Other People's Money (1991)

Besides this being entertaining to watch De Vito and Penelope have fun dancing around a battle of the sexes all the while maintaining a serious business deal, this movie is very much UNDER rated as the morality play it is. Frank Capra couldn't have been better at creating the character Gregory Peck plays. And Danny DeVito was fabulous as someone you want to hate, but can't quite bring yourself to. His character is just too true to itself as a business man with a heart (for those that look beyond the initial image that his character has to get each time someone first meets this 'Wall Street giant'). This is a morality play that entertains too. In fact I consider this a 'litmus test' of how FREE market the attitude of a person viewing it is. De Vito's stockholders speech is something that should be taught in every economics and business class. The fact that it isn't and probably never will be is a reflection of why the U$A is fast sinking from its 1st class nation/economic status.

Fmovies: Yes, it is somewhat hard to imaging Penelope Ann Miller even considering any type of relationship with Danny DeVito. And yes, they really do not explore the apparent rift between Peck's character and Miller's. These two caveats aside, this is a very enjoyable movie. So all tycoons don't look like Richard Gere. This is a tour de force for DeVito. He gets past his diminutive stature and actually becomes Larry the Liquidator.

I was not saddled with having seen (or even heard of) the play. Theater is irrelevant anyway, except as a training ground for movie actors. I took this picture on its own merits, and frankly, I was skeptical that DeVito could do a corporate raider. But he plays it just right and then has you believing that this dwarf from the Bronx really made good. Dean Jones is convincing as the corporate soldier trying to find a soft place to land. Peck is excellent, as always.

Two thumbs up!

"Other People's Money" sort of takes "Wall Street" and puts a comedic spin on it. Danny DeVito - in full pumped-up, crazy form - plays Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield, a corporate raider plotting a hostile takeover of a store that provides the town's livelihood. The plant's owner (Gregory Peck) sends young lawyer Kate Sullivan (Penelope Ann Miller) after Larry, but nothing goes as anyone planned.

This seems like the sort of movie that only Norman Jewison could direct, how he takes a real-life issue and shows it in a manner to which we can all relate. The whole part about the relationship between Larry and Kate was maybe a little unnecessary, but it's overall good that the movie shows the Wall Street types for what they really are...even if you grow to admire Larry. Maybe if you grow to admire Larry, it's because Danny DeVito makes him so funny. The movie comes out very well done. Also starring Piper Laurie, Dean Jones and William DeAcutis in his final role.

Other People's Money fmovies. Believe it or not, this is one of my all time favourite films. The speeches at the proxy fight by Jorgy" and "Larry the Liquidator" are sensational. I have not seen any movie that has done this better including Gordon Gecko's "Greed is Good" in Wall Street. I was applauding after I heard DeVito talking about fiber optics and obsolescence.

This is an interesting movie which resists the easy temptation to paint Garfield as an avaricious vulture and Jorgenson as the saintly victim. It is even-handed in portraying both the cruelty that adaptation and changing times impose on people, and yet the necessity to do so. (Garfield: "I'm sure that the last buggy whip company in America made the best damn buggy whips in the world.") Jorgenson makes a moving and impassioned speech to the stockholders on the themes of caring and compassion, which completely wins the viewer over; no way do we feel that Garfield can respond, but he does, and very convincingly. One doesn't find this kind of ambiguity and even treatment very often; people like things black & white (e.g. Oliver Stone's "Wall Street"), which is perhaps why this film didn't make it big. I liked it. Danny DeVito is always worth watching, and Peck does a good job too. Unfortunately Penelope Ann Miller is not convincing in sultry mode.

In no way whatsoever does this film compare to the play upon which it was based. That having been said, however, it stands very nicely on its own if one does not have any expectations going in. Danny DeVito, one of my all-time favorite character actors, brilliantly and flawlessly portrays Larry Garfield, corporate raider, known to those in the trade as "Larry the Liquidator". If you are reading this, chances are you have read other reviews which recap the plot points, so in lieu of boring you I will just add my recommendation that you will not go unrewarded if you give this one a try.

Certain other elements, like the controversial casting of Penelope Ann Miller, the near-absence of Piper Laurie's character, and most seriously, the total absence of other key plot elements from the play which contributed to the overall emotional impact of the piece, leave something of a regret in one's mouth after watching the film is over...you see glimmers of what might have been, see the hint of the masterpiece that might have been created, and wonder what sacrifices had to be made by the filmmakers at the studio level in order to make this film at all.

Worth seeing for DeVito's masterful, lovingly crafted and enthusiastically delivered performance.