Quick Change
Encyclopedia
Quick Change is a 1990 comedy film starring Bill Murray
, who also co-directed with the film's screenwriter Howard Franklin
. Geena Davis
, Randy Quaid
, and Jason Robards
co-star. Other cast members include Tony Shalhoub
, Stanley Tucci
, Phil Hartman
, Victor Argo
, Kurtwood Smith
, Bob Elliott
, and Philip Bosco
. It is based on a book of the same name by Jay Cronley
.
The film is set in New York City
, particularly in Manhattan
and Queens
, with scenes taking place on the New York City Subway
and within John F. Kennedy International Airport
. Times Square
, the Empire State Building
, and the Statue of Liberty
are also briefly seen.
Quick Change is the only directorial credit of Bill Murray's career.
, robs a bank in midtown Manhattan
. He ingeniously sets up a hostage situation and then slips away with an enormous sum of money and his accomplices: girlfriend Phyllis and best friend Loomis.
The heist itself is comparatively straightforward and easy, but the getaway turns into a nightmare. The relatively simple act of getting to the airport to catch a flight out of the city is complicated by the fact that fate, luck and all of New York City
appears to be conspiring against their escape.
For starters, construction work obscures the roads to the airport, resulting in the three robbers becoming lost in an unfamiliar part of the city. Then, a con-artist/thief robs the trio of everything they have (except the bank money, which they have taped under their clothes).
When changing into new clothes, they are almost gunned down by the stressed incoming tenant of Phyllis' apartment, as members of the fire department
respond to a call by pushing their hydrant-blocking car out of the way only to make it roll into a ditch.
When the three crooks eventually manage to flag down a cab, the driver is hopelessly non-fluent in English. An anal-retentive bus driver, a run-in with mobsters and Phyllis' increasing desperation to tell Grimm the news that she is pregnant with his child add further complications.
All the while, Rotzinger, a world-weary but relentless chief of the New York City Police Department
, is doggedly attempting to nab the fleeing trio. A final confrontation on board an airliner at the airport occurs between the robbers and the chief, who gets the added prize of having a major crime-boss dropped in his lap.
Roger Ebert
in his July 13, 1990 Chicago Sun-Times
review wrote: "'Quick Change' is a funny but not an inspired comedy. It has two directors...and I wonder if that has anything to do with its inability to be more than just efficiently entertaining."
in both NTSC
and PAL
regions in 1991, on Region 1 (NTSC) DVD in 2003 and on Region 2 (PAL) DVD in 2006.
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
, who also co-directed with the film's screenwriter Howard Franklin
Howard Franklin
Howard Franklin is an American screenwriter and film director, most well-known for the 1990 film Quick Change, his collaboration with Bill Murray...
. Geena Davis
Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist...
, Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...
, and Jason Robards
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
co-star. Other cast members include Tony Shalhoub
Tony Shalhoub
Anthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
, Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
, Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
, Victor Argo
Victor Argo
Victor Argo was a Puerto Rican - American actor who usually played the part of a tough bad guy in his movies.-Early years:...
, Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Larson Smith is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop and stern parental characters , and for his appearances in the genre of science fiction...
, Bob Elliott
Bob Elliott (comedian)
Robert Brackett "Bob" Elliott is an American actor and comedian, formerly one-half of the comedy duo of Bob and Ray. He is the father of comedian/actor Chris Elliott and the grandfather of Saturday Night Live cast member Abby Elliott.-Life and career:Elliott was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the...
, and Philip Bosco
Philip Bosco
-Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy...
. It is based on a book of the same name by Jay Cronley
Jay Cronley
Jay Cronley is a columnist for the Tulsa World and the author of many works of humorous fiction, including Fall Guy, Good Vibes, Quick Change, and Funny Farm. Most of Cronley's work is out of print. Cronley became a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame in 2002. Many of Cronley's novels...
.
The film is set in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, particularly in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, with scenes taking place on the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
and within John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
. Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
, and the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
are also briefly seen.
Quick Change is the only directorial credit of Bill Murray's career.
Plot
Grimm, dressed as a clownClown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
, robs a bank in midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
. He ingeniously sets up a hostage situation and then slips away with an enormous sum of money and his accomplices: girlfriend Phyllis and best friend Loomis.
The heist itself is comparatively straightforward and easy, but the getaway turns into a nightmare. The relatively simple act of getting to the airport to catch a flight out of the city is complicated by the fact that fate, luck and all of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
appears to be conspiring against their escape.
For starters, construction work obscures the roads to the airport, resulting in the three robbers becoming lost in an unfamiliar part of the city. Then, a con-artist/thief robs the trio of everything they have (except the bank money, which they have taped under their clothes).
When changing into new clothes, they are almost gunned down by the stressed incoming tenant of Phyllis' apartment, as members of the fire department
Fire department
A fire department or fire brigade is a public or private organization that provides fire protection for a certain jurisdiction, which typically is a municipality, county, or fire protection district...
respond to a call by pushing their hydrant-blocking car out of the way only to make it roll into a ditch.
When the three crooks eventually manage to flag down a cab, the driver is hopelessly non-fluent in English. An anal-retentive bus driver, a run-in with mobsters and Phyllis' increasing desperation to tell Grimm the news that she is pregnant with his child add further complications.
All the while, Rotzinger, a world-weary but relentless chief of the New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
, is doggedly attempting to nab the fleeing trio. A final confrontation on board an airliner at the airport occurs between the robbers and the chief, who gets the added prize of having a major crime-boss dropped in his lap.
Cast
- Bill MurrayBill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
as Grimm - Geena DavisGeena DavisVirginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist...
as Phyllis - Randy QuaidRandy QuaidRandall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...
as Loomis - Jason RobardsJason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
as Rotzinger - Tony ShalhoubTony ShalhoubAnthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
as Cab Driver - Philip BoscoPhilip Bosco-Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy...
as Bus Driver - Phil HartmanPhil HartmanPhilip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
as Edison - Stanley TucciStanley TucciStanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
as Johnny - Kurtwood SmithKurtwood SmithKurtwood Larson Smith is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop and stern parental characters , and for his appearances in the genre of science fiction...
as Lombino
Critical reaction
This little-known film features what critics claim is one of Murray's finest performances: a jaded man who has just had too much of The Big Apple. The film also features strong performance by the supporting cast, particularly Robards as the Rotzinger, who, while almost as burned out as Murray, is still determined to capture the robbers as a swan song to his long career.Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in his July 13, 1990 Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
review wrote: "'Quick Change' is a funny but not an inspired comedy. It has two directors...and I wonder if that has anything to do with its inability to be more than just efficiently entertaining."
Home media
Quick Change has been released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in both NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
and PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
regions in 1991, on Region 1 (NTSC) DVD in 2003 and on Region 2 (PAL) DVD in 2006.