The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers (WGA):

Tom Wolfe (novel)
Michael Cristofer (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 December 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Take one Wall Street tycoon, his Fifth Avenue mistress, a reporter hungry for fame, and make the wrong turn in The Bronx...then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

Plot:

Financial "Master of the Universe" Sherman McCoy sees his life unravel when his mistress Maria Ruskin hits a black boy with his car...

Plot Keywords:

English | Confession | Box Office Flop | Cynical | Blackmail

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Tom Hanks	...	Sherman McCoy
Bruce Willis	...	Peter Fallow
Melanie Griffith	...	Maria Ruskin
Kim Cattrall	...	Judy McCoy
Saul Rubinek	...	Jed Kramer
Morgan Freeman	...	Judge Leonard White
John Hancock	...	Reverend Bacon
Kevin Dunn	...	Tom Killian
Clifton James	...	Albert Fox
Louis Giambalvo	...	Ray Andruitti
Barton Heyman	...	Detective Martin
Norman Parker	...	Detective Goldberg
Donald Moffat	...	Mr. McCoy
Alan King	...	Arthur Ruskin
Beth Broderick	...	Caroline Heftshank

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Sweden:11 (video rating) | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

346 E 59th St., Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

"Reverend" Reginald Bacon was modeled after Al Sharpton.

Goofs:

Continuity: While Reverend Bacon is accusing District Attorney Abe Weiss, the TV remote control that Weiss is using switches hands between shots.

Quotes:

Judge Leonard White: Racist? You dare call me racist? Well I say unto you, what does it matter the color of a man's skin when witnesses purjure themselves and prosecutors enlist the perjury; when a district attorney throws a man to the mob for political gain and men of the cloth...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003) (VG)

Soundtrack:

That's Life

This is what I call an honest movie.

After reading a large number of negative reviews, it finally became clear to me why this movie is so widely hated - because it honestly depicts the modern biased race-based American society, in which uneducated crowds are ready to devour an honest person, and punish him for a crime he didn't commit. The acting is great, Tom Hanks does an admirable job, however,it isn't acting which makes the movie great. The superb directing, creating realistic and horrible scenes of dirty political games and black (literally) PR, capture my attention. So, to sum up, a brilliant political satire. The movie could make a laughable comedy, if it wasn't so terrifying...