Pink Cadillac (film)

Pink Cadillac
Original poster
Directed by	Buddy Van Horn
Produced by	David Valdes Michael Gruskoff
Written by	John Eskow
Starring	Clint Eastwood Bernadette Peters
Music by	Steve Dorff
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Edited by	Joel Cox
Production company	Malpaso Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	May 26, 1989 (1989-05-26)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$19 million
Box office	$12,143,484

Pink Cadillac is a 1989 American action-comedy film about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing after an innocent woman who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film stars Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters and also has small cameo appearances by Jim Carrey and Bryan Adams.

Plot

A white supremacist group is chasing Lou Ann (Bernadette Peters), whose no-good husband Roy (Timothy Carhart) is a member. She has inadvertently taken counterfeit money from them by running away with his car (the pink Cadillac), which held the supremacists' stash.

Tommy Nowak (Clint Eastwood) is a "skip-tracer" (bounty hunter) whose speciality is dressing up in disguises, such as a rodeo clown, to fool whomever he is after. Tommy takes on the job of finding Lou Ann because she skipped bail.

When he finally finds her in Reno, Nevada, Tommy slowly becomes enamored. Roy and his gang kidnap their baby, whom Lou Ann has left with her sister (Frances Fisher), so Tommy decides to help Lou Ann get the baby back instead of turning her in. While driving through the West, seeking the baby, romance blossoms. They eventually fight the evil supremacists and retrieve the baby.

Cast

• Clint Eastwood as Tommy Nowak
• Bernadette Peters as Lou Ann McGuinn
• Timothy Carhart as Roy McGuinn
• Gerry Bamman as Buddy
• John Dennis Johnson as Waycross
• Michael Des Barres as Alex
• Jimmie F. Skaggs as Billy Dunston
• Bill Moseley as Darrell
• Michael Champion as Ken Lee
• William Hickey as Mr. Barton
• Geoffrey Lewis as Ricky Z
• Dirk Blocker as Policeman #1
• Jim Carrey as Stand-up comedian imitating a phocomelic Elvis Presley
• James Cromwell as Motel Desk Clerk
• Sven-Ole Thorsen as Birthright Thug
• Michael Farrell as Birthright Thug
• Bill McKinney as Coltersville Bartender
• Paul Benjamin as Judge
• Frances Fisher as Dinah
• Bryan Adams as Gas Station Attendant
• John Fleck as Lounge Lizard
• Mara Corday as Stick Lady
• Darryl Keyes as Bald craps dealer in background
• James Link as John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino extra
• Jim Alves as officer Cortez in Sheriff office, and delivering lead car.

Production

Filming began in late 1988, and took place in California and Nevada.^[1]

Reception

The film received generally poor reviews. Caryn James wrote: "When it's time to look back on the strange sweep of Clint Eastwood's career, from his ambitious direction of Bird to his coarse, classic Dirty Harry character, Pink Cadillac will probably settle comfortably near the bottom of the list. It is the laziest sort of action comedy, with lumbering chase scenes, a dull-witted script and the charmless pairing of Mr. Eastwood and Bernadette Peters." (New York Times, May 26, 1989.)

Hal Hinson praised the performers: Peters "...plays her comic scenes with a vivacious abandon..." She "loosens him (Eastwood) up... and humanizes him. These two make a nifty comic team."^[2]

Pink Cadillac was released in May 1989, opening against Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The film eventually grossed $12,143,484. In contrast, the movie Eastwood made just prior to Pink Cadillac, the fifth Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool, grossed $37,903,295.^[3]

The film currently holds two and a half stars (5.1/10) on IMDb.^[4] It has a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[5]

References

Bibliography

• Hughes, Howard (2009). Aim for the Heart. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7. 

External links

• Pink Cadillac at the Internet Movie Database
• Pink Cadillac at Rotten Tomatoes

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