Rodney Dangerfield became a comedy sensation, most improbably, when he was middle-aged. The guy who grew up in blue collar Kew Gardens in Queens, New York, had dabbled in standup early in his life but found little success. He quipped at the time that when he decided to quit show business, no one knew he had even been in it. Dangerfield married, raised a family and sold aluminum siding to make ends meet. However, the siren call of the stage led him back to show business. A hard-won slot on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1967 had a sensational reaction from the audience and Sullivan's many millions of viewers. Dangerfield was on his way. The key to his success was capitalizing on his blue collar background. He looked and sounded like the New Yawker who would have lived next door to you. His shtick was self-deprecating humor, which he developed into an art form. He recognized that everyone likes someone who can make fun of themselves, an attribute that certain elected officials would do well to adopt. Dangerfield was flying high and in 1969 opened Dangerfields, a landmark New York City comedy/dinner club that would enjoy a very respectable lifespan. Dangerfield had played bit roles in movies before scoring big with a supporting role in the hit 1980 comedy "Caddyshack". To know one's surprise, Hollywood eventually came calling with an offer to star in his own film. The result was "Easy Money", released in 1983 and written by Dangerfield and first-time screenwriters Michael Endler, Dennis Blair and the estimable P.J. O'Rourke, one-time editor of National Lampoon magazine.
Production on the film was problematic. The original director, Joseph Sedelmaier, quit over creative differences with Dangerfield. He was replaced by TV director James Signorelli. The film's cinematographer, Jack L. Richards, was fired and replaced by Fred Schuler. Nonetheless, the production was successfully completed with principal photography primarily shot in Staten Island, another middle-class borough of New York City. The script presents Dangerfield as Monty Capuletti, a high-strung family man with a wife, Rose, (Candace Azzara) and 12 year-old daughter (Lili Haydn) who makes his living as a photographer of children. When we first see him, he's girding himself for the forthcoming marriage of his 18 year-old daughter Alllison (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to a sleazy looking guy named Julio (Taylor Negron, very funny indeed), who is eager for the wedding night after a sexless courtship with Allison, who has been kept in a sheltered life by Monty and Rose. He's also bothered by his nagging, cynical mother-in-law, Mrs. Monahan (Geraldine Fitzgerald), a widow who owns the multi-million dollar department store that bears the family name. Mrs. Monahan announces to the family that, upon her death, she will bequeath her $10 million fortune to Rose- on the condition that Monty reform his wicked ways and over a period of one year lose weight and permanently give up gambling, drinking, philandering and pot smoking. Since Monty routinely indulges in all of these vices with his best friends (Joe Pesci, Val Avery and Tom Noonan), it looks like he would have to achieve a "Mission: Impossible" scenario- something that occurs when Mrs. Monahan dies in a plane crash.
Much of the fun is watching Dangerfield and Fitzgerald's characters exchange insults in the manner in which Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden used to spar with his mother-in-law in episodes of "The Honeymooners" and Monty's subsequent attempt to redeem himself while he is surrounded by his friend's vices. Dangerfield is in great form and was described by Chicago Tribute critic Gene Siskel thusly: "The big discovery in the comedy "Easy Money" is that
Rodney Dangerfield, unlike most stand-up comics, does not need dialogue to be
funny. He is funny just standing still--or his version of standing still, which
includes nervous twitching, profuse sweating, pained expressions and rolling of
the eyes." Dangerfield gets fine help from a marvelous supporting cast that includes Jeffrey Jones as a snooty brother-in-law who tries to sabotage Monty's attempts at reform so that he can inherit the fortune. The scene-stealer is up-and-comer Joe Pesci playing what would become a traditional Joe Pesci character: rude, crude and loud-mouthed. The film ably presents men as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who put having reckless fun above all else, a flaw that many of us might have sadly identified with at some point in our lives.
"Easy Money" is consistently funny and has aged very well because of its timeless comedic scenarios. Adding to the pleasures is a title song by Billy Joel that is said to have been a tribute to James Brown. So give Dangerfield some respect and give it a try.
(Note for fans of the film: the scene in the trailer of Dangerfield ogling a sunbathing beauty was shot specifically for the trailer and TV broadcast version. In the film, she is seen topless. Also, the film's TV premiere featured a scene not in the theatrical cut in which Monty and his friends attend a boxing match at which he experiences haunting hallucinations. This not seen in the streaming version, which is the theatrical cut. The DVD is currently out-of-print.)