| Big | |
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Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | Penny Marshall |
| Produced by | James L. Brooks Robert Greenhut |
| Written by | Gary Ross Anne Spielberg |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Elizabeth Perkins Robert Loggia John Heard |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Editing by | Barry Malkin |
| Studio | Gracie Films Playtone |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | June 3, 1988 |
| Running time | 104 minutes 130 minutes (Extended cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Budget | $18 million |
| Box office | $151,668,774[1] |
Big is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical wishing machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight. The film also stars Elizabeth Perkins, and Robert Loggia and was written by Gary Ross, with Justin Schindler and Anne Spielberg.
Big was the latest, and most successful, of a series of age-changing comedies produced in the late 1980s; the others being: Like Father Like Son (1987), 18 Again! (1988), Vice Versa (1988), and the Italian film Da grande (1987).[2][3][4][5]
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After being told he is too short for a carnival ride while attempting to impress an older girl (Kimberlee M. Davis), 13-year-old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) from Cliffside Park, New Jersey goes to a wishing machine called Zoltar Speaks, and wishes that he was "big." His wish is granted, but he finds out that the machine is unplugged, and backs away. By the next morning, he is shocked to discover that he has been transformed into a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). Fleeing from his mother (Mercedes Ruehl), who thinks he is a strange man who has kidnapped her son, Josh then finds his best friend, Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), at the same school they both go to; Billy is shocked at first, but Josh convinces him of his identity by singing a secret song that only the two of them know. With Billy's help, Josh rents a flophouse room in New York City, and gets a data entry job at MacMillan Toy Company.
By chance, Josh meets the company's owner, Mr. MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at FAO Schwarz and impresses him with both his extensive knowledge of current toys and his happy-go-lucky childlike enthusiasm. In a now-famous scene, the two end up playing duets together on a foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks". This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. With his promotion, Josh's larger salary enables him to move out of the workingman's hotel and into a spacious apartment, to which he and Billy fill with toys, their own Pepsi vending machine and a pinball machine. Josh soon attracts the attention of Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), a fellow toy executive. A romance begins to develop, much to the annoyance of Susan's competitive boyfriend, Paul Davenport (John Heard). As Josh becomes increasingly entwined in his "adult" life by spending more time with Susan, and his new ideas becomes valuable assets to MacMillan Toys, Billy begins feeling annoyed and neglected, feeling that Josh has forgotten who he really is.
MacMillan asks Josh to come up with proposals for a new line of toys. Josh is intimidated by the need to formulate the business aspects of such a proposal, and Susan insists that she will handle the business end; that Josh need only rely on his affinity for toys to come up with a good idea. Nonetheless, Josh soon begins to feel overly pressured by this new life. When he expresses doubts to Susan and attempts to explain that he is really a child, she interprets this as fear of commitment on his part, and dismisses his explanation in frustration.
Longing to return to the life of a child, Josh eventually learns from Billy that the Zoltar Speaks machine is at Sea Point Park. In the middle of presenting their proposal to MacMillan and other executives, Josh leaves. After Susan realizes something is wrong, she leaves as well and encounters Billy, who tells her where Josh went. At the park, Josh finds the machine and makes a wish to become small again. He is then confronted by Susan, who, seeing the machine and the fortune it gave Josh, realizes he was telling the truth. Susan becomes despondent at realizing their relationship is over. Josh tells Susan she was the one thing about his adult life he wishes would not end, and suggests she use the machine to turn herself into a little girl. She declines, indicating that being a child once was enough, and takes Josh home. After sharing an emotional goodbye, Josh reverts to his child form. He is reunited with his family. The credits roll as Josh is going down the street with Billy, much like the beginning.
Big was received with almost unanimous critical acclaim; based on 53 reviews collected by the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of critics gave the film a positive "Certified Fresh" review and the consensus stating "Refreshingly sweet and undeniably funny, Big is a showcase for Tom Hanks, who dives into his role and infuses it with charm and surprising poignancy."[6] The New York Times praised the performances of Moscow and Rushton, saying the film "features believable young teen-age mannerisms from the two real boys in its cast and this only makes Mr. Hanks's funny, flawless impression that much more adorable."[7]
Big was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks) and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.
The film is number 23 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In 2000, Big was ranked 42nd on the American Film Institute's "100 Years…100 Laughs" list.[8] In June 2008, AFI named Big as the tenth-best film in the fantasy genre.[9] In 2008, Big was selected by Empire Magazine as one of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time."[10]
The film was re-released in 2007 in a 2-disc Extended Edition DVD. The DVD features the theatrical (104 minutes) and extended (130 minutes) versions of the film on the first disc. The second disc contains deleted scenes, featurettes, an AMC Backstory, and trailers and TV spots.
In 1996, Big was made into a musical for the Broadway stage. It featured music by David Shire, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., and a book by John Weidman. Directed by Mike Ockrent, and choreographed by Susan Stroman, it opened on April 28, 1996 and closed on October 13, 1996, after 193 performances.
The piano scene has been parodied in many forms, including The Simpsons and Family Guy. The Zoltar Speaks scene has also been parodied on Family Guy and Futurama. The Zoltar Speaks scene was also mimicked (albeit in reverse) in Neon Trees' music video, 1983.
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