Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)

A computer wiz woman/W.Goldberg works at a computer terminal in a NYC bank. One day she gets a strange message and breaks the code. Suddenly, she finds herself in the middle of dangerous spy business.

Director:

Penny Marshall

Writers:

David Franzoni (story) (as David H. Franzoni), David Franzoni (screenplay) (as David H. Franzoni)

Stars:

Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Collins, John Wood

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Terry Doolittle
Stephen Collins	...	Marty Phillips
John Wood	...	Jeremy Talbott
Carol Kane	...	Cynthia
Annie Potts	...	Liz Carlson
Peter Michael Goetz	...	Mr. Page
Roscoe Lee Browne	...	Archer Lincoln
Sara Botsford	...	Lady Sarah Billings
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Mark Van Meter (as Jeroen Krabbe)
Vyto Ruginis	...	Carl
Jonathan Pryce	...	Jack
Tony Hendra	...	Hunter
Jon Lovitz	...	Doug
Phil Hartman	...	Fred (as Phil E. Hartmann)
Lynne Marie Stewart	...	Karen

Storyline

Terry works for a bank, and uses computers to communicate with clients all over the world. One day she gets a coded message from an unknown source. After decoding the message, Terry becomes embroiled in an espionage ring. People are killed, and Terry is chased. Throughout she remains in contact with this unknown person, who needs Terry to help save his life.

---

Plot Keywords:

chainsaw | circular saw | pay phone | espionage | computer | 

---

Taglines:

An Adventure In Comedy

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Knock, Knock

Filming Locations:

515 North Bundy Drive, Brentwood, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$25,587,804

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lawrence Gordon Productions, Silver Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kellie Martin's film debut.

---

Goofs

When Terry is scaling the roof at the British Consulate to get into the computer room, her belt is ripped off her gown. The belt and the tape recorder that was tucked into it, fall onto the sidewalk below. When Terry looks down, both her belt and the tape recorder are gone.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Male Broadcaster: [click] ... House has issued a series of clarifications of several of the President's statements at his nationally televised news conference last night. In addition to responding to a question about abortion with a three-minute answer about taxes and confusing his Attorney General with his Chief of Staff, the President apparently forgot that Hawaii is a State, referring to it as, "one of our strongest allies in the Pacific." A White House spokesman explained that the President had ...

---

Alternate Versions

A version shown sporadically on WTTG-TV in Washington is heavily edited and has numerous bits of dialogue and key scenes removed, including the conversation between Terry Dolittle and Liz Carlson in the kitchen.

---

Connections

Features Tales of Manhattan (1942)

---

Soundtracks

Trick Of The Night
Performed by Bananarama
Written by Steve Jolley & Tony Swain
Courtesy of London Records

User Reviews

"I wouldn't go out with any woman who called me a sheet!"

Undercooked, but ribald, enjoyable espionage-themed comedy about a computer programmer for a national bank in New York City who gets her own "Mission: Impossible" when a government agent taps into her system. Whoopi Goldberg really has no character to play here, so she wings it; tossing off one-liners and impersonations, she's a stitch, a true original. The production designer has decorated Whoopi's pad with offbeat movie posters, memorabilia and over-sized toys, but couldn't do much with the rest of this scenario, which dog-paddles along until we get to the predictable (though satisfying) conclusion. Some of the supporting characters (like Jim Belushi's mysterious heavy or Annie Potts' wife of a secret agent) come, go, and vanish completely, and the flick is held together with the barest minimum of tape. Still, it's a lot of fun anyway, which is completely due to Goldberg's sass. *** from ****