Three Men and a Baby

Three Men and a Baby
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Leonard Nimoy
Produced by
Screenplay by
Based on Trois hommes et un couffin
by Coline Serreau
Starring
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Cinematography Adam Greenberg
Edited by Michael A. Stevenson
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release date
  • November 25, 1987 (1987-11-25)
Running time
 104 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $11 million[1]
Box office $297.8 million[1]

Three Men and a Baby is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson and Nancy Travis. It follows the mishaps and adventures of three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to pseudo-fatherhood with the arrival of the love child of one of them. The script was based on the 1985 French film Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle).

The film was the biggest American box office hit of that year, surpassing Fatal Attraction and eventually grossing $167 million in the US.[2] The film won the 1988 People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Motion Picture.

Plot

Architect Peter Mitchell (Tom Selleck), cartoonist Michael Kellam (Steve Guttenberg), and actor Jack Holden (Ted Danson) are happy living their lives as bachelors in their lofty New York City apartment where they have frequent parties and flings with different women. Their lives are suddenly disrupted when a baby named Mary arrives on their doorstep one day. A note with her, written by a lady named Sylvia, indicates that she is Jack's, the result of a tryst between the actor and actress when they were both in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Taming of the Shrew a year prior. Mary arrives in his absence – he is in Turkey shooting a B movie, leaving Peter and Michael to fend for themselves in taking care of her. Prior to leaving, Jack had made arrangements with a director friend to have a "package" delivered to the apartment as a favor. Before Mary's arrival, Jack calls and leaves a voice message with Peter and Michael informing them of it and to keep it a secret per the director friend's wishes. When Mary arrives, they mistakenly believe she is "the package", even though there is a note from her mother.

Peter and Michael are totally befuddled on how to care for Mary, and Peter leaves to go buy whatever supplies are needed. While he is gone, Mrs. Hathaway (Cynthia Harris), the landlady, delivers a small box (which is the actual "package" containing heroin) to the apartment and Michael tosses it aside while trying to keep Mary under control. After Peter returns, they eventually figure out her proper care, right down to diaper changes, baths, and feedings.

The next day, two men (who are drug dealers) arrive at the apartment to pick up the package. Peter and Michael mistakenly give Mary to them instead, along with a can the men believe is the package, but is actually powdered milk. Shortly after they leave, Peter discovers the actual package hiding behind a pillow. He then questions Michael what he found, saying that it's the package the men were supposed to pick up. Realizing what they did, Peter runs downstairs to intercept them, but trips and stumbles, and the package's contents spill. He quickly gathers it and runs outside to stop the men and give them the package. Peter tries to talk to the man who has Mary but stops mid-sentence and demands her back, thus causing a scuffle. A nearby police officer arrives on a horse to break them up and questions what's going on. The man then gives Mary back to Peter and takes the can from inside the carriage. After the exchange, the police officer attempts to ticket the men for illegal parking, but they quickly escape. He then accosts Peter and detains him in the apartment until Sgt. Melkowitz (Philip Bosco), a narcotics officer, arrives to question him and Michael about the drugs. The phone rings and Peter rushes to answer, which is Jack, who is calling from Turkey. Peter tells Jack that he and Michael need to talk to him, but refuses to talk on the phone as the phone conversation is being recorded. Peter and Michael successfully hides the drugs, in which they soon learn that Jack's friend, Paul Milner, is a drug dealer as well. Melkowitz leaves with suspicions and puts them and the apartment under surveillance.

Mrs. Hathaway shortly arrives to the apartment, and Peter and Michael are able to persuade her to babysit Mary while they work. Once they get home, they find her bound and gagged and the apartment ransacked, apparently by the dealers (who soon realized the can they took was powdered milk), demanding the heroin. Mary is safe, however, but a note is left behind saying, "Next time we'll take the baby". They continue with their care of her, adjusting to surrogate fatherhood and growing attached to her, until Jack returns.

After Peter is settled next to Mary on the bed, a person enters the apartment. He gets up to find out who it is, thinking it could be one of the dealers attempting to kidnap Mary from the note left behind. He quietly approaches the person, throws a basketball and tackles the person to the ground, who happens to be Jack, returning early after his part of the movie he was shooting got cut. Peter and Michael are furious at Jack and begins questioning him about the entire drug deal and Mary. He replies that he knew nothing about the heroin and initially denies everything about Mary until he reads the note from Sylvia. He then recalls the tryst that eventually led to her being born. Peter and Michael do not hesitate in taking their revenge and passing all responsibility of looking after Mary to Jack, but he quickly grows to love her.

Later, Peter discovers a news clipping in the mail of Jack's director friend being hospitalized after a mugging (presumably by the drug dealers), with a handwritten note saying, 'Don't let this happen to you!'. Peter, Michael and Jack formulate a plan to meet and trap the men when they negotiate a deal to deliver the illicit goods. That night, Jack exits the building, disguised as a pregnant woman, with Mary in his possession. Soon after, Peter and Michael exits the building and hitches a ride in a taxi cab. A pair of undercover police officers follow the cab with them in it. The cab then stops, and Peter and Michael rush to another cab nearby with Jack driving. They meet the dealers at the top floor of a construction site, with Michael hiding behind a vent, recording the conversation between Peter and the men about the deal. Michael then falls over from inside the vent and the men try to catch up to him. They are knocked down with pipes and Peter and Michael rushes down the elevator with the recording in their possession, but is stopped when Jack accidentally pulls a lever that operates the car that they are in. The dealers catch up to them but is then stopped and trapped in the elevator by Jack. Peter and Michael successfully gets away and law enforcement arrives. With a recording of the conversation, they prove their innocence to Melkowitz and the dealers are arrested.

By now, they have fully embraced their role as Mary's guardians. However, one morning, Sylvia (Nancy Travis) arrives, asking for her back intending to take her to London to live with her family. Handing her over, they quickly find themselves miserable and desperately missing her. Deciding to stop her and Sylvia from leaving, they rush to the airport to try and persuade the latter to stay, but they arrive just as her plane is backing up from the gate. Defeated, they return home, where they find both Sylvia and Mary sitting by the door, who did not go to London after all. Sylvia tearfully explains she doesn't want to give up her acting career but can't do so if she has to raise Mary alone. They tell her that they would be willing to help, so Peter quickly invites her and Mary to move in with them with Jack and Michael's agreement, and she agrees.

Cast

Production

Mary was played by twins Lisa and Michelle Blair.[3]

The soundtrack included the Peter Cetera song "Daddy's Girl", which was used for the movie's big music montage sequence, the Miami Sound Machine song "Bad Boy," which opened it, and the John Parr song "The Minute I Saw You", which ended the film.

Urban legend

Shots from the film showing what some believe are a shotgun and a young boy

Just over an hour into the final cut of the film, there is a scene that shows Jack and his mother (played by Celeste Holm) walking through the house with Mary. As they do so, they pass a background window on the left-hand side of the screen, and a black outline that appears to resemble a rifle pointed downward can be seen behind the curtains. As they walk back past the window 40 seconds later, a human figure can be seen in that window. A persistent urban legend began circulating August 1990 (shortly before the sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady, premiered) that this was the ghost of a boy who had been killed in the house where the film (or this scene) was filmed. The most common version of this rumor was that a nine-year-old boy committed suicide with a shotgun there, explaining why it was vacant: because the grieving family left. This notion was discussed on the first episode of TV Land: Myths and Legends in January 2007, and was referenced in "Hollywood Babylon", a second-season episode of the TV series Supernatural.

Danson's character standing next to a cardboard cutout of himself.

The figure is actually a cardboard cutout "standee" of Jack, wearing a tuxedo and top hat, that was left on the set. It was created as part of the storyline, in which he, an actor, appears in a dog food commercial, but this portion was cut from the final version of the film. The standee does show up later in the film, however, when Jack stands next to it as Sylvia comes to reclaim Mary. Snopes.com contends that the one in the first scene looks smaller from its appearance in the later scene because of the distance and angle of the shot, and because the curtains obscure its outstretched arms. As for the contention that a boy died in the house, all the indoor scenes were shot on a Toronto sound stage, and no kind of residential dwellings were used for interior filming.[4][5]

Reception

Critical response

The critical response to Three Men and a Baby was generally positive. The film holds a 74% "fresh" rating on the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 34 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "The American remake of the popular French comedy mostly works a charm under the combined talents of the three leads, who play nicely against type – although forced plot elements and sentimentality at times dampen the fun."[6] The film critic Roger Ebert, despite noting several aspects he saw as flaws, praised the film, remarking, "Because of Selleck and his co-stars... the movie becomes a heartwarming entertainment". He gave it 3 (out of four) stars.[7]

Box office

The film opened in theaters on November 25, 1987 (a Wednesday). It ended up grossing USD$170 million.[8][9][10][11][12][13] It was notable for the Walt Disney Studios since it was the first production from the studio to gross over $100 million domestically. It was the highest-grossing film of 1987 domestically, with an estimated 42 million tickets sold in the US.

Sequel

The film was followed by a 1990 sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady. In June 2010 it was announced that Disney was interested in filming a third film, tentatively titled Three Men and a Bride.[14] As of 2013, the film was still listed as being in development.[15]

Remakes

This film was remade as Thoovalsparsham (1990) in Malayalam, as Chinnari Muddula Papa (1990) in Telugu, as Asathal (2001) in Tamil and Heyy Babyy (2007) in Hindi.

An American remake is being produced for Disney's planned streaming service.[16]

Early TV comedy sketch parodies of Three Men and a Baby included a famous sketch on In Living Color where Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard are played by David Alan Grier, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Tommy Davidson.

In the 2009 film The Hangover, where three of the main characters acquire a missing baby while searching for their lost friend, character Alan Garner references the film, saying, "It's got Ted Danson, Magnum, P.I., and that Jewish actor".

In the TV show Home Improvement, season 4 episode 21, Tim manages to change a tire in 38 seconds. The head racer says, "In that amount of time, we could change 23 tires and a baby", to which Al Borland replies, "I love that movie", referencing the film. Earl Hindman (Wilson) played the minor role of Satch, Vince's assistant, in the film.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Three Men and a Baby (1987)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  2. ↑ "1987 Yearly Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo.
  3. ↑ Maslin, Janet (November 25, 1987). "Film Review: Three Men and a Baby". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  4. ↑ Mikkelson, David (June 2, 1997). "Does a Ghost Boy Appear in Three Men and a Baby?". Snopes.com. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  5. ↑ Ebert, Roger (March 6, 2008). "The Questions That Will Not Die"". Retrieved July 26, 2018 – via rogerebert.com.
  6. ↑ "Three Men and a Baby". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  7. ↑ Ebert, Roger (November 25, 1987). "Three Men and a Baby". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Field Marshal". Newsweek. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  9. ↑ Easton, Nina J. (1989-01-05). "Roger Rabbit Hops to Box-Office Top; Coming to America Hits 2nd". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  10. ↑ "Three Men and a Baby Is Top Box-Office Film". The New York Times. 1988-01-14. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  11. ↑ Mathews, Jack (1988-01-06). "Laughing Their Way to Bank Hollywood Accounts Swell From Baby and Momma". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  12. ↑ Hunt, Dennis (1989-01-19). "Red Heat Sets Rental Market on Fire". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  13. ↑ Mathews, Jack (1987-12-29). "Weekend Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  14. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (June 3, 2010). "Selleck confirms Three Men sequel plans". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  15. ↑ Martinovic, Paul (January 5, 2013). "Tom Selleck: 'I think Three Men and a Bride is a good idea'". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  16. ↑ Fleming Jr., Mike (February 8, 2018). "Disney Unveils Inaugural Streaming Service Launch Slate To Town; No R-Rated Fare". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
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