Funny Bones

For the Welsh children's television programme, see Funnybones.
Funny Bones

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Chelsom
Produced by Peter Chelsom
Simon Fields
Written by Peter Chelsom
Peter Flannery
Starring Oliver Platt
Jerry Lewis
Lee Evans
Leslie Caron
Richard Griffiths
Sadie Corre
Oliver Reed
George Carl
Freddie Davies
Ian McNeice
Music by John Altman
Cinematography Eduardo Serra
Edited by Martin Walsh
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
  • March 31, 1995 (1995-03-31) (United States)
  • September 29, 1995 (1995-09-29) (United Kingdom)
Running time
 128 minutes
Country United Kingdom
United States
Language English
Box office $532,268
52,088 admissions (France)[1]

Funny Bones is a 1995 British-American comedy-drama film from Hollywood Pictures. It was written, directed and produced by Peter Chelsom, co-produced by Simon Fields, and co-written by Peter Flannery. The music score was by John Altman and the cinematography by Eduardo Serra.

Set in Las Vegas and Blackpool, England, the film stars Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis, Lee Evans, Leslie Caron, Richard Griffiths, Sadie Corre, Oliver Reed, George Carl, Freddie Davies and Ian McNeice.

Plot

Tommy Fawkes is the son of comedy legend George Fawkes. After his own Las Vegas comedy act flops with his beloved father in the audience, Tommy returns to Blackpool, England, where he spent the summers of his childhood.

Disguised with a new identity, Tommy intends to seek out unique performers and purchase their acts. During this time, Tommy encounters his father's old comedy partners, Bruno and Thomas Parker. Once great performers, they now work as ghouls on a ghost train at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Circus.

Bruno's son Jack is a brilliant comic, but psychologically troubled. He has also been manipulated by a corrupt policeman known as Sharkey into stealing valuable wax eggs from smugglers. Tommy meets Jack's mother Katie, and even though Tommy is in disguise, she suspects that he is somehow connected to the family.

Tommy eventually realises that his father stole his original act from the Parker brothers. He then reveals himself to be Tommy Fawkes and Katie tells him that Jack is his half-brother. Tommy phones his father about the revelation and George gets on the next plane to Blackpool.

As part of their reconciliation, George arranges for the Parkers to top the bill at a Blackpool Tower Circus event. However, Jack is still hounded by Sharkey and cannot perform. During an elaborate Egyptian act, Katie gets rid of Sharkey via a sarcophagus, which is then kidnapped by the smugglers. The wax eggs (Chinese inscription on egg is read "Eight Immortals") contained a mystical, ancient Chinese rejuvenating powder. Jack had previously placed the powder within a makeup tin, which Bruno and Thomas accidentally use, helping them to perform brilliantly.

Toward the end of the show, Jack is seen climbing a giant pole chased by a policeman. Jack smacks the policeman in the face with a glass bottle and the policeman begins to fall. When the identity of the policeman is revealed to be Tommy, the slow motion filming prolongs the feeling of dread in seeing Tommy's struggle to not fall.

In the agonising last moments, Jack clasps Tommy's hand and saves him. The circus audience clasps wildly with relief. Jack then says to Tommy, "They're beginning to like you." Jack laughs and Tommy, suddenly no longer afraid, gazes at the audience and finds the feeling he was searching for all his life.

Cast

Home media

Funny Bones was released on DVD on September 2, 2003.

References

  1. ↑ Jerry Lewis films French box office information at Box Office Story

External links

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