Accidental Hero ** (1992, Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia) – Classic Movie Review 9248

Director Stephen Frears’s 1992 Accidental Hero [Hero] stars Dustin Hoffman as Bernie LaPlante, a petty crook who becomes an unlikely reluctant hero when he saves 54 people from a crashed burning plane, including TV reporter Gale Gayley (Geena Davis). But John Bubber (Andy Garcia), who has given him a lift from the wreck, takes the credit and the $1 million reward.

Accidental Hero is an uneasy comedy drama, with a blunt satirical edge that hacks away at the media and the price of fame. Hoffman and Davis perform creditably (though Garcia has little to go on) and the story has an interest and momentum of its own, with a few little chuckles built in along the way.

But Frears’s direction has no drive and he has little feel for screwball comedy. And so the piece smoulders occasionally but refuses to catch fire. However, set pieces like the crash or the climatic window-ledge sequence are extremely well done.

It was costly at $42,000,000, and grossed only $19,507,345 in the US.

It shot for three weeks in Chicago and then moved to Los Angeles.

Also in the cast are Joan Cusack, Kevin J O’Connor, Maury Chaykin, Stephen Tobolowsky, Tom Arnold, Chevy Chase, Janis Paige, Walter Berlinger, Christian Clemenson, Cady Huffman, Susie Cusack, James Madio, Richard Riehle and Daniel Baldwin.

The story is by Laura Ziskin, Alvin Sargent and David Webb Peoples, with the screenplay by David Webb Peoples.

 © Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9248

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