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Insignificance (1985)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Terry Johnson (writer)
Release Date:
2 August 1985 (USA)
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Tagline:
The object of every man's fantasy and the greatest mind of the century are about to meet. more
Plot:
Four 1950's icons meet in the same hotel room and two of them discover more in common between them than they ever anticipated. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win
&
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Marilyn. Never Allowed to Rest in Peace
(From FilmExperience. 3 August 2009, 9:00 AM, PDT)
Doc Filmmaker Havana Marking's Top Ten Films of All Time
(From ioncinema. 1 June 2009)
(From FilmExperience. 3 August 2009, 9:00 AM, PDT)
Doc Filmmaker Havana Marking's Top Ten Films of All Time
(From ioncinema. 1 June 2009)
User Comments:
A tantalizing convergence.
more (14 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Michael Emil | ... | The Professor |
 | Theresa Russell | ... | The Actress |
 | Tony Curtis | ... | The Senator |
 | Gary Busey | ... | The Ballplayer |
| Will Sampson | ... | Elevator Attendant |
 | Patrick Kilpatrick | ... | Driver |
| Ian O'Connell | ... | Assistant Director |
| George Holmes | ... | Actor |
| Richard Davidson | ... | Director of Photography |
| Mitchell Greenberg | ... | Technician |
| Raynor Scheine | ... | Autograph Hunter |
 | Jude Ciccolella | ... | Gaffer |
| Lou Hirsch | ... | Charlie |
| Ray Charleson | ... | Bud |
| Joel Cutrara | ... | Bar Drunk |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
110 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The photo collage calendar of Theresa Russell, echoing Marilyn Monroe's famous Playboy pose, was created by British artist David Hockney at the request of director Nicolas Roeg, and has since been exhibited at museums throughout the world.
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Quotes:
[to The Professor]
The Ballplayer: Between you and me, let me tell you somethin'. Don't ever put a woman up on a pedestal. Cuz it'll just give her a chance to kick your teeth right down your throat.
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The Ballplayer: Between you and me, let me tell you somethin'. Don't ever put a woman up on a pedestal. Cuz it'll just give her a chance to kick your teeth right down your throat.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Watching the Alien (2003) (V)
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Soundtrack:
Life Goes On
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (14 total)
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What if Marylin Monroe, Albert Einstein, Joe Dimaggio and Senator McCarthy were to come together in a mind-bending evening of relativity?
This delightful roman à clef never uses the actual names of the characters it so thinly veils and scathingly exposes not only for the individuals they must have been, but also for what they came to represent over time. If you are confused by allegory, or if you like your movies served up predigested and mushy, you won't like this film. It is a demanding opus that rewards on many levels the viewer with the intelligence to appreciate it.
Dropping, for the time being, the rigorous avoidance of using the real names of the characters, we see Einstein, about to deliver a pacifist speech to a United Nations hell-bent for nukes, being visited by Marylin Monroe, after filming the notorious Seven Year Itch scene that some say led to the end of her marriage with Joe Dimaggio. They have a lovely interplay in which Einstein stumbles with suitable professorial clumsiness around the innocence of perhaps the greatest sex symbol of modern times.
Enter Senator McCarthy who thinks Einstein is a Red. He is determined to extract Einstein's assurance that he will support the activities of the House Unamerican Activities Committee while delivering the ultimate weapon in the name of peace. Add Joe, a surprisingly fragile and vulnerable person perhaps not perfectly cast as Gary Busey, who hates Marylin's exhibitionism and believes Einstein has become her lover, even though Marylin only wants to show Einstein that she understands the Special Theory of Relativity.
But there's more.
Just like each of us, these characters have their deepest fears, which they reveal one by one in haunting flashbacks. It is these weaknesses, ultimately, that lend humanity to figures we cannot help but see almost exclusively in the abstract today. Finally, we see the shocking terror of Einstein's vision, and the statement of the movie becomes clear. It is a powerful and memorable moment.
Insignificance is one of my top five movies of all time. It is utterly amazing.