The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Steve Kloves

Writer (WGA):

Steve Kloves (written by)

Release Date:

13 October 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

For 31 years it's been just the Fabulous Baker Boys... but times change.

Plot:

Frank and Jack Baker are professional musicians who play small clubs. They play smaltzy music and have never needed a day job...

Plot Keywords:

Brother | Piano | Audition | Singer | Lounge Singer

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Jeff Bridges	...	Jack Baker
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Susie Diamond
Beau Bridges	...	Frank Baker
Ellie Raab	...	Nina
Xander Berkeley	...	Lloyd
Dakin Matthews	...	Charlie
Ken Lerner	...	Ray
Albert Hall	...	Henry
Terri Treas	...	Girl in Bed
Gregory Itzin	...	Vince Nancy
Bradford English	...	Earl
David Coburn	...	Kid at Vet
Todd Jeffries	...	Theo
Gregory James	...	Hotel Masseuse (as Jeffrey J. Nowinski)
Nancy Fish	...	Laughing Bar Patron

Runtime:

114 min | Australia:110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Gladden Entertainment

Trivia:

Michelle Pfeiffer sang all her songs, no vocal double was used.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After Jack leaves the restaurant in the early morning, Jack returns home and tries to console Nina on the roof of their apartment. The sun, however, is not rising early in the morning, it is setting, since the view is looking to the north along First Avenue and the setting sun is to the west.

Quotes:

Susie Diamond: You're good, aren't you?
Jack Baker: I can carry a tune.
Susie Diamond: You're better than that.

Movie Connections:

References Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Soundtrack:

Prelude To A Kiss

Finest, most important film ever made on the subject of Music

I consider Baker Boys the best film on music because it is one of the finest noir stories ever written on the subject. It is an important film because of the subject matter: an expose of musical art married to entertainment. It is a subject rarely revealed in American media.

Most people think of "musical art" as something found at the classical music concert or the college music department. The other stuff we hear is entertainment, right? Well, sometimes it just isn't that simple. Baker Boys is a story based on those cases of mixed marriage when the talented artist finds himself locked into an employment situation that hampers his artistic ability. It may come as a surprise to Jazz and commercial music lovers that such music artists really do exist beneath the glamorous facade of their favorite music acts (not to mention films). The story of Jack Baker means to reveal this dark underbelly of the entertainment business.

It is well for the public to understand how and why such musicians exist. The distribution of a film such as Baker Boys is but one step toward this end. While most people saw the film as a romance involving the swing music genre, what they didn't seem to recognize is the more important underlying contextual theme. This issue - of undiscovered musical talent - is not popular. Unfortunately the average layperson is not familiar enough with music to understand or care about why a musician would be unhappy with his job. It is easy to see why most people avoided this, the main theme of the film - it's too dark - and instead focused on the romance and the style.

In the end, Baker Boys is a story of one Jack Baker, an entertainer who was finally bold enough to make the transition to Jazz artist. It is a story of passive resistance to what Blake Edwards immortalized as that "other" part of the entertainment industry known behind the scenes as S.O.B. (Standard Operating Bullshit). It is but one fictional story that represents many, many similar true-life cases of successful failure.