Turner & Hooch

Infobox_Film
name=Turner & Hooch


caption = The movie poster for "Turner & Hooch".
imdb_id=0098536
writer=Dennis Shryack
Michael Blodgett
Daniel Petrie Jr.
Jim Cash
Jack Epps Jr.
starring=Tom Hanks
Craig T. Nelson
Reginald VelJohnson
J.C. Quinn
director=Roger Spottiswoode
music=Charles Gross
cinematography = Adam Greenberg | distributor=Touchstone Pictures
released=July 28 1989
runtime=97 min.
language=English
movie_series=
awards=
producer=Raymond Wagner
budget= |

"Turner & Hooch" is a 1989 comedy film starring Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson, and Reginald VelJohnson. It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode; the movie was originally slated to be directed by Henry Winkler, but he was terminated due to "creative differences". It was co-written by Michael Blodgett from "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" fame. A pilot for a Turner & Hooch tv series was made and ran as a part of Disneyland.

Plot

Tom Hanks plays Scott Turner, an obsessively neat police detective, who acquires Hooch (Beasley the Dog), a large and slobbery Dogue de Bordeaux, after the murder of Amos Reed, a local junk yard owner. Turner is set to transfer to a better job with the Sacramento Police Department, and Detective David Sutton (Reginald VelJohnson) is to be his replacement. However, Turner pleads with the police chief (Craig T. Nelson) to let him take on the Reed murder case. Believing that Hooch is the only witness he has to the Reed murder, Turner brings him home. The energetic dog promptly destroys Turner's house, his car, and turns his life upside-down. On a positive note, however, Hooch also instigates a romance between Turner and the town veterinarian (Mare Winningham).

Eventually Turner, with the help of Hooch, uncovers a money laundering operation led by the police chief, and Hooch gives his life to save his master. The police chief is also killed. In the end, Turner becomes Police Chief, and Sutton does indeed take Turner's former position. On the home front, Turner and the vet are married and expecting a child. In addition, the vet's collie has given birth to half a dozen puppies, including one that looks and behaves uncannily similar to Hooch.

Reception and legacy

Although the film received mixed reviews, [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1022130/reviews.php|title=Turner & Hooch (1989)|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes|accessdate=2007-01-25] it was a box office success. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098536/business|title=Business data for Turner & Hooch|publisher=IMDB|accessdate=2007-01-25] No plans remain for a sequel despite its revived popularity following Hanks' rise to success.

"Turner and Hooch" has been referred to in various movies and television shows, including the NBC medical sitcom "Scrubs", in which main characters J.D. and Turk modify shift schedules so that Doctors Turner and Hooch are teamed up as a surgical team in the episode "My Faith in Humanity" (Doctor Turner was played by Jim Hanks, Tom Hanks' brother). They actually make a good team, and are disappointed when they have to disband.

NBC did a television pilot based on the film in 1990. It aired in the summer with another dog pilot, "Poochinski" under the banner, "Two Dog Night."

During an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Conan gave Tom Hanks a preserved dog skeleton, claiming it was his old friend Hooch.

During the 2006 Academy Awards, Tom Hanks played in a sketch about acceptance speeches that ran on too long. In his comedic lengthy speech, he thanked Hooch.

Animal Makers created an exact replica of Hooch for the famous death scene.

Hooch's real name was Beasley, and he was a rare Dogue de Bordeaux, a French breed of dog developed for pit fighting in the 15th century. Beasey died in 1992.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0098536|title=Turner & Hooch