The In-Laws (1979)

On the eve of their children's marriage, NYC in-laws Sheldon Kornpett and Vince Ricardo embark on a series of misadventures involving the CIA, the Treasury Department and Central American dictators.

Director:

Arthur Hiller

Writer:

Andrew Bergman

Stars:

Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Vince Ricardo
Alan Arkin	...	Sheldon Kornpett
Richard Libertini	...	Gen. Garcia
Nancy Dussault	...	Carol Kornpett
Penny Peyser	...	Barbara Kornpett
Arlene Golonka	...	Jean Ricardo
Michael Lembeck	...	Tommy Ricardo
Paul L. Smith	...	Mo (as Paul Lawrence Smith)
Carmine Caridi	...	Angie
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Barry Lutz
Sammy Smith	...	Mr. Hirschorn
James Hong	...	Bing Wong
Barbara Dana	...	Bank Teller
Rozsika Halmos	...	Mrs. Adelman
Álvaro Carcaño	...	Edgardo (as Alvaro Carcano)

Storyline

In preparation for his daughter's wedding, dentist Sheldon Kornpett meets Vince Ricardo, the groom's father. Vince, a manic fellow who claims to be a government agent, then proceeds to drag Sheldon into a series of chases and misadventures from New York to Central America.

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Plot Keywords:

neo screwball comedy | dentist | central america | wedding | armored car robbery | 

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Taglines:

While the Father of the Bride was extracting a molar from Mrs. Cohen, the Father of the Groom was extracting $20 Million from the U.S. Mint. And this was only the beginning.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Mandarin

Release Date:

12 September 1979 (France)

Also Known As:

The In-Laws

Filming Locations:

Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene with the taxi going through the park on the sidewalk was shot on a Sunday.

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Goofs

When Vince is going to his office, the wooden boards holding up the camera alongside the taxi can be seen.

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Quotes

Vince Ricardo: You know, I'm such a great driver, it's incomprehensible that they took my license away.

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Connections

Referenced in Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)

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Soundtracks

Buffalo Gals
(uncredited)
Written by William Cool White

User Reviews

Screwball comedy is loaded with options

Peter Falk and Alan Arkin are an absolutely killer combination in this over-the-top comedy. The writer who helped pen "Blazing Saddles," Andrew Bergman, is back in a solo effort this time that downplays the profanity and adult situations of that earlier classic for a family-friendly outing that loses none of its bite or wit.

For me, this film carries the same buttoned-down lunacy of a great Bob and Ray routine, only sustained for 90 minutes, with hardly a sagging line or note. Get through the first five minutes, a fairly routine armored car robbery and a protracted stairwell run, and you will not be sorry, because the rest of "The In-Laws" is so funny, it will take you three or four eager viewings before you appreciate just how brilliant beyond belief it is. At least that's what happened with me.

It's a strangely genial film, its approach personified in Peter Falk's "friend of the world" interpretation of Vince Ricardo. There's nothing that phases him, or is too minute to warrant some breezily cheery comment, like "Is this coffee freeze-dried? It's very good." Or "The benefits [for belonging to the CIA] are terrific. The trick is not to get killed. That's the whole key to the benefits package."

Ricardo's approach is exemplified in an apron he is seen wearing at a barbeque: "I'm loaded with options." That he is, and screenwriter Bergman, too. In a somewhat desultory but still necessary DVD commentary for "In-Laws" fanatics like me, it is revealed by Bergman and director Arthur Hiller reveal the key moment for the screenplay is a fairly straight and jokeless scene between Alan Arkin's Dr. Kornpett and his daughter, where she urges him not to reject Ricardo because of his subliminated sexual jealousy about losing his daughter to Ricardo's son in marriage. Okay, maybe that does read funny, but it doesn't come across as funny.

The way the scene works, once the hapless dentist hears this, he is screwed. He has to help out Ricardo, in an inane flight from the government into the arms of the only Latin American dictator who's national flag features a topless woman, and whose apparent deputy is a Senor Wences hand puppet. You just follow along the same way Dr. Kornpett does, never knowing what to expect next, and, unlike him, enjoying it all the way through.

This film isn't laughs for everyone. Senator Jesus Braunsweiger's next-of-kin and BMW enthusiasts will find plenty to mourn. But for everyone else seeing it for the first time, it will be a joy forever, and a bit of a puzzlement: Why isn't this comedy better-known? Why don't people quote it as readily as "Caddyshack," "The Blues Brothers" or other lesser, contemporary fare?

One last thing: Alan Arkin's performance is maybe the best thing in the movie. I only realized this after repeat viewings. He's not the funniest comic actor around, frankly I never found his stuff that good in the other films of his I've seen, but here he makes the thing work. I wanted to say something about this containing the best straight-man work since Bud Abbott, but the more I see it, the less I'm sure who's the straight man. So many of the great lines are his: "There are flames on my car." "Flies with beaks?" "A Zee? A Zee?" "What flow? There isn't any flow." And to think his first line in the movie is a complaint about the viscosity of his dental bibs.

Just shut me up and go see it already. Or see it again. There's worse things you could do with your time, and not much better.