The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

After his mistress runs over a young teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight and attracting the interest of a down and out reporter.

Director:

Brian De Palma (as Brian DePalma)

Writers:

Michael Cristofer (screenplay), Tom Wolfe (novel)

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks	...	Sherman McCoy
Bruce Willis	...	Peter Fallow
Melanie Griffith	...	Maria Ruskin
Kim Cattrall	...	Judy McCoy
Saul Rubinek	...	Jed Kramer
Morgan Freeman	...	Judge Leonard White
John Hancock	...	Reverend Bacon
Kevin Dunn	...	Tom Killian
Clifton James	...	Albert Fox
Louis Giambalvo	...	Ray Andruitti
Barton Heyman	...	Det. Martin
Norman Parker	...	Det. Goldberg
Donald Moffat	...	Mr. McCoy
Alan King	...	Arthur Ruskin
Beth Broderick	...	Caroline Heftshank

Storyline

Financial "Master of the Universe" Sherman McCoy sees his life unravel when his mistress Maria Ruskin hits a black boy with his car. When yellow journalist Peter Fallow enflames public opinion with a series of distorted tabloid articles on the accident, the case is seized upon by opportunists like Reverend Bacon and mayoral candidate D.A. Abe Weiss.

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Plot Keywords:

phone booth | telephone booth | telephone call | voice over | tire | 

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Taglines:

An Outrageous Story of Greed, Lust and Vanity in America

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

La hoguera de las vanidades

Filming Locations:

346 E 59th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$47,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,216,063, 21 December 1990

Gross USA:

$15,691,192

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Adrian Lyne turned down the opportunity to direct, in favor of Jacob's Ladder (1990).

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Goofs

When McCoy gets off the subway, we see he is riding the number 1 train and he gets off at 77th Street station. First of all, the number 1 train runs on the west side of Manhattan, no where near his Park Avenue residence on the east side, and second, there are no 77th Street stops on the number 1 line.

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Quotes

D.A. Abe Weiss: And now they're gonna sue the hospital... All they want is money. Can you imagine using a tragedy like this for your own selfish motives?

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Connections

Featured in De Palma (2015)

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Soundtracks

Let Jesus Fix It For You
Written by Milton Biggham

User Reviews

This is what I call an honest movie.

After reading a large number of negative reviews, it finally became clear to me why this movie is so widely hated - because it honestly depicts the modern biased race-based American society, in which uneducated crowds are ready to devour an honest person, and punish him for a crime he didn't commit. The acting is great, Tom Hanks does an admirable job, however,it isn't acting which makes the movie great. The superb directing, creating realistic and horrible scenes of dirty political games and black (literally) PR, capture my attention. So, to sum up, a brilliant political satire. The movie could make a laughable comedy, if it wasn't so terrifying...