Echo Park (1986)

In the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, everyone is more than they initially seem. May waits tables, raises a son, Henry, and is an aspiring actress. She needs a roommate and takes in... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Dornhelm

Writer:

Michael Ventura

Stars:

Susan Dey, Tom Hulce, Michael Bowen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Susan Dey	...	May
Tom Hulce	...	Jonathan
Michael Bowen	...	August
Christopher Walker	...	Henry
Shirley Jo Finney	...	Gloria
Heinrich Schweiger	...	August's father
Cheech Marin	...	Syd
John Paragon	...	Hugo
Cassandra Peterson	...	Sheri
Timothy Carey	...	Vinnie
Martin Suppan	...	Austrian consul
Robert R. Shafer	...	Commercial director
Dorothy Dells	...	Consulate secretary
Yana Nirvana	...	Woman in bar
Paul Anselmo	...	Policeman

Storyline

In the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, everyone is more than they initially seem. May waits tables, raises a son, Henry, and is an aspiring actress. She needs a roommate and takes in a pizza deliverer named Jonathan, an aspiring songwriter. In the adjoining flat is August, an Austrian body sculptor who appears in a deodorant commercial and dreams big dreams. May takes a job delivering singing telegrams as a stripper, Jonathan invites Henry to tag along with him on deliveries, August gets into trouble with the police who call his father in Austria, and the friendships, frustrations, and love affairs of everyday life come to a head.

---

Plot Keywords:

dream | actress | stripper | bodybuilder | pink panties | 

---

Taglines:

Reality is for dreamers.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA Austria

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 July 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Unelmien kuja

Filming Locations:

Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$701,892 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sascha-Verleih

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene when Jonathon moves in with May, he is carrying a stack of albums in his arms, noticeable in that scene and a later one is The Partridge Family's "Up To Date" LP. May is played by Susan Dey, who played Laurie Partridge in The Partridge Family

---

Goofs

May's cigarette when she's on the stairs of her house.

---

Quotes

Commercial Director: The smoke is supposed to be coming out of the nose holes, not the asshole, it's so simple!

---

Soundtracks

"Tomorrow's Gonna Be a Better Day"
Written by Mark Walton and Tom Boles
Performed by Johnette

User Reviews

"What do you REALLY do?"

That's what Susan Dey asks Tom Hulce, a pizza delivery man with ambitions of being a musician. He's good at it, but music won't pay the rent. So her question is really philosophical: he delivers pizzas, but his heart is in his music. So..."What do you REALLY do?" By itself, this film is barely a "C" movie. The only reason I choose to critique it is that it addresses the plight of so many wannabe actors, writers, musicians, artists, whomever, in LA. For all of what we hear on "Entertainment Tonight" or other shows focussing on stars, most of us "in" the entertainment business are doing something else for a living while dreaming of that lucky break. When Tom Hulce asks Susan Dey if she is an actress, she answers, "I TRY to act. I WANT to. I go to classes, but does that make me an actress? If it doesn't, then no, I'm not." The Tom Hulce character delivers pizza for a living while he dotes on the Susan Dey character, who throws herself at a dim bodybuilder who dreams of being the next Schwarzenegger. And in the meantime, they are all living in Echo Park, a seedy suburb in LA just outside of Hollywood. The whole film has an unfinished look to it, as though they had a limited budget and ran out of money just before they could wrap things up. And it has that cheap, pop-80's synthesizer music in the background, very common for that time frame. For entertainment, you can do a whole lot better than this. But if you plan to join us here in LA, this movie should be required viewing. Chances are that the lives these characters lead will be the life YOU lead if you decide to move to LA. There'll be an apartment for you to rent in Echo Park. 3 out of 10.