Today (July 14, 2010) is the 58^th birthday of movie producer Joel Silver. Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, where he ultimately ascended to president of motion pictures for the company. He earned his first screen credit as the associate producer on The Warriors (1979) and went on to produce 48 Hrs. (1982), Streets of Fire (1984) and Weird Science (1985). In 1985, he formed Silver Pictures and produced hit 80s action films such as Commando (1985), Predator (1987), Lethal Weapon (1987), Die Hard (1988) and Road House (1989). The last film Silver produced before moving on his own was 1985's Brewster's Millions.

The 1985 version was actually the seventh adaptation of the 1902 novel of the same name by author George Barr McCutcheon. The novel was first adapted into a Broadway play in 1906 with the first film version made in 1914 by none other than Cecil B. DeMille. There would be additional film versions released in 1921, 1926, 1935, 1945 and 1961 prior to the 1985 version which I would eventually know and love. The screenplay for the 1985 version was written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. It is pretty cool when a story written over 80 years prior could still have relevance so many decades later. A major reason why this worked for me was that the 1985 version of Brewster's Millions starred two of the funniest people of my lifetime in Richard Pryor and John Candy.

The film centers around the character "Montgomery 'Monty' Brewster" played by Richard Pryor. He is a minor league pitcher who inherits money from a rich old white great-uncle (played by Hume Cronyn), but there is a stipulation. He can either take a $1 million "wimp clause" or he can try to spend $30 million in 30 days with nothing to show for it in order to get $300 million (which in 1985 would be the same as about $7.5 BILLION in 2010!). The intention is to teach him to truly appreciate and value money. There are all sorts of rules including not being able to tell anybody what he is doing and on how he can/can't spend the $30 million. The down side is that if he chooses to try for the $300 million and does not meet the requirements, he gets nothing. It wouldn't be a movie if he doesn't choose to try for the $300 million. With his unknowing best friend (and catcher) "Spike Nolan" played by John Candy at his side, "Brewster" sets off to take his great-uncle's challenge. Here is the original trailer for 1985's Brewster's Millions...

The film was directed by Walter Hill who also directed other Joel Silver productions like The Warriors, 48 Hrs. and Streets of Fire. There are several subtle nods to Hill's 48 Hrs. (1982) in his Brewster's Millions. There is a bar at the start of the movie called Torchy's which is the same name of the bar Eddie Murphy shook down in 48 Hrs. The Torchy's waitress who phones in to police the brawl that "Monty" and "Spike" get into there is played by Margot Rose, who appeared in 48 Hrs. as the girlfriend of a character who used to tend bar at Torchy's. Also, the car driven by Brewster's personal photographer is a sky-blue Cadillac convertible, the same type driven by Nick Nolte in 48 Hrs, and the bookie who lays down all the bets for Brewster wears the exact same suit that Eddie Murphy wore in 48 Hrs.

It was not a great critical success and is by no means fine cinema, but Brewster's Millions has always been a favorite of mine primarily due to the efforts of Pryor and Candy. In fact, it was actually included in my Most Under-rated Movies list that I published a couple years ago. It will definitely remind you how much you should miss the genius of John Candy and Richard Pryor. Joel Silver is responsible for producing some of the biggest movies of the 80s decade amongst the 70 films he has to his credit now and is still going strong. Of all he has produced, Brewster's Millions still ranks in my top 5 favorites, and yep, it was from the 80s.

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