Without a Paddle (2004)

After their friend dies, three men decide to fulfill their childhood dream by going on a camping expedition for the lost D. B. Cooper bounty, with calamitous results.

Director:

Steven Brill

Writers:

Fred Wolf (story), Harris Goldberg (story)

Stars:

Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, Dax Shepard

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Price	...	Young Tom
Andrew Hampton	...	Young Jerry
Jarred Rumbold	...	Young Dan
Carl Snell	...	Young Billy
Antony Starr	...	Billy Newwood (as Anthony Starr)
Dax Shepard	...	Tom Marshall
Matthew Lillard	...	Jerry Conlaine
Seth Green	...	Dan Mott
Nadine Bernecker	...	Angie
Danielle Cormack	...	Tony
David Stott	...	Dick Stark
Bonnie Somerville	...	Denise
Scott Adsit	...	Greasy Man
Morgan Reese Fairhead	...	Sandi
Liddy Holloway	...	Bonnie Newwood

Storyline

Three friends, whose lives have been drifting apart, reunite for the funeral of a fourth childhood friend. When looking through their childhood belongings, they discover a trunk which contained details on a quest their friend was attempting. It revealed that he was hot on the trail of the $200,000 that went missing with airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper in 1971. They decide to continue his journey, but do not understand the dangers they will soon encounter.

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Plot Keywords:

involuntary erection | friendship between men | tree house | homoeroticism | environmentalist | 

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Taglines:

Three lifelong friends... One lost treasure... What could go wrong?

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for drug content, sexual material, language, crude humor and some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

First feature film shot In New Zealand to qualify for the New Zealand Screen Production Grant (NZSPG).

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Goofs

After the funeral, Tom, Jerry and Dan go back to their old tree house. They find their old treasure box and the camera shows a shot of the box with the lock in the hole but clearly unlocked. Then the say that they can not get into the box but Dan tells them the combination and then they say that the combination worked even though it had clearly been unlocked before he tried the combination.

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Quotes

Del Knox: Remember, carry your friends wherever you go.
Dan Mott: Close to your heart.
Del Knox: Or on your back. I got D.B's bones in my satchel. Thought I'd give 'em a proper burial. I spent 30 years waiting to have a life!

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: It's a Trap! (2011)

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Soundtracks

Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang
by Snoop Dogg (as Cordozar Broadus), Leon Haywood & Frederick Knight
Published by Suge Publishing (ASCAP) admin. by WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Brown Bag Humor

This PG 13 comedy has been greatly maligned by some big time critics, the New York Times and other's. I think the main irritation is the homosexual eroticism, a joke if you will about Deliverance style banjo boys and close quarter survival in the nude. Some may be offended, sensitive gay's, little old Grandmothers, and redneck tobacco sputters. I assure you; however, this is a funny movie. City Slickers 1 and 2 covered this ground once before, but frankly, I liked Without a Paddle more. It's sentimental for all the right reasons. The boys truly love each other and when they become twenty something's, they retain some of their boyish quirks, each with a flaw, the short, picked-on boy grows up to be the short picked on doctor. You get the idea.

The Cascade Mountains both real and simulated is a beautiful green backdrop to the slapstick antics of angry bears and pot growing dummies. The tree girls are a breakdown and laugh idea. Their defense of a tree is brown bag humor, but gee, that hits a visceral laugh note in even the stuffiest fool.

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [United States]

Country:

USA New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 August 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Without a Paddle

Filming Locations:

30 Laings Road, Hutt Central, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,528,946, 22 August 2004

Gross USA:

$58,169,327

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$73,029,190

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, De Line Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1