Big [WS] [Extended Cut] [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

More than anything else, 13-year old New Jerseyite Josh (David Moscow) wants to be "big". That's the wish he makes at an odd-looking amusement pier fortunetelling machine. The next morning, Josh wakes up-only to discover that he's grown to manhood overnight! (At this point, the part is taken over by Tom Hanks). Still a 13-year-old mentally and emotionally, Josh decides to hide out in New York City until he can figure out what to do next. He lucks into a job with a major toy company run by kid-at-heart McMillan (Robert Loggia). By cannily bringing a child's eye view to McMillan's business, Josh rises to the top-and in process, he falls in love with fellow employee Susan (Elizabeth Perkins). But he's still a kid, and he'd like to go back to his own world and own body. Written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, Big proved a crucial success for budding director Penny Marshall, who'd work harmoniously with Hanks again on the radically different A League of Their Own. The cinematography was by Barry Sonenfeld, who went on to become a director himself with The Addams Family. That Big was heavily reliant upon the input of Tom Hanks and Penny Marshall was proven by the failed attempt to turn the property into a Broadway musical. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Screen: Color
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Features:
  • Theatrical Version & Extended Cut
  • Big Brainstorming Audio Commentary by Writers/Co-Producers Gary Ross & Anne Spielberg
  • 8 Deleted Scenes, Including 5 with Intros by Director Penny Marshall
  • Exclusive featurettes: Big Beginnings, Chemistry of a Classic, The Work of Play
  • AMC Backstory: Big
  • Carnival Party Newswrap

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Actor - 1988 (Tom Hanks)
•     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1988 (Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1988 (Tom Hanks)
•     Nominated Best Picture - Musical or Comedy - 1988

• Los Angeles Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Actor - 1987 (Tom Hanks)

• National Board of Review

•     Nominated 10 Best Films - 1988

• People's Choice Awards

•     Won Best Picture - Comedy or Musical - 1988

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Tom Hanks - Josh Baskin
       Elizabeth Perkins - Susan Lawrence
       John Heard - Paul Davenport
       Jared Rushton - Billy Kopeche
       Robert Loggia - "Mac" MacMillan
       David Moscow - Young Josh
       Mercedes Ruehl - Mrs. Baskin
       Jon Lovitz - Scotty Brennen
       Alec Von Sommer - 1st Brother

• Director:

  Penny Marshall

• Producer:

  Juliet Taylor

• Screenwriter:

  Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg

• Cinematographer:

  Barry Sonnenfeld

• Songwriter:

  Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Kimberly A. Bradstreet

• Featured Music:

  Hoagy Carmichael

• Songwriter:

  Mario Cipolina, Johnny Colla, Joel Frankel, Bobby Gosh, Marvin Hamlisch, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Billy Idol, Huey Lewis

• Featured Music:

  Frank Loesser

• Composer (Music Score):

  Judianna Makovsky

• Featured Music:

  Glenn Miller

• Songwriter:

  David Pomeranz, Patrice Rushen

• Composer (Music Score):

  Howard Shore

• Songwriter:

  Freddie Washington, Steve Stevens, Bill Gibson

• Editor:

  Barry Malkin

• Production Designer:

  Santo Loquasto

• Art Director:

  Speed Hopkins, Tom Warren

• Co-producer:

  James L. Brooks, Robert Greenhut, Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg

• Set Designer:

  Susan Bode-Tyson

• Set Decorator:

  George De Titta, Jr.

• Costume Designer:

  Judianna Makovsky

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Les Lazarowitz

• Makeup:

  Mickey Scott

• Camera Operator:

  Tony Jannelli

• Choreography:

  Paula Abdul, Patricia Birch

• Casting:

  Juliet Taylor

• Assistant Costume Designer:

  Elizabeth Shelton

REVIEW:

• While Josh Baskin in Big was not Tom Hanks's first major role, it began to transform the star of Bachelor Party and Dragnet into one of the leading movie actors of the 1990s. Director Penny Marshall and screenwriters Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg tell their story with understated intelligence and a marvelous feel for the mind of a 12-year-old, a time when adolescent obsessions are just starting to edge into the child's psyche. Both physically and emotionally, Hanks does a nearly flawless job of putting the soul of a 12-year-old boy into the body of a 35-year-old man. His awkward gangliness and clumsy over-enthusiasm look and feel as if he's not yet used to the body he's grown into, and his naivete is convincing, unforced, and utterly winning. Josh never seems childish, but rather like a child who is out of his element and determined not to let it show (which, of course, just makes it show all the more). Hanks also had the good fortune to be cast alongside Elizabeth Perkins, whose sharp but sneakily charming personality has rarely been used to better advantage, and Jared Rushton, who in his scenes with Hanks achieves the goofy rapport of two kids talking after school with someone almost three times his age. Hanks's and Marshall's feel for details and willingness to take a subtle approach raise the film well above Vice Versa or Like Father, Like Son, two similarly themed films which took a much broader tone, making clear how big a difference a light touch can make. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi