Now Playing on Hark: Tommy Boy (1995)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Chris Farley, like John Belushi and John Candy before him, a fantastic comedic actor who died much too early. Thankfully he left behind some incredibly funny films for us to enjoy, and for ur kids to enjoy as well. His work on ‘Saturday Night Live‘ yielded some of the most memorable sketches in the history of that show, characters such as “Matt Foley” (who lives in a van down by the river) and the Chippendale’s tryouts with Patrick Swayze. And, of course, “Da Bears” sketches along with Mike Myers and George Wendt. But his cinematic masterpiece, the film that he shined above all else was his first theatrical outing with pal David Spade in 1995′s ‘Tommy Boy‘ directed by Peter Segal (Anger Management, 50 First Dates).
‘Tommy Boy‘ is ridiculous fun, the kind of fun that you aren’t ashamed to like even if it is juvenile and immature. But you don’t watch a Chris Farley film for Academy Award material, you watch it to laugh. And laughs come fast and furious in this tale of a man who inherits his father’s brake pads business, Callahan Auto Parts, and hits the road with his father’s right-hand man to try and save the company from shutting down, eliminating the entire town’s workforce and cutting off jobs for hundreds of families.
“Tommy” (Chris Farley) and “Richard” (David Spade) hit the road to try cold-calling sales to brake pad and muffler businesses across the country to try and salvage what’s left of the company after “Big Tom Callahan” (Brian Dennehy) dies on his wedding day to “Beverly” (played by Bo Derek). ”Beverly” apparently has a son, “Paul” (Rob Lowe) who is the new step-brother of “Tommy” and doesn’t really appreciate his new family. If “Tommy” and “Richard” don’t make enough sales in time, “Zalinsky” the auto-parts king (Dan Aykroyd) will buy out Callahan Auto Parts and shut down the production line.
So, ultimately, this is a road trip movie complete with humor at every turn. Farley and Spade play off each other like a modern day ‘Odd Couple‘ and many scenes are reminiscent of ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles‘ with the two men fighting and disagreeing about just about everything, but with the same goal in mind. Slapstick humor mixes well with deadpan, dry wit as these two bumbling salesmen make their way across the country unable to avoid every single distraction and hinderance along the way.
Some memorable sound quotes from 1995′s ‘Tommy Boy‘ include the following unforgettable moments:
Image of Fat Guy in a little coat
Image of Brothers Don’t Shake Hands
Image of Did You Eat a Lot of Paint Chips as a Kid?
Image of Ugh! I Can Actually Hear You Getting Fatter
I love this movie, as do thousands of other fans around the world. I have gladly “double-dipped” the DVD purchase and now that it’s on Blu-ray this movie has never looked or sounded so good. People often times confuse this film with the other Spade/Farley flick that came out a year later, 1996′s ‘Black Sheep‘. Both films are funny, but ‘Tommy Boy‘ edges out everything else that these two have produced, whether together or separate. You owe it to yourself to purchase it, it’s definitely a keeper.
Pop Quiz, Hotshot: Did you know that in the film, Chris Farley‘s character “Tommy” graduates (after 7 years) from Marquette University, Farley‘s real life alma mater? It’s true, also in the film have you ever wondered why David Spade‘s hair is always messed up? He refused to let the film’s hair stylist touch his head.
Check out our hilarious audio clips in our Tommy Boy Sound Quote Collection page, they are all available to share in your own blog, Twitter, Facebook or Google+ if you want. Just click on the “embed” button on the audio player and you have the option of playing a sound with a visual screen shot of the actual scene it is from, like this:
