Fire Sale (film)
Encyclopedia
Fire Sale is a 1977 comedy film starring Alan Arkin
(who also directed) as Ezra Fikus; Rob Reiner
as his brother Russel; Vincent Gardenia
as their father Benny; Sid Caesar
as Benny's brother Sherman; Anjanette Comer
as Marion (Ezra's wife); and Kay Medford
as Ruth (Benny's wife).
is still being fought, escape and burn down Benny's failing clothing store which he has made Sherman believe is a Nazi military headquarters.
During a vacation trip with Marion, Benny has a heart attack, and his sons Ezra and Russel take over the store. The low self-esteemed Russell wants to expand the store and marry his girlfriend
, while Ezra needs money to adopt an orphaned 6'8" African-American teenage boy named Booker T (Byron Stewart
). Ezra needs Booker T. to play on the high-school basketball team he coaches because he has won a total of two games in seven years as a coach and is in danger of losing his job.
Russell discovers that his father is bankrupt, with his only asset being the surrender value on the store's fire insurance policy. Russell cashes in the policy and splits it with Ezra, using the money to buy more stock. Back at home, Benny is practically comatose after his heart attack. An "in denial" Marion is told by house painters helping with a home redecoration project that her husband is "very sick" which she interprets as Benny being already dead. She then decides to change redecoration plans to prepare for funeral services.
Meanwhile, Sherman has escaped and is on his way to burn down the "Nazi Headquarters" (as he believes the store is). Benny recovers from his heart attack, and informs Russell that Sherman is on his way to burn down the store so they can collect the fire insurance that they no longer have.
Hilarity ensues as Ezra has his wife run his basketball team while he and Russell attempt to stop Sherman from his quest to fight the Huns by any means necessary
.
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...
(who also directed) as Ezra Fikus; Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
as his brother Russel; Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
as their father Benny; Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
as Benny's brother Sherman; Anjanette Comer
Anjanette Comer
Anjanette Comer is an American actress.Born in Dawson, Texas to Rufus Franklin and Nola Comer, her first major television credit was a guest appearance in a 1963 episode of Gunsmoke, followed by roles in several other dramatic series of the 1960s, such as Dr. Kildare and Bonanza...
as Marion (Ezra's wife); and Kay Medford
Kay Medford
Kay Medford , was an American character actress and comedienne.She was born Margaret Kathleen O'Regan in New York City to James and Mary O'Regan, first-generation Irish-American parents, both of whom had died by the time she was 15 years old...
as Ruth (Benny's wife).
Synopsis
Benny Fikus decides to cash in on his business' fire insurance by committing arson. Benny plans to have Sherman, who is in a mental hospital believing that World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
is still being fought, escape and burn down Benny's failing clothing store which he has made Sherman believe is a Nazi military headquarters.
During a vacation trip with Marion, Benny has a heart attack, and his sons Ezra and Russel take over the store. The low self-esteemed Russell wants to expand the store and marry his girlfriend
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....
, while Ezra needs money to adopt an orphaned 6'8" African-American teenage boy named Booker T (Byron Stewart
Byron Stewart
Byron Stewart is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Warren Coolidge in the Bruce Paltrow-directed television series The White Shadow and the television medical drama St...
). Ezra needs Booker T. to play on the high-school basketball team he coaches because he has won a total of two games in seven years as a coach and is in danger of losing his job.
Russell discovers that his father is bankrupt, with his only asset being the surrender value on the store's fire insurance policy. Russell cashes in the policy and splits it with Ezra, using the money to buy more stock. Back at home, Benny is practically comatose after his heart attack. An "in denial" Marion is told by house painters helping with a home redecoration project that her husband is "very sick" which she interprets as Benny being already dead. She then decides to change redecoration plans to prepare for funeral services.
Meanwhile, Sherman has escaped and is on his way to burn down the "Nazi Headquarters" (as he believes the store is). Benny recovers from his heart attack, and informs Russell that Sherman is on his way to burn down the store so they can collect the fire insurance that they no longer have.
Hilarity ensues as Ezra has his wife run his basketball team while he and Russell attempt to stop Sherman from his quest to fight the Huns by any means necessary
By any means necessary
By any means necessary is a translation of a phrase coined by the French intellectual Jean Paul Sartre in his play Dirty Hands. It entered the popular culture through a speech given by Malcolm X in the last year of his life...
.