Overboard (1987 film)

Infobox_Film
name = Overboard

---

caption = Poster
director = Garry Marshall
producer = Alexandra Rose and Anthea Sylbert
writer = Leslie Dixon
starring = Goldie Hawn
Kurt Russell
Edward Herrmann
Katherine Helmond
and
Roddy McDowall
music = Alan Silvestri
editing = Dov Hoenig and Sonny Baskin
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released = December 16, 1987
runtime = 106 min.
country = USA
language = English
gross = $26,713,187
imdb_id = 0093693

"Overboard" is a movie starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell that was released in the fall of 1987. It was directed by Garry Marshall.

Brief Summary

Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) is the pampered wife of pretentious socialite Grant Stayton III (Edward Herrmann). When their boat gets stuck for repairs, Joanna employs carpenter Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell) to improve her closet space. But when Dean asks to be paid, he's blatantly turned down by the "nothing is ever good enough for me" Joanna. So when Joanna falls overboard and gets a bad case of amnesia, Dean takes advantage of the situation and, in a stroke of retributive genius, tells her that she's his wife and the mother of his four unruly children.

A Bollywood film running on similar themes and plot was made in 1992 with Salman Khan named "Ek Ladka Ek Ladki".

A Korean drama television series, 환상의 커플 (Couple or Trouble), based on this movie was broadcast in 2006.

Plot

Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell) is a struggling widowed carpenter in the tiny Oregon town of Elk Cove. After being hired by a very snotty and spoiled millionairess, Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn), to remodel a closet on her yacht, the two get into an argument about what type of wood the closet should be built with. She is unhappy with his work and refuses to pay him. Dean delivers a scathing diatribe about how empty and useless her life is (much to the pleasure of the crew of the yacht, who overhear the argument and cheer with agreement) and refuses to leave. He is knocked overboard by Joanna and she throws his tools into the water after him, shouting that she is quite happy with her life and that everyone wants to be her. After returning home that day, he is criticized by Adele Burbridge (Doris Hess), the principal at the Elk Cove School, for leaving his children home without adult supervision. Mrs. Burbridge says that his twins, Greg and Charlie, strung her up with gasoline soaked toilet paper and tried to set it aflame. She states that his children are monsters and then tells him that if he does not hire a babysitter, she will notify the authorities.

Later that night, Joanna realizes she left her wedding ring on deck. She goes to find it and is tossed overboard from the pitching yacht, which continues on with everyone ignoring her cry for help. She is later found by the Elk Cove garbage scow with amnesia, with no idea who she is. Joanna is sent to the Elk Cove hospital, throws a temper tantrum, and is placed in the psychiatric ward. Her husband Grant Stayton III (Edward Herrmann) shows up at the hospital, then denies ever knowing her and leaves. Dean hears of this on the news and visits the hospital, identifying her as his wife Annie. To prove he is truly her husband, he cites the strawberry-shaped birthmark on her buttocks, which he spied on the yacht when she was wearing a high-cut thong swimming suit.

Joanna, now known as Annie, is shocked at how rundown Dean's household is. Dean uses her amnesia to his advantage, telling her that she is his wife and mother of his four unruly sons: Travis, fraternal twins Greg and Charlie, and Joey. He also tells her that her mother, a former lush is dead and her father is in prison, and that she used to be fat, hunchbacked and easy.

"Annie", knowing her life is drastically out of place, is repulsed by the duties asked of her, and is often victim of countless cruel pranks played upon her by the boys. Whenever a flash of her memory comes back, Dean reverses it into another story of their sexual escapades. One day, after Dean fails to discipline the boys for supergluing her hands to two plates, Annie decides to fight fire with fire, taking a garden hose to Dean and the boys, who chase her and wrestle her to the ground, tickling her frantically, resulting in a bond between them and Dean.

After this, Annie adjusts to their rambunctious, carefree lifestyle. Her bond with the boys deepens after asserting herself to Burbridge, who calls her into school one day after telling her that the boys are faking illness to avoid taking a standardized academic test. Expecting an ear-blistering from their "mother", the boys are taken aback when Annie sees up close that all four have severe poison oak. Annie turns the situation around by confronting the principal and her lack of concern for the well-being of her boys, and orders them to the car. They hesitate at first, but when she asserts her authority, they willingly comply. On the way to the car, they communicate to one another that even their own father couldn't stand up to Burbridge.

While this is all happening, Grant has been living it up on the yacht, partying with numerous bikini-clad models, while using Andrew to avoid phone calls from Joanna's mother, Edith Mintz (Katherine Helmond).

Annie also gets the boys to start doing their share to clean up the house, eventually making it a habitable place to live. Dean, knowing that Joanna is becoming more of Annie day after day, begins to feel guilty over the charade, but can't bring himself to tell her the truth.

Annie assists Dean with plans for a miniature golf course, which comes off as a rousing success; to celebrate, they go to the town tavern-come-dance hall, where Dean tells her a local legend about the lovers Katerina and Arturo and how they are the myth of the ocean waves. Dean and Annie finally spend the night together and the next day, Dean and the boys surprise Annie with a gift appropriate to her new housewife and mother status: a new washing machine.

Meanwhile, aboard the yacht, Grant ends up talking to his mother-in-law during yet another party. He tells her Joanna is sleeping, she rejects this and tells Grant that unless she gets to talk to Joanna within a week, she will hire mercenaries to castrate him. Defeated, Grant orders the boat back to Elk Cove.

On the day of the grand opening of Dean's golf course, Annie discovers a pair of panties that belong to "Joanna". Confronting Dean about this, he tries to tell her the truth but his sons refuse to corroborate the story. His friend Billy claims that Dean is protecting him from his own infidelity with his girlfriend Gertie, rendering the subject closed. At the opening ceremony, he professes his love for her to the crowd and gives her a wedding ring. When they return home, they discover a limousine in their driveway. The door opens and Grant comes out with Andrew. When Annie sees him, she regains her full memory. Angry with Dean for lying to her, she leaves with her husband despite the boys' pleas for her to stay.

Back on the yacht, Joanna's family is concerned about her new "low-class" behaviors, such as a newfound appreciation for beer, and her consideration of others, as she offers to serve her mother, rather than leaving this role to her servants. One evening, she drinks shots of tequila with the crew in the galley. Her butler Andrew (Roddy McDowall) reminds Joanna not to forget her earrings, mocking a previous episode where she had lost them in New York City. Though Andrew has clearly stepped out of line, Joanna hears the truth in his words and apologizes for the very first time. Embarrassed, Andrew accepts the apology and turns to rinse out the glasses.

Joanna, trusting Andrew to be honest with her, asks her if he thinks she's crazy. Andrew tells her that while she has had a privileged life, she has also had the opportunity to see life from the other side, but how she chooses to use that experience is a decision she must make on her own.

Joanna realizes she loves Dean and turns the yacht around back towards Elk Cove. Grant finds out and turns the boat around. Joanna goes to the steering room and tells Grant she wants to go back. Appalled at the thought of his wife leaving a life of luxury for one of poverty, he tells her that she should have been kept in the psychiatric ward at the hospital, revealing that he knew the truth all along, yet did nothing to save her.

Meanwhile, Dean and the boys have persuaded a friend in the United States Coast Guard to take a boat out after Joanna. When it is instructed to divert for salmon poachers, both Joanna and Dean jump overboard from their respective crafts, shouting "Katerina!" and "Arturo!" They meet at sea, and are picked up by the Coast Guard vessel. Grant, incensed by Joanna leaving him, actually tries to shoot at her with his bow and arrow as she is swimming to Dean, but is unceremoniously booted overboard and into the water by Andrew, who then gives his two weeks notice. Dean cannot believe she gave up all her riches for him — but she informs him that she did not, it is all hers. Upon hearing this, he ponders what he can give her that she does not already have — to which she replies, "A little girl."

Cast

* Goldie Hawn as Joanna Stayton/Annie Proffitt
* Kurt Russell as Dean Proffitt
* Edward Herrmann as Grant Stayton III
* Katherine Helmond as Edith Mintz
* Michael G. Hagerty as Billy Pratt
* Roddy McDowall as Andrew
* Luke Strotz as Surly Captain Coleslaw
* Jared Rushton as Charlie Proffitt
* Jeffrey Wiseman as Joey Proffitt
* Jamie Wild as Greg Proffitt
* Brian Price as Travis Proffitt

External links

*
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/film.php?filmid=204 Movie stills]