Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

David Lowell Rich

Writers:

Henry Barrow (story)
Barbara Dana (writer)

Release Date:

28 August 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Carmen Miranda Impersonator | Vagrant | Homelessness | Reference To Carmen Miranda | Baseball Has Been

Cast

Alan Arkin	...	Flash
Carol Burnett	...	Emily
Jack Warden	...	The Commander
Danny Aiello	...	Johnson
Adam Arkin	...	Charlie
Danny Glover	...	Morgan
Sid Haig	...	Vince
Vincent Schiavelli	...	B.J
Ruth Buzzi	...	Consuelo
Vito Scotti	...	Vittorio
Lou Jacobi	...	Landlord
Barbara Dana	...	Betty
Scott Beach	...	Harry
Geoff Hoyle	...	Clem
Morgan Upton	...	Butts

Runtime:

100 min | Australia:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

22nd & Carolina Streets, Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Melvin Simon Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When Emily is dancing on the street dressed as Carmen Miranda, she's sometimes completely in the shadow of the building and sometimes in the sun.

Movie Connections:

References Scared Stiff (1953)

Soundtrack:

Whole Lot of Money

Classic Alan Arkin...

Alan Arkin is a bum, surrounded by characters crazier than himself, who has finally dried out and has the chance to play minor league ball. (He was known as the "Philly Flash" when he was a major league pitcher, before becoming a major drunk.) The only catch is, he's got to get there(Minnestoa as I recall) himself. So he does all the things street people do, wash car windshields, do small errands, sell bogus crap to people to get the bus ticket money. He has friends and colleagues, but not the kind that will finance him (Hey,we're talking $40 here) So he's trying to earn the bus ticket money.

Enter, Chu Chu (Carol Burnett) a street performer who teaches music to the desperately untalented from her one room apartment and does a very funny one woman band show for spare change on the street. When they meet, its love at first sight, okay, maybe second second. Although the main comedy instrument is the discovery of secret government documents, which the Flash informs Chu Chu are worth "fifty bucks, maybe seventy five", this movie is about the love between two hapless characters who's talents aren't enough for fame and fortune but gives them the hope that they can have a better life than the ones they have.

What makes this film really work is that their best friends sitting in the bus depot basically recalling the events of the last few days while waiting for their friends to arrive. If Chu Chu and the Flash are life's losers, then Charlie (played by Adam Arkin) and Theresa are a few rungs below that. Everyone should have friends as loyal and selfless as these two.