Who's Harry Crumb?
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul Flaherty
Written byRobert Conte
Peter Martin Wortmann
Produced byArnon Milchan
Starring
CinematographyStephen M. Katz
Edited byDanford B. Greene
Music byMichel Colombier[1]
Production
companies
Frostbacks
NBC Productions
Distributed byTri-Star Pictures
Release date
  • February 3, 1989 (1989-02-03)
Running time
90 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$10,982,000

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.

Plot

In Beverly Hills, fashion model Jennifer Downing is kidnapped. Her father, the multimillionaire P.J. Downing turns to family friend Eliot Draisen—president of the Crumb & Crumb private detective agency—to investigate the case, unaware he is the kidnapper. Eliot offers them the aid of Harry Crumb, the last descendant of the agency's distinguished founders. A bumbling, clumsy, but dedicated detective with a penchant for disguises, Harry is recalled from the Tulsa, Oklahoma branch where he was assigned ten years earlier to keep him away from the head office. Eliot believes Harry will be completely ineffective in solving the case.

Harry meets with 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 infiltrates the salon where Jennifer was kidnapped and learns she was there using Helen's regular appointment. P.J. receives a $10 million ransom demand to spare Jennifer's life. Meanwhile, Eliot meets with Helen, confessing he is has been in love with her since they went to school together. Helen rebuffs him, admitting she only cares about money and would only be with Eliot if he possessed vast wealth.

Convinced that Helen and Vince are the kidnappers, Harry begins working with Nikki to investigate them. Concerned that P.J. will pay the ransom, Helen and Vince decide to implement their own long-planned effort to kill P.J. so she will inherit his money first. They sabotage the brakes on P.J.'s car but Harry and Nikki borrow it to covertly follow Helen and Vince. When the brakes fail, Harry unintentionally rams their car and they assume that he is chasing them, unaware that Harry's car is interlocked with their own; Helen and Vince escape after Harry crashes his car. Harry assumes they sabotaged the car to kill him and stop his investigation.

Harry infiltrates the vent system in Vince's apartment to spy on the pair, unaware that Vince has been lured away by Eliot so he can get Helen alone and use his knowledge of her affair to blackmail her for sex. Unable to see through the high vent, Harry captures the events with his camera and overhears film dialogue about traveling to Buenos Aires, which he believes is Vince and Helen discussing their escape plans. Eliot sends a new ransom demanding the money by Friday, which Helen intercepts and changes to the following Monday, giving her more time to kill P.J. Eliot has his accomplice Dwayne force Jennifer to call and re-confirm the ransom for Friday, to be exchanged at the horse racing track. Eliot takes the briefcase from Harry, ostensibly under instructions from the kidnapper, and leaves for the airport; Helen and Vince unsuccessfully try to follow him to steal the money.

At the airport, Eliot calls Helen, admits his role in the kidnapping, and asks her to come with him to Buenos Aires now he is rich, to which she readily agrees. Vince overhears the call and intercepts the pair, taking the money and causing Helen to rejoin him. The bind and gag Eliot, leaving him in a utility room, before boarding the plane. Harry and Nikki arrive, commandeering a stair truck to pursue the plane, their chaotic chase causing a luggage trolley to ram the building in which Dwayne is holding Jennifer, inadvertently electrocuting Dwayne to death. Nikki rams the stair car into the plane, allowing Harry to capture Helen and Vince; the pair are taken into police custody. With Jennifer saved, Harry and Nikki celebrate until he overhears Eliot trying to free himself. Assuming Harry has deduced his part in the kidnapping and frustrated at Harry's success, Eliot confesses and is arrested.

Harry is named the new president of Crumb & Crumb. P.J. thanks Harry for reconciling him with both his daughters. Harry is called about a new case—a murder at the Bottom's Up club in San Francisco.

Cast

Box office

Who's Harry Crumb? grossed $10,982,364 in North America.[4] The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 6, 1989, and failed to reach the Top 15.[5]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 27%, with an average rating of 4.03/10, based on eleven reviews.[6] In March 2018, Den of Geek included the film as one of "The Underrated Movies of 1989", commenting "In truth, Who's Harry Crumb? isn't necessarily vintage Candy either, but it's still a lot of fun, and gives him a title role that he clearly enjoyed."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S. (16 April 2015). The Encyclopedia of Film Composers. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-4422-4550-1.
  2. ↑ Staff writer (21 April 1989). "Who's Harry Crumb (Film)". British Board of Film Classification. Approved running time 89m 40s... This work was cut. To obtain this category cuts of 0m 1s were required.
  3. ↑ McLeod, Kembrew (February 2005). Freedom of Expression. Doubleday. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-385-51325-9 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ "Who's Harry Crumb? - Box Office Mojo".
  5. ↑ "UK Weekend Box Office 7th July 1989 - 8th July 1989". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "Who's Harry Crumb?". Rotten Tomatoes.
  7. ↑ Lambie, Ryan; Brew, Simon (23 March 2018). "The Underrated Movies of 1989". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing.
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