Who's Harry Crumb?
| Who's Harry Crumb? | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Paul Flaherty |
| Written by | Robert Conte Peter Martin Wortmann |
| Produced by | Arnon Milchan |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Stephen M. Katz |
| Edited by | Danford B. Greene |
| Music by | Michel Colombier[1] |
Production companies | Frostbacks NBC Productions |
| Distributed by | Tri-Star Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $11 million |
Who's Harry Crumb? is a 1989 American comedy-mystery film featuring John Candy as the title character. Paul Flaherty directed the film, which co-stars Annie Potts, Jeffrey Jones and Shawnee Smith. An uncredited cameo appearance is made by Jim Belushi.[3] The story concerns the often incompetent, sometimes brilliant, private investigator Harry Crumb, who searches for a kidnapping victim. Who's Harry Crumb? was released by Tri-Star Pictures on February 3, 1989. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $11 million.
Plot
In Beverly Hills, fashion model Jennifer Downing is kidnapped. Her father, multimillionaire P. J. Downing, turns to family friend Eliot Draisen—the president of the Crumb & Crumb private detective agency—to investigate, unaware that Eliot himself is the kidnapper. Eliot assigns Harry Crumb, the last descendant of the agency's distinguished founders, to the case. A bumbling yet dedicated detective with a penchant for disguises, Harry has spent the past ten years at the agency's Tulsa, Oklahoma branch, having been sent there to keep him away from head office. Eliot expects Harry to be ineffective.
Harry meets the Downing family, including Jennifer's overlooked younger sister Nikki and P. J.'s greedy new wife, Helen, who is having an affair with her tennis coach, Vince Barnes. Harry becomes suspicious of Helen after learning Jennifer was kidnapped while using Helen's regular salon appointment. P. J. soon receives a $10 million ransom demand. Meanwhile, Eliot confesses his long-standing love for Helen, who rejects him, admitting she cares only for money and would only consider him if he were wealthy.
Convinced that Helen and Vince are responsible, Harry teams up with Nikki to investigate them. Fearing P. J. will pay the ransom, Helen and Vince accelerate their own plan to kill him so Helen will inherit his fortune. They sabotage the brakes on his car, but Harry and Nikki unknowingly borrow it to follow them. When the brakes fail, Harry crashes into their vehicle. Believing they are being pursued, Helen and Vince flee. Harry instead assumes they attempted to kill him to halt his investigation.
Harry later infiltrates the ventilation system of Vince's apartment building to spy on the pair, unaware that Vince has been lured away by Eliot, who blackmails Helen into sex using knowledge of the affair. Unable to see into the apartment, Harry overhears dialogue from a television program mentioning travel to Buenos Aires, which he misinterprets as the pair's escape plan, an idea that also inspires Eliot. Eliot sends a new ransom note demanding payment by Friday, but Helen intercepts it and changes the deadline to Monday to buy more time for her to kill P.J. Eliot then forces Jennifer, through his accomplice Dwayne, to confirm the original Friday exchange at a horse racing track. On the day, he obtains the ransom money from Harry under the guise of following the kidnapper's instructions and heads to the airport, while Helen and Vince attempt unsuccessfully to intercept him to steal the money.
At the airport, Eliot calls Helen, reveals his role in the kidnapping, and asks her to flee with him to Buenos Aires now that he has the money; she agrees. Vince overhears the call, intercepts them, and takes the money, prompting Helen to side with him. They bind and gag Eliot and leave him behind before boarding a plane. Harry and Nikki arrive and commandeer a stair truck to pursue the aircraft. During the chaotic chase, a luggage trolley crashes into the building where Dwayne is holding Jennifer, electrocuting him. Nikki drives the stair truck into the plane, allowing Harry to apprehend Helen and Vince, who are arrested. After rescuing Jennifer, Harry overhears Eliot attempting to free himself. Believing Harry has deduced his part in the kidnapping, and exasperated at his success, Eliot confesses and is also arrested.
Harry is appointed the new president of Crumb & Crumb, and P. J. thanks him for helping repair his relationship with Nikki. Harry is then presented with a new case: a murder at the Bottom's Up club in San Francisco.
Cast
- John Candy as Harry Crumb
- Jeffrey Jones as Eliot Draisen
- Annie Potts as Helen Downing
- Tim Thomerson as Vince Barnes
- Barry Corbin as P.J. Downing
- Shawnee Smith as Nikki Downing
- Valri Bromfield as Detective Casey
- Doug Steckler as Dwayne
- Renée Coleman as Jennifer Downing
- Wesley Mann as Tim
- Tamsin Kelsey as Marie
- Joe Flaherty as Doorman
- Lori O'Byrne as Karen
- Michele Goodger as Mrs. MacIntyre
- Beverley Elliott as Joanne
- P. Lynn Johnson as Kelly
- Peter Yunker as Jeffrey Brandt
- Garwin Sanford as Dennis Kimball
- Tony Dakota as Freddy
- Manny Perry as Cop in Car
- Tino Insana as Smokey
- Lyle Alzado as Man in Apartment
- Deanna Oliver as Woman in Apartment
- Jim Belushi as Man on Bus (uncredited)
Release
Box office
Who's Harry Crumb? was released in the United States and Canada on February 3, 1989. During its opening weekend it grossed a total of $3.9 million from 1,197 theaters—an average of $3,227 per theater—making it the fifth-highest grossing film of the weekend, behind Beaches ($4.2 million) in its seventh week of release, and ahead of Twins ($3.3 million) in its ninth.[4] In its second weekend, Who's Harry Crumb? fell to the number 8 position with a $2.3 million gross—a 40.1% drop from the previous week—placing it behind Twins ($2.9 million) and ahead of the debuting Tap ($2.2 million).[5] In total, Who's Harry Crumb? grossed $11 million, making it only the 84th-highest-grossing film of 1989.[6][7]
The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 6, 1989, and failed to reach the Top 15.[8]
Critical reception
Janet Maslin praised several of the performances in the film, including Candy's, but dismissed the film as a "weak comedy". Noting that Who's Harry Crumb? and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! center on detectives who both feign wisdom while being oblivious, not to mention the same fish sight gag, Maslin concludes that Leslie Nielsen comes out the better in the comparison.[9] On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 12 reviews.[10] On Metacritic it has a score of and 44% based on reviews from 10 critics.[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C" on scale of A to F.[12]
According to motion picture-historian Leonard Maltin, "Candy is ideally cast, but the film itself is uneven...With some very funny moments, but too much outright silliness."[13]
In March 2018, Den of Geek included the film as one of "The Underrated Movies of 1989", commenting that it "isn't necessarily vintage Candy...it's still a lot of fun, and gives him a title role that he clearly enjoyed."[14]
References
- ^ Hischak, Thomas S. (April 16, 2015). The Encyclopedia of Film Composers. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-4422-4550-1. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
- ^ Staff writer (April 21, 1989). "Who's Harry Crumb (Film)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018.
Approved running time 89m 40s... This work was cut. To obtain this category cuts of 0m 1s were required.
- ^ McLeod, Kembrew (February 2005). Freedom of Expression. Doubleday. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-385-51325-9 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Domestic 1989 Weekend 5 February 3-5, 1989". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ "Domestic 1989 Weekend 6 February 10-12, 1989". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ "Who's Harry Crumb?". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ "Domestic Box Office For 1989". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ "UK Weekend Box Office 7th July 1989 - 8th July 1989". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (February 3, 1989). "Reviews/Film; Missteps of a Gumshoe: 'Who's Harry Crumb?'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
- ^ "Who's Harry Crumb?". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2025.
- ^ "Who's Harry Crumb?". Metacritic. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ "WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? (1989) C". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
- ^ Maltin's TV, Movie, & Video Guide
- ^ Lambie, Ryan; Brew, Simon (March 23, 2018). "The Underrated Movies of 1989". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing.