Cadillac Man (1990)

Joe's a car salesman with a problem. He has two days to sell 12 cars or he loses his job. This would be a difficult task at the best of times but Joe has to contend with his girlfriends (... See full summary »

Director:

Roger Donaldson

Writer:

Ken Friedman

Stars:

Robin Williams, Tim Robbins, Pamela Reed

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robin Williams	...	Joey O'Brien
Tim Robbins	...	Larry
Pamela Reed	...	Tina
Fran Drescher	...	Joy Munchack
Zack Norman	...	Harry Munchack
Lori Petty	...	Lila
Annabella Sciorra	...	Donna
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Little Jack Turgeon
Bill Nelson	...	Big Jack Turgeon
Eddie Jones	...	Benny
Mimi Cecchini	...	Ma
Tristine Skyler	...	Lisa
Judith Hoag	...	Molly
Lauren Tom	...	Helen the Dim Sum Girl
Anthony Powers	...	Captain Mason

Storyline

Joe's a car salesman with a problem. He has two days to sell 12 cars or he loses his job. This would be a difficult task at the best of times but Joe has to contend with his girlfriends (he's two timing), a missing teenage daughter and an ex-wife. What more could go wrong ?.. a lot, enter a crazy jealous husband with a machine gun..

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Plot Keywords:

queens new york city | mistress | debt | car dealership | police | 

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Taglines:

Legend. Lover. Salesman. A way with words. A way with women. And way over his head.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cadillac Man - Mister occasionissima

Filming Locations:

54th Avenue, Maspeth, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$27,627,310

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robin Wiiliams and Anabella Sciorra played a married couple 8 years later in the movie "What Dreams May Come".

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Goofs

Although a Jewish funeral and cemetery are shown at the opening of the film, as evidenced by the tombstone inscriptions, flowers are seen accompanying the coffin. This is inconsistent with Jewish burial tradition, where flowers are never used in the funeral ceremony.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Funeral Director: [funeral procession of cars is halted and the engine of the hearse is smoking] I don't know what's wrong with it! I thought you guys were supposed to service this thing!
Hearse Driver: I don't know why he didn't service it.
Funeral Director: Yeah, yeah, "I don't know".

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits of the cast, it says: Oh... and Elaine Stritch as the widow

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Connections

References The Twilight Zone (1959)

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Soundtracks

HIT THE ROAD JACK
Written by Percy Mayfield
Published by Gibb Brothers Music

User Reviews

interesting movie

This movie is funny, insightful, and alarming all at the same time. This is a synopsis of mostly Italian American life in working class burroughs of NY (Queens, Long Island, whatever). Joey (Robin Williams) is juggling two neurotic girlfriends and an ex-wife while struggling to keep his job as a smooth talking car salesman. The movie starts off with a shot of a cemetery in Queens, the biggest damn cemetery I have ever seen. It gives you the feeling of crowdedness, that even in death people are crowded and are probably still arguing over elbow room. Joey is desperate and even tries to sell a car to a widow as she is burying her husband. Eventually, a distraught and somewhat deranged husband of the car dealer's secretary takes over the dealership with a machine gun, convinced that somebody there is screwing with his sexy wife (which is true). It isn't Joey, but he takes the rap and tries to talk the guy down, doing a pretty good job. Car salesman becomes psychologist, and he does an amazingly good job, along with help from a phone call from both his wife and his mother to the distraught man. This is the best part of the movie. You see Joey and Larry (Robbins) play out this scene with both humor and fright. Larry is trying to prove his manhood to his wife. You understand his plight and feel his pain, and at the same time you see the mans compassion, especially with the phone calls from Joey's ex-wife and mother. There is something very real about this scene and I would think that someone who has to talk down a hostage situation might gain something from watching how Joey makes connections with Larry on a personal level. Eventually Larry sees what a mess Joey's life is and starts to see that actually his situation isn't that bad. This movie is as much about the alienation and frustration of modern life as anything else. The movie is loud and frantic and might put you off in that respect, but hang with it.