Doctor Detroit (1983)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Michael Pressman

Writers:

Bruce Jay Friedman (story)
Carl Gottlieb (writer) ...

Release Date:

25 November 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

He's making the world safe for insanity.

Plot:

A timid college professor, conned into posing as a flamboyant pimp, finds himself enjoying his new occupation on the streets.

Plot Keywords:

Pimp | College Professor | Beautiful Woman | Box Office Flop | Dual Identity

Cast

Dan Aykroyd	...	Clifford Skridlow / Doctor Detroit
Howard Hesseman	...	Smooth Walker
Donna Dixon	...	Monica McNeil
Lydia Lei	...	Jasmine Wu
T.K. Carter	...	Diavolo Washington
Lynn Whitfield	...	Thelma Cleland
Fran Drescher	...	Karen Blittstein
John A. Maloney	...	Commodore
Pershing P. Anderson	...	Stretch
William Munchow	...	Professor Artel
Ed Meekin	...	Professor Durant (as Edward Meekin)
Hank Salas	...	Johnny
Rudolph Kovar	...	Carson (as Rudolf Kovar)
Kate Murtagh	...	Mom
Peter Elbling	...	Guptor

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Black Rhino Productions

Trivia:

The Illinois license plate on Dan Aykroyd's car is BDR-529; this is the same plate that was on the Bluesmobile in The Blues Brothers (1980).

Quotes:

Clifford Skridlow: [waking from a nightmare where his mother becomes a prostitute] NO! I will NOT sell my mother!
Margaret Skridlow: [walking in on him] Of course, not dear. But it's a sweet thought.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Soundtrack:

You Are The One

Silly comedy

Dan Ackroyd in his prime essays the role of DOCTOR DETROIT, a comic superpimp. In his regular life, Doctor Detroit is a meek college professor right out of a Golden Era slapstick comedy like Cary Grant in "Bringing Up Baby" or Gary Cooper in "Ball of Fire" or even Danny Kaye in the remake, "A Song Is Born." Why and how the professor turns into this larger-than-life, scratchy-voiced pimp is what the movie is all about. And in the end, the Doctor must face down Mom, a notorious gangster. Problem with the movie is Ackroyd was not scheduled to play the role. If memory serves, it was John Belushi, who had died rather suddenly. So Ackroyd steps in to save the day, except he simply isn't funny as the Doctor. He is fine as the professor, however. Ackroyd's soon-to-be, real-life wife Donna Dixon is his love interest.