''Burglar'' is a 1987 Canadian-American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by Hugh Wilson and distributed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

The film stars

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

and

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. ...

Plot

Bernice "Bernie" Rhodenbarr, a former

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murd ...

, resumes her life of crime when a corrupt

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

named Ray Kirschman blackmails her. A dentist, Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake, hires Bernice to break into her ex-husband Christopher's home and steal back her jewelry. Things take a turn for the worse when Christopher is murdered while Bernie is robbing his home, and thanks to Sheldrake and her lawyer Carson, Bernie is the only suspect. To clear her name Bernice and her friend Carl hop from bar to bar looking for someone who knew Christopher. They find out that Christopher had quite a few girlfriends... and boyfriends. Bernice has three new suspects after an old flame of Christopher's tells her about an artist, a bartender, and a mysterious man known only by his nickname: "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" Bernice investigates the artist and the bartender only to have them show up dead. With no clues or witnesses, Bernice waits for Dr. Sheldrake in her home to confront her. Demanding she tell her everything she knew about Christopher, she concludes that Cynthia herself had sex with her ex the night he was murdered. During the conversation the TV flashes to an episode of ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...

''. Bernice realizes Carson knew the doctor's ex. Bernice calls Carson to meet her in the park with the bag of jewelry Bernice was commissioned to steal in the first place. Bernice has also deduced that Carson was in love with Christopher himself. A scuffle ensues and Bernice, along with her friend Carl and Ray, capture Carson.

Cast

as Bernice "Bernie" Rhodenbarr *

as Carl Hefler * G. W. Bailey as Ray Kirschman *

Lesley Ann Warren Lesley Ann Warren (born August 16, 1946) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in 1963, aged 17, in '' 110 in the Shade''. In 1965 she received wide recognition for playing the title role in the television musical prod ...

as Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake *

James Handy James Handy is an American film actor. He appeared in numerous films and television shows since 1977. On film, he appeared in as Byers in '' K-9'' and in '' Logan''. His most notable television appearances are as Arthur Devlin in ''Alias'' and ...

as Carson "Johnny" Verrill * Anne De Salvo as Detective Todras *

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...

as Detective Nyswander * Stephen Shellen as Christopher Marshall * Elizabeth Ruscio as Frankie *

Vyto Ruginis Vyto Ruginis (born Vytautas Ruginis; April 17, 1956) is an English-American actor and producer. He is best known for playing vampire Russell Winters in the cult TV series ''Angel'' in its first episode, "City Of", as well as for his appearances ...

as K.E. Graybow * Larry Mintz as Vincent "Knobby" DiCarno * Jo Anna March as Mrs. Kirschman *

Raye Birk Raye Birk (born May 27, 1943, Flint, Michigan) is an American film and television actor best known for a variety of roles, such as playing the role of Pahpshmir in the first and last of the ''Naked Gun'' movies, and a variety of television appea ...

as The Jogger * Nathan Davis as Mr. Paggif, Pawnshop Owner * Spike Sorrentino as Chief of Detectives * Eric Poppick as Deliveryman * Scott Lincoln as Man In Cadillac *

Thom Bray Thomas Edward Bray (born April 30, 1954) is an American actor and writer perhaps best known for his role as Murray "Boz" Bozinsky in the detective TV series ''Riptide''. He made his film debut in the slasher film '' The Prowler'' (1981) and l ...

as Shoplifter In Bookstore *

Gary Hershberger Gary Hershberger (born April 5, 1964) is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his television roles as Mike Nelson in ''Twin Peaks'' (1989–1991; 2017) and Matthew Gilardi on '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2002). Early life an ...

as Young Officer *

Mike Pniewski Michael Pniewski (born April 20, 1961) is an American actor and public speaker. Life and career Pniewski was born in Los Angeles, California. His education began at UCLA, where he graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theater and al ...

as Man In Grey Uniform #1 *

Ethan Phillips Ethan Phillips (born John Ethan Phillips February 8, 1955) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for his television roles as Neelix on '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and PR man Pete Downey on ''Benson''. Personal life Phillips was raised ...

as Barman (uncredited)

Production

The film was adapted from the 1978 novel ''The Burglar in the Closet'' by

Lawrence Block Lawrence Block (born June 24, 1938) is an American crime writer best known for two long-running New York-set series about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and the gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. Block was named a Grand Mas ...

; in Block's book, Bernie Rhodenbarr is a white man living in New York. It was also the first R-rated and live-action production from the Canadian animation company

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

. In a 2013 interview with

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...

, screenwriter Jeph Loeb disclosed that ''Burglar'' was initially intended to be a serious vehicle for

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

with Whoopi Goldberg filling the role of the character's neighbor. (The film was based on the second of a long-running series of novels about a professional burglar, Bernard "Bernie" Rhodenbar.) When Willis dropped out, Goldberg took on the lead role.

Reception

Critical reception was largely negative.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

described the film as "a witless, hapless exercise in the wrong way to package Goldberg. This is a woman who is original. Who is talented. Who has a special relationship with the motion picture comedy. It is criminal to put her into brain-damaged, assembly-line thrillers." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an aggregate score of 27% based on 3 positive and 8 negative critic reviews.

References

External links