PURE LUCK
US, 1991, 96 minutes, Colour.
Martin Short, Danny Glover, Sheila Kelley, Sam Wanamaker, Scott Wilson, Harry Shearer.
Directed by Nadia Tass.
Pure Luck is an American version of Francis Veber’s La Chevre (1981). Three of Veber’s films starred Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu. In this remake, Martin Short is the Richard character and Danny Glover the Depardieu character.
The film was directed by Nadia Tass who had made an impact with Malcolm and went on to make Ricki and Pete, Mr Reliable, and the biopic of Shirley Temple.
The film has an amusing presupposition. An heiress, accident-prone (Sheila Kelley) has a fall and suffers amnesia in Mexico. A doctor (Harry Shearer, the voices from The Simpsons) evolves a theory where it takes someone accident-prone to lead to the missing woman. With a series of misadventures, slapstick comedy, pratfalls, this eventually proves true. Martin Short is pleasantly restrained as the accident-prone man and offers a comic performance as well as a comic character. Danny Glover is the serious straight man, put upon by his accident-prone partner. Sam Wanamaker, blacklisted in America and moving to England where he rebuilt the Globe Theatre on the South Bank, is the tycoon whose daughter is missing. Scott Wilson is her abductor – driven nervy by her ditzy behaviour and her accidents.
The film is quite amusing in an undemanding kind of way.
1.Comedy? Farce? Pratfalls and slapstick? Zany characters? A good combination?
2.The title, the emphasis on luck, good luck and bad luck? Doctor Monosoff’s theory? Studying accident-prone people – and deciding that an accident-prone person is the most likely to find an accident-prone woman who has disappeared? Seeing this played out in action? The amusing finale and the verification of the theory?
3.The Mexican settings, the coast, the towns, hotels? The dingier aspects of the towns? The clubs? The contrast with the US and the big business and corporation buildings? The musical score?
4.The introduction to Valerie, seeing her and her accidents, the destruction of the luggage, her walking into the door…? Phoning her father, his concern for her? Her disappearance? Her being mugged and her bag stolen, lying in the street, Frank Grimes seeming to rescue her but robbing her? Taking her away and the plans for ransom? Her amnesia? Frank Grimes reappearing at the club, gambling, Eugene and Raymond taking him, his desperation because of her behaviour? His helping out – and the sudden shock of his being killed?
5.Valerie disappearing from the film? Her father, discussions with Doctor Monosoff? Raymond as the private eye and his not being able to find Valerie? The theory about Eugene Proctor? Testing him out on the broken chair? His being prone to take the accidental option? Their playing up to him, his vanity, putting him in charge of the investigation? Raymond, ultra-serious, his reaction?
6.The odd couple, at the airport, the luggage, the accidents? The delayed plane? Going to Mexico? Eugene thinking he was in charge? Acting it out? Raymond and his exasperation?
7.The amusement at the accidents, so many? Tripping, falling, being knocked out? Eugene and his vanity, ordering Raymond around? His attraction to the girl in the bar – and his being set up, bashed and robbed? Going back with Raymond to confront the man at the bar, going to the club? Raymond and his standover tactics, the fingers on the nose of the doorkeeper? Getting in, getting the money back?
8.Raymond and his missing Frank Grimes, Eugene and the photo, the return? Interrogating Grimes? Going out into the countryside? Grimes’s death?
9.Driving, stranded, on the cliff edge, the literal cliff-hanger? The rescue?
10.Eugene and his final accident, in the hospital, his being placed in the ward with Valerie? Their similarity? The recognition of the truth? Eugene achieving his mission?
11.The ending – the couple on the top of the waterfall and the film ending? An amusing character study, situation comedy?
