Love at Stake
Encyclopedia
Love at Stake is a 1987
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, directed by the creator of the TV series The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and director of The Werewolf of Woodstock
The Werewolf of Woodstock
The Werewolf of Woodstock is a 1975 film produced for television by Dick Clark's production company and directed by John Moffitt.-Plot summary:...
John C. Moffitt
John Moffitt (director)
John Moffitt is an American television director who is best known for his work on Mr. Show.-External links:...
, based on a screenplay by Lanier Laney and Terry Sweeny. It stars Patrick Cassidy
Patrick Cassidy (actor)
Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
and Kelly Preston
Kelly Preston
Kelly Preston is an American actress and former model.- Early years :Preston was born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother, Linda, was an administrator of a mental health center, and her father, who worked for an agricultural firm, drowned when Preston was three years old...
, with Barbara Carrera
Barbara Carrera
Barbara Carrera is a Nicaraguan-born American film and television actress as well as a former model. She is best known for her roles as Bond girl Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again and as Angelica Nero on the soap opera Dallas.-Early life:Barbara Kingsbury was born in San Carlos, Río San Juan,...
, Bud Cort
Bud Cort
Bud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
, Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (actor)
David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
and Stuart Pankin
Stuart Pankin
Stuart Pankin is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Pankin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Dickinson College, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Columbia University.-Career:...
. Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...
makes a cameo appearance as herself.
The film is an obvious spoof of the infamous Salem witch trials
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
, moving in the Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
comedy vein in Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
, moving in the anarchic comedy films
Anarchic comedy film
Anarchic comedy is a genre of cinema using nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness humor. Films of this nature stem from a theatrical history of anarchic comedy on the stage. Jokes and visual gags are utilized, usually in a non sequitur manner that eschews narrative for sheer absurdity...
genre that was popularized in that time by the Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
films and from the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker
Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker
Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker are an American comedy filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker who specializes in slapstick comedy films during the 1980s and the early 1990s...
films.
The film was distributed by the Hemdale Film Corporation
Hemdale Film Corporation
Hemdale Film Corporation, known as Hemdale Communications after 1993, was an independent film production company and distributor founded in London in 1967 as the Hemdale Company by actor David Hemmings and his manager, John Daly. Hemdale was initially founded as a talent agency that helped launch...
. Many critic reviewers on film reviews websites were wondering why Moffitt's film had a short theatrical life and why it didn't become a cult classic
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
. Filming took place in Kleinburg, Ontario
Kleinburg, Ontario
-External links:* * *...
.
Plot summary
Miles Campbell, recent graduate of a ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
divinity university, arrives in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
to become the local parson's assistant. He meets with his childhood sweetheart, baker Sara Lee, and plans to marry her. Meanwhile, greedy Judge Samuel John arrives to meet with idiotic Mayor Upton to discuss plans for a (anachronistic) Mall for Salem. To acquire the necessary real estate they hatch a scheme to accuse certain villagers of witchcraft. When the accused are tried, convicted and burned, their land can be confiscated. The plan is succeeding, as the villagers, egged on by the parson's shrewish mother, enthusiastically accept the Judge's message. Then saucy Faith Stewart (secretly a real witch) arrives from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
with her cousins. Faith falls for Miles and accuses Sara of witchcraft. Miles must prove Sara's innocence before she is burned at the stake.
Cast of characters
- Patrick CassidyPatrick Cassidy (actor)Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
as Miles Campbell - Kelly PrestonKelly PrestonKelly Preston is an American actress and former model.- Early years :Preston was born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother, Linda, was an administrator of a mental health center, and her father, who worked for an agricultural firm, drowned when Preston was three years old...
as Sara Lee - Georgia BrownGeorgia BrownGeorgia Brown, pseudonym of Rossana Monti is an Italian Brazilian singer noted for her extensive vocal range. She was listed in the 2005 Guinness World Records for hitting the highest vocal note and for possessing the greatest range, claimed to be exactly 8 octaves from G2-G10 using scientific...
as Widow Chastity - Barbara CarreraBarbara CarreraBarbara Carrera is a Nicaraguan-born American film and television actress as well as a former model. She is best known for her roles as Bond girl Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again and as Angelica Nero on the soap opera Dallas.-Early life:Barbara Kingsbury was born in San Carlos, Río San Juan,...
as Faith Stewart - Bud CortBud CortBud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
as Parson Babcock - Annie GoldenAnnie Golden-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Golden began her career as the lead singer of The Shirts . During the early 1990s she performed as part of the duo Golden Carillo with Frank Carillo. They released three albums,Fire in Newtown, Toxic Emotion, and Back for More. She then returned to The Shirts...
as Abigail Baxter, Faith's cousin - David GrafDavid GrafPaul David Graf was an American actor, best known for his role as Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy series of films...
as Nathaniel Baxter, her husband - Audrie J. NeenanAudrie J. NeenanAudrie J. Neenan is an American actress. She is best known on screen for her role as the raucous, abrasive madam Ray Parkins in the 1983 action film Sudden Impact and for playing judges in the TV series Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Lois Preston...
as Mrs. Babcock, the parson's mother - Stuart PankinStuart PankinStuart Pankin is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Pankin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Dickinson College, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Columbia University.-Career:...
as Judge Samuel John - Dave ThomasDave Thomas (actor)David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
as Mayor Upton - Anne RamseyAnne RamseyAnne Ramsey was an American stage, television, and film actress. She is probably most famous for her roles as Mama Fratelli in The Goonies and as Mrs...
as Old Witch - Mary Hawkins as Mrs. Priscilla Upton
- Jackie Mahon as Belinda Upton, the mayor's daughter
- Norma MacMillanNorma MacMillanNorma MacMillan was a Canadian voice actor.Norma MacMillan was a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was there that she met, worked with and married her producer/manager husband Thor Arngrim. Arngrim had started the now-legendary, but short-lived Totem Theatre company in 1951...
as Aunt Deliverance Jones, Sara's aunt - Joyce BrothersJoyce BrothersJoyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...
as Herself - Colleen Karney as Adulteress
- Juul HaalmeyerJuul HaalmeyerJuul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long...
as Executioner - Julian RichingsJulian RichingsJulian Richings is an English-born Canadian actor. He appeared in over 50 Canadian films and 20 separate television series.-Life and career:...
as Town Crier - Danny Higham as Newsboy
- Marshall Perlmuter as Mr. Newberry
- Anna Ferguson as Mrs. Newberry
- Catharine Gallant as Constance Van Buren
- Jayne EastwoodJayne EastwoodJayne Eastwood , also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress most famous for appearing in the 2002 film Chicago. She was one of the original cast members of the Toronto branch of The Second City, and was a semi-regular on SCTV...
as Annabelle Porter - Nick RamusNick RamusNickolas G. Ramus was a Native American actor, best known for his appearances on television. He was a Blackfoot.He appeared as Chief Lost Eagle of the Arapaho in the miniseries "Centennial" He also appeared in the 1993 TNT TV film Geronimo about the historical Apache warrior with the same name.He...
as Chief Wannatoka
Production
- Director: John Moffitt (director)John Moffitt (director)John Moffitt is an American television director who is best known for his work on Mr. Show.-External links:...
- Writers: Lanier Laney and Terry SweeneyTerry SweeneyTerry Sweeney is an American writer, comedian and actor.-Saturday Night Live:Sweeney is best known for his appearances as a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live during that program's 1985-86 season....
(both of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
fame) - Producer: Michael Gruskoff
- Music: Charles FoxCharles FoxCharles Fox may refer to:*Charles Fox Mathematician*Charles Douglas Fox , British civil engineer*Charles James Fox , British politician*Charles Fox , film and television composer...
- Cinematography: Mark IrwinMark IrwinMark Irwin, A.S.C., C.S.C. is a Canadian cinematographer. He was born in Toronto. His credits run to over one hundred films.-Notable Filmography:*Chromosome 3 *Scanners *Videodrome *The Fly...