Pleasantville (1998)

Two 1990's teenagers find themselves in a 1950's sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world.

Director:

Gary Ross

Writer:

Gary Ross

Stars:

Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tobey Maguire	...	David
Reese Witherspoon	...	Jennifer
William H. Macy	...	George Parker
Joan Allen	...	Betty Parker
Jeff Daniels	...	Bill Johnson
J.T. Walsh	...	Big Bob
Don Knotts	...	TV Repairman
Marley Shelton	...	Margaret Henderson
Jane Kaczmarek	...	David's Mom
Giuseppe Andrews	...	Howard
Jenny Lewis	...	Christin
Marissa Ribisi	...	Kimmy
Denise Dowse	...	Health Teacher
McNally Sagal	...	Science Teacher
Paul Morgan Stetler	...	College Counselor

Storyline

A brother and sister from the 1990s are sucked into their television set and suddenly find themselves trapped in a 1950s style television show. Here they have loving parents, old fashioned values, and an overwhelming amount of innocence and naivete. Not sure how to get home, they integrate themselves into this "backwards" society and slowly bring some color to this black and white world. But as innocence fades, the two teens begin to wonder if their 90s outlook is really to be preferred.

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Plot Keywords:

1950s | innocence | 1990s | television | color | 

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Taglines:

Nothing Is As Simple As Black And White.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements emphasizing sexuality, and for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 October 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Amor a colores

Filming Locations:

Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£322,622 (UK) (12 March 1999)

Gross:

£790,203 (UK) (26 March 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Larger Than Life Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Native American in the test pattern behind Don Knotts changes to angry and then sad as the movie progresses.

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Goofs

In the bowling alley sequence, the scene begins with two or three 7-10 splits being picked up. Later in the same scene when the mayor is speaking with the scores behind him there are no 8 pin spares listed, only 9 pin spares.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[David is gazing admiringly at a pretty blonde girl]
David: *Hi*
[chuckles]
David: I mean, Hi. Uh, look, you probably don't think I should be asking you this. I mean, not knowing you well and all? I mean, you know, I, I, I know you, 'cause everybody knows you. I just don't know you technically. Uh, anyhow. Uh, I don't know what you're doing this weekend, but my mom's leaving town, and she's letting me borrow the car.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The New Line logo plays in complete silence.

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Connections

References The Simpsons (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Rave On"
Written by Norman Petty, Bill Tilghman and Del 'Sonny' West
Performed by Buddy Holly

User Reviews

Where everything is always the same.

The basic theme here being that the meaningful life requires breaking out of rigid, dull and conventional roles, this film's story sucks two teens back through their television set to a fictitious 1950s sitcom named "Pleasantville," where life is in gray-tones until they start breaking the rules. The self-referential notion of having characters interact with the very media which represents them has its counterpart as far back as 1924 with Buster Keaton in "Sherlock Jr.," in 1970 with a low-budget film named "The Projectionist," and in 1985 with Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo." But where the others explore the private experience of self-discovery through their enmeshment with the media, this one explores a much wider public awareness. In that sense it is a very cleaver and intelligent story, offering numerous social messages worthy of consideration.

On the downside, its message that "different" is better mostly translates into "contrary" means better, providing an "anything goes" mentality in answer to conventional values. The rules are to be broken by gratuitous sex, loud music, and cheap garish art. Not "transcending" in answer to different, but rather setting up what is conventional today as more desirable than what was conventional back then. Exchanging one convention for another is not for that reason an improvement, and the attempt to do so results in a self-congratulatory narcissism of the form: See how much more urbane and sophisticated we are than our parents were? The 1950s are set up as a straw-man, while the values of the 1990s are simply taken for granted as superior. Hence the deeper questions of change, growth and improvement, are never asked, and what we are given merely puts the past down without bringing up the present.