Overboard (1987 film)
Encyclopedia
Overboard is a 1987 American romantic comedy film starring Goldie Hawn
and Kurt Russell
. It was directed
by Garry Marshall
, produced by Roddy McDowell and loosely inspired by the 1974 Italian film Swept Away. In turn, Overboard was adapted into the 2006 South Korean television series, Couple or Trouble
.
) is accustomed to living the life of the idle rich with her husband Grant Stayton III (Edward Herrmann
). When their yacht gets stuck in the rural hamlet of Elk Cove, Oregon for repairs, Joanna passes the time by hiring carpenter Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell
) to remodel her closet. Dean puts up with Joanna's demanding attitude, only to have her refuse to pay him because she dislikes the type of wood he used. When he demands payment, she shoves him overboard along with his tools. That night, Joanna falls overboard while searching for her wedding ring on deck, develops amnesia
, is rescued by a garbage scow
and taken to the local hospital. Grant goes to get her, but after seeing her mental state and mistreating of the staff, he denies knowing her and returns to the yacht as a bachelor to embark on a spree of parties with younger women. After seeing her story on the local news, Dean, a widower living in redneck clutter with four young sons, decides to seek his revenge and remedy his own domestic problems by taking advantage of the situation. He goes to the hospital, tells Joanna that she is Annie, his wife of thirteen years and the mother of his sons. He convinces the staff of his identity by revealing a small birthmark on her behind, which he saw during the remodeling when she was wearing a revealing swimsuit. Unwillingly convinced, she goes with him to his home.
At first, Joanna has difficulty dealing with Dean's boys and the heavy load of chores, including cooking raw food, doing laundry in a tub, caring for pets, housekeeping and only being able to sleep on the couch. She soon adapts to her new life as a housewife and begins to fall in love with Dean and his children. Dean is secretly working two jobs and Joanna handles the boys' school issues, family issues and money challenges with considerable wisdom and grace. Seeing Dean struggle, she uses her untapped knowledge of things like the Seven Wonders of the World to draw up plans for a miniature golf course based on their shared designs. Although Dean has also fallen in love with Joanna, he fails to come clean with her being used as a mom in fear that she would leave them. Even when he tries to come clean when she discovers a pair of monogrammed panties from her former life which cause her to think he's having an affair, a friend, Billy Pratt (Michael G. Hagerty
), says they belonged to a friend of his to get Dean off the hook.
Meanwhile, giving in to the pressure of Joanna's inquisitive mother Edith (Katherine Helmond
), Grant reluctantly returns to Elk Cove to retrieve his wife. Joanna's memory returns to her upon seeing him and she is shocked and hurt when she realizes that Dean has been using her for months. She returns with Grant to the yacht where her mother and Dr. Korman, the family's bumbling psychiatrist, are waiting. Joanna finds her old life stuffy and pretentious. One evening after doing shots of Tequila with the crew, Joanna turns to Andrew (Roddy McDowall
), her loyal butler and apologizes for her poor treatment of him after all the things he had done for her in the past. Andrew replies that he is both surprised and pleased with the apology and observes that Joanna has learned to serve others in taking care of the Proffitt family and as a result has a new meaning and purpose in her life and is really blessed for the chance.
Realizing how happy she was with Dean and the kids and how selfish and spoiled she was in her former life, she commandeers the yacht and turns back towards Elk Cove. When the neurotic and selfish Grant finds out, delusions of grandeur kick in and he accuses his wife of mutiny, admits he never loved her and commandeers the ship himself. Meanwhile, Dean and the boys go to get Joanna back with the help of Billy's friend in the Coast Guard. When they catch up to the yacht, Joanna and Dean both jump overboard and are reunited in the water. An incensed Grant actually attempts to shoot her with a bow and arrow, accusing her of mutiny for jumping ship, only to be unceremoniously booted over the side and into the water by Andrew, who then promptly gives his notice of quitting. Safely aboard the smaller vessel, Joanna, having left and unofficially divorced Grant, reveals to Dean that the yacht and the money are actually hers not Grant's. Hours later, while the boys are making out their Christmas lists (due to their sudden wealth), Dean asks Joanna, "What could I possibly give you that you don't already have?" Joanna looks at her four stepsons, smiles, then replies: "A little girl."
, 52% of the critics enjoyed Overboard, with an average rating of 5.1/10. Variety
praised Hawn's performance, but called it "an uninspiring, unsophisticated attempt at an updated screwball comedy that is brought down by plodding script and a handful of too broadly drawn characters." Rita Kempley of the Washington Post called it "a deeply banal farce" with "one-dimensional characters, a good long look at Hawn's buttocks and lots of pathetic sex jokes." Roger Ebert
liked it; while calling the film predictable, he wrote: "the things that make Overboard special, however, are the genuine charm, wit and warm energy generated by the entire cast and director Garry Marshall." The Los Angeles Times review of the film read: "The film tries to mix the two 1930s movie comedy strains: screwball romance and populist fable. But there's something nerveless and thin about it. Hawn and Russell are good, but their scenes together have a calculated spontaneity--overcute, obvious."
set to star in the Goldie Hawn role. Will Smith
will produce along with James Lassiter
. The 1992 Bollywood film 'Ek Ladka Ek Ladki' took inspiration from this movie.
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
and Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
. It was directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Garry Marshall
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
, produced by Roddy McDowell and loosely inspired by the 1974 Italian film Swept Away. In turn, Overboard was adapted into the 2006 South Korean television series, Couple or Trouble
Couple or Trouble
Couple or Trouble is a South Korean TV drama which starred Oh Ji Ho and Han Ye Seul . The original meaning of the title is Fantasy Couple. The drama was aired in Korea from October 14 to December 3, 2006 through MBC network. It was Oh Ji Ho and Han Ye Seul first leading roles in a TV drama...
.
Plot
Wealthy heiress Joanna Stayton (Goldie HawnGoldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
) is accustomed to living the life of the idle rich with her husband Grant Stayton III (Edward Herrmann
Edward Herrmann
Edward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
). When their yacht gets stuck in the rural hamlet of Elk Cove, Oregon for repairs, Joanna passes the time by hiring carpenter Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
) to remodel her closet. Dean puts up with Joanna's demanding attitude, only to have her refuse to pay him because she dislikes the type of wood he used. When he demands payment, she shoves him overboard along with his tools. That night, Joanna falls overboard while searching for her wedding ring on deck, develops amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, is rescued by a garbage scow
Garbage scow
A garbage scow is a large watercraft used to transport refuse and garbage across waterways. It is often in the form of a barge which is towed or otherwise moved by means of tugboats, however many are also self-propelled...
and taken to the local hospital. Grant goes to get her, but after seeing her mental state and mistreating of the staff, he denies knowing her and returns to the yacht as a bachelor to embark on a spree of parties with younger women. After seeing her story on the local news, Dean, a widower living in redneck clutter with four young sons, decides to seek his revenge and remedy his own domestic problems by taking advantage of the situation. He goes to the hospital, tells Joanna that she is Annie, his wife of thirteen years and the mother of his sons. He convinces the staff of his identity by revealing a small birthmark on her behind, which he saw during the remodeling when she was wearing a revealing swimsuit. Unwillingly convinced, she goes with him to his home.
At first, Joanna has difficulty dealing with Dean's boys and the heavy load of chores, including cooking raw food, doing laundry in a tub, caring for pets, housekeeping and only being able to sleep on the couch. She soon adapts to her new life as a housewife and begins to fall in love with Dean and his children. Dean is secretly working two jobs and Joanna handles the boys' school issues, family issues and money challenges with considerable wisdom and grace. Seeing Dean struggle, she uses her untapped knowledge of things like the Seven Wonders of the World to draw up plans for a miniature golf course based on their shared designs. Although Dean has also fallen in love with Joanna, he fails to come clean with her being used as a mom in fear that she would leave them. Even when he tries to come clean when she discovers a pair of monogrammed panties from her former life which cause her to think he's having an affair, a friend, Billy Pratt (Michael G. Hagerty
Michael G. Hagerty
Michael Gerard Hagerty , also known by his stage name Mike Hagerty, is an American actor. He is known for playing comedic blue-collar workers, including his recurring roles as a building superintendent, Mr.Treeger on Friends and the manager of a muffler shop on HBO's Lucky Louie.Hagerty is...
), says they belonged to a friend of his to get Dean off the hook.
Meanwhile, giving in to the pressure of Joanna's inquisitive mother Edith (Katherine Helmond
Katherine Helmond
Katherine Marie Helmond is an American film, theater and television actress, who played Emily Dickinson on Meeting of Minds, as well as such fictional characters as Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves...
), Grant reluctantly returns to Elk Cove to retrieve his wife. Joanna's memory returns to her upon seeing him and she is shocked and hurt when she realizes that Dean has been using her for months. She returns with Grant to the yacht where her mother and Dr. Korman, the family's bumbling psychiatrist, are waiting. Joanna finds her old life stuffy and pretentious. One evening after doing shots of Tequila with the crew, Joanna turns to Andrew (Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
), her loyal butler and apologizes for her poor treatment of him after all the things he had done for her in the past. Andrew replies that he is both surprised and pleased with the apology and observes that Joanna has learned to serve others in taking care of the Proffitt family and as a result has a new meaning and purpose in her life and is really blessed for the chance.
Realizing how happy she was with Dean and the kids and how selfish and spoiled she was in her former life, she commandeers the yacht and turns back towards Elk Cove. When the neurotic and selfish Grant finds out, delusions of grandeur kick in and he accuses his wife of mutiny, admits he never loved her and commandeers the ship himself. Meanwhile, Dean and the boys go to get Joanna back with the help of Billy's friend in the Coast Guard. When they catch up to the yacht, Joanna and Dean both jump overboard and are reunited in the water. An incensed Grant actually attempts to shoot her with a bow and arrow, accusing her of mutiny for jumping ship, only to be unceremoniously booted over the side and into the water by Andrew, who then promptly gives his notice of quitting. Safely aboard the smaller vessel, Joanna, having left and unofficially divorced Grant, reveals to Dean that the yacht and the money are actually hers not Grant's. Hours later, while the boys are making out their Christmas lists (due to their sudden wealth), Dean asks Joanna, "What could I possibly give you that you don't already have?" Joanna looks at her four stepsons, smiles, then replies: "A little girl."
Cast
- Goldie HawnGoldie HawnGoldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
as Joanna Stayton / Annie Proffitt - Kurt RussellKurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
as Dean Proffitt - Edward HerrmannEdward HerrmannEdward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
as Grant Stayton III - Katherine HelmondKatherine HelmondKatherine Marie Helmond is an American film, theater and television actress, who played Emily Dickinson on Meeting of Minds, as well as such fictional characters as Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves...
as Edith Mintz - Roddy McDowallRoddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
as Andrew - Michael G. HagertyMichael G. HagertyMichael Gerard Hagerty , also known by his stage name Mike Hagerty, is an American actor. He is known for playing comedic blue-collar workers, including his recurring roles as a building superintendent, Mr.Treeger on Friends and the manager of a muffler shop on HBO's Lucky Louie.Hagerty is...
as Billy Pratt - Brian Price as Travis Proffitt
- Jared RushtonJared RushtonJared Michael Rushton is an American musician and former actor. He is best known for his roles in numerous late eighties films including Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Big, and Overboard. He has been nominated for a total of two Saturn Awards and two Young Artist Awards...
as Charlie Proffitt - Jamie Wild as Greg Proffitt
- Jeffrey Wiseman as Joey Proffitt
Reception
The film received a mixed reception from critics. Based on 21 reviews collected by Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 52% of the critics enjoyed Overboard, with an average rating of 5.1/10. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
praised Hawn's performance, but called it "an uninspiring, unsophisticated attempt at an updated screwball comedy that is brought down by plodding script and a handful of too broadly drawn characters." Rita Kempley of the Washington Post called it "a deeply banal farce" with "one-dimensional characters, a good long look at Hawn's buttocks and lots of pathetic sex jokes." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
liked it; while calling the film predictable, he wrote: "the things that make Overboard special, however, are the genuine charm, wit and warm energy generated by the entire cast and director Garry Marshall." The Los Angeles Times review of the film read: "The film tries to mix the two 1930s movie comedy strains: screwball romance and populist fable. But there's something nerveless and thin about it. Hawn and Russell are good, but their scenes together have a calculated spontaneity--overcute, obvious."
Box office
The film was generally considered a mild success, grossing nearly $27 million domestically, but returned to profit via cable television.Remake
The film is being remade in 2011, with Jennifer LopezJennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
set to star in the Goldie Hawn role. Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
will produce along with James Lassiter
James Lassiter
James Lassiter is an American film producer. He is actor Will Smith's long-time business partner.-Career:Lassiter attended University of Miami and Temple University and befriended Jeffrey "Jazzy Jeff" Townes, who was in a rap duo with then-musician Will Smith. Lassiter met Smith through Townes,...
. The 1992 Bollywood film 'Ek Ladka Ek Ladki' took inspiration from this movie.