Big

Infobox Film | name = Big


caption = Promotional film poster for "Big".
director = Penny Marshall
producer = James L. Brooks
Robert Greenhut
writer = Gary Ross
Anne Spielberg
starring = Tom Hanks
Elizabeth Perkins
Robert Loggia
John Heard
music = Howard Shore
cinematography = Barry Sonnenfeld
editing =
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = June 3, 1988 (USA)
runtime = 104 min.
language = English
budget = $18,000,000 (est.)
rated = PG
amg_id = 1:5343
imdb_id = 0094737

"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 trying 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 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks).

Josh sneaks out of his house and tries to go back to the carnival to turn back into himself,only to find out that the carnival is now gone. Josh reluctantly decides to go back home and just show his mother his new look. As soon as he enters his house and tries to explain, his mother sees him and runs and screams around her own home. Josh's mom then brandishes a steak knife at Josh, unaware that what appears to be a menacing intruder is really her son. Eventually, screaming blood-curdlingly, she drives the now 30-year-old out of her house, and then finding Josh gone believes he has been kidnapped. In desperation, Josh corners his 13-year-old best friend, Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), and convinces him of his true identity (by singing a secret song only they know). With Billy's help, 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. With his insight into what to sell to children, he quickly rises up the corporate ranks.

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). In time, Josh sees his friendship with Billy start to fade as his relationship with Susan begins to grow, and he is faced with a choice: return to his old life with his family and friends or remain an adult with Susan. Ultimately, he decides to return to his normal life and seeks out the Zoltar machine, wishing himself back to childhood. Susan catches up to Josh right after he makes his wish. He tries to convince her to join him, but she isn't willing to relive her adolescence. Susan drives Josh home. They part, with a hint that they may meet later, when he has grown up.

Acclaim

"Big" was received with almost unanimous critical acclaim, and is considered by many critics the gold standard of movies in which a child is trapped in an adult's body. Many critics praised Tom Hanks for his "believable" and "adorable" performance. [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=&title2=BIG%20%28MOVIE%29&reviewer=Janet%20Maslin&v_id=5343&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes]

"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 revealed its "Ten Top Ten" — the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres — after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. "Big" was acknowledged as the tenth-best film in the fantasy genre. [cite news | author = American Film Institute | title = AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres | work = ComingSoon.net | date = 2008-06-17 | url = http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46072 | accessdate= 2008-06-18] [cite web | title= Top 10 Fantasy | url = http://www.afi.com/10top10/fantasy.html | publisher= American Film Institute |accessdate= 2008-06-18]

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.

Filming locations

The Carnival at the beginning of the movie was one of the largest traveling carnivals in the U.S.: Reithoffer Shows, Inc. It set up the carnival specially for the movie. In addition to the company being cited in the "special thanks" section of the credits, the company's name appears on the Super Loop operator's shirt.The movie takes place partially at Playland amusement park in Rye, New York. Shots of the carnival, where Josh makes his first wish, included a location just north of the George Washington Bridge, on the New Jersey side, called Ross Dock Picnic Area. Young Josh lives on Greenmount Avenue in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.

Many shots of Josh at school, the gym, posing outside the entrance or playing stick-ball are taken from Cliffside Park School #6 (New Jersey) on Oakdene Ave. Shots of the boys outside a store are taken from the corner of Anderson Ave. and Columbia Ave. (very close to Cliffside Park School #4)

The MacMillan Toy Company office exterior shots where the movie was filmed was also the New York Toy Fair showroom for Hasbro Toys, which closed in 2004.

The toy company's interior shots, offices, reception lobby, meeting rooms, corridors et al. were shot in the office space of Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt, Inc., a New York advertising agency which was then located at 40 West 23rd St. in New York. BJK&E is cited in the credits. The Hasbro Toys showroom was located on the ground floor of this building. Bozell Worldwide, Inc. was subsequently acquired by True North, an advertising agency holding company.

Many parts of the movie were filmed on Main Street and South Highland Avenue in Ossining, New York.

ee also

pin-offs

*"Big, The Musical"
*"Little, The Drama"

imilar films

*"Freaky Friday" (1976)
*"Da grande" (1987)
*"Like Father Like Son" (1987)
*"14 Going on 30" (1988) (TV)
*"Vice Versa" (1988)
*"18 Again!" (1988)
*"Dream a Little Dream" (1989)
*"Freaky Friday" (1995)
*"Seventeen Again" (2000)
*"Freaky Friday" (2003)
*"Naani" (Telugu) (2003)
*"13 Going on 30" also known as Suddenly 30 (2004)
*"New" (tamil) (2004)
*"17 Again" (2008)

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0094737|title=Big
*imdb title|id=0164519|title=Da grande
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/big/ "Big" on Rotten Tomatoes]
*mojo title|id=big|title=Big
* [http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=27946 DVDTalk.com Review of Extended Edition DVD]
* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=&title2=BIG%20%28MOVIE%29&reviewer=Janet%20Maslin&v_id=5343&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes The New York Times on Big]
* [http://www.gameroomshow.com/index.php?photos/album/2/photo/8.php Original Mike Munves Grandma Fortune Teller as seen in Big]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/film.php?filmid=3547 Movie stills]