Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.

Director:

Ted Kotcheff

Writers:

David Giler (screenplay), Jerry Belson (screenplay)

Stars:

Jane Fonda, George Segal, Ed McMahon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Segal	...	Dick Harper
Jane Fonda	...	Jane Harper
Ed McMahon	...	Charlie Blanchard
Dick Gautier	...	Dr. Will
Allan Miller	...	Loan Company Manager
Hank Garcia	...	Raoul Esteban
John Dehner	...	Jane's Father
Walter Brooke	...	Mr. Weeks
Sean Frye	...	Billy
Mary Jackson	...	Jane's Mother
James Jeter	...	Immigration Officer
Maxine Stuart	...	Charles' Secretary
Fred Willard	...	Bob
Selma Archerd	...	Beverly Hills Matron
John Brandon	...	Pete Winston

Storyline

Manager Dick Harper and his attractive young wife Jane are used to a comfortable lifestyle. They just build a swimming-pool when Dick is fired very unexpectedly - leaving him with $70,000 debt on the house. They try to hide this from the neighbors and just cut down their expenses, but soon it's obvious: living from unemployment bonus drives them crazy, it's uncertain if they can keep the house. Dick doesn't see another way out than robbing drug stores - but this takes more skill than expected! Only as a team Dick and Jane can succeed.

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Plot Keywords:

unemployment | heist | robbery | what happened to epilogue | toe socks | 

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Taglines:

Bonnie and Clyde they ain't.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The amount of money that Dick and Jane's debt on the house totaled to was $70,000. That's not even correct.. Jane clearly says $77,000

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Jane Harper: Interesting that the only two jobs you think I am qualified for are a secretary and a prostitute.
Dick Harper: You're not qualified to be a secretary.

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Crazy Credits

Opening and closing credits listed in the form of pages of a children's book.

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Alternate Versions

Two additional scenes were added to the broadcast television premiere on ABC. One that stands out is a scene with Jane (Fonda) getting a job behind a cosmetics counter and having to confront a very difficult obese older female customer. This was a very funny scene that seems to now be lost forever and Is NOT going to be included in the new DVD release.

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Art Garfunkel/Stephen Bishop (1978)

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Soundtracks

Ahead of the Game (title song)
Written by The Movies
Sung by The Movies

User Reviews

creative comedy with questionable moral standards

Fun with Dick and Jane serves as an entertaining satire on the upper middle class standards of living, produced in the presumably stifling corporate environment of the mid-1970's. A drunken Ed McMahon lays off overpaid executive George Segal. Lovely wife Jane Fonda, who handles matters fairly well when their landscapers tear up all their unpaid work, finds herself forced to find some source of income to maintain their expensive lifestyles – it would seem Segal's unemployment only takes them so far. Fonda secures a job as a model while Segal manages to lose his benefits when a gay unemployment officer spots him working as a bit character in the opera. When Fonda loses her apparently not very secure job, the now poor couple head out to get a loan. There they stumble upon a holdup, get taken hostage, and somehow wind up with all the loot. Enjoying their first taste of crime, the pair bungles their way through a series of hold-ups and eventually become near pros. They manage to restore their house to its previous splendor, cockily inviting McMahon to a chic pool party so he can have a gander at their newfound success. Of course, a sip only gets you thirsty, so the greedy couple find themselves faced with the quest for the Big Gulp. The story is funny for the most part, with memorable moments akin to Segal discussing music with a record store clerk during a robbery. There's healthy dose of anarchy for good measure, with destruction happily joining hands with the nouveau pauvre and the will to get back what has been lost. By having its characters steal primarily from the allegedly greedy or malevolent – the phone company, loan sharks, the Climax Court Motel – the film does maintains some shaky moral standards. In addition, Fun contains a few instances of dated racism, with jabs at homosexuals, Hispanics and African-Americans (who hold a pajama dance party in McMahon's office as Segal and Fonda crack his safe, their loud drill protected by the celebrants' louder music). A startlingly racist part goes to Hank Garcia, as an unemployed cleaner who works a bad influence on Segal. Nevertheless, the film on the whole manages to function well as a thoroughly entertaining comedy, with an ample dose of anarchism for good measure.

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 1977 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Fun with Dick and Jane

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1