Black Sheep (1996)

Director:

Penelope Spheeris

Writer (WGA):

Fred Wolf (written by)

Release Date:

2 February 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

There's one in every family.

Plot:

A gubernatorial candidate hires a wormy special assistant whose only job is to make sure the candidate's well-meaning but incompetent brother doesn't ruin the election.

Plot Keywords:

Election | Drugs | Nitrous Oxide | Candid Camera | Physical Comedy

Cast

Chris Farley	...	Mike Donnelly
David Spade	...	Steve Dodds
Tim Matheson	...	Al Donnelly
Christine Ebersole	...	Governor Tracy
Gary Busey	...	Drake Sabitch
Grant Heslov	...	Robbie Mieghem
Timothy Carhart	...	Roger Kovary
Bruce McGill	...	Neuschwander
Michael Patrick Carter	...	Scott Colleary
Boyd Banks	...	Clyde Spinoza
David St. James	...	Motorcycle Cop
Skip O'Brien	...	State Trooper
Branden R. Morgan	...	Fan
'Gypsy' Spheeris	...	Pocket Pool Lady
John Ashker	...	Jim Blaine
William Howell	...	Rastafarian
Austin Kottke	...	Tough Kid
Toby Scott Ganger	...	Tough Kid
Dylan Lucas	...	Ricky
James Noah	...	Mayor
Chris Owen	...	Hal
Jonathan Everett Lewis	...	Carl
LaRita Shelby	...	Reporter
Karen Kahn	...	Anchor Woman
Laura Weekes	...	TV Reporter
Tucker Smallwood	...	Election Analyst
Mark Arm	...	Mudhoney (as Mark Thomas McLaughlin)
Steve Neil Turner	...	Mudhoney
Matt Lukin	...	Mudhoney (as Matt David Lukin)
Dan Peters	...	Mudhoney (as Daniel Joe Peters)
Kevin P. Farley	...	Bouncer
John Farley	...	Bouncer
Patrick Pankhurst	...	Donald Tracy
Luke Dickinson	...	Andrew Tracy
Fred Wolf	...	Ronald Forte
Patricia Place	...	Woman at Party
Annie O'Donnell	...	Election Worker
Kathleen O'Malley	...	Mrs. Oneacre
Jean Speegle Howard	...	Elderly Woman
Drew Wilson	...	Elderly Man
Michelle Burkette	...	Police Woman (as Michele Burkette)
Andrew Breymann	...	Hillbilly Kid
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julie Benz	...	Woman (uncredited)
Kathleen Card	...	News Reporter (uncredited)
Lisa Gilbar	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jimmy Workman	...	Druggy teen (uncredited)

Directed by
Penelope Spheeris

Writing credits (WGA)
Fred Wolf		(written by)

Produced by
C.O. Erickson	....	executive producer
Lorne Michaels	....	producer
Dinah Minot	....	co-producer
Eric Newman	....	associate producer
Robert K. Weiss	....	executive producer

Original Music by
William Ross		(music by)

Cinematography by
Daryn Okada		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ross Albert

Casting by
Deborah Aquila
Jane Shannon-Smith		(as Jane Shannon)

Production Design by
Peter Jamison

Art Direction by
Chris Cornwell

Set Decoration by
Linda Spheeris

Costume Design by
Jill M. Ohanneson		(as Jill Ohanneson)

Makeup Department
Candida Conery	....	hair stylist
James Lee McCoy	....	makeup artist (as James L. McCoy)
Francisco X. Pérez	....	assistant makeup artist
Danny Valencia	....	hair stylist

Production Management
C.O. Erickson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Maria K. Battle	....	dga trainee
Matt Earl Beesley	....	second unit director
David D'Ovidio	....	second assistant director: second unit
Christian P. Della Penna	....	second assistant director (as Christian P. Dellapenna)
Jason Roberts	....	second second assistant director
Artist W. Robinson	....	first assistant director (as Artist Robinson)
David N. Schrager	....	first assistant director: second unit

Art Department
Ross Anderson	....	production painter
Evelyn Barbier	....	set designer
Doug Barnard	....	production illustrator
Robert A. Blackburn	....	construction coordinator
Timothy Burgard	....	storyboard artist (as Tim Burgard)
Clete Cetrone	....	propmaker foreperson (as Clete F. Cetrone)
Cosmas A. Demetriou	....	set designer
R. Scott Doran	....	lead person
Don Elliott	....	set dresser
Glen R. Feldman	....	assistant property master
Ildefonso Goris	....	greensperson (as Ildefonso Lanz Goris)
John Holcombe	....	propmaker foreperson
Jonas Kirk	....	construction foreperson (as C. Jonas Kirk)
Chuck McSorley	....	set dresser
Marc Meisels	....	set dresser
Efren N. Perez	....	set dresser
Gary Seybert	....	assistant property master
Daniel Smith	....	construction medic
Douglas M. Vaughn	....	set dresser
Dean Wilson	....	property master
Abby Yaloff	....	assistant property master (as Abby Rayve)
Richard Crain	....	propmaker (uncredited)
Daniel R. Jennings	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Randle Akerson	....	sound effects editor
Petra Bach	....	supervising adr editor
Bill Baldwin	....	assistant sound editor
Bob Baron	....	adr mixer
John Benson	....	supervising sound editor
Willie D. Burton	....	sound mixer (as Willie Burton)
Valerie Davidson	....	foley editor
Zack Davis	....	adr editor
Ken Dufva	....	foley artist
Roger Fearing	....	assistant sound editor (as Roger N. Fearing Jr.)
David Lee Fein	....	foley artist
Christopher Flick	....	supervising foley editor
Cameron Frankley	....	sound effects editor
Robert W. Harris	....	cable person (as Robert Harris)
Gregg Landaker	....	re-recording mixer
Marvin E. Lewis	....	boom operator
Steve Maslow	....	sound re-recording mixer
Anthony Milch	....	dialogue editor (as Tony Milch)
Karen Minahan	....	assistant sound editor
Carin Rogers	....	dialogue editor
Randy Singer	....	foley mixer
Thomas W. Small	....	foley editor (as Thomas Small)
Beth Sterner	....	supervising sound editor
Mike Szakmeister	....	dialogue editor
David F. Van Slyke	....	sound effects editor
Bill Ward	....	assistant sound editor

Special Effects by
Guy Faria	....	special effects foreperson
Richard Zarro	....	special effects coordinator (as Richard M. Zarro)
Ronald Zarro	....	special effects foreperson (as Ronald E. Zarro)

Visual Effects by
Mat Beck	....	visual effects supervisor
David Sosalla	....	visual effects supervisor
Colin Strause	....	3D effects artist: Pixel Envy (uncredited)

Stunts
Stanton Barrett	....	stunts (as Stanton T. Barrett)
Bob Brown	....	stunts
William H. Burton	....	stunts
Tim A. Davison	....	stunts (as Tim Davison)
Shane Dixon	....	stunt coordinator
Christopher Epper	....	stunts
Danny Epper	....	stunts
James W. Gavin	....	stunts
Sandra Lee Gimpel	....	stunts (as Sandy Gimpel)
Tabby Hanson	....	stunts
Chuck Hicks	....	stunts
Jimmy Hock	....	stunts
Henry Kingi Jr.	....	stunts
Paul M. Lane	....	stunts (as Paul Lane)
Shawn Lane	....	stunts
Kent W. Luttrell	....	stunts (as Kent Luttrell)
Eddie Matthews	....	stunts (as Eddy Mathews)
John Meier	....	stunts (as John C. Meier)
Royce L. Minor	....	stunts (as Royce Minor)
Gary Morgan	....	stunts
Jimmy Nickerson	....	stunts
Alan Oliney	....	stunts
Manny Perry	....	stunts
Jimmy N. Roberts	....	stunts
Troy Robinson	....	stunts
Danny Rogers	....	stunts
Erik Rondell	....	stunts
Gilbert Rosales	....	stunts
Michael Runyard	....	stunts
Martin Valinsky	....	stunts
Kaye Wade	....	stunts
Eric Watson	....	stunts
Danny Weselis	....	stunts
Janet Wilder	....	stunts
Scott Wilder	....	stunts
Danny Wynands	....	stunts (as Dan Wynands)
George Zamora	....	stunts (as George M. Zamora)

Camera and Electrical Department
Patric J. Abaravich	....	first company grip
Patric J. Abaravich	....	rigging electric
John Boccaccio	....	first assistant photographer
Greg Cantrell	....	rigging chief lighting technician (as Gregory M. Cantrell)
Louie DeMarco	....	loader (as Lou DeMarco)
Bob Hall	....	first assistant photographer
Mike Hodges	....	first company grip
Casey Hotchkiss	....	camera operator
Paul Hughen	....	camera operator
Richard Kuhn	....	dolly grip
Marcos O. Lopez	....	second assistant photographer (as Marcus O. Lopez)
E. Scott Mayhugh	....	chief lighting technician
John McEveety	....	second assistant photographer
Daniel P. Moore	....	video supervisor
Tracy Neftzger	....	second company grip (as Tracy Alan Neftzger)
Charles J. Schray	....	dolly grip
Raymond Stella	....	director of photography: second unit (as Raymond N. Stella)
Francis X. Valdez III	....	assistant chief lighting technician
Merie Weismiller Wallace	....	still photographer (as Merie W. Wallace)
Sid Lucero	....	grip (uncredited)
Steven J. Mikolas	....	video assist (uncredited)
Douglas Pellegrino	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Eric Sagot	....	rigging electrician (uncredited)

Casting Department
Karen Miller	....	casting associate
Alex Wald	....	casting assistant (as Alex Rosenberg)
Tricia Wood	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Cindy Evans	....	key set costumer
Alix Friedberg	....	costumer
Kelly Lindquist	....	costume supervisor
Matt Reitsma	....	costumer
Deborah Slate	....	costumer
Adrienne Wait	....	costumer
Kanani Wolf	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Peter Fandetti	....	assistant editor
Phil Hetos	....	color timer
Michael Matzdorff	....	lightworks assistant
Theresa Repola Mohammed	....	negative cutter
Ann Trulove	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Bob Bornstein	....	music preparation
Anita Camarata	....	music supervisor
Matthew Della Polla	....	music scoring coordinator
Robert Fernandez	....	music mixer
Robert Fernandez	....	music recordist
Steve Mccroskey	....	supervising music editor (as Steve Mc Croskey)
William Ross	....	orchestra conductor
William Ross	....	orchestrator
Steven Scott Smalley	....	orchestrator
Patti Zimmitti	....	orchestra contractor
Tom Boyd	....	musician: oboe soloist (uncredited)
Kevin Crehan	....	assistant music editor (uncredited)
James Thatcher	....	musician: French horn (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Howard Brady Davidson	....	transportation coordinator
Jim Frear	....	picture car coordinator
Gary Paulsen	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Roland Armstorff	....	assistant production office coordinator
Anna Baltimore	....	set medic (as Anna C. Baltimore)
Becky Brake	....	location manager
Stacy Broff	....	assistant: Ms. Minot
Judith M. Brown	....	teacher (as Judy Brown)
Danny Carter	....	production assistant (as Danny R. Carter)
Dawn Darfus	....	production accountant
Ted Dondanville	....	assistant: Mr. Farley
Jeff Edwards	....	puppeteer
Dave Freed	....	production assistant (as David Freed)
Don Garrison	....	location manager
Lisa Gilbar	....	production assistant
Jane E. Graves	....	production assistant
Cindy Hochman	....	production office coordinator (as Cindy Hochman Price)
Ele Johnson	....	production assistant
Larry K. Johnson	....	script supervisor
Karen R. Jones	....	unit publicist
Valerie Y.O. Kim	....	assistant location manager
Deborah Krainin	....	assistant: Mr. Weiss
Deborah Laub	....	location manager
Erin Maroney	....	assistant: Mr. Michaels
Gregory Nicotero	....	puppeteer (as Greg Nicotero)
Judd Nissen	....	production assistant
Eileen A. O'Donnell	....	clearances
Erica Pearce	....	production assistant
Jonathan Pessin	....	assistant: Mr. Weiss
Matt Piedmont	....	assistant: Mr. Spade
David M. Rodriguez	....	assistant production auditor
Chanel Salzer	....	assistant location manager
Lauren Smith	....	assistant: Mr. Weiss
Michael D. Starks	....	craft service
Gian Temperilli	....	production assistant
Phoebe Trachtenberg	....	assistant: Mr. Newman
Kristan Wagner	....	location manager
Mark Walbaum	....	production assistant
Diane Ward	....	assistant production office coordinator
Scott Wilder	....	assistant: Ms. Spheeris (as Scott A. Wilder)
Bennie Zura	....	production assistant (as Benjamin W. Zura)
Daniel Veluzat	....	location liaison (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1996) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1999) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• CIC-Taft Home Video (199?) (Australia) (VHS)
• Home Video Hellas (HVH) (1997) (Greece) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Paramount Home Video (1996) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Paramount Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Direct Tools & Fasteners  expendables
• L.A. Mad Dogs  adr voice casting
• Movie Movers  cast trailers
• Movie Movers  transportation
• Paramount Pictures Scoring Stage M  music mixed at
• Paramount Pictures  sound editing
• R.E.D. Productions  titles
• Unique Movie Cars  picture cars

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude language and humor, drug-related material and sexual innuendo

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Denmark:16 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #33985) | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

874 W. Potrero Rd, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

At the Governor's Press conference, the television stations attending are real Seattle TV stations: KING-TV, KCPQ-TV, and KOMO-TV. KOMO even went as far a actually being on location and loaning equipment for the shoot. They have done this before and since: Harry and the Hendersons (1987) and Life or Something Like It (2002)

Goofs:

Continuity: When the boulder hits the cabin, the refrigerator moves forward, along with everything else, and the door flies open. When Mike and Steve walk back inside the cabin, the refrigerator door is magically closed.

Quotes:

[Steve comes back sprayed with a fire extinguisher]
Mike:Whoa, what happened to you? Did you fall into some mud or something?
Steve:Yeah, I did. And now I'm gonna be famous because I'm the only one in the world who knows where you can find *white* mud.

Movie Connections:

References Tommy Boy (1995)

Soundtrack:

All Regrets, Chicken Wire, Situation, Nailed

Not as good as TOMMY BOY, but still one of the better comedies from the 1990s!

After the enormous success of TOMMY BOY, it was expected that Chris Farley and David Spade would star in another movie together. What wasn't expected was that the two movies would be so similar. In TOMMY BOY, Richard Hayden (David Spade) must look after the sweet, but clumsy Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley) so he doesn't mess up the family business. In BLACK SHEEP, Steve Dodds (David Spade) is hired by Mike Donnelly's (Chris Farley) brother to look after the sweet, but clumsy Mike so he doesn't mess up an upcoming campaign. While the plots of the two movies aren't exactly identical, they are similar enough to give the feeling that BLACK SHEEP was somewhat rushed into theaters in order to capitalize on the popularity of the duo.

Opening on February 2, 1996, just eleven months after the March 1995 release of TOMMY BOY, BLACK SHEEP received dismal reviews (Gene Siskel said that this was the first film he walked out on in 26 years of reviewing movies). However, the dismal reviews weren't enough to keep audiences away from the theaters and the movie made a decent $32 million, which isn't necessarily a hit, but good nonetheless.

As a major fan of both Chris Farley and David Spade, I find this movie to be one of the funniest comedies from the 1990s. I used to like it even more than I liked TOMMY BOY although I now see that TOMMY BOY is certainly the better movie. Both TOMMY BOY and BLACK SHEEP have some of the most memorable moments in comedy history, though TOMMY BOY has a lot more of them.

Watch TOMMY BOY and BLACK SHEEP back to back and prepare to laugh like you have never laughed before. Chris Farley and David Spade are, in my opinion, the funniest duo ever to appear onscreen. It's a shame they didn't get to make a more movies together before Farley's death.

My rating: ***1/2