Freaky Friday (1976 film)
Encyclopedia
Freaky Friday is a 1976 American
comedy film
starring Jodie Foster
as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris
as her mother.
The film is based on the novel of the same name
by Mary Rodgers
, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each others' lives. The cause of the switch is left unexplained in this film, but occurs one Friday the 13th, when Mrs. Andrews and Annabel, in different places, say about each other at the same time "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day." Rodgers adds a waterskiing subplot to her screenplay. The cast also includes John Astin
, Ruth Buzzi
, Dick Van Patten
, and Charlene Tilton
.
Neither Barbara Harris
nor Jodie Foster
did any actual waterskiing in the film. In both cases, these scenes were achieved with the use of professional
waterskiiers in long shot on location, and cutaway shots of the actresses in front of a green-screen projection. Foster did, however, play field hockey
in the film.
The film was remade
twice, the first being a 1995 television film
starring Shelley Long
and Gaby Hoffmann
. The second was a 2003 feature length film
directed by Mark Waters, with Lindsay Lohan
as the daughter and Jamie Lee Curtis
as the mother.
when Annabel Andrews (Jodie Foster
), just after a quarrel with her mother, Ellen Andrews (Barbara Harris
) leaves for school
. Soon after, joining a friend at a diner, Annabel and her mother (in their kitchen) wish aloud, "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day" - and in a chaotic way, Annabel and Ellen suddenly do switch places.
Annabel has a crazy day with the washer and dryer, the mechanic, the carpet cleaners, the drape cleaners, Ms. Mary Kay, the grocery boy, their dog, and the alcoholic maid. Ellen ruins all the photos in photography class, destroys and explodes about eighteen typewriters, gets lost during marching band, and loses Annabel's field hockey game. She eventually just runs away to Bill Andrews' office. When she sees the young and attractive new secretary, she invades her work by explaining how vicious and tough a woman Ellen is. So, Ellen gets Annabel's braces off, then gets a makeover and a new wardrobe. During all this, Annabel (as Ellen) plays baseball with Ben (Sparky Marcus
), (Annabel's brother whom she names Ape Face) and learns how Ben idolizes Annabel and adores whatever she does. Annabel also works a crush on an old friend, Boris Harris, who now has a huge crush on Mrs. Andrews.
Eventually, Bill (John Astin
) calls Annabel (as Ellen) and forces her to cook dinner for twenty-five people which she, Ben, and Boris destroy in the making. Ellen (as Annabel) is eventually taken away to waterski for Bill's work. However, Ellen is tricked (by Bill) into flying away on the skis. Annabel, Boris, and Ben end up driving in Ellen's car and get in an epic and comical car chase with the police. While both flying through the air, Ellen and Annabel wish to return to their own bodies - which happens with a shocking twist: Ellen returns to her body but ends up watersking, and Annabel returns to her body but still ends up driving Ellen's car.
Annabel drives Ellen's car into the river, while Ellen, who has jumped onto a parachute kite, flies crazily into the river. She and Annabel happily forgive each other. In the ending scene, Annabel and Boris (who appear to be on the verge of going steady) and Ben are about to go out for pizza, while Ellen is unsuccessfully trying to tell Bill about the story. Bill refuses to believe it, and he and Ben quarrel about how fun a Saturday in each other's place would be. They each wish to be each other, and the film ends with them about to change places while Ellen nervously throws some playing cards into the air.
and Jodie Foster
were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
for their roles in this film. Barbara Harris was actually nominated twice for this award; her other nomination being for the Alfred Hitchcock film Family Plot
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris
Barbara Harris (actress)
Barbara Harris is an American actress who was a Broadway stage star and later became a film actress. She appeared in such films as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Grosse Pointe Blank...
as her mother.
The film is based on the novel of the same name
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday is a classic comedic children’s novel written by Mary Rodgers first published in the USA in 1972, and adapted for film several times.-Plot:...
by Mary Rodgers
Mary Rodgers
Mary Rodgers is an American composer of musicals and an author of children's books. She is a daughter of composer Richard Rodgers and his wife, Dorothy Rodgers, as is her sister, Linda Rodgers Emory...
, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each others' lives. The cause of the switch is left unexplained in this film, but occurs one Friday the 13th, when Mrs. Andrews and Annabel, in different places, say about each other at the same time "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day." Rodgers adds a waterskiing subplot to her screenplay. The cast also includes John Astin
John Astin
John Allen Astin is an American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, and is best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, and other similarly eccentric comedic characters.-Early years:...
, Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Ann Buzzi is an American comedienne and actress of theatre, film, and television. She is especially known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.-Early life:...
, Dick Van Patten
Dick Van Patten
Richard Vincent "Dick" Van Patten is an American actor, best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford on the television sitcom Eight is Enough. He began work as a child actor and was successful on the [New York] stage, appearing in more than a dozen plays as a teenager...
, and Charlene Tilton
Charlene Tilton
Charlene L. Tilton is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Lucy Ewing in the television series Dallas.-Career:...
.
Neither Barbara Harris
Barbara Harris (actress)
Barbara Harris is an American actress who was a Broadway stage star and later became a film actress. She appeared in such films as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Grosse Pointe Blank...
nor Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
did any actual waterskiing in the film. In both cases, these scenes were achieved with the use of professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
waterskiiers in long shot on location, and cutaway shots of the actresses in front of a green-screen projection. Foster did, however, play field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
in the film.
The film was remade
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
twice, the first being a 1995 television film
Freaky Friday (1995 film)
Freaky Friday is a 1995 television film based on the book Freaky Friday.-Plot:A mother, Ellen, and daughter Annabelle find it difficult to get along with each other, each professing that the other has no idea what her life is like...
starring Shelley Long
Shelley Long
Shelley Lee Long is an American actress best known for her role as Diane Chambers on the sitcom Cheers, for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress...
and Gaby Hoffmann
Gaby Hoffmann
Gabriella Mary "Gaby" Hoffmann is an American actress.-Birth:Hoffmann was born in New York City. Her mother, Viva , is an actress and writer and appeared in many of Andy Warhol's movies during the 1960s...
. The second was a 2003 feature length film
Freaky Friday (2003 film)
Freaky Friday is a 2003 film based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers. It stars Lindsay Lohan as Anna Coleman and Jamie Lee Curtis as her mother. In the film their bodies are switched due to an enchanted Chinese fortune cookie...
directed by Mark Waters, with Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
as the daughter and Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
as the mother.
Plot
The film opens on Friday the 13thFriday the 13th
Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year...
when Annabel Andrews (Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
), just after a quarrel with her mother, Ellen Andrews (Barbara Harris
Barbara Harris (actress)
Barbara Harris is an American actress who was a Broadway stage star and later became a film actress. She appeared in such films as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Grosse Pointe Blank...
) leaves for school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
. Soon after, joining a friend at a diner, Annabel and her mother (in their kitchen) wish aloud, "I wish I could switch places with her for just one day" - and in a chaotic way, Annabel and Ellen suddenly do switch places.
Annabel has a crazy day with the washer and dryer, the mechanic, the carpet cleaners, the drape cleaners, Ms. Mary Kay, the grocery boy, their dog, and the alcoholic maid. Ellen ruins all the photos in photography class, destroys and explodes about eighteen typewriters, gets lost during marching band, and loses Annabel's field hockey game. She eventually just runs away to Bill Andrews' office. When she sees the young and attractive new secretary, she invades her work by explaining how vicious and tough a woman Ellen is. So, Ellen gets Annabel's braces off, then gets a makeover and a new wardrobe. During all this, Annabel (as Ellen) plays baseball with Ben (Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus is an American actor born December 6, 1967 in Hollywood, California. He had a prolific career as a child actor.-Career:...
), (Annabel's brother whom she names Ape Face) and learns how Ben idolizes Annabel and adores whatever she does. Annabel also works a crush on an old friend, Boris Harris, who now has a huge crush on Mrs. Andrews.
Eventually, Bill (John Astin
John Astin
John Allen Astin is an American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, and is best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, and other similarly eccentric comedic characters.-Early years:...
) calls Annabel (as Ellen) and forces her to cook dinner for twenty-five people which she, Ben, and Boris destroy in the making. Ellen (as Annabel) is eventually taken away to waterski for Bill's work. However, Ellen is tricked (by Bill) into flying away on the skis. Annabel, Boris, and Ben end up driving in Ellen's car and get in an epic and comical car chase with the police. While both flying through the air, Ellen and Annabel wish to return to their own bodies - which happens with a shocking twist: Ellen returns to her body but ends up watersking, and Annabel returns to her body but still ends up driving Ellen's car.
Annabel drives Ellen's car into the river, while Ellen, who has jumped onto a parachute kite, flies crazily into the river. She and Annabel happily forgive each other. In the ending scene, Annabel and Boris (who appear to be on the verge of going steady) and Ben are about to go out for pizza, while Ellen is unsuccessfully trying to tell Bill about the story. Bill refuses to believe it, and he and Ben quarrel about how fun a Saturday in each other's place would be. They each wish to be each other, and the film ends with them about to change places while Ellen nervously throws some playing cards into the air.
Cast
- Barbara HarrisBarbara Harris (actress)Barbara Harris is an American actress who was a Broadway stage star and later became a film actress. She appeared in such films as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Grosse Pointe Blank...
as Ellen Andrews / Annabel Andrews - Jodie FosterJodie FosterAlicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
as Annabel Andrews / Ellen Andrews - John AstinJohn AstinJohn Allen Astin is an American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, and is best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, and other similarly eccentric comedic characters.-Early years:...
as Bill Andrews - Patsy KellyPatsy KellyPatsy Kelly was an American stage and film comedic actress.-Early life and career:Kelly was born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrants, John and Delia Kelly, and made her Broadway debut in 1928...
as Mrs. Schmauss - Dick Van PattenDick Van PattenRichard Vincent "Dick" Van Patten is an American actor, best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford on the television sitcom Eight is Enough. He began work as a child actor and was successful on the [New York] stage, appearing in more than a dozen plays as a teenager...
as Harold Jennings - Vicki Shreck as Virginia
- Sorrell BookeSorrell BookeSorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He is best known for his role as the heavyset, corrupt politician "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard....
as Mr. Dilk - Alan OppenheimerAlan OppenheimerAlan Oppenheimer is an American character actor and voice actor. He has performed numerous roles on live-action television since the 1960s, and has had an active career doing voice work in cartoons since the 1970s.-Early life:...
as Mr. Joffert - Ruth BuzziRuth BuzziRuth Ann Buzzi is an American comedienne and actress of theatre, film, and television. She is especially known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.-Early life:...
as Opposing coach - Kaye BallardKaye BallardKaye Ballard is an American musical theatre and television actress, comedienne, and singer.-Life and career:Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italian American family, the daughter of Lena and Vincent James Balotta.Ballard established herself as a musical...
as Coach Betsy - Marc McClureMarc McClureMarc A. McClure is an American actor. McClure was born in San Mateo, California. He is not, despite a popular misconception, related to the late Doug McClure.-Superman film series:...
as Boris Harris - Marie WindsorMarie WindsorMarie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...
as Mrs. Murphy - Sparky MarcusSparky MarcusSparky Marcus is an American actor born December 6, 1967 in Hollywood, California. He had a prolific career as a child actor.-Career:...
as Ben Andrews - Ceil Cabot as Miss McGuirk
- Brooke Mills as Mrs. Gibbons†
- Karen Smith as Mary Kay Gilbert
- Marvin KaplanMarvin KaplanMarvin Kaplan is an American character actor and voice artist. Kaplan is probably best known for his recurring role on the sitcom Alice where he portrayed a phone company employee named Henry Beesmeyer who frequented Mel's diner. He was a part of the cast from 1977 to the series end in 1985...
as Carpet cleaner - Al MolinaroAl MolinaroAlbert Francis "Al" Molinaro is an actor in television and films, most notably as Al Delvecchio, the owner of Arnold's on Happy Days and its spin-off show Joanie Loves Chachi, Murray the Cop on The Odd Couple television series, as well as starring in commercials for On-Cor frozen dinners...
as Drapery man - Iris AdrianIris AdrianIris Adrian was an American film actress.-Life and career:Born in Los Angeles, California as Iris Hostetter, Adrian won a beauty pageant and worked with the Ziegfeld Follies, before she entered films at the end of the silent era in Chasing Husbands and appeared as an extra or chorus girl in early...
as Bus passenger - Barbara Walden as Mrs. Benson
- Shelly Jutner as Hilary Miller
- Charlene TiltonCharlene TiltonCharlene L. Tilton is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Lucy Ewing in the television series Dallas.-Career:...
as Bambi - Lori Rutherford as Jo-Jo
- Jack SheldonJack SheldonJack Sheldon is an American bebop and West Coast jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor. He is a trumpet player and was a comedian on The Merv Griffin Show, as well as the voice heard on several episodes of the educational music television series Schoolhouse Rock.-Biography:Sheldon was born in...
as Lloyd - Laurie MainLaurie MainLaurence "Laurie" Main is an English former actor. Although Main appeared in many films and television series since the 1950s, he is perhaps best known for hosting and narrating the children's series Welcome to Pooh Corner, which aired on The Disney Channel during the 1980s.His television guest...
as Mr. Mills - Don CarterDon CarterDon Carter may refer to:*Don Carter *Don Carter , basketball entrepreneur*Don Carter...
as Delivery boy - Fuddle Bagley as Bus driver
- Fritz FeldFritz FeldFritz Feld was a film character actor actor who appeared in over 140 films, both silent and sound. His trademark was to slap his mouth with the palm of his hand to create a pop sound.-Biography:...
as Mr. Jackman - Dermott Downs as Harvey manager
- Jimmy Van Patten as Cashier
Awards
Barbara HarrisBarbara Harris (actress)
Barbara Harris is an American actress who was a Broadway stage star and later became a film actress. She appeared in such films as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Grosse Pointe Blank...
and Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...
for their roles in this film. Barbara Harris was actually nominated twice for this award; her other nomination being for the Alfred Hitchcock film Family Plot
Family Plot
Family Plot is a 1976 American dark comedy/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his fifty-third and final film. It stars Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, William Devane, and Karen Black....
.