The Distinguished Gentleman
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| The Distinguished Gentleman | |
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 The movie poster for The Distinguished Gentleman. |
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| Directed by | Jonathan Lynn |
| Produced by | Marty Kaplan, Leonard Goldberg, Michael Peyser |
| Written by | Marty Kaplan, Jonathan Reynolds |
| Starring | Eddie Murphy, Lane Smith, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Joe Don Baker, Victoria Rowell, Grant Shaud, Kevin McCarthy, Charles S. Dutton, Victor Rivers, Chi McBride, Sonny Jim Gaines, Noble Willingham |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 4, 1992 |
| Running time | 112 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Distinguished Gentleman (1992) is a comedy starring Eddie Murphy. The film was directed by Jonathan Lynn. In addition to Murphy, the film stars Lane Smith, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Joe Don Baker, Victoria Rowell, Grant Shaud, Kevin McCarthy, Charles S. Dutton, Victor Rivers, Chi McBride, Sonny Jim Gaines, and Noble Willingham.
The film's plot is centered around politics, specifically what members of Congress and lobbyists do to get what they want in Washington, D.C.
The film was shot at various locations in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, CA; Harrisburg, PA; Maryland, and Pasadena, CA.
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[edit] Synopsis
A Florida con man uses the passing of the long time Congressman from his district who he just happens to share a name with, to get elected to his version of paradise, Congress, where the money flows from lobbyists. Collecting enough signatures to get his name on the election ballot will be tricky, but not if he can get the endorsement of the third political party of mostly Jewish senior citizens called the "Silver Fox."
Once on the election ballot, he uses the dead Congressman's old campaign material and runs a low budget campaign that appeals to name recognition and an assortment of ethnic and economic class based sterotypes. In an unprecedent move, he wins the election and becomes one of the only Independents, and one of the few African Americans, serving in the United States Congress.
Initiailly the lucrative donations and campaign contributions roll in, but as he learns the nature of the con game in Washington D.C., he starts to see how the greedy and corruption makes it difficult to address issues such as campaign finance reform, environmental protection and the possibility that electric power companies may have a product that is giving kids in a small town cancer.
To win the heart of a female lobbyist on behalf of legal aid, he decides to fight back the only way he knows how, with a con.
[edit] Characters
Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy): The protagonist of the movie. A con artist who realizes he can get elected to Congress after the passing of a Congressman with the same name as him. He forms a plan with his crew and they are successful at getting him elected. He starts in Congress as planned, taking money and bribes from lobbyists. Later he realizes the wrong that is being done and he also realizes that he can be a very big help.
Dick Dodge (Lane Smith): Chairman of the Power and Industry Committee. He knows everything about Johnson from his past doings, what he is doing presently, and he tries to use Johnson as his own pawn. Johnson actually uses Dodge in the end to get what he wants in the end of the movie.
Miss Loretta Hicks (Sheryl Lee Ralph): The only female member of Johnson's crew. She is also his cousin. While doing cons at home she acts as the seductive female in the crew. While in Washington she is the liaison for Johnson and accompanies him most places.
Olaf Andersen (Joe Don Baker): He is the chief of a company called Gulf Coast power. He is also the chief payor to Chairman Dodge's committee and pays almost anything to get his way. Johnson also uses him in the end to triumph
[edit] Critical reception
It was released in December of 1992 and went on to gross over $40 million at the box office. The movie was panned by film critics. It came at a time when Murphy was experiencing a slump at the box office and this movie is considered one of his failures, though the film did win a couple of awards: the Environmental Media Awards granted the movie with the award for feature film of 1993, and in 2001 the Political Film Society awarded the film its special award of the year.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the first film starring Eddie Murphy that was not released by Paramount Pictures.
- The film ends with a possible set up for a sequel of Eddie Murphy running for President as an Independent candidate.
