THE FRESHMAN!

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Seeing Marlon Brando on Larry King last night in some dated footage convinced me to change what I had originally scheduled for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night". I won't deny that it might have been seeing Brando singing with King, or Brando actually ice skating in this film I'm about to introduce, or even Bert Parks singing Bob Dylan's "Maggie's' Farm" that encouraged me. But let's cut to the chase here. Back in 1990, Marlon Barndo signed on to do a comedy that would parody his role as his famous Vito Corleone from character from the film, "The Godfather". Needless to say this was risky! There was a tremendous amount of publicity ahead of this film and frankly, no one knew whether it would work. Credit must be given to the Producers, because this kooky caper took guts and it was hilarious. So, I give to you THE FRESHMAN! The story concerns Matthew Broderick who stars as Clark Kellogg (yes, as in the breakfast cereal), a freshman at NYU film school who gets fleeced of all his belongings by Victor Ray (Bruno Kirby). When Kellogg catches up with Victor, he sets him up with a job working for Vic's uncle, Carmine Sabatini (Marlon Brando). Clark immediately notices that Uncle Carmine bears an unfortunate resemblance to Don Corleone. Nevertheless, for $500, his job is to transport some unidentified cargo from New York's JFK Airport to Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Kellogg decides this is not the job for him, but Uncle Carmine has other plans. He likes this kid. In fact, he insists that Clark Kellogg marry his only daughter, Tina (Penelope Ann Miller). Clark is confused by the whole situation, and it gets dicier when the Feds enter the picture to secure Clark's help in their investigation of Carmine's use of the unidentified cargo (which is not what you think it is). As it turns out, none of the players in this entire fiasco are revealing their cards. All of which makes for a harmless and funny movie. Check out this Cast: Marlon Brando as Carmine Sabatini (also known as "Jimmy the Toucan"); Matthew Broderick is Clark Kellogg/Narrator; Bruno Kirby is Victor Ray, Carmine's thieving Nephew; Penelope Ann Miller is Carmine's daughter Tina Sabatini; Written & Directed by Andrew Bergman. I'll leave off here so you can enjoy!