Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

I had never heard of "Fun with Dick and Jane" until the remake came out. Now that I've seen the original, I really like it. George Segal and Jane Fonda play a yuppie couple whose well-to-do lifestyle suddenly gets interrupted when he loses his job. Realizing that they have no other choice, the two of them soon turn to theft to survive. But then there's his former employer (Ed McMahon)...The remake changed the story a little bit, updating the story so that it looked at the era of Enron, Adelphia, Worldcom, etc. This one is about about a simple firing and how the couple seeks revenge, with a lot of funny stuff. You're bound to love the trick that they pull at the end. A really fun movie.Half-cocked indeed.

From director Ted Kotcheff (Rambo: First Blood), I was very interested to see the original version of this comedy film, remade with Jim Carrey. It is the same format, executive engineer Dick Harper (The Cable Guy's George Segal) is unexpectedly fired by Charlie Blanchard (Ed McMahon) just after finishing a new swimming pool, and he and his wife Jane (Jane Fonda) are in financial trouble. They try to cut down their expenses, find new jobs and ways to get money, and even with unemployment benefits it is uncertain they can keep the house. There is nothing for it for Dick and Jane, when they gain the confidence to they begin robbing drug and liquor stores. Doing this they seem to be surviving and maintaining their social status, it is only a question of whether they will be caught or get away with it all. Also starring Richard 'Dick' Gautier as Dr. Will, Allan Miller as Loan Company Manager, Hank Garcia as Raoul Esteban, John Dehner as Jane's father, Mary Jackson as Jane's mother, Walter Brooke as Jim Weeks, Sean Frye as Billy Harper, James Jeter as Immigration officer and Maxine Stuart as Blanchard's secretary and Fred Willard as Bob. Segal and Fonda make a good duo, there are more amusing jokes than in the remake, it is a pleasant feel-good (or bad that they resort to robbery) comedy classic. Worth watching!

"Fun with Dick and Jane" from 1977, starring George Segal and Jane Fonda, is the type of comedy that's rarely made anymore in mainstream cinema. Like the remake, which had a different script but the same premise, it's about a financially totally overextended couple who find themselves flat broke when the husband, Dick, loses his job. Jane takes it well, announcing an end to European wines and agrees to drop a book of the month club. When the landscapers roll up their lawn and remove the shrubs, they have to stop putting in the pool, and they start using candles instead of lights, it occurs to them that there's a problem. When Jane looks over the bills, she declares her husband "the Typhoid Mary of finance." What follows is a very funny comedy as Dick and Jane try to make it on unemployment, apply for food stamps, and attempt to borrow money at a 17% interest rate ("That's illegal!" Jane yells). Finally, they decide to try to get money through robbery.I only saw part of the Jim Carrey version. What I find most interesting is that the 1977 version takes a while building up to the decision to rob, while it comes much earlier in the later film. That's the big difference between films made 30 years ago and now - the art of the buildup is gone. If you don't get to the meat of the plot in 10 minutes, the film is criticized for being slow. Personally, I like getting to know the characters and seeing what leads to the main plot. It's a pity that our MTV generation demands this.I miss this type of comedy. The humor isn't vulgar, and it's about adults and not teenagers. And, given the financial climate, it still resonates. Today you need a Jim Carrey to sign on for a film like this in order for it to be made, where in the '70s and '80s, these movies were plentiful. Fonda and Segal are great. Recommended.

Dick and Jane Harper are happy and very well off; they have a dog, a son, a great house and Dick has a high-powered job as an aerospace company executive. However when the company hits a bumpy patch, Dick is laid off and very quickly the family is running up more debt than they can handle. Dick keeps trying to find work and even Jane leaves the family home to try and get a regular job type job. However things do not go that well and, as their possessions start to get repossessed, they get increasingly desperate.Recently the subject of a remake (which I never bothered to see) this comedy is a sort of satire on the American dream and the attitudes of big business. Or at least that is what others have said. Personally I think it has a vague swipe at this but mainly it just settles for being a gentle caper that draws laughs from the unlikely descent of the middle classes into crime. It isn't anywhere near as sharp or caustic as I would have liked it to be but it flows along cheerily enough and entertained me reasonably well. Big laughs are few and far between but it is nicely comic for the most part.Given the light material, I thought this was mostly down to the lead pair working with it well. Segal is reasonably good but his strength is in his chemistry with Fonda. She is good and has a nice comic touch. Support is generally solid if unspectacular with turns from Mcahon, Garcia and others but generally the film is carried by the leads. Direction feels a little dated now as the film has a very 1970's look and, without a sharp edge, it doesn't feel as relevant as it should do.Overall this is a comic little film that is amusing and works thanks to easy performances by the lead pair. I would have preferred it to have had a much sharper edge to have blended satire with the comedy but it was still an entertaining little film albeit one that won't stick in my mind or have me coming back for repeat viewings.