Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Set in the 1930s, an honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.

Director:

Amy Heckerling

Writers:

Harry Colomby, Jeff Harris

Stars:

Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Keaton	...	Johnny Kelly / Johnny Dangerously
Joe Piscopo	...	Danny Vermin
Marilu Henner	...	Lil
Maureen Stapleton	...	Ma Kelly
Peter Boyle	...	Jocko Dundee
Griffin Dunne	...	Tommy Kelly
Glynnis O'Connor	...	Sally
Dom DeLuise	...	The Pope
Richard Dimitri	...	Roman Troy Moronie
Danny DeVito	...	Burr
Ron Carey	...	Pat
Ray Walston	...	Vendor
Dick Butkus	...	Arthur
Byron Thames	...	Young Johnny
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Desk Sergeant

Storyline

Set in the 1930s, an honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.

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Plot Keywords:

1930s | newspaper boy | nightclub | organized crime | gangster | 

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Taglines:

Organized crime has never been this disorganized

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Johnny peligroso

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$17,124,395, 31 December 1985

Company Credits

Production Co:

Edgewood Productions,Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Tommy (Griffin Dunne) is in the hospital room in a full body cast, the hospital loudspeaker pages for "Dr. Michael Hertzberg". Michael Hertzberg is one of the film's producers.

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Goofs

The name of Richard Dmitri's character is spelled Moronie on his club sign and in newspapers. In the credits its spelled Maroni.

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Quotes

Lil: Get this to Johnny on the grapevine. Vermin is going to kill Johnny's brother at the savoy theater tomorrow night. Got it?
Polly the parrot: Got it.
[flies away]
Polly the parrot: [arrives at prison mess hall and lands on the shoulder of a prisoner] Vermin is going to kill Johnny's brother at the Savoy theater. Pass it on.
Prisoner: [to the next prisoner sitting next to him] Vermin is going to kill Johnny's brother at the Savoy theater tonight. Pass it on.
Prisoner: [to the next prisoner, "telephone" style] Vermin is going to kill Johnny's mother at the...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Ray Walston's name appears twice in the closing credits. The first is with a picture of his character and later in just typeface (along with Ron Carey) under the title "Special Appearances."

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Connections

Spoofs White Heat (1949)

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Soundtracks

This Is The Life (Theme From 'Johnny Dangerously')
Written by 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Performed by 'Weird Al' Yankovic
[title song]

User Reviews

"Crime doesn't pay… Well it pays a little"

Two people at the beginning of their film careers; director Amy Heckerling (who two years earlier directed the Cameron Crow penned "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") and Michael Keaton (in only his second leading role, after "Mr Mom" and a support role in his breakthrough film "Nightshift") come together with "Johnny Dangerously" to bring us a flighty, colourful and madcap send-up of gangster films of the 1930s. Johnny Kelly as a kid turned to crime (despite it would break his mother's heart if she knew), but in the order to pay for her medical bills he didn't see any other way since they were quite poor. So the years have past and he has become attached to it and a big player in the mob, where he would be known as Johnny Dangerously. The spoof might be hit and miss, but it always remains agreeably light-weight and Keaton just had a knack for comic timing. The wilily unrestrained material (stormed up by four writers -- well there you go) creates one gag after another, either visually, verbally or simply combining the two in a very cartoon-like manner. It really does have that old-fashion screwball mentality, but still some wit behind it and the conviction for fast moving, running gags. The silly dialogues are amusingly snappy (especially the lines from Dimitri; murdering the English language "This is fargan war!"), irony laced but with a dry sense. So many cracker lines fill the feature. Heckerling zesty direction goes hand-in-hand with the cheerful style and it's perfectly apt with the golden age period with its set designs, locations and costume work. Weird Al Yankovic chips in with the spiritedly illustrative title song, and the music score is a flavoursome effort of the era. Charmingly vibrant performances lend well with the likes of Peter Boyle, Griffin Dunne, Joe Piscopo, Danny Deviot (who's good fun), Maureen Stapleton (she's absolutely great!), Dom Deluise, Richard Dimitri and the sprightly redheaded siren Marilu Henner. Dom DeLuise and Ray Walston turn up in small comic cameos too. Pleasurably over-the-top entertainment.