Weekend at Bernie's
Encyclopedia
Weekend at Bernie's is a 1989 American comedy film
directed by Ted Kotcheff
. A comedy starring Andrew McCarthy
and Jonathan Silverman
features the two as a couple of young insurance agency employees who discover their boss is deceased. Believing that they are responsible for his death and that a hitman won't kill them if Bernie is around, they attempt to convince people that he is still alive.
Though the film was not a blockbuster, it was still a cultural icon as well as a financial success, grossing $70 million worldwide at the box office, and was profitable on home video. It spawned a sequel in 1993
, Weekend at Bernie's II
.
) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman
) are two low-level employees at an insurance agency who uncover a $2 million fraud involving multiple life insurance policies that were issued after the death of the insured. Taking their findings to their boss Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser
), they are commended for discovering insurance fraud
and invited to Bernie's "Hampton Island" beach house for the following long weekend. Unbeknownst to Larry and Richard, Bernie is behind the fraud and nervously arranges with his mob
partners to have them both killed that weekend and arrange it as a murder-suicide. The gangsters, however, double cross Bernie and change the plan to have Paulie (Don Calfa) murder Bernie at his beach house instead, as Bernie's reckless greed has made him a liability, in addition to the fact he is having an affair with the mob boss Vito's girlfriend, Tina (Catherine Parks
).
Bernie arrives at the island early, before Larry and Richard, and speaks to Paulie on the phone. The conversation, accidentally recorded on Bernie's answering machine
, pointedly mentions Bernie's alibi once Paulie is supposed to kill the two friends. Bernie then writes a confession and plants cash implicating Larry and Richard in what Bernie thinks will be their later deaths. Paulie arrives, kills Bernie by injection and leaves heroin to make it appear as an apparent overdose. Larry and Richard arrive at the beach house, find their now-dead boss and think he is meditating. While trying to liven him up, they discover a small bag of heroin in his jacket, left as evidence by the killer to suggest that Bernie overdosed. Guests start arriving for a "floating" party that passes through Bernie's house every weekend, as he is immensely popular on the island. Larry and Richard immediately realize that the vast majority of people are too engrossed in their own partying to notice the "host", and even the few appearing to talk to Bernie in passing are too superficial and oblivious to think twice about the apparent lack of response between his eyes concealed behind dark sunglasses and a certain dopey grin (literally and figuratively) from the murderous overdose: "You've never looked so relaxed," someone tells him.
Despite the more conniving Larry's effort to persuade his friend to take advantage of the incredible situation to enjoy the accommodations for at least a while, straitlaced Richard begins to call the police until he spots the arrival of a fellow insurance worker, summer intern Gwen Saunders (Catherine Mary Stewart
). Managing to move Bernie's body away from the party with Larry broadly hinting their boss is "dead" drunk, Richard is finally free to court the comely Gwen with Larry's prompting: "Girl, beach, sand, surf, moonlight ... you ever see From Here to Eternity
?" After the party has ended, another man from Vito's gang arrives and has reason to believe Bernie is still alive. He immediately calls in this surprising news to Vito, who has Paulie check back at the house the next day. The next morning starts with Larry playing Monopoly
with his dead boss, out on the deck. Richard gets flustered when Gwen arrives to thank Bernie for her summer job at the insurance company. To hide Bernie from Gwen, Larry ends up dropping the corpse off the side of the deck, unknowingly on top of Paulie who was spying from beneath the patio. At once shocked and provoked by what he thinks is this sudden attack, Paulie chokes Bernie until he's positive he has no pulse availible.
Larry and Richard finally determine to call the police but inadvertently press the answering machine playback of Bernie's conversation with Paulie alluding to their planned murder, which in turn leads them to discover the cash and note left by Bernie framing them. They initially try to leave the island by ferry
, dragging Bernie draped over their shoulders to look like he's walking between them. The ferry leaves as they arrive at the wharf and Paulie — who is on the ferry — becomes agitated at the sight of Bernie running alongside Larry and Richard shouting to stop the boat. Paulie is driven crazy by how two murder attempts on Bernie could have failed. Next, Larry and Richard attempt to use Bernie's speedboat to leave the island. Neither knows how to drive a boat, however, and they end up wreaking havoc on various local boats and fishermen. The boat soon runs out of gas, and the duo is forced to paddle on Bernie's back to the beach house.
At the house, Gwen confronts Larry and Richard to pressure them to tell the truth. They break down and reveal that they had found Bernie dead from the start of the weekend. Suddenly Paulie returns, thinking Bernie is still alive, and blatantly fires six gunshots into Bernie in front of Gwen, Larry, and Richard. Paulie then turns the gun on the others, but he has emptied the chamber. Chasing them with another loaded gun, Paulie is caught by surprise when Larry manages to entangle him with a phone cord and knock him out. The police eventually arrive to place Paulie under arrest for first degree murder, carting him off in a strait-jacket
as he continues to insist Bernie is still alive. As Bernie is being loaded into the ambulance
, his gurney
rolls away and down the boardwalk
, dumping his body off the gurney and onto the beach yet again, where a young boy comes along, and starts to play by scooping buckets of sand over the body. At last, Bernie is buried.
in an SNL Digital Short titled: "Party at Mr. Bernard's" with Robert De Niro
in the titular role.
Senator John McCain
joked that if Alan Greenspan
, then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve
, were to die in office, McCain would want to "do like they did in the movie Weekend at Bernie's ... I'd prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him and keep him as long as I could." After Greenspan retired from the Federal Reserve, McCain later made the same joke that he would appoint him to a commission to review the tax code even if he were dead: "If he's dead, just prop him up and put some dark glasses on him like, like 'Weekend at Bernie's.'"
In 2008, in Hell's Kitchen
(New York City), the New York Daily News
reported that two men tried to pass off their dead friend as alive so that they could collect his social security check.
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...
directed by Ted Kotcheff
Ted Kotcheff
Ted Kotcheff , sometimes credited as William Kotcheff or William T. Kotcheff, is a Canadian film and television director, who is well known for his work on several high-profile British television productions and as a director of films such as First Blood.-Early life:Kotcheff was born William...
. A comedy starring Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy
Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...
and Jonathan Silverman
Jonathan Silverman
-Personal life:Silverman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Devora and Hillel Emanuel Silverman, a rabbi. He is the grandson of famous Conservative Rabbi Morris Silverman. David Schwimmer was his best friend in high school. He is married to actress Jennifer Finnigan who he briefly co...
features the two as a couple of young insurance agency employees who discover their boss is deceased. Believing that they are responsible for his death and that a hitman won't kill them if Bernie is around, they attempt to convince people that he is still alive.
Though the film was not a blockbuster, it was still a cultural icon as well as a financial success, grossing $70 million worldwide at the box office, and was profitable on home video. It spawned a sequel in 1993
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
, Weekend at Bernie's II
Weekend at Bernie's II
Weekend at Bernie's II is a comedy film released in 1993 by TriStar Pictures and was the sequel to the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's.- Plot :...
.
Plot
Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthyAndrew McCarthy
Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...
) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman
Jonathan Silverman
-Personal life:Silverman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Devora and Hillel Emanuel Silverman, a rabbi. He is the grandson of famous Conservative Rabbi Morris Silverman. David Schwimmer was his best friend in high school. He is married to actress Jennifer Finnigan who he briefly co...
) are two low-level employees at an insurance agency who uncover a $2 million fraud involving multiple life insurance policies that were issued after the death of the insured. Taking their findings to their boss Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser
Terry Kiser
Terry Kiser is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the dead title-character in the comedy Weekend at Bernie's, and its sequel, Weekend at Bernie's II....
), they are commended for discovering insurance fraud
Insurance fraud
Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to fraudulently obtain payment from an insurer.Insurance fraud has existed ever since the beginning of insurance as a commercial enterprise. Fraudulent claims account for a significant portion of all claims received by insurers, and cost billions...
and invited to Bernie's "Hampton Island" beach house for the following long weekend. Unbeknownst to Larry and Richard, Bernie is behind the fraud and nervously arranges with his mob
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
partners to have them both killed that weekend and arrange it as a murder-suicide. The gangsters, however, double cross Bernie and change the plan to have Paulie (Don Calfa) murder Bernie at his beach house instead, as Bernie's reckless greed has made him a liability, in addition to the fact he is having an affair with the mob boss Vito's girlfriend, Tina (Catherine Parks
Catherine Parks
Catherine LaBelle Parks is an American actress who has starred in movies and on television. She is perhaps best known for her role in the 1982 horror movie Friday the 13th Part III as Vera Sanchez and in the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's.Parks was born Catherine LaBelle in Tampa, Florida. She...
).
Bernie arrives at the island early, before Larry and Richard, and speaks to Paulie on the phone. The conversation, accidentally recorded on Bernie's answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
, pointedly mentions Bernie's alibi once Paulie is supposed to kill the two friends. Bernie then writes a confession and plants cash implicating Larry and Richard in what Bernie thinks will be their later deaths. Paulie arrives, kills Bernie by injection and leaves heroin to make it appear as an apparent overdose. Larry and Richard arrive at the beach house, find their now-dead boss and think he is meditating. While trying to liven him up, they discover a small bag of heroin in his jacket, left as evidence by the killer to suggest that Bernie overdosed. Guests start arriving for a "floating" party that passes through Bernie's house every weekend, as he is immensely popular on the island. Larry and Richard immediately realize that the vast majority of people are too engrossed in their own partying to notice the "host", and even the few appearing to talk to Bernie in passing are too superficial and oblivious to think twice about the apparent lack of response between his eyes concealed behind dark sunglasses and a certain dopey grin (literally and figuratively) from the murderous overdose: "You've never looked so relaxed," someone tells him.
Despite the more conniving Larry's effort to persuade his friend to take advantage of the incredible situation to enjoy the accommodations for at least a while, straitlaced Richard begins to call the police until he spots the arrival of a fellow insurance worker, summer intern Gwen Saunders (Catherine Mary Stewart
Catherine Mary Stewart
Catherine Mary Stewart is a Canadian actress. Her first notable role was as Kayla Brady on the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1981 to 1983...
). Managing to move Bernie's body away from the party with Larry broadly hinting their boss is "dead" drunk, Richard is finally free to court the comely Gwen with Larry's prompting: "Girl, beach, sand, surf, moonlight ... you ever see From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
?" After the party has ended, another man from Vito's gang arrives and has reason to believe Bernie is still alive. He immediately calls in this surprising news to Vito, who has Paulie check back at the house the next day. The next morning starts with Larry playing Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
with his dead boss, out on the deck. Richard gets flustered when Gwen arrives to thank Bernie for her summer job at the insurance company. To hide Bernie from Gwen, Larry ends up dropping the corpse off the side of the deck, unknowingly on top of Paulie who was spying from beneath the patio. At once shocked and provoked by what he thinks is this sudden attack, Paulie chokes Bernie until he's positive he has no pulse availible.
Larry and Richard finally determine to call the police but inadvertently press the answering machine playback of Bernie's conversation with Paulie alluding to their planned murder, which in turn leads them to discover the cash and note left by Bernie framing them. They initially try to leave the island by ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
, dragging Bernie draped over their shoulders to look like he's walking between them. The ferry leaves as they arrive at the wharf and Paulie — who is on the ferry — becomes agitated at the sight of Bernie running alongside Larry and Richard shouting to stop the boat. Paulie is driven crazy by how two murder attempts on Bernie could have failed. Next, Larry and Richard attempt to use Bernie's speedboat to leave the island. Neither knows how to drive a boat, however, and they end up wreaking havoc on various local boats and fishermen. The boat soon runs out of gas, and the duo is forced to paddle on Bernie's back to the beach house.
At the house, Gwen confronts Larry and Richard to pressure them to tell the truth. They break down and reveal that they had found Bernie dead from the start of the weekend. Suddenly Paulie returns, thinking Bernie is still alive, and blatantly fires six gunshots into Bernie in front of Gwen, Larry, and Richard. Paulie then turns the gun on the others, but he has emptied the chamber. Chasing them with another loaded gun, Paulie is caught by surprise when Larry manages to entangle him with a phone cord and knock him out. The police eventually arrive to place Paulie under arrest for first degree murder, carting him off in a strait-jacket
Strait-Jacket
Strait-Jacket is a 1964 American thriller film starring Joan Crawford and Diane Baker in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a series of axe-murders. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by Dona Holloway...
as he continues to insist Bernie is still alive. As Bernie is being loaded into the ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
, his gurney
Gurney
A gurney, known as a trolley in British medical context, is the U.S. term for a type of stretcher used in modern hospitals and ambulances in developed areas. A hospital gurney is a kind of narrow bed on a wheeled frame which may be adjustable in height. For ambulances, a collapsible gurney is a...
rolls away and down the boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
, dumping his body off the gurney and onto the beach yet again, where a young boy comes along, and starts to play by scooping buckets of sand over the body. At last, Bernie is buried.
Main cast
- Andrew McCarthyAndrew McCarthyAndrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...
as Larry Wilson - Jonathan SilvermanJonathan Silverman-Personal life:Silverman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Devora and Hillel Emanuel Silverman, a rabbi. He is the grandson of famous Conservative Rabbi Morris Silverman. David Schwimmer was his best friend in high school. He is married to actress Jennifer Finnigan who he briefly co...
as Richard Parker - Terry KiserTerry KiserTerry Kiser is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the dead title-character in the comedy Weekend at Bernie's, and its sequel, Weekend at Bernie's II....
as Bernie Lomax - Catherine Mary StewartCatherine Mary StewartCatherine Mary Stewart is a Canadian actress. Her first notable role was as Kayla Brady on the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1981 to 1983...
as Gwen Saunders - Don Calfa as Paulie
- Catherine ParksCatherine ParksCatherine LaBelle Parks is an American actress who has starred in movies and on television. She is perhaps best known for her role in the 1982 horror movie Friday the 13th Part III as Vera Sanchez and in the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's.Parks was born Catherine LaBelle in Tampa, Florida. She...
as Tina
- Eloise Broady as Tawny
- Gregory Salata as Marty
- Louis GiambalvoLouis GiambalvoLouis Giambalvo is an American actor, frequently seen on television in guest roles.His television credits include: Barney Miller, Hart to Hart, St...
as Vito - Ted KotcheffTed KotcheffTed Kotcheff , sometimes credited as William Kotcheff or William T. Kotcheff, is a Canadian film and television director, who is well known for his work on several high-profile British television productions and as a director of films such as First Blood.-Early life:Kotcheff was born William...
as Mr. Parker - Margaret Hall as Lomax's secretary
- Jason WolinerJason WolinerJason Woliner is an American comedy director, writer, editor and also a former child actor. He is the non-performing member of the comedy group "Human Giant" and has directed the bulk of their output. The group, which also consists of comedians Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer, produced an...
as Bratty kid
In popular culture
The film was parodied during the December 4, 2010 episode of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in an SNL Digital Short titled: "Party at Mr. Bernard's" with Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
in the titular role.
Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
joked that if Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC...
, then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the central banking system of the United States. Known colloquially as "Chairman of the Fed," or in market circles "Fed Chairman" or "Fed Chief"...
, were to die in office, McCain would want to "do like they did in the movie Weekend at Bernie's ... I'd prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him and keep him as long as I could." After Greenspan retired from the Federal Reserve, McCain later made the same joke that he would appoint him to a commission to review the tax code even if he were dead: "If he's dead, just prop him up and put some dark glasses on him like, like 'Weekend at Bernie's.'"
In 2008, in Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
(New York City), the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
reported that two men tried to pass off their dead friend as alive so that they could collect his social security check.