Larger Than Life (1996)

A motivational speaker discovers that the inheritance his father left for him is in the form of an elephant.

Director:

Howard Franklin

Writers:

Roy Blount Jr. (screenplay), Pen Densham (story)

Stars:

Bill Murray, Matthew McConaughey, Jerry Adler

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Adler	...	Event Coordinator
Bill Murray	...	Jack Corcoran
Richard Alan Baker	...	Richie
Richie Allan	...	Man in Audience
Kimberly Thornton	...	Pyramid Woman
Anita Gillette	...	Mom
Maureen Mueller	...	Celeste
Jeremy Piven	...	Walter
Alex Neiwerth	...	Matthew
Alfa-Betty Olsen	...	Party Guest
Carrie Houk	...	Receptionist
Harve Presnell	...	Trowbridge Bowers
Tai	...	Vera
Earl Billings	...	Cop
Jeannine Hutchings	...	Outraged Woman

Storyline

Motovational Speaker Jack Corcoran is determined to get his career off the ground, but the biggest gigs he can get are the ones nobody wants. Then one day, he receives a telegram that his circus clown father has passed away, and has left a "huge" inheritance. When he gets there, he finds that his inheritance has come in the form of a elephant that was his father's pride and joy in circus acts. His main intention is to sell the pacaderm off. Jack must choose between loud and rude zookeeper Mo or attractive animal show owner Terry. As the two trek through the country Jack and the elephant develop a bond, and it changes his approach on life for the better.

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Plot Keywords:

rescued by a elephant | rescued by elephant | rescued by an animal | elephant master | circus elephant | 

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Taglines:

He's got 5 days to go coast-to-coast. (There's just one BIG problem.)

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 November 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Large as Life

Filming Locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,779,504, 3 November 1996, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$8,289,972, 15 December 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists Pictures, Trilogy Entertainment Group, RCS

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

DTS DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The USAF plane near the end of the movie is a C-5A Galaxy from Travis AFB, CA. Sadly, it has been sent to the "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ and is no longer in service.

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Goofs

Vera is supposed to be of breeding age. As Kirby had Vera in his act before Jack was born, based on the photos shown to Jack, and Jack being approximately 45 years old and elephants Vera's age when she started performing at around 5 to ten years old, that would make Vera 50 to 55 years of age. 50 is the maximum age an elephant would be able to breed. 70 is the life expectancy of an elephant. These are numbers based on healthy elephants not in captivity or in circuses. Vera would need to be between the ages of 20 to 30 and in good health to be considered for breeding. From the looks of the elephant in the film, Vera is actually only around 27 years old. Bill Murray was born in 1950, Tai the elephant was born in 1968. So, either there is some magical Hollywood film time travel or the writers had such a flimsy premise for a story that they figured the audience would overlook such a big discrepancy.

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Quotes

Jack Corcoran: You know, they say an elephant never forgets. But what they don't tell you is that you never forget an elephant.

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Connections

Referenced in James & Mike Mondays: Super Monkey Ball 2 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Psycho
Written by Leon Payne
Performed by Jack Kittel
Courtesy of Ginn Music Group

User Reviews

Bill Murray and an elephant

Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) is a struggling motivational speaker. When he gets a telegram that his absentee circus father had passed away, he doesn't know that he left him a giant elephant and $35k in damages. Now he must figure out what to do with the elephant, and how to get to California. He could get $30k with Mo (Janeane Garofalo) who's sending elephants to Sri Lanka for a breeding problem, or at least $40k to Terry (Linda Fiorentino) who has an animal circus.

It was probably a hilarious pitch to put Bill Murray with an elephant. I just don't know what they said to Bill to get him to do the movie. The biggest problem is that the whole story is really stupid. It's setup like a ridiculous sitcom. Bill has a few cute moments but it is mostly sad to see him fall so low. Matthew McConaughey puts in a ridiculous performance as a wild and crazy trucker.