just how similar Gordon looks to Fester, and proposes that Gordon pose as Fester to infiltrate the Addams' house to find the vault where they keep their vast riches.

At the séance, the Addamses attempt to contact Fester's spirit, demanding he knock three times. As they ask, they hear a knock at the door. They answer it to find Gordon, posing as Fester, with Ms. Craven, posing as a psychiatrist named Dr. Greta Pinderschloss. She informs them that Fester had been found in Miami, and after extensive testing, the Florida Department of Fish and Game declared that this was indeed Fester. Gordon claims he would only be with the family a week, since he "has things cooking in the Bermuda Triangle," when in reality it would be the reason he would leave after pilfering the vault.

Gomez is initially overjoyed, and immediately takes Gordon to the vault to show some old movie footage. Gordon learns the reason for Gomez and Fester's falling out: Gomez was jealous of Fester's ways with women, and wooed both the beautiful Amore twins even though he didn't love them.

Gomez becomes more and more suspicious as "Fester" fails to remember important events from their childhood: when Gomez had his first cigar, the combination to the vault, their secret name for each other. The last straw occurs after the charity auction. After buying back their own bejewelled finger trap for $50,000, Gordon asks how to take it off, something Fester should have known since he had been stuck wearing that same finger trap for two years.

Gordon attempts to access the vault, but cannot remember which of the many chains to pull is the right one, and is ejected from the house. Morticia meets him outside and leads him on a tour of the graveyard, before reminding him of the family creed: Sic gorgiamos allos subjectatus nunc, "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us."

Gordon thinks that the family is on to his ruse, and in comes Dr. Pinderschloss, who convinces Gomez that his suspicion of Fester is nothing more than Displacement. Gomez is convinced. Meanwhile, Gordon begins to show signs that he is growing close to the family: he spends a lot of time with Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), helping with a sword fight scene for a school play, and teaching them about explosives.

At the upcoming school play, Gordon and his mother hatch a plan: pretend to not be interested in the school play, thus leaving the house vacant so they can get to the vault. Gordon breaks from the plan, instead going to watch Wednesday and Pugsley's scene in the play. Gordon's mother tries to enter the house anyway, but is trapped by the living plants outside the house.

The next morning, Morticia reveals to Dr. Pinderschloss that Gomez and Fester have reconciled, and a party would be planned honoring Fester's return. This gives Gordon and his mother another opportunity to reach the vault.

At the party, the many Addamses gather to celebrate. When Wednesday is sent to check on Fester, she finds Gordon in the bathroom, with his mother shaving his head, the two of them talking about their plans for the evening. She calls him out as a fake, but before Gordon or his mother can subdue her, Wednesday escapes to the family graveyard. Gordon attempts to catch Wednesday, but eventually gives up the chase and goes to the party to insure that the other Addamses do not suspect anything.

Meanwhile, Tulley Alford has left the party, privy to some important information: Fester, being the older brother, would be the executor of the Addams estate, and would thus inherit everything on their property. Tulley enlists the aid of Gomez' neighbor, a judge whose windows are constantly being broken by Gomez hitting golf balls from his roof. The judge enthusiastically asks what he can do.

Once the party is over, it is discovered that Wednesday is missing. All the Addamses except Fester go to search for her, and come back to their house to find the gate locked, with Tulley behind it, holding a restraining order, demanding they stay at least a thousand yards from the property. Gomez takes the issue to court, but the judge presiding over the case is the same judge whose windows Gomez broke. He rules in favor of Fester. Defeated, the Addamses move into a motel.

While Gordon, his mother, and Tulley Alford all keep trying to reach the vault, the Addamses try to adapt. To support the family, Wednesday and Pugsley open a lemonade stand. Morticia attempts to become a preschool teacher, and her rendition of Hansel and Gretel makes all the children cry. Thing inexplicably gets a job as a courier for Federal Express. Gomez is so despondent he refuses to do anything but watch daytime TV and eat snack food.

It pains Morticia to see her family living like this, and returns to the mansion to confront Fester. She is subdued by Tulley and Dr. Pinderschloss, who torture her to get her to reveal how to reach the vault. Thing sees all this and returns to the motel where he informs Gomez that his beloved wife is in trouble. Gomez rushes to her rescue, but Dr. Pinderschloss offers an ultimatum: with a gun pointed at Gomez, she demands that he take them to the vault or she will kill Morticia.

Gordon, disgusted by the use of torture against the family he had grown to love and by his mother whose constant badgering became worse and worse, takes matters into his own hands. The bookshelf which conceals a secret passageway to the vault also contains books that, when opened, project their contents into reality. Gordon threatens Tulley and his mother with a book named "Hurricane Irene" while Gomez and Morticia escape. Gordon opens the book, and a hurricane is unleashed inside the house. Gordon attempts to close the book, and is struck by lightning. Tulley and Gordon's mother are launched out a window, into open graves, apparently freshly dug by Pugsley and Wednesday.

Seven months later, all is well with the family. Gordon, it turns out, really was Fester all along, and the story that he had been found in Miami was true, but he had been suffering from amnesia from the Bermuda Triangle until the lightning struck him. As Fester and the children rush out to the graveyard for a rousing game of "Wake the Dead," Gomez ponders what could possibly make life better. Morticia announces she is pregnant.

[edit] Differences from the television series

The film differs from the show in many ways, with the most noticeable changes being Fester becoming Gomez's brother. Also, the show's famous original opening theme is missing, replaced with a shortened instrumental version over the film's title card.

[edit] Trivia

When Wednesday's teacher is showing students' projects to Morticia, she points out a poster completed by "Susan Ringo." Susan Ringo is the wife of the film's director, Barry Sonnenfeld.

Barry Sonnenfeld has a cameo role as the worried passenger in Gomez' toy train.

Mercedes McNab, who plays the Girl Scout attempting to sell cookies to Wednesday and Pugsley, returns in Addams Family Values in a much more prominent role: that of camper Amanda Buckman. McNab would later become famous for her portrayal of High schooler-turned vampire Harmony Woods in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, as well as in the Buffy spinoff, Angel.

• According to the original script, the "secret password" that Gomez and Fester shared when they were children was "Demented Freak", which is what Fester said, albeit in anger.

The Addams Family
Characters
Gomez Addams | Morticia Addams | Pugsley Addams | Wednesday Addams | Uncle Fester | Grandmama | Lurch | Thing | Cousin Itt
TV
The Addams Family | The New Addams Family
Films
The Addams Family (1991) | Addams Family Values (1993) | Addams Family Reunion (1998)
Games
Fester's Quest (1989) | The Addams Family (pinball) (1991) | Addams Family (1992) | The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (1993) | Addams Family Values (1994) | Addams Family (1994)