The Freshman **** (1990, Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller, Maximilian Schell, Frank Whaley, Jon Polito) – Classic Movie Review 7211

Writer/ producer/ director Andrew Bergman’s 1990 black comedy The Freshman brings Marlon Brando back to a main role on the screen after a decade away to play Carmine ‘Jimmy the Toucan’ Sabatini, a Mafia Godfather who makes a New York City college film school freshman called Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) an offer of work he can’t refuse: to take part in a bizarre scam involving an endangered species of giant lizard.

Brando’s spoof of his old Don Corleone character in The Godfather is priceless – he even goes ice-skating! Broderick is all gauche charm, and Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller and Maximilian Schell are assets as Brando’s right-hand-man Victor Ray, daughter Tina Sabatini and partner in crime Larry London, respectively.

Writer-director Bergman’s movie is fresh, funny and frantic, though maybe too laid-back and offbeat to be widely popular. Perhaps because it does not push too hard, it remains amiable throughout.

Also in the cast are Frank Whaley, Jon Polito, Paul Benedict, Richard Gant, Kenneth Welsh, Pamela Payton-Wright, B D Wong, Tex Konig, Leonardo Cimino and Bert Parks.

After Superman and Apocalypse Now, Brando made The Formula in 1980, then was away till his cameo in A Dry White Season (1989) and finally The Freshman.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7211

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Matthew Broderick in The Freshman (1990).