Tonight’s Movie Rewrite is ” BIG ” with Tom Hanks.
Our good friend Linda Robinson stepped up to the stage. I was quite taken aback when I read. This is one very creative gal. So she starts off with a synopsis and then does the Rewrite. Very impressive.
Synopsis;
“Big” is a 1988 fantasy comedy which stars Tom Hanks as 12-year old Josh Basking and Elizabeth Perkins as Susan Lawrence. At a carnival, Josh puts a coint into an unusual antique fortune teller machine called Zoltar Speaks. He wishes to be “big.” The next morning he awakes to find himself in the body of a 30-year old man.
He goes back to the plaza where the machine was, only to discover both it and the carnival are gone. With the help of his best friend, Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), Josh flees to New York City and rents a room in a flop house and gets a job at the MacMillan Toy Company. By chance, Josh meets the toy company’s owner, Mr. MacMillan (Robert Loggia at the FAO Schwarz toy store. They play a duet together on the foot operated electronic keyboard. Mr. MacMillan is impressed with Josh and his knowledge of toys, and promotes him from mail clerk to a dream job. He gets to play with and evaluate toys all day long and is well-paid for it.
Susan Lawrence is attracted to him and a romance ensues. Susan’s jerk of a boyfriend, Paul Davenport (John Heard), is most annoyed by this and is jealous of Josh’s overnight success with the company. Eventually, the pressures of being an adult –holding a job and having a romance with a grown, sophisticated woman– begin to wear on Josh, and he wants to go back to being 13 again. He had celebrated his 13th birthday in New York.
Billy helps him find where Zoltar Speaks is now located, and Josh walks out of a company meeting where he is supposed to present a proposal for a new line of toys. Susan knows something is wrong, and runs into Billy who tells her where Josh is. Josh finds Zoltar Speaks and inserts the coin into the machine and wishes to be a kid again. Susan finally believes what Josh has been trying to tell her for awhile…that he is just a 13-year old kid. He asks her to put in a coin and wish to be a kid and come back with him, but she refuses. Instead, she drives him home and as he walks away from her car, he turns back into the boy he actually is.
The Rewrite Begins now;
Susan does insert the coin into Zoltar Speaks and at the car, they both turn into children again. Coincidentally, Susan’s parents recently moved about four houses down from Josh. While Josh reunites with his parents, she visits hers, and tells them the incredible story. She sends Mr. MacMillan a note and tells him not to worry; that she is fine but had to go away, and she will see him in about 10 years.
Susan and Josh finish growing up together, and are inseparable childhood, high school and college sweethearts. Both do well at college, and upon graduation, they marry and both go to work at MacMillan Toy Company. Mr. MacMillan is about ready to retire, and Josh and Susan are able to buy the company, which becomes great and famous throughout the world.
Part of the reason they are so successful is that they pay no attention to statistical analysis, but only manufacture toys which are fun for the children who will play with them. They are philanthropists and make it their mission to see that eve5ry child gets at least one toy for Christmas, and that every baby has its own teddy bear. Because their toys are innovative and take advantage of emerging technology they attract the interest of other fields. NASA uses some of their designs in sleek and smaller spaceships which greatly reduces the cost of space travel, and eventually, tourists are able to choose whether they want to vacation on the Moon or on Mars. Surgeons use their miniaturization techniques and make great advances in microsurgery.
Josh and Susan have five children, most of whom turn out to be leaders in their chosen fields and great humanitarians. One of them finds a cure for all forms of cancer. Another becomes president of the United States. A third becomes a famous writer. The fourth becomes a world renowned veterinarian, and invents a pill that when taken by a dog or cat, immediately sterilizes them, with no side effects. The eventual result of this is that the unwanted pet population is reduced to zero, puppy mills are put out of business, and every available dog and cat is in a safe, loving home. The fifth child becomes a well-known home builder and discovers a way to build homes with minimal impact to the environment, energy efficient and they cost about one-fourth of what a home normally costs, but are 10 times better, because of his construction methods.
Oh…and Susan’s old boyfriend stays with the company, but he is demoted to a position in the accounting department and handles accounts payable.
The End……The Movie still would’ve been great.
