Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)

Not even bad in a good way

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

A gruffy bum (Nick Nolte), looking for his "mongrel who abandoned him", decides to end it all by leaping into the swimming pool of privileged hanger businessman (Richard Dreyfuss) to drown himself. Dreyfuss rescues Nolte and invites him to stay at his posh Beverly Hills home *for a while*. Nolte gets cleaned up, new clothes, freedom to raid the fridge, swim in the pool, lounge around, and offer advice if approached in the right ways. As much a reflection on what it means to be really happy instead of just rich than just a comedy about two worlds colliding (homeless and hungry opposite affluent and with plenty); Down and Out is wise in how it unfurls Nolte as more than he first appears…he isn't some growly, gloomy, repugnant, and foul vagabond with few redeeming qualities. This doesn't stigmatize the homeless but recognize them as human beings who aren't just street bodies covered in grime and stink. Nolte seems to have experienced a great many things before descending into bumdom…he plays the piano, can recite Shakespeare, bring about orgasm through massage therapy, offer books on revolutionary Cuba to encourage radical new views, advise a homosexual to come out to his parents when videotape vignettes made by him aren't enough, and seduce an anorexic through lovemaking to eat again. He bewitched Dreyfuss, who has long debated why he is so well-to-do while others aren't so fortunate, Bette Midler, who tries every kind of guru and self-help guide to overcome her insecurities and dissatisfactions (her twenty-year marriage has come to a bored place), Evan Richards, who wants to come to his parents (Dreyfuss and Midler) but doesn't know how, Tracy Nelson, a psyche major with boyfriend issues and "skinny illness", and Elizabeth Peña (may she rest in peace), a maid servicing Dreyfuss in more ways than just cleaning the dishes and serving the meals, who he offers books on "viva revolution". Most importantly, the family dog, Matisse (Mike, the dog) becomes quite enamored with the new guest staying in the visitor's cabana. Little Richard, as a neighbor feeling slighted by the police who bring tons of reinforcements to the Dreyfuss house when Matisse presses the security alarm and fail to even get to his own property in any reasonable manner when there had been potential break-ins, lends a fun supporting part.Eventually Nolte begins to wear out his welcome on Dreyfuss, and when the daughter and maid become sexual conquests there's a final chase back into the pool where he doesn't try to rescue him from drowning as much as finish him off! Potential Chinese clients could be buying Dreyfuss' hangers…but will Nolte spoil things? And how will Dreyfuss feel about his son and band coming to the finale's party dressed in drag and makeup? Nolte cleans up well, has a sage presence about him that charms everyone he meets, becomes someone to be quite chummy with, and isn't afraid to get involved the lives of the Dreyfuss family in order to better their emotional situations. Despite having an abundance, Nolte is there to have them look within themselves to realize what they're missing. While I can imagine some will have a hard time sympathizing with a family so well off considering the struggle that exists in a world not their own, the treat is how this bum off the street awakens in them reasons to examine who they really are: there is a novelty to the premise that does ring true. What a cast, too! Midler as the wife trying to find inner peace, Dreyfuss hoping to give back instead of always benefiting from prosperity, and Nolte getting some much needed niceties that have eluded him and his kind. Highlights to me has Dreyfuss meeting some of Nolte's gang, Nolte encouraging Matisse to eat his dog food, Midler's massage giving her the first orgasm in nine years (it isn't presented as sexy as much as enthusiastic), Dreyfuss' vehicular mishap involving the police, and how the family just can't seem to shake him off, especially when he mentions he should just leave. If just as a comedy that asks us to look beyond the surface to see what lies underneath, Down and Out hits the target impressively. It doesn't hurt that the cast absolutely kills it.

Based on a French play, 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' is great fun! An engaging film that comes in-tact with a well-done screenplay & knock-out performances by its superb cast.'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' Synopsis: A millionaire adopts a homeless bum only to make things go crazy. 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' is entertaining from start to end. Sure, there are some loose ends in the writing, but for the most part, the film works largely. The Adapted Screenplay is well-done & pretty funny too. Paul Mazursky's Direction is crisp. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are fabulously done. Performance-Wise: Nick Nolte is simply flawless as the homeless bum. He emerges a scene-stealer here! Richard Dreyfuss & Bette Milder are excellent, as well. The on-screen chemistry between Dreyfuss & Midler is, electric! On the whole, 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' succeeds.

Dave Whiteman is a successful businessman whose family are more than a little neurotic. One day, Jerry, a homeless man, tries to drown himself in Dave's swimming pool. Dave rescues him and takes him under his wing, and Jerry's different take on life and the world has a strangely beneficial effect on the whole family.This is a great culture clash comedy drama with lots of funny scenes, super performances and many intriguing little comments on family values. Dave is the perfect father-provider but nobody appreciates him, he's unable to communicate with his children and his wife's materialism and phony-baloney mysticism is ridiculous. When Jerry enters the scene, he becomes a buddy, a lover, an entertainer, a consultant, a father figure, even a dog trainer. Wisely however, the film avoids becoming too sentimental - whilst he may be interesting and well-travelled, Jerry is also an inveterate liar who is happy to exploit his position and his charm for all it's worth. In their opulence, the Whitemans have forgotten how to talk to each other and how to have fun, whereas while Jerry prizes his vagabond freedom he also conspicuously enjoys the good life. Dreyfuss and Nolte are both terrific in the leads, the former's nervous energy nicely balanced by the latter's irascible pragmatism. Midler is hilarious in support, as is fifties pop star icon Little Richard as the next door neighbour. The movie has a cool glossy sheen thanks to Donald McAlpine's ultra-sharp photography of the brilliant blue California sunshine. There is a nice little score by Andy Summers (of The Police) and a great opening title sequence featuring Talking Heads' memorable song Once In A Lifetime. Mazursky and Dreyfuss followed this with another great (but lesser-known) comedy, Moon Over Parador, which is well worth catching if you can. A funny movie, this is a remake of the 1932 Jean Renoir film Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux.

I visited a deli on Rodeo Drive just before this movie was released and was staggered by the uniformity in grooming. It was like a small-town high school in the 1950s. All the women looked alike. Beautiful. Their long hair fluffy, each strand curled like Top Ramen. (Okay, okay. I lack the vocabulary. Excuse me.) They all seemed to wear the same dark rough-knit long-sleeved sweaters, tight Levis, and leather boots. This is what one kills for? The privilege of wearing a uniform? Paul Mazursky has got the milieu down pat and he skewers it. I haven't seen the French original but, though it may be different, it's probably not funnier than this version.I'll skip the story except to say that it's about a homeless man (Nick Nolte) who is taken in by a wealthy dysfunctional family, and he straightens everyone out by giving them what they want -- as he puts it. Some gags are funnier than others, helped along by Mazursky's direction. When the spoiled, bored wife has an orgasm with the bum, she screams so loudly that the neighbors a block away turn to listen. A flock of pigeons is frightened out of its tree. I can't think of another movie that features a psychiatric veterinarian.The climax, unfortunately, is more silly than funny, as if nobody could think of an ending that would stop what's already gone by. Mazursky had the same problem with "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice," at the end of which the sting of genuine phoniness gives way completely to fantasy and everyone does a ring dance to "What The World Needs Now Is Love..." In "Down and Out in Beverley Hills," a party ends with the accidental setting off of a fireworks display and everyone jumping into the pool. You almost wince at the desperation behind this scene.And then, in a denouement, when the bum decides to leave with the family dog, the whole family and their servants follow him into the mews behind the mansion and beg him with their eyes to come back, which he does quickly enough. Sure, it's a happy ending, but just exactly what is going to happen when Nolte returns after he's been exposed as a lying, manipulative, lazy scuzzbag who has given the son permission to be a transvestite and has been doing both his host's wife and daughter? All he had with him when he first entered the family was a pocket full of rocks. This time he's got a lot of baggage.Still, it's a light-hearted and engaging comedy, and none of the acting hurts a bit. Aside from the doggy's psychiatrist, I thought Little Richard was the most memorable character, especially when he complains about how much longer it takes the police to respond to HIS emergency alarm than his white neighbors'. (The dog chases him away, tearing at his golden robe.) Dreyfus is quite good too, reminding me of his performance as the exasperated and finally mad psychiatrist in "What About Bob?" Mazursky wisely avoided any attempt to insinuate overt signs of "seriousness" into the screenplay. A comedy doesn't need dark undertones to be successful, and this is successful.