Ri¢hie Ri¢h (1994)

A rich young boy finds his family targeted in an inside job and must use his cunning to save them.

Director:

Donald Petrie

Writers:

Neil Tolkin (story), Tom S. Parker (screenplay)

Stars:

Macaulay Culkin, Edward Herrmann, John Larroquette

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Macaulay Culkin	...	Richie Rich
John Larroquette	...	Lawrence Van Dough
Edward Herrmann	...	Richard Rich
Christine Ebersole	...	Regina Rich
Jonathan Hyde	...	Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury
Michael McShane	...	Professor Keenbean
Chelcie Ross	...	Ferguson
Mariangela Pino	...	Diane Pazinski
Stephi Lineburg	...	Gloria Pazinski
Michael Maccarone	...	Tony
Joel Robinson	...	Omar
Jonathan Hilario	...	Pee Wee
Reggie Jackson	...	Baseball Coach
Claudia Schiffer	...	Aerobics Instructor
Wanda Christine	...	Newswoman at Factory (as Wandachristine)

Storyline

The richest kid in the world, Richie Rich, has everything he wants, except companionship. While representing his father at a factory opening, he sees some kids playing baseball across the street. Richie wants to join in, but they don't want him around. When a plot to kill the Rich family is devised by Rich Industries' top executive, Laurence Van Dough, Richie must take over control of the company while searching for his lost parents with the help of some new friends.

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Plot Keywords:

villain | head of security | mansion | gardening | eavesdropping | 

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Taglines:

Without the inventions, the butler, and the private fast-food restaurant...he's just a normal 12-year-old billionaire.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

21 December 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Richie Rich

Filming Locations:

Greystone Park & Mansion - 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$38,087,756

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures, Davis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tim Allen turned down the role of Richard Rich Sr.

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Goofs

The fax appears in the fax machine after it has been removed.

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Quotes

[Richie wants to play baseball with Gloria's sandlot-team]
Richie Rich: Come on. Let me hit.
Gloria: Forget it; you probably couldn't even hit a BEACH BALL!
Richie Rich: I could hit it off of YOU.
Gloria: [insulted] All right - You think you're so hot? Put your money where your mouth is!
Richie Rich: You mean bet?
Tony: Yeah. $5 says she could put you away for keeps.
Gloria: $5? How about $10?
Richie Rich: Okay - Seems a little steep, but $10 thousand it is.
[He whips it out, and they all freak out]
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The film is bookended with the opening and closing of a vault at the opening titles and closing credits.

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Alternate Versions

The version shown on NBC blurs the Reese's Nutrageous bar during the "taste test" scene for legal reasons.

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Connections

References Beavis and Butt-Head (1993)

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Soundtracks

What I Like About You
Written by James Marinos, Wally Palmar, and Mike Skill
Performed by The Romantics

User Reviews

1994: the beginning of the end and success of Macaulay Culkin's career

In 1994, Macaulay Culkin stared in 3 films: 'Richie Rich', 'The Pagemaster' and 'Getting even with dad', none of them particularly interesting. The movies themselves did poorly at cinemas and in critical terms.

In 1994, Macaulay Culkin was 13/14 years old. He was in his early adolescence, so he was growing. A difficult phase for him. Ridiculously, people began to ignore him because of that - either that or they simply thought his cuteness was disappearing and gave him little value for that. But he always proved to be a terrific actor. True, there were many, many great child actors but he was one of them for sure. Sure, his cuteness took him far, but it was his talent that made him a legend.

After playing a completely different role in the 1993 film 'The Good Son' (where he played a psychopath that could very well disguise that nature thanks to his angelical looks, a wolf in sheep's clothe), he returned to the roles of 'good guys' in all of his 1994 films.

'Richie Rich' is not much of a film, but perhaps it's a little more interesting than 'The Pagemaster'. It's not a bad movie, but it's a somewhat complex film for me to give a fair rating. It has good moments but also very stupid moments, particularly from the 2nd half on (in my opinion, where the movie is at its weakest).

Macaulay Culkin plays the title character. Richie Rich is rich (like his name suggests), lives in a fancy mansion surrounded by comfort and luxury and can even count with a chauffeur that takes him in his majestic and elegant Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud whenever it's necessary. But Richie realizes that there is one thing that money can't buy: happiness. He feels the lack of friends and possibly bored with his tedious life. He just wants to be like the other kids.

About the things I found funny in this film, a good example of that is the line «Oh my God, I look like Michael Jackson!» by Richie's mother. Come to think of it... that's not untrue - lol. I'm surprised they put this line in the film because Macaulay Culkin stars in it and considering the friendship he had with the eccentric singer... Other funny details are, for example, the cute dog that has dollar signs instead of spots and appropriately named Dollar, and the scene when Richie doesn't wanna wake up but stares at his personal trainer when he realizes what a beauty she is (she is portrayed by the supermodel Claudia Schiffer).

Macaulay Culkin had everything to be a great name of the cinema. And he was, for a few years, mostly thanks to the success of the first two 'Home Alone' films. He was talented, charismatic and good-looking. Too bad he trashed his life later, but I believe he turned out to be like this because of his personal problems.