JohnHowardReid Review of Brewster's Millions

Brewster's Millions (1985)

Twenty million -- and it's all up there on the screen!

[8/10 · 3 March 2016]

Brewster's Millions started life as a 1902 novel by George Barr McCutcheon. It was re-published in 1943. In 1906 a stage adaptation was presented at the New Amsterdam in New York and ran up an excellent 163 performances. Fatty Arbuckle starred in a silent version in 1921. In 1935, Jack Buchanan starred in a British movie version. In 1945, the project slipped back to Hollywood as a vehicle for Dennis O'Keefe and June Havoc. In 1961, another British version (entitled Three on a Spree) surfaced as a vehicle for Jack Watling and Carol Lesley. However, very little of the original scenario is used in the Richard Pryor re-make, just the basic idea. The characters have all been changed and so has much of the plot – but that's all for the better in this delightfully expansive and expensive version. Superb performances all around are a feature of this entry, especially from Prior himself, of course, as well as John Candy, Lonette McKee and Stephen Collins.