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This article is about the movie. For other uses, see Big (disambiguation).
Big


Promotional film poster for Big.
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
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) June 3, 1988 (USA)
Running time 104 min.
Language English
Budget $18,000,000 (est.)
IMDb • Allmovie

Big is a 1988 fantasy-comedy film about a boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine, and is then aged to adulthood overnight. It stars Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton, David Moscow, Jon Lovitz, and Mercedes Ruehl. The movie was written by Gary Ross, with Justin Schindler, and Anne Spielberg. Penny Marshall directed, replacing Steven Spielberg whose sister was one of the writers.

Plot

After being humiliated while attempting to impress an older teenage girl at a carnival, Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes to a wish/fortune-telling machine (called Zoltar Speaks) and wishes that he were "big". The next morning, he sees a face in the mirror he does not recognize. Overnight, he has become a 35-year-old man (Tom Hanks). With the help of his 13-year-old best friend, Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), Josh rents a cheap room in Manhattan and gets a lowly data-entry job at the MacMillan Toy Company. In a memorable scene, he meets the company's owner, MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at the FAO Schwarz toy store, and impresses him with his childlike enthusiasm. They end up playing a duet together on a giant foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing Chopsticks and Heart and Soul. This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job for a kid: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. He soon attracts the attention of the beautiful, ambitious Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), a fellow toy executive. A romance begins to develop, much to the annoyance of her current boyfriend, Paul (John Heard).

Acclaim

Big was received with almost unanimous critical acclaim. Many critics praised Tom Hanks for his "believable" and "adorable" performance.[1]

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 June 2008, AFI named Big as the tenth-best film in the fantasy genre.[2]

American Film Institute recognition

Broadway musical

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.

DVD

Big has been available on DVD since 1999.

A two-disc extended edition, named either the "Extended Edition" or "Family Fun Edition", was released on May 8, 2007, in Regions 1 and 4; this DVD adds 25 minutes of extra footage to the original cut, making the film 130 minutes, as well as providing the original version on the first disc and additional features on the second disc. On October 22, 2007, the DVD was released in Region 2.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=&title2=BIG%20%28MOVIE%29&reviewer=Janet%20Maslin&v_id=5343&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes
  2. ^ "Top 10 Fantasy". American Film Institute. Retrieved on 2008-06-18.

External links

Films directed by Penny Marshall
1980s
Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) · Big (1988)
1990s
2000s

Related links


This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "".