Quick Change

''Quick Change'' is a 1990 American crime comedy film directed by Bill Murray and Howard Franklin (in their directorial debuts) and written by Franklin. Based on the novel of the same name by Jay Cronley, the film stars Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, and Jason Robards. ''Quick Change'' follows three people on an elaborate bank robbery and their subsequent escape.

Filmed and set in New York City, ''Quick Change'' is the second adaptation of Cronley's novel, after the 1985 Canadian film '' Hold-Up''. It is also the only directorial credit in Murray's career.

''Quick Change'' was theatrically released in the United States on July 13, 1990. Upon release, it was a box office bomb, grossing $15.3 million worldwide against a budget of $17 million, but received positive reviews, with praise for Murray's performance and humor.

Plot

Grimm, dressed as a clown, robs a bank in midtown Manhattan. He sets up an ingenious hostage situation strapping fake dynamite all over his waist and successfully gets away with $1 million and his accomplices: girlfriend Phyllis and best friend Loomis.

The heist itself is comparatively straightforward and easy, but the getaway turns into a nightmare. The relatively simple act of getting to the airport to catch a flight out of the country is complicated by the fact that fate, luck, and all of New York City appear to be conspiring against their escape.

To begin with, the trio is seeking the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to get to the airport, but the signs were removed during construction work, resulting in the three robbers becoming lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood in Brooklyn. Then, a conman/thief robs the trio of everything they have (except the bank money, which they have taped under their clothes).

After changing into new clothes at Phyllis's apartment, they are confronted and nearly gunned down by the paranoid and stressed-out incoming tenant. At the same time, a fire has broken out across the street and the fire department arrives and pushes their car away from a hydrant only to cause it to roll downhill and then down an embankment.

When the three crooks eventually manage to flag down a cab, the foreign driver is hopelessly non fluent in English. This causes a hysterical Loomis to jump out of the moving cab to grab another, but he runs into a newsstand, knocking himself unconscious. The driver leaves, thinking he has killed Loomis. An anal-retentive bus driver, a run-in with mobsters, and Phyllis's increasing desperation to tell Grimm the news that she is pregnant with his child add further complications.

All the while, Rotzinger, a world-weary but relentless chief of the New York City Police Department, is doggedly attempting to nab the fleeing trio. A meeting on board an airliner at the airport occurs between the robbers and the chief, who gets the added prize of having a major crime boss dropped in his lap with their assistance. Unfortunately the chief only realizes who they were after their plane has taken off.

Cast

* Bill Murray as Grimm
* Geena Davis as Phyllis Potter
* Randy Quaid as Loomis
* Jason Robards as Chief Walt Rotzinger
* Philip Bosco as Bus Driver
* Bob Elliott as Bank Guard
* Phil Hartman as Mr. Edison
* Tony Shalhoub as Cab Driver
* Victor Argo as Mike Skelton
* Stanley Tucci as Johnny
* Kathryn Grody as Mrs. Edison
* Richard Joseph Paul as Lieutenant Dennis Jameson
* Jamey Sheridan as The Mugger
* Kurtwood Smith as Vince Lombino / Russ Crane
* Paul Herman as Interrogating Policeman

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Quick Change'' makes the most of its clever premise with a smartly skewed heist comedy that leaves plenty of room for its talented cast to shine." On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Several critics claim it is one of Murray's finest roles: a jaded man who has had too much of the Big Apple. Also praised were the strong performances by the supporting cast, particularly Robards as the police chief Rotzinger, who, while almost as burned out as Murray, is still determined to capture the robbers as a swan song to his long career.

Roger Ebert, in his July 13, 1990 ''Chicago Sun-Times'' review, wrote: ''Quick Change'' is a funny but not an inspired comedy. It has two directors... and I wonder if that has anything to do with its inability to be more than just efficiently entertaining."

References

External links

*

Erasing Clouds retrospective article on the film

{{Howard Franklin

1990 films
1990 comedy films
1990 directorial debut films
1990s American films
1990s crime comedy films
1990s English-language films
1990s heist films
American crime comedy films
American heist films
Comedy films about clowns
Films about bank robbery
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Bill Murray
Films directed by Howard Franklin
Films produced by Robert Greenhut
Films scored by Randy Edelman
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Films with screenplays by Howard Franklin
Warner Bros. films