This was apparently the seventh time the same story had been filmed, and I would guess this is probably the best effort of all of them, from director Walter Hill (48 Hours, Red Heat). Basically Montgomery 'Monty' Brewster (Richard Pryor) is a minor league baseball player, and after a fight ending up appearing before a court, and being cut from his team, a man who has been following him pays his bail. Monty assumes he is a baseball scout, but he takes him to an office to hear that his uncle Rupert Horn (Cocoon's Hume Cronyn) has died, and through his videotaped "living will", Monty discovers he can inherit $300m! He has two choices: Spend $30m within 30 days, telling no-one why you are, and if successful get the fortune, and if not, go broke; or, take $1m on the day; and bravely, Brewster decides to go for the $300m. So, now Brewster is doing every crazy thing he can think of to blow his $30m, with the help of his baseball friend Spike Nolan (John Candy) and personal accountant Angela Drake (Lonette McKee). He uses his money to hire hundreds of staff for high salary, buys a priceless stamp, the highest price hotel room, pays for his baseball to play against a major team, and when he sees his efforts aren't going as well as he thought, he pays for himself to run for the election for Mayor. So, day 30 arrives, and to his knowledge, Monty is completely broke, apart from a $30,000 deposit that a man he trusted held back, but thankfully, before the clock strikes 12, Monty manages to get rid of it, and Edward Roundfield (Pat Hingle) is proud to say he gets the $300m inheritance, and that's where it ends. Also starring Stephen Collins as Warren Cox, Dirty Dancing's Jerry Orbach as Charley Pegler, Tovah Feldshuh as Marilyn, Rick Moranis as Morty King and Reni Santoni as Vin Rapelito. You could see this as a satire on the power of money, both from the positive and negative sides, or you could just see it as Pryor going crazy spending and spending. A funny film that really makes you wonder what would you do in the situation, what would you spend $/£30m on, how fast would you spend it, and would you really want that amount? Worth watching!
Review of Brewster's Millions
