DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS (1986)

Cast

Plot

Jean Renoir's humanist parable 'Boudu Saved From Drowning' gets the Hollywood treatment in this brash eighties update. It should be a disaster, but somehow it isn't. The enthusiasm of the cast and the pace of the script leaves little room for subtlety, but like a friendly dog, it licks you into submission with its good intentions and affability. Dreyfuss's whining yuppie is nicely counterbalanced by that trademark Nolte 'gruff calm'. Highly watchable and warm-glow inducing.