Three for the Road (1987)

Director:

Bill L. Norton

Writers:

Richard Martini (screenplay)
Richard Martini (story)

Release Date:

19 November 1987 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

...a little fun goes a long way.

Plot:

A crafty political aide and his soft-spoken pal are assigned the job of delivering a senator's out-of-control teenage daughter to an institution.

Plot Keywords:

Senator | Mud | Barefoot | Road Movie | House Boat

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Charlie Sheen	...	Paul
Kerri Green	...	Robin Kitteredge
Alan Ruck	...	T.S.
Sally Kellerman	...	Blanche Kitteridge
Blair Tefkin	...	Missy
Raymond J. Barry	...	Sen. Kitteredge
Alexa Hamilton	...	Virginia
Bert Remsen	...	Stu
James Avery	...	Clarence
Eric Bruskotter	...	Junior
Jackie Stewart	...	Officer Merle
J.C. Mullins	...	Officer Earl
Robert Ginnaven	...	Dr. Hastings
Gary Taggart	...	Restaurant Manager
Scott Edmonds	...	Bartender

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Arkansas, USA

Company:

Vista Organization

Movie Connections:

References Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Soundtrack:

Lost and Lonely

Coulda Been A Contender

I wrote this movie. It was my first major film, and I went to the set to visit while they were shooting it in Arkansas. Charlie Sheen, who had just starred in "Platoon" told me he loved the script, but what they were shooting was .. well, let's just say rewritten. I thought he was exaggerating, until I told my friends to meet me at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood for the opening weekend. 3000 seat theater - and only 8 people attended the 8 p.m. show. I hated it. I hated the reviews it got, it made me decide that if my movie was going to get screwed up, I was going to direct it, and at least I'd be responsible for it. So, for better or worse, that's what I've been doing since then. However, I have some nostalgia for this piece - its genesis was seeing Senator Moynihan's daughter dancing on a bar in Cambridge when I went to college. The original story was about a Senator's daughter who is ruining his re-election bid by staging protests. He decides to send her to a reform school and assigns his young up and coming assistant to do the job. His roommate is a stringer for a Washington rag, and he begs to come along. Along the way the daughter escapes multiple times, but mainly wants to find her mom - who abandoned her father. She thinks its because the mom agrees with her politics; I thought Dabney Coleman would have been the perfect Senator. It runs out her mom was just 'getting high' too much when she was in college, got pregnant and didn't want to have a family. Depressed with the truth, the daughter decides to shape up and take reform school in stride. By the end, she's transformed the Senator's assistant, who's fallen in love with her and won't let her compromise her principles. There's a twist at the end, but basically it was a rip off of my former boss Robert Towne's brilliant take on "The Last Detail." This was my "Last Detail." Sorry it's not better than it is, but now you know the truth. Rich Martini