Free Money (1998)

Director:

Yves Simoneau

Writers (WGA):

Tony Peck (written by) &
Joseph Brutsman (written by)

Release Date:

3 December 1998 (Singapore)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Right scheme, wrong guys!

Plot:

Walrus-like warden, Sven "Swede" Sorenson, a cross between Bluto and Wimpy, runs the prison, murders convicts who escape...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Train | FBI | Prison Break | Garbage Truck

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Warden Sven 'The Swede' Sorenson
Donald Sutherland	...	Judge Rolf Rausenberger
Charlie Sheen	...	Bud Dyerson (as Charles Sheen)
Thomas Haden Church	...	Larry
Mira Sorvino	...	Agent Karen Polarski
Martin Sheen	...	New Warden
David Arquette	...	Ned Jebee
Jean Pierre Bergeron	...	Lauter (as JP Bergeron)
Rémy Girard	...	Louis
Roc LaFortune	...	Dwayne
Roy Dupuis	...	The Turk
Christin Watson	...	Inga
Holly Watson	...	Liv
James Hyndman	...	Mack
Frank Fontaine	...	Sheriff Earl Knudsen

Also Known As:

Fric d'enfer (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-14 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chemin du Lac, Knowlton's Landing, Québec, Canada

Company:

Filmline International

Trivia:

One of three films in which Charlie Sheen was billed under the name Charles. This was in keeping to his turning a new leaf in his personal life after his battles with alcohol and drug addiction along with the infamous Heidi Fleiss scandal. He would later return to more familiar name after replacing 'Michael J. Fox' on the hit series, "Spin City" (1996) in 2000.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Showbiz Today: (1997-08-23)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Money (That's What I Want)

A Mixed Bag of Brilliant Treasure

Currently this film has a 4.8 rating here at IMDb but in my opinion, VERY unjustly so! It teeters constantly between quirky, sweet humor, and macabre, almost cartoonish dark comedy. Which is to say, it's quintessential Brando. There's even a brief freeze-frame in the film of Brando with his hands flapping by his face in a 'neah-neah' gesture that is so 'Brandoesque'. He knows that his physical presence (a seemingly 500-pound ballet dancer) is a grand mixture of Father Christmas, Charlie Chaplin, Edward G. Robinson, and the man who bites off the heads of chickens at the circus. You just never know what you're going to get with him, so you - and the other characters in the film - are always kept a bit on edge (he played a somewhat similar character in "The Freshman"; another film that I've always thought was underrated).

Anyway, the train heist is merely a minor plot point, so I'm guessing that maybe that's why the movie bombed. Audiences were probably expecting a heist story with a solid, formula plot (probably along the scale of "Oceans Twelve"), and I'm guessing they felt extremely uncomfortable with the film's humble speed. The big-name cast also probably didn't help, because the film has a real 'Canadian provincial' feel to it (Hollywood, this film is not!). Nevertheless, the entire cast is fantastic; particularly Thomas Haden Church who I never would have guessed was the same guy in "Sideways"! Perhaps I'm just nuts, but I think this is a sleeper gem that has yet to find its true audience.