My Blue Heaven is a 1990 comedy

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...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed by Herbert Ross

Herbert Ross

Herbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...

, written by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger.She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in...

 and starring Steve Martin

Steve Martin

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

, Rick Moranis

Rick Moranis

Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...

, and Joan Cusack

Joan Cusack

Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....

.

It has been noted for its relationship to the movie Goodfellas

Goodfellas

Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...

, which was released one month after this film. Both movies are based upon the life of Henry Hill

Henry Hill (mobster)

Henry Hill is a former American mobster, Lucchese crime family associate, and FBI informant whose life story was documented in the book Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, and in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film, Goodfellas, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta.-Early life:Henry...

, although the character is renamed to "Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli" in My Blue Heaven.

While Goodfellas was based upon the book Wiseguy

Wiseguy (book)

Wiseguy is a 1986 non-fiction book by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi that chronicles the story of Mafia mobster-turned-informant Henry Hill...

 by Nicholas Pileggi

Nicholas Pileggi

Nicholas Pileggi is an Italian-American author and screenwriter.-Career:Pileggi is best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. The movie versions of both were co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese...

, the screenplay for My Blue Heaven was written by Pileggi's wife, Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger.She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in...

, and much of the research for both works was done in the same sessions with Hill.

The movie was filmed primarily in the California city of San Luis Obispo and the surrounding area, though the nominal setting is a fictional suburb of San Diego, California. Some scenes were actually shot in San Diego. The film's title comes from the famous 1950s song which appears in the soundtrack, performed by Fats Domino

Fats Domino

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

.

Plot

Vincent "Vinnie" Antonelli (Steve Martin

Steve Martin

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

) is a former mobster recently inducted into the Witness Protection Program with his wife, Linda. The two are under the watchful eye of Barney Coopersmith (Rick Moranis

Rick Moranis

Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...

). Vinnie and Barney soon find common ground when both of their wives leave them due to their lifestyles. When he succeeds in getting Vinnie to a suburb in California and a private house, Barney has one more problem: he must make sure the jovial and sometimes mischeivious Vinnie conforms to Witness Protection

Witness protection

Witness protection is protection of a threatened witness or any person involved in the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during and after a trial, usually by police...

 protocol until he is sent to Federal Court to testify against mob kingpins. Doing this is not as simple as it appears to be.

Casting

Originally, Steve Martin

Steve Martin

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

 was cast to play Barney Coopersmith, with Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

 playing the role of Vinnie Antonelli. However, Schwarzenegger was soon thereafter offered the role of Det. John Kimble in Kindergarten Cop

Kindergarten Cop

Kindergarten Cop is a 1990 American comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective, who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch drug dealer Cullen Crisp , before Crisp can get to his...

, and left the production. Failing to find another suitable "Vinnie" for Martin's Coopersmith, Martin offered to take on the role of Vinnie himself. Producers agreed, and then cast Rick Moranis

Rick Moranis

Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...

 as Coopersmith, who had originally been considered for the role, but was unavailable until then.

Cast list

• Steve Martin
  Steve Martin
  Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
  
   - Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli
• Rick Moranis
  Rick Moranis
  Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...
  
   - Barney Coopersmith
• Joan Cusack
  Joan Cusack
  Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....
  
   - Hannah Stubbs
• Melanie Mayron
  Melanie Mayron
  Melanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for portraying the role of photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama Thirtysomething.-Biography:...
  
   - Crystal
• Bill Irwin
  Bill Irwin
  William Mills "Bill" Irwin is an American actor and clown noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He is known for his vaudeville-style stage acts, but has made a number of appearances on film and television and won a Tony Award for a dramatic role on...
  
   - Kirby
• Carol Kane
  Carol Kane
  Carolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress. Kane has worked on the stage, on the screen and in television. She appeared on the television series Taxi in the early 1980s, as the wife of the character played by Andy Kaufman. She received two Emmy Awards for her work...
  
   - Shaldeen
• William Hickey
  William Hickey (actor)
  William Edward Hickey was an American actor. He was best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston 1985 film Prizzi's Honor, as well as the voice of Dr...
  
   - Billy Sparrow/Johnny Bird
• Deborah Rush
  Deborah Rush
  Deborah Rush is an American actress.Rush has worked in television, film and on Broadway. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Michael Frayn's comedy Noises Off. She also acted in Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot...
  
   - Linda
• Daniel Stern
  Daniel Stern (actor)
  Daniel Jacob Stern is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., Diner, City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.-Early life:Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a...
  
   - Will Stubbs
• Jesse Bradford
  Jesse Bradford
  - Early life :Bradford was born Jesse Bradford Watrouse in Norwalk, Connecticut, the only child of actors Terry Porter and Curtis Watrouse, who appeared in commercials, soap operas, and industrial films. His mother also played his character's mother in Hackers...
  
   - Jamie
• Corey Carrier
  Corey Carrier
  Corey Thomas Carrier is an American former child actor. He is also known as just "Core".Carrier was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts to Thomas and Carleen. He has a younger sister named Bethany. He attended an acting school at The Priscilla Beach Children's Theatre Workshop...
  
   - Tommie
• Seth Jaffe - Umberto Mello
• Robert Miranda - Lilo Mello
• Ed Lauter
  Ed Lauter
  Edward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
  
   - Underwood
• Julie Bovasso
  Julie Bovasso
  Julie Bovasso was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-American family.-Career:Bovasso appeared in many films, including Saturday Night Fever and...
  
   - Vinnie's Mother
• Colleen Camp
  Colleen Camp
  Colleen Celeste Camp is an American actress and film producer, known for her performances in two installments of the Police Academy series and as Yvette the Maid in the 1985 black comedy Clue. She was also the first actress to play Kristin Shepard in U.S. prime time soap opera Dallas in 1979.Camp...
  
   - Dr. Margaret Snow Coopersmith
• Gordon Currie
  Gordon Currie
  Gordon Currie is a Canadian and American actor. He has also directed, written and produced several films. He works in both the U.S. and Canada in television and film roles. He is probably best known for his role as Nicolae Carpathia in Left Behind-Early life:Currie was born in Vancouver, British...
  
   - Wally Bunting
• Raymond O'Connor
  Raymond O'Connor
  Raymond O'Connor is an American character actor.-Career:Raymond O'Connor has been in a number of films, some small roles and some large roles as well...
  
   - Dino
• Troy Evans
  Troy Evans (actor)
  Troy Evans is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Desk Clerk Francis "Frank" Martin in the television drama series ER. He has also appeared in the movies Tiger Cruise , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Under Siege, Teen Wolf, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Black Dahlia and The...
  
   - Nicky
• Dick Boccelli - Rocco
• Ron Karabatsos - Ritchie
• Tony DiBenedetto - Benny
• Melissa Hurley - Angela
• Leslie Cook - Marie
• Darren Chuckry - Supermarket Manager
• Duke Stroud
  Duke Stroud
  Duke Stroud is an American actor who has appeared on screen since the 1970s.His first credited role came in 1973 when he appeared in as Jameson in an episode of Mission: Impossible. He has also appeared in TV serials including The Dukes of Hazzard, Voyagers!, The Outlaws, Hill Street Blues, Law &...
  
   - Supermarket Employee
• Carol Ann Susi - Filomena
• Frankie Gio - Gaetano
• Joel Polis
  Joel Polis
  Joel Polis is an American television, film and stage actor. He has appeared in over one hundred television programs and films during his career.-Career:...
  
   - U.S. Attorney
• Larry Block
  Larry Block
  Lawrence Joel "Larry" Block is an American radio, TV, film and theater actor. In 1971, Block appeared on Sesame Street as Tom, who worked at Hooper's Store....
  
   - Defense Attorney
• Arthur Brauss - Judge
• Greta Blackburn - Stewardess
• Eva Charney - Stewardess
• Ellen Albertini Dow
  Ellen Albertini Dow
  Ellen Albertini Dow is an American character actress. She often portrays feisty old ladies and is perhaps best known as the rapping grandmother who performs in the feature film The Wedding Singer...
  
   - Nun
• David Knell - Checker
• John Harnagel - Motel Manager
• LaWanda Page
  LaWanda Page
  LaWanda Page , born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedienne best known for her portrayal of Aunt Esther in the 1970s TV sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life and career:...
  
   - Hotel Maid
• Daniel Riordan
  Daniel Riordan
  Daniel Riordan is a voice actor who is also known as Daniel Reardon, Dan Riordan, and Daniel Riordian. He is not to be confused with Daniel J. Riordan.-Movie Roles:* Dreamgirls - L.A...
  
   - Removal Man
• Thomas Wagner
  Thomas Wagner
  Thomas Wagner is an Austrian football striker currently playing for SV Rohrbrunn. He spent his mainly professional career with SV Mattersburg.-External links:* at transfermarkt.de...
  
   - Umpire
• Jean Spray - Gatto
• James Emery - FBI Man
• Matt Roe - FBI Man
• John Rogers - Police Officer at Motel
• Valerie Wildman - TV Reporter
• Daniel Trent - Bailiff
• Rudy E. Morrison - Maitre d
• Frank R. Roach - Judge
• Jeff Fredricks - Booking Cop
• Gregory Schmauss -Police Officer at Construction Site

Reception

The film took in a fair $23 million at the box office and was received cooly by most critics, with the New York Times calling it "a truly funny concept and a disappointment on the screen." However, years of repeats on cable television have won the film a mild cult following.

Songs

• "My Blue Heaven
  My Blue Heaven (song)
  "My Blue Heaven" is a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting. It has become part of various fake book collections....
  
  "
  • Music by Walter Donaldson
    Walter Donaldson
    Walter Donaldson was a prolific United States popular songwriter, composing many hit songs of the 1910s and 1920s.-History:...
    
     - Lyrics by George A. Whiting
    George A. Whiting
    George A. Whiting was a vaudeville song and dance man, and also a writer of lyrics for popular songs during the vaudeville era. He toured with singer Sadie Burt, whom he later married and had 3 daughters with. His best known work is "My Blue Heaven", with music by Walter Donaldson...
    
     - Performed by Fats Domino
    Fats Domino
    Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
    
    
• "Surfin' USA
  Surfin' USA (song)
  "Surfin' USA" is a song with lyrics written by Brian Wilson for The Beach Boys, set to the melody from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen". Berry received co-writing credit for composing the song after litigating. "Surfin' USA" was recorded by The Beach Boys and released as a single on March 4,...
  
  "
  • Written by Chuck Berry
    Chuck Berry
    Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
    
     and Brian Wilson
    Brian Wilson
    Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
    
     - Performed by The Beach Boys
    The Beach Boys
    The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
    
    
• "Stranger in Paradise
  Stranger in Paradise (song)
  "Stranger in Paradise" is a popular song from the 1953 musical Kismet and is credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like all the music in that show, the melody was based on music composed by Alexander Borodin, in this case, the "Gliding Dance of the Maidens," from the Polovtsian...
  
  "
  • Written by Robert Wright
    Robert Wright (writer)
    Robert [Craig] Wright was an American composer-lyricist for Hollywood and the musical theatre best known for the Broadway musical and musical film Kismet, for which he and his professional partner George Forrest adapted themes by Alexander Borodin and added lyrics...
    
     and George Forrest
    George Forrest (author)
    George Forrest was a writer of music and lyrics for musical theatre best known for the show Kismet, adapted from the works of Alexander Borodin.-Biography:...
    
     - Performed by Tony Bennett
    Tony Bennett
    Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
    
    
• "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
  I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
  "I Can't Help Myself " is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s...
  
  "
  • Written by Brian Holland
    Brian Holland
    Brian Holland is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland. That songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound and numerous hit records by artists such as Martha and the Vandellas, The Supremes, The Four Tops,...
    
    , Lamont Dozier
    Lamont Dozier
    Lamont Herbert Dozier is an American songwriter and record producer, born in Detroit, Michigan. Dozier has either co-written or produced several US Billboard #1 hits.-Career:...
    
     and Eddy Holland - Performed by Billy Hill
• "The Boy from New York City
  The Boy from New York City
  "The Boy from New York City" is a song by American soul group The Ad Libs, released as their first single in 1965. Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song peaked at #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on the chart week of February 27, 1965...
  
  "
  • Written by John Taylor and George Davis - Performed by The Ad Libs
• "New York, New York
  Theme from New York, New York
  "Theme from New York, New York" is the theme song from the Martin Scorsese film New York, New York , composed by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb. It was written for and performed in the film by Liza Minnelli...
  
  "
  • Written by Fred Ebb
    Fred Ebb
    Fred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
    
     and John Kander
    John Kander
    John Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Life and career:Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bernice and Harold S. Kander...
    
    
• "Take Me Out to the Ball Game
  Take Me Out to the Ball Game
  "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of...
  
  "
  • Written by Albert von Tilzer
    Albert Von Tilzer
    Albert Von Tilzer was an American songwriter, the younger brother of fellow songwriter Harry Von Tilzer. He wrote the music to many hit songs, including, most notably, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"....
    
     and Jerry Northworth
• "The Star-Spangled Banner
  The Star-Spangled Banner
  "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
  
  "
  • Performed by United States Marine Band
    United States Marine Band
    The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the United States...