The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers (WGA):

Tom Wolfe (novel)
Michael Cristofer (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 December 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Take one Wall Street tycoon, his Fifth Avenue mistress, a reporter hungry for fame, and make the wrong turn in The Bronx...then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

Plot:

Financial "Master of the Universe" Sherman McCoy sees his life unravel when his mistress Maria Ruskin hits a black boy with his car...

Plot Keywords:

Accident | Journalist | Tabloid | Mistress | Perjury

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Tom Hanks	...	Sherman McCoy
Bruce Willis	...	Peter Fallow
Melanie Griffith	...	Maria Ruskin
Kim Cattrall	...	Judy McCoy
Saul Rubinek	...	Jed Kramer
Morgan Freeman	...	Judge Leonard White
John Hancock	...	Reverend Bacon
Kevin Dunn	...	Tom Killian
Clifton James	...	Albert Fox
Louis Giambalvo	...	Ray Andruitti
Barton Heyman	...	Detective Martin
Norman Parker	...	Detective Goldberg
Donald Moffat	...	Mr. McCoy
Alan King	...	Arthur Ruskin
Beth Broderick	...	Caroline Heftshank

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Sweden:11 (video rating) | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

346 E 59th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

F. Murray Abraham's contract for this movie stipulated that his name appear above the title in the advertising, or not at all. Since the producers already had Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, 'Bruce Willis (I)' and Morgan Freeman above the title, Abraham chose not to be credited.

Goofs:

Continuity: Before cuckold Arthur Ruskin dies in the restaurant, his cocktail glass alternates from between his hands to outside his hands.

Quotes:

Judge Leonard White: Racist? You dare call me racist? Well I say unto you, what does it matter the color of a man's skin if witnesses purjure themselves, if a prosecutor enlists the perjurers, when a district attorney throws a man to the mob for political gain, and men of the cloth...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters (2006)

Soundtrack:

Don Giovanni

What was wrong with this movie to get such bad reviews? I actually liked it.

Bonfire of the vanities. A movie that has the reputation of being awful. I didn't think so. I saw it a long time ago but liked it. I have heard so much about how bad this movie was and never understood why. It isn't the best movie definitely not but there are so many BAD movies-this movie had a message (a pretty sad one) and the story was Involving. My attention was captured. I wanted to see what would happen next.

This movie is so true to life. There ARE people out there whose actions would be worse then some in this movie. People whose lives are motivated by greed. (The worst bad movie out there that I've seen that tells the story of truly horrendous people motivated by greed and power is "in the company of men". Much more unpleasant then this movie.) This movie, I GUESS is controversial, not considered as good as the book and maybe it was ahead of its time. I think it's worth seeing though and would give it a 7.