Fun with Dick and Jane *** (1977, George Segal, Jane Fonda, Ed McMahon) – Classic Movie Review 11,935

Jane Fonda.

Director Ted Kotcheff’s 1977 comedy film Fun with Dick and Jane stars George Segal and Jane Fonda.

Segal is Dick, Fonda is Jane and their friendly faces and the snappy story ensure lots of fun when Dick loses his plane-maker job and they turn their talents to a life of armed crime.

Kotcheff keeps it pacey, while the sharp script throws in some gentle satire on US conspicuous consumerism.

Ed McMahon has fun as Segal’s boss.

Can this be the same Jane Fonda who was in Barbarella, Klute and FTA? Surely not!

Also in the cast are Dick Gautier, Allan Miller, Hank Garcia, John Dehner, Mary Jackson, Walter Brooke, Sean Frye, James Jeter and Maxine Stewart.

It is remade as Fun with Dick and Jane in 2005 with Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni.

David Giler, Jerry Belson and Mordecai Richler write the screenplay from the story by Gerald Gaiser.

The title comes from one of the books in the Dick and Jane series of children’s educational books. Dick and Jane are the two main characters created by Zerna Sharp for a series of text book readers written by William S Gray to teach children to read.

The hit film cost $4.5 million and was Columbia Pictures’ third highest-grossing film in the US and Canada in 1977 with a $13.6 million box office.

George Segal.

The cast are George Segal as Dick Harper, Jane Fonda as Jane Harper, Ed McMahon as Charlie Blanchard, Dick Gautier as Dr Will, Allan Miller as loan company manager, Hank Garcia as Raoul Esteban, John Dehner as Jane’s father, Mary Jackson as Jane’s mother, Walter Brooke as Mr Weeks, Sean Frye as Billy, Fred Willard as Bob, John Brandon as Pete Winston, Thayer David as Deacon, Burke Byrnes as Roger, Dewayne Jesse as robber, Anne Ramsey as employment applicant, Jon Christian Erickson as transsexual, Gloria Stroock as Mildred Blanchard, Art Evans as Man at Bar, Richard Foronjy as Landscape Man, Harry Holcombe as Pharmacist, Thalmus Rasulala as Income Maintenance Technician Johnson, and Jay Leno as Carpenter.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,935

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