Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989)

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers (WGA):

Penn Jillette (written by) and
Teller (written by)

Release Date:

22 September 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

What more do you want?

Plot:

Penn & Teller enjoy playing jokes on each other. When Penn says on an interview show that he wishes...

Plot Keywords:

Practical Joke | Metal Detector | Narration From The Grave | Talk Show | Black Comedy

Cast

Penn Jillette	...	Penn Jillette
Teller	...	Teller
Caitlin Clarke	...	Carlotta / Officer McNamara (as Celia McGuire)
David Patrick Kelly	...	The Fan
Leonardo Cimino	...	Ernesto
Celia McGuire	...	Officer McNamara
Bill Randolph	...	Floor Director
John Miller	...	Steve the bandleader
Ellen Whyte	...	Makeup Woman
Ted Neustadt	...	Bob the host
Tudor Sherrard	...	1st Frat Boy
Billy Morrissette	...	2nd Frat Boy
Jon Cryer	...	3rd Frat Boy
Leonard Parker	...	Airport Porter
Christopher Durang	...	Jesus Freak

Also Known As:

Dead Funny

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (one scene) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:12 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Lorimar Film Entertainment

Trivia:

The elderly man and woman seated at a table on the right side of the screen during Penn and "Carlotta's" conversation in the Mexican restaurant were Penn's real-life parents, Sam and Valda Jillette.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Penn, Teller and Officer McNamara watch the P&T compilation video at the crazed fan's apartment, the video has scenes of "Weekend Live" from the beginning of the film where Penn is seated left on the couch and Teller on the right from the camera's point-of-view. But in the fan's video of the same segment, Teller is seated on the left and Penn on the right.

Quotes:

[narrating from beyond the grave as the camera pulls back]
Penn: Oh, yeah. We're dead and there's no way out. I mean, it couldn't be a gag, it couldn't be a joke. We're not gonna have one of the characters wake up from a bad dream; you'd hate us for that! I mean the movie is called 'Penn & Teller Get Killed.' We HAD to get killed at the end...
[...]

Movie Connections:

References A Plumbing We Will Go (1940)

Soundtrack:

I Started A Joke

What was that all about??

The first five minutes of this film are quite interesting when we see them in the television studio but that is the only half descent thing we see. The rest of the film is so pretentious it is unbelievable.The story is about a set of practical jokes which are not funny and half the time dont make sense and the ending is awful. The female actress turns up in the last half an hour out of nowhere and takes the film down another notch. They should have killed themselves at the beginning! Dont get me wrong i like Pen & Teller and their Bulls*** TV series is fantastic but sorry guys this stinks! 2 out of 10