Taking Care of Business (1990)

An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.

Director:

Arthur Hiller

Writers:

Jill Mazursky, J.J. Abrams

Stars:

James Belushi, Charles Grodin, Anne De Salvo

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Belushi	...	Jimmy Dworski
Charles Grodin	...	Spencer Barnes
Anne De Salvo	...	Debbie Lipton
Loryn Locklin	...	Jewel Bentley
Stephen Elliott	...	Walter Bentley
Hector Elizondo	...	Warden Toolman
Veronica Hamel	...	Elizabeth Barnes
Mako	...	Mr. Sakamoto
Gates McFadden	...	Diane Connors
John de Lancie	...	Ted Bradford Jr.
Thom Sharp	...	Mike Steward
Ken Foree	...	J.B., Prisoner making demands
John Marshall Jones	...	LeBradford Brown (as J.J.)
Andre Rosey Brown	...	Heavy G
Terrence E. McNally	...	Hamilton

Storyline

Jimmy Dworski is a criminal serving the last 48 hours of a jail sentence. He wins a couple of baseball tickets by calling a radio quiz show. With help of other inmates, he escapes to go watch the game. When by chance he finds the Filofax of executive Spencer Barns who loses it while traveling on a business weekend. Jimmy finds cash, credit cards and the key to a big mansion. He jumps on the opportunity and starts posing as Barns. While the real Barnes is trying to find his Filofax he gets in all sorts of trouble. How will things turn out when the two finally meet?

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | radio | jail | wig | rain | 

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Taglines:

Jimmy Dworski Finally Got a Life... Somebody Else's!

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Genres:

Comedy | Sport

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 August 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Filofax

Filming Locations:

Angel Stadium of Anaheim - 2000 Gene Autry Way, Anaheim, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$20,005,435 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures, Silver Screen Partners IV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Chicago Cubs, the team playing in the World Series in the film had been in the National League playoffs after filming began on this film. They had lost to the San Francisco Giants in 6 games and they have not been to the World Series to this day since 1945 and have not won one since 1908.

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Goofs

When Jimmy is first checking out Walter's living room, and the TV is showing the news story about the prison strike, the announcer says "Let's talk to the Warden, Mr. Frank Toole, here at the Milton K. Prochek Correctional Facility". The announcer then starts out with, "Mr. Prochek..." and is never corrected by the Warden, or anyone else, even though the Warden's name is shown on his desk and his name tag as "Frank Toolman".

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Quotes

Jimmy Dworski: [after entering the mansion for the first time after finding the key and alarm codes in the filofax] Wow! I'm on fucking Dynasty!

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Gone Fishin' (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Takin' Care Of Business"
Written by Randy Bachman
Performed by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Courtesy of Polygram Special Products
A Division of Polygram Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Light hearted humour & fun for Trekkies too

Brilliant movie -especially good as a pick-me-up when you're feeling down. In the 'old days' this film was known as Filofax. Comes highly recommended and in my opinion is one of Belushi's best films. If you're a die hard Star Trek fan, then look out for some of the faces that appear these days in <Star Trek Voyager> and <Star Trek The Next Generation>. I've spotted three, though there could be more -BTW, one of them is really difficult to recognize, despite being one of the main characters -to help you -it's one of the women... ENJO