Clifford
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul Flaherty
Written byJay Dee Rock
"Bobby Von Hayes" (alias of Steven Kampmann)
Produced byLarry Brezner
Pieter Jan Brugge
Starring
CinematographyJohn A. Alonzo
Edited byTim Board
Pembroke J. Herring
Music byRichard Gibbs
Production
companies
Morra, Brezner, Steinberg and Tenenbaum Entertainment
Distributed byOrion Pictures
Release date
  • April 1, 1994 (1994-04-01)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$7.4 million[1]

Clifford is a 1994 American slapstick black comedy film directed by Paul Flaherty, written by Jay Dee Rock and Steven Kampmann (under the alias of "Bobby Von Hayes"), and starring Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, and Dabney Coleman with supporting roles by G.D. Spradlin, Anne Jeffreys, Richard Kind, and Jennifer Savidge. It tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who stays with his uncle while his parents are on a business trip in Honolulu.

Clifford was filmed in 1990 and originally planned for release in the summer of 1991, but was shelved for several years due to Orion Pictures' bleak financial situation. The film was not released until 1994, and was a critical and commercial failure.

Plot

At a Catholic school in 2050, elderly priest Father Clifford Daniels catches a boy named Roger running away after blowing up the gym because he was not allowed on a basketball team. The priest tells the boy a story of his own youth; as a 10-year-old in the 1990s, Clifford is an obnoxious and whiny boy who never lets go of a toy dinosaur named Steffen and wants to visit Dinosaur World, a theme park in Los Angeles. While flying with his parents to Honolulu on his father Julian's business trip, Clifford intentionally causes the pilot to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles.

Father Clifford takes this moment to tell Roger about his father's brother, Martin, a famous architect who is working for Gerald Ellis. Martin wants to marry his co-worker Sarah Davis, though Sarah wants to have kids with him. Because Clifford is now banned from the flight, Julian phones Martin to have Clifford temporarily stay with him in Los Angeles. Martin thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to prove to Sarah how well he interacts with children and is unaware of Clifford's antics. Upon their reunion, Martin reveals to Clifford that he designed Larry the Scary Rex, a Dinosaur World attraction, and can get into the park free of charge. Martin promises to take him there but has to break it the next day, as Ellis wants Martin to redesign his plans for the city's public transit system in two days. At a gas station, Clifford attempts to sneak away by posing as someone else's son in a dinosaur costume, but Martin catches him.

Enraged, Clifford humiliates him during Sarah's parents' wedding anniversary with several pranks. Martin is arrested after Clifford calls in a fake bomb threat to city hall, made from mixing audio of Martin on an answering machine. Released on bail, Martin scolds him, insisting that he write a confession to the police. Clifford later tricks Martin into catching a train to San Francisco, where Sarah has traveled on the request of Ellis attempting to seduce her. Back at Martin's home, Clifford throws a party for strangers in exchange for a trip to Dinosaur World. When Martin returns home, he boards an already tied-up Clifford up in his room; Sarah later frees him and takes him with her. As Martin arrives late to Ellis's presentation of the new transit system, the city model, rigged by Clifford, explodes, costing Martin his job.

A now psychotic Martin kidnaps Clifford from Sarah's house and takes him to Dinosaur World after closing hours, and makes him ride Larry the Scary Rex. After going through it once, Clifford seems to enjoy himself, so Martin increases the ride's speed repeatedly. When set to hyper speed, the ride malfunctions and Clifford's cart crashes, leaving him dangling above the jaws of a robotic dinosaur. Martin rants about what Clifford's antics has cost him, but he eventually risks his life and rescues him. He apologizes, but Martin will not hear it, and calls him a force of destruction that eventually everyone gets to hate.

Father Clifford tells Roger how he was devastated to hear those words, and how it forced him to see the error of his ways ("If you destroy everyone who stands in the way of your dreams, then you'll end up alone, with no dreams left."). He had sent 287 apology letters to Martin, which were returned unopened. When Roger asks about what happened to Sarah, Clifford reveals that she and Martin were married, and he was invited as the ring bearer. Through a gesture from Sarah, Martin finally forgives Clifford and gives him a kiss on the head. Moved by the tale, Roger decides to write 287 letters asking for forgiveness. Father Clifford takes Steffen out of his pocket, saying "Mission accomplished, old friend."

Cast

  • Martin Short as Clifford Daniels, a mischievous 10-year-old boy who later becomes a priest in 2050.
  • Charles Grodin as Martin Daniels, an architect and Clifford's uncle who watches Clifford while his parents are in Honolulu.
  • Mary Steenburgen as Sarah Davis Daniels, a daycare center worker and Martin's co-worker/fiancée who later becomes Clifford's aunt.
  • Dabney Coleman as Gerald Ellis, Martin and Sarah's boss who wears a toupee.
  • G.D. Spradlin as Parker Davis, the father of Sarah who would later become Clifford's great-uncle.
  • Anne Jeffreys as Annabelle Davis, the mother of Sarah who would later become Clifford's great-aunt.
  • Richard Kind as Dr. Julian Daniels, Clifford's short-tempered and workaholic father who is estranged from his brother Martin.
  • Jennifer Savidge as Theodora Daniels, Clifford's loving but workaholic mother.
  • Ben Savage as Roger, a boy from 2050 who Father Clifford recounts his childhood to.
  • Don Galloway as Captain
  • Tim Lane as Navigator
  • Josh Seal and Kevin Mockrin as Kevin
  • Timothy Stack as Kevin's father
  • Marianne Muellerleile as Kevin's mother
  • Richard Fancy and Al Pugilese as the detectives who arrested Martin
  • Barry Dennen as the voice of Terry the Pterodactyl, an animatronic Pterodactyl on the Larry the Scary Rex ride.

Production

Co-writer Steven Kampmann had the idea of doing a comedy version of The Bad Seed (1956). The film was greenlit by Orion Pictures, but producer Larry Brezner was concerned that there was another comedy about an evil child coming out, Problem Child, and put a halt to production. To distinguish Clifford, Kampmann suggested the child lead be played by Martin Short, who was a fan of The Bad Seed. Kampmann and Short filmed screen tests with Short as Clifford, and Orion liked the footage. Kampmann was hired as director, but disagreements emerged between him and other members of the creative team, and Orion brought in Paul Flaherty to replace him.[2]

Though shot in 1990, Clifford's release was delayed by the bankruptcy of Orion Pictures. The film was not released until April 1994, a year in which the highest-grossing comedies were The Mask and Dumb and Dumber, and enthusiasm for marketing it was low.[2]

Critical reception

It's not bad in any usual way. It's bad in a new way all its own. There is something extraterrestrial about it, as if it's based on the sense of humor of an alien race with a completely different relationship to the physical universe.

—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times[3]

The film was critically panned. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 13% approval rating based on 31 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ill-conceived and desperately unfunny, Clifford stars Martin Short as a 10-year-old boy. You read that correctly. That's the joke."[4]

Roger Ebert gave the film a half-star of a possible four. He wrote: "The movie is so odd, it's almost worth seeing just because we'll never see anything like it again. I hope."[3] He and his colleague Gene Siskel gave Clifford "Two thumbs down" on their television show At the Movies, with particular criticism towards Martin Short's casting; Siskel likened him to "a wizened little dwarf".[5] Desson Thomson for The Washington Post praised Grodin but said everything else was "an awful piece of business"; Variety called it "gimmicky" and "poorly conceived".[6][7]

Despite this broader negative reception, Clifford has since gained a reputation as a cult film.[8][9] Martin Short later said, "I remember going to a critics' screening, sitting at the back, and the place was raucous. And yet the reviews did not reflect that. ... I think when a film is obscure enough, you feel it's now yours. Your parents don't know this film, but you do."[2]

Year-end lists

References

  1. ↑ "Clifford". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  2. 1 2 3 Turbovsky, Rob (2021-07-26). "'Look at Me Like a Human Boy!'". Vulture. Vox Media. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
  3. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (April 1, 1994). "Clifford". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 2022-05-21.
  4. ↑ Clifford at Rotten Tomatoes
  5. ↑ "Red Rock West, Clifford, Threesome, Silent Tongue, the Blue Kite, 1994". Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews. Archived from the original on 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  6. ↑ Howe, Desson (April 1, 1994). "Clifford". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
  7. ↑ Lowry, Brian (1994-03-31). "Clifford". Variety. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
  8. ↑ Rabin, Nathan. "You Know, For The Kids? Case File #20: Clifford". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
  9. ↑ "'Clifford' for Josh Wolk's Pop Culture Club: All hail the Martin Short classic. You heard me: classic!". EW.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
  10. ↑ Means, Sean P. (January 1, 1995). "'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same". The Salt Lake Tribune (Final ed.). p. E1.
  11. ↑ Pickle, Betsy (December 30, 1994). "Searching for the Top 10... Whenever They May Be". Knoxville News Sentinel. p. 3.
  12. ↑ Elliott, David (December 25, 1994). "On the big screen, color it a satisfying time". The San Diego Union-Tribune (1, 2 ed.). p. E=8.
  13. ↑ Lovell, Glenn (December 25, 1994). "The Past Picture Show the Good, the Bad and the Ugly -- a Year Worth's of Movie Memories". San Jose Mercury News (Morning Final ed.). p. 3.
  14. ↑ Ross, Bob (December 30, 1994). "Versed in the worst". The Tampa Tribune (Final ed.). p. 18.
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