IMDb > "The X Files" The Goldberg Variation (1999)
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"The X Files" The Goldberg Variation (1999)


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Overview

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8.1/10   376 votes
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Director:
Writers:
Chris Carter (creator)
Jeffrey Bell (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Goldberg Variation on IMDbPro.
Original Air Date:
12 December 1999 (Season 7, Episode 6)
Plot:
A man is tossed off the top of a 29 story building by gangsters. Amazingly, he gets up and walks away unscathed... more | add synopsis
User Reviews:
Maybe he just got lucky. more (2 total)

Cast

  (Episode Credited cast)

David Duchovny ... Fox Mulder

Gillian Anderson ... Dana Scully

Willie Garson ... Henry Weems
Alyson Reed ... Maggie Lupone

Ramy Zada ... Joe Cutrona

Tony Longo ... Dominic

Shia LaBeouf ... Richie Lupone (as Shia La Beouf)
Nicholas Worth ... Mr. Haas
Dom Magwili ... Mr. Ng

Marshall Manesh ... Mr. Jank
Ernie Lee Banks ... Maurice Albert
Chris Fogleman ... Billy (as Chip Fogleman)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
60 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.78 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: (At 12:19) Henry Weems has just put his false eye back in and we see that it moves. A false eye does not move. more
Quotes:
Scully: Mulder, are you all right?
Mulder: No, it's OK. My ass broke the fall.
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Movie Connections:
References The Sting (1973) more

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10 out of 25 people found the following review useful.
Maybe he just got lucky., 16 April 2007
7/10
Author: Muldernscully from Washington Terrace, Utah

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The Goldberg Variation is a decent monster of the week episode with a few plot holes that lessen the enjoyment. It's interesting to see Willie Garson(from season three's "The Walk" as Roach) return in a starring role as Henry Weems, an extremely lucky man. He does a fine job in this starring role. What immediately caught my eye was Mulder telling Scully "nice outfit" when they first meet in the episode; further evidence of them acting differently towards each other after their kiss in "Millennium". It seems to be intentional by the writers. I don't understand why Mulder and Scully are investigating this in the first place. No crime was committed. They are just there because a man miraculously survived a thirty story fall. Mulder says that the agents who saw Henry get thrown off the roof gave chase but didn't catch him. Weems is walking, visibly limping, away from the shaft, and two able-bodied FBI agents couldn't catch him? For maybe the first time, Scully solves the case early by suggesting that Weems may have just been lucky surviving the fall, for which Mulder ridicules her. She ends up being right in the end, even though she doesn't believe her own theory. I like the parallel of the Hangman Goldberg device of Henry's with the mobster subsequently hanging himself, albeit upside down. A final plot hole is when the mobsters kidnap Richie's mom in the end. The mobsters had no way of knowing that Weems cares for the sick boy enough to trade himself for her. The Goldberg Variation is funny at times with several Mulder one-liners, but it doesn't totally work, trying to weave comedy with a serious story of a dying boy in need of a liver.

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