MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Director Lawrence Kasdan and Frank Galati adapted their screenplay for The Accidental Tourist from Anne Tyler's novel. William Hurt plays Macon Leary, a well-known "travel advisor" headquartered in Baltimore. The tragic death of Leary's son causes him to withdraw from the world, which in turn prompts his wife (Kathleen Turner) to walk out on him. Recuperating from a broken leg, Leary moves in with his sister (Amy Wright) and brothers (Ed Begley Jr., David Ogden Stiers)-staid middle-aged intellectuals all. Discipline problems with his dead son's dog lead Leary to hire flaky professional dogwalker/trainer Muriel Pritchett (Geena Davis, who won an Oscar for her performance). The only non-uptight person within shouting distance, Muriel begins to melt Leary's self-protective shell. Once his wife realizes that she has some competition, she makes moves to get him back. But he has by now become accustomed to Muriel's unfettered lifestyle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Surround
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English, Spanish, French
• Features:
  • • cc Introduction by Lawrence Kasdan
    • Scene-specific commentary by Geena Davis
    • "It's Like Life" featurette
    • Lifted scenes
    • Theatrical trailer

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Supporting Actress - 1988 (Geena Davis)
•     Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay - 1988 (Lawrence Kasdan, Frank Galati)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1988 (Lawrence Kasdan, Charles Okun, Michael Grillo)
•     Nominated Best Score - 1988 (John Williams)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Original Score - 1988 (John Williams)
•     Nominated Best Picture - Drama - 1988

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Picture - 1988

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Lawrence Kasdan

• Producer:

  Michael Grillo, Lawrence Kasdan, Charles Okun

• Screenwriter:

  Frank Galati, Lawrence Kasdan

• Book Author:

  Anne Tyler

• Cinematographer:

  John Bailey

• Composer (Music Score):

  Frankie Adams, Wilbur Jones, John Williams

• Editor:

  Carol Littleton

• Production Designer:

  Robert W. Welch III

• Art Director:

  Thomas A. Duffield, Tim Hutchinson, Cricket Rowland, Gerard Viard

• Executive Producer:

  John Malkovich, Phyllis Carlyle

• Set Designer:

  Ann Harris, Cricket Rowland, Paul Sonski, Nick Navarro

• Costume Designer:

  Ruth Myers

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  David MacMillan

• Makeup:

  Leonard Engelman

• Special Effects:

  Joseph P. Mercurio

• First Assistant Director:

  Michael Grillo

• Stunts:

  Boone Narr

• Casting:

  Wallis Nicita

REVIEW:

• Geena Davis won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in this unusually somber but richly rewarding effort from writer and director Lawrence Kasdan, adapting an acclaimed novel by Anne Tyler. Davis is terrific in one of her best roles, but her character is admittedly the sort of wacky, quirky oddball that awards voters love to honor. The real heart and soul of the picture is William Hurt as a man so thunderstruck by grief that he is incapable of emotional movement, walking through his life as a ghost just waiting for its body to die. His eventual thawing is a wonder to behold, the work of a gifted actor at the absolute peak of his career. Although it could have and probably, in the hands of another director, would have become a much darker drama, Kasdan leavens his film with the character-driven humor of Tyler's source material to superb effect. In particular, the family of kooks played by David Ogden Stiers, Ed Begley Jr., and Amy Wright is not only a comic diversion, but serves as a poignant mirror image of the hero's internal malfunctioning, as does a subplot involving one of them in a thwarted relationship with a publisher (Bill Pullman). Stirring both intellectually and emotionally, The Accidental Tourist is an observant, splendidly crafted film. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi