Kindergarten Cop
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| Kindergarten Cop | |
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 Kindergarten Cop film poster |
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| Directed by | Ivan Reitman |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer Ivan Reitman |
| Written by | Murray Salem Herschel Weingrod Timothy Harris |
| Starring | Arnold Schwarzenegger Penelope Ann Miller Pamela Reed Linda Hunt Richard Tyson Carroll Baker |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | December 21, 1990 |
| Running time | 117 Min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $26,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Kindergarten Cop is a 1990 comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough loner police detective, who goes after drug dealer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson), before he can get to his ex-wife and son. Pamela Reed plays his partner Phoebe O'Hara, a teacher-turned-cop and Penelope Ann Miller plays Joyce, the teacher who becomes Kimble's love interest. The original music score was composed by Randy Edelman. The film's tagline is: "An undercover cop in a class by himself."
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[edit] Plot
The taciturn, stubborn, autocratic, violent Police Detective John Kimble has pursued drug dealer Cullen Crisp for years. He finally arrests Crisp for murder, but is unable to convict him due to the refusal of a witness named Cindy to identify the killer. After Kimble psychologically humbles Cindy, Crisp is identified in a police line-up. Kimble, accompanied by Detective Phoebe O'Hara, is then ordered to go undercover in Astoria, Oregon, to find Crisp's ex-wife Rachel and their son, who are hiding from him, and offer her a deal to testify against Cullen. Since their appearance is not known to them, O'Hara was to act as the substitute teacher of the son's kindergarten class at Astoria Elementary School while Kimble was to track down the identity of the mother, who is believed to have stolen money from Crisp.
Unfortunately, O'Hara, who is hypoglycemic, eats too much and falls ill at the last moment. Kimble therefore takes the teacher's job, much to the suspicion of the school principal, Miss Schlowski (Linda Hunt). Despite having no teaching experience — and thus initially collapsing beneath the stress—Kimble soon adapts progressively to his new status. Using his tame ferret as a class pet, his police training as a model for structure of the classes, and positive reinforcement, he becomes a much-admired and cherished figure to the children despite the aggravation they bring him. In turn, Kimble begins to love his cover job and his young charges, even to the point of manhandling an abusive father whose son Zach attends Kimble's class.
Kimble becomes passionately fond of his student Dominic's mother Joyce, who also works at the school. Joyce, like many other of the students' mothers, is on terms of estrangement from her husband, so that she will not speak of him. This excites the suspicions of Kimble. In a conversation with the gradually more trusting Joyce, Kimble learns that Joyce and his quarry Rachel are one and the same, and conveys this to O'Hara.
Crisp is released from jail when his attorney arranges for his mother Eleanor to poison Cindy, who is the only witness. When they receive the news of Cindy's death and Crisp's release, Kimble and O'Hara tell Joyce the truth of their mission. She tells them that she never stole any money, but that Crisp wishes to control Dominic. She then leaves in a rush. Kimble attempts to track them down, to find that Dominic has gone without the knowledge of his mother to plant toy lasers in a radio-transmitter tower. Dominic has been raised believing that his mother has enemies, identified only as the "bad people"; to quell his own feelings of helplessness, he has made these toys and now wishes to put them into action. Kimble, remembering this, is able to retrieve Dominic. Joyce and Kimble share a kiss, as a sign of her gratitude and his protection.
During the next day, at the school, a newly arrived Crisp deliberately causes a fire in the library, which triggers the school fire alarm and initiates an evacuation as a diversion for the rest of the school children, and thus abducts his son; the other children, who have been put on the alert by O'Hara, see him and he flees. While Kimble searches for them, a frightened Dominic attempts to escape his kidnapper. Outside, O'Hara attempts to get in the building, but is kept outside by the firefighters. She takes her revolver out of her purse and runs around to the back of the school to get in, but is struck by Eleanor's car, after which Eleanor steals her gun. In the school's locker room, Kimble and Crisp fight over Dominic. When Kimble has the upper hand, Crisp threatens to kill his son; within moments, Kimble's tame ferret emerges from Dominic's shirt, where he had been concealed, and bites Crisp on the neck (earlier, Kimble told the children that ferret doesn't bite). Kimble, taking advantage of this distraction, kills Crisp by shooting him thrice in the chest. Dominic, Joyce, and the ferret escape.
Eleanor enters and threatens the wounded Kimble. As she is about to kill him, an apparently intact but injured O'Hara enters and knocks her unconscious with a baseball bat. Eleanor is arrested, while the unconscious Kimble (much to the sadness of the children) is hospitalized. During his recovery, O'Hara and her chef fiancée announce their marriage, inviting him to it.
In the end, Kimble quits the police force to return to the Astoria school and form a new family with Joyce and Dominic. The film was anouther successful Ivan Reitman comedy grossing about $201 million worldwide.
[edit] Filming locations
The external filming was in Astoria, Oregon, at the John Jacob Astor Elementary School.
At Astor, the Universal Studios hired local artists to paint murals on the walls, provided new playground equipment, fenced the playground, & laid a new lawn and hedges around the School building. Most of the filming was completed after school was out in June; therefore many of the students and staff were able to be in the movie as extras. Students' artwork was also used. Teachers and neighbors, as well as students, were used in filming; viewers see Astor School's custodian, 'Mr. John', raising the flag for an early morning scene.
The scenes involving hallways and stairs were shot on a movie set at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California. The parts of the movie showing the outside of the school, the police, the firefighters, ambulances, and people pouring out of the school doors were shot at Astor.
The film's opening scene was filmed at the Westfield MainPlace in Santa Ana, California.
[edit] Cast
- Arnold Schwarzenegger - Detective John Kimble, an Austrian-American police detective
- Penelope Ann Miller - Joyce Palmieri / Rachel Myatt Crisp, ex-wife of criminal Cullen Crisp
- Pamela Reed - Detective Phoebe O'Hara, Kimble's partner who is a former teacher
- Linda Hunt - Miss Schlowski, school principal
- Richard Tyson - Cullen Crisp Sr., a dangerous criminal looking for his ex-wife and child
- Carroll Baker - Eleanor Crisp, Cullen Crisp Sr.'s mother
- Christian and Joseph Cousins - Dominic Palmieri / Cullen Crisp Jr., son of Cullen Sr. and Rachel
- Jayne Brook - Mrs. Sullivan, wife of an abusive husband and mother of Kimble's student Zach
- Cathy Moriarty - Jillian, mother of Kimble's student Sylvester
- Miko Hughes - Child's father is an Ob-gyn
- Sarah Rose Karr - Emma, one of Kimble's students
- Richard Portnow - Captain Salazar, Kimble and O'Hara's superior
- Tom Kurlander - Danny, one of Cullen's victims
- Alix Koromzay - Cindy, Danny's girlfriend who witnesses his murder
- Bob Nelson - Henry Shoop, Phoebe O'Hara's fiance
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In this movie, Schwarzenegger gets a reference to his Austrian roots by playing an immigrant Austrian cop. Also, he utters two discernible but short German sentences as he carries O'Hara into the motel: "Das macht mich stocksauer. Jetzt bin ich sauer." ('This makes me stinking mad. Now I'm mad.')
- A ferret features prominently in this movie. Campaigners in California — the state of which Schwarzenegger is governor — are currently fighting for a law to legalize the animals as pets in their state.
- Bill Murray and Danny DeVito were considered for the role of John Kimble.
- A remake of the film was made in the Philippines called "Ang Tister Kong Pogi" which stars Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. in the Schwarzenegger role as the teacher. Many scenes were imitated, including the scene where John Kimble was shot from the window of his classroom.
- In the stop motion animated show Robot Chicken, a scene that parodies the famous "It's not a tumor!" catchphrase depicts Arnold Schwarzenegger at the doctor's office, where his doctor informs him that "No...it's not a tumor at all."
- The film features a scene with the then-unknown Angela Bassett as a stewardess. This was Bassett's second film role.
[edit] External links
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