Dad (1989)

A busy, "always-on-the-run" executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him ... See full summary »

Director:

Gary David Goldberg

Writers:

William Wharton (novel), Gary David Goldberg (screenplay)

Stars:

Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Lemmon	...	Jake Tremont
Ted Danson	...	John Tremont
Olympia Dukakis	...	Bette Tremont
Kathy Baker	...	Annie
Kevin Spacey	...	Mario
Ethan Hawke	...	Billy
Zakes Mokae	...	Dr. Chad
J.T. Walsh	...	Dr. Santana
Peter Michael Goetz	...	Dr. Ethridge
John Apicella	...	Dr. Delibro
Richard McGonagle	...	Victor Walton
Bill Morey	...	Hal McCarthy
Mary Fogarty	...	Gloria McCarthy (as Mary Fogerty)
Art Frankel	...	DMV Instructor
Ray Girardin	...	Butcher

Storyline

A busy, "always-on-the-run" executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. In the process, he teaches his father to be more independent which causes problems with the man's wife. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.

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Plot Keywords:

heart attack | playing catch | coma | delusion | terminal illness | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes the greatest man you ever meet... is the first one.

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Genres:

Drama | Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 November 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mon père

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$540,148, 29 October 1989, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$19,738,015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amblin Entertainment, Ubu Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of four film and television collaborations of actor Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey. The titles are Long Day's Journey Into Night (1987), Dad (1989), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988). The pair also starred in the Broadway production of ''Long Day's Journey Into Night".

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Goofs

When Jake and John drive through the parking lot and stop to talk, John parks in front of two large trees, one directly in front of the car. The inside shot from the back seat has no tree visible through the windshield.

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Quotes

Jake Tremont: [About a white shirt with black stripes] It's white.
John Tremont: I'm going to make an executive decision here. I'm gonna say it's colored. Okay, water: cold/warm, warn/warm, warm/hot. What the hell, we'll live dangerously. Hot/hot.
Jake Tremont: It's white.

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Connections

Features Captain Kangaroo (1955)

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Soundtracks

Nice Dreams
Written by Joel DuBay, Jeffrey Litke & Adrian Liberty
Performed by Powermad
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
by Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

this remains a powerful film

I think this is Jack Lemmon's greatest performance and the supporting cast are incredible, including Ted Danson who always appears to me to be slightly frenetic in a grim kind of way. Here he is truly believable and his scenes with his own son tug at your heart they are so real. No Hollywood quickfix here for the relationship, the boy is simply closer to his grandfather than he is to his own father and nothing will change that fact.

What I liked most about the film was that the theme in less worthy hands could have been made sloppily sentimental, but here it is totally restrained both in script and direction and it makes for a really meaningful movie. The characters remain real all the way through and the script does not transform them into wondrous saints by movie's end.

It is the wonderful understatement in it all that captivated me and made me weep at the end. Jack is truly unforgettable and Olympia magnificent in her dryness and cynicism. I have seen it 3 times and each time relished another scene a little more. This time around it was Jack dragging his wife around to meet the neighbours he was not even aware of before and her long suffering face at this new and reinvented Jack makes you laugh out loud. Bravo to all. An 8 1/2 out of 10. And that scene where they dance, oh me oh my......who needs naked bodies writhing on a bed, this has sensuousness, love and intimacy in it, the real kind. Oh for more of those scenes in movies!