The House of Blue Leaves (film)
Encyclopedia
The House of Blue Leaves is a 1987 teleplay
adapted from the John Guare
play of the same title
.
, in 1965, the day of Pope Paul VI
's visit to New York City, the black comedy
features nuns, a political bombing, a GI
headed for Vietnam
, a zookeeper
who dreams of making it big in Hollywood as a songwriter, and his wife Bananas, a schizophrenic destined for the institution that provides the play's title.
Teleplay
A teleplay is a television play, a comedy or drama written or adapted for television. The term surfaced during the 1950s with wide usage to distinguish a television plays from stage plays for the theater and screenplays written for films...
adapted from the John Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
play of the same title
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
.
Summary
Set in Sunnyside, QueensSunnyside, Queens
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens, in New York state, in the United States. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south...
, in 1965, the day of Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
's visit to New York City, the black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
features nuns, a political bombing, a GI
GI (term)
G.I. is a noun used to describe members of the United States armed forces or items of their equipment. The term is now used as an initialism of "Government Issue" , but originally referred to galvanized iron....
headed for Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, a zookeeper
Zookeeper
A zookeeper is a worker in a zoo, responsible for the feeding and daily care of the animals. As part of their routine, they clean the exhibits and report health problems...
who dreams of making it big in Hollywood as a songwriter, and his wife Bananas, a schizophrenic destined for the institution that provides the play's title.
Cast and characters
- Swoosie KurtzSwoosie KurtzSwoosie Kurtz is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters...
– Bananas Shaughnessy - John MahoneyJohn MahoneyJohn Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
– Artie Shaughnessy - Christine BaranskiChristine BaranskiChristine Jane Baranski is an American stage and screen actress, and is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award winning portrayal as "Maryanne Thorpe" in the sitcom Cybill, and her Emmy nominated portrayal of "Diane Lockhart" in The Good Wife...
– Bunny Flingus - Julie HagertyJulie HagertyJulie Hagerty is an American actress and former model.-Early life:Hagerty was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Harriet Yuellig, a model and singer, and Jerry Hagerty, a musician. Her brother Michael Hagerty was also an actor. Her parents later divorced. Hagerty attended Indian Hill High...
– Corrinna Stroller - Ben StillerBen StillerBenjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
– Ronnie Shaughnessy - Richard PortnowRichard PortnowRichard Portnow is an American actor known for such films and television shows as Barton Fink, Se7en, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Spirit, Law Abiding Citizen, Private Parts, Fallen Arches, Double Down, Spring Break '83, The Sopranos, Hannah Montana and Boston Legal.-Life and career:A...
– Billy Einhorn - Debra Cole – Little Nun
- Patricia Falkenhain – Head Nun
- Jane Cecil – Second Nun
- Ian Blackman – MP / El Dorado bartender
- Brian Evers – The White Man / El Dorado bartender