1990.102 minutes. Rated PG.
The Freshman / ©TriStar Pictures
Directed by Andrew Bergman
Shown from left: Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick
“Mein Herz schwebt in Blut! That means ‘My Heart Swims In Blood.”
It’s a tale as old as time; small-town innocent moves to the big city and gets mixed up in unsavory activities, questionable characters, and hi-jinks ensue. But the song as old as rhyme? Well, That’s Amore! In the 1990 film The Freshman, we get a veritable smorgasbord of pompadours, mafiosos, a comical New York University film school professor, a misguided wicked stepfather, and endangered species being transported, cooked, plated and served to well-paying guests at a secret gourmet club for discerning foodies.
THE FRESHMAN, Matthew Broderick, 1990. ©TriStar Pictures
For me, there are few roles I will forever remember Matthew Broderick in, and they are NOT Godzilla or the remake of The Stepford Wives. But for the purpose of this review, one of them is Clark Kellogg, the naive Vermont native who, within 19 minutes of his arrival in New York City to attend film school, is robbed of all of his belongings by mustachioed hustler Victor Ray (Bruno Kirby), who convinces Clark to drive him to his destination and then takes off with all his stuff. Hey, lesson learned.
©TriStar Pictures
Clark is the quintessential innocent, from what we know of him he lived a quiet life in Vermont with his mother Liz Armstrong (Pamela Payton-Wright) and stepfather, Dwight Armstrong (Kenneth Welsh), who is formal and cold towards him, even forcing Clark to go hunting with him, but not the kind of hunting one might expect. His father is a stanch environmental activist, going so far as to shoot at hunters to scare them off of hunting. Needless to say, Clark is more than ready to get out and start again in New York City.
So the recently-robbed Clark visits with his adviser and film professor, the dickish Arthur Fleeber (Paul Benedict), who tells him that although it’s a shame he lost his things, he still needs cash to cover his very expensive books, which also happen to be written by the one and only Professor Fleeber. As luck would have it, young Kellogg spots the thief Victor from the window and excuses himself, opens the office window, and jumps out to chase down the man in the hopes of retrieving his belongings. This doesn’t work out so well, but he does get a job offer, one that will more than make up for the stuff he lost.
Clark is told to meet Victor at an Italian-American Social Club in the heart of the city and it is there that he meets a man who is the spitting image of The Godfather, a mister Carmine Sabatini (Marlon Brando), a.k.a. Jimmy the Toucan. Sabatini gives Clark his first real taste of (albeit heavily sugared) espresso, cracks a few walnuts in his hand, and makes Clark an offer he can’t refuse. The gig: borrow a car to make at least two trips a week for $500 a trip, and the transactions he will be a part of are entirely above board, as Sabatini is merely an importer of fine goods, nothing more. Hard up for moolah, Clark agrees, and Sabatini takes an immediate liking to the boy, inviting him over to his place that evening to pick up the car keys for his first trip. And what a trip it is.
©TriStar Pictures
Clark arrives to get the keys at Sabatini’s lavish home and meets Tina Sabatini (Penelope Ann Miller), Carmine’s beautiful and very forward daughter. They chit-chat, she shows off the ‘actual’ painting of the Mona Lisa in the living room (the ‘copy’ hangs in the Louvre for tourists to take pictures of), and with the push of a button strains of “Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa” play from speakers built into the wall on either side of the painting, and the two dance. Tina hints that the package he must retrieve will take two people so he should bring a friend. Soon afterward Clark, keys in hand, says his goodbye, and heads out with classmate Steve Bushak (Frank Whaley) to do the job they are being paid to do.
So just what IS this job? Well, I can’t get too deep into spoiler territory, but it involves Sabatini’s importing business. The pair of film school students have to pick up something from the airport and bring it back to Larry London (Maximilian Schell) and his assistant Edward (BD Wong), who work for the London-Sabatini joint venture, the Fabulous Gourmet Club. But there are some other folks who want to cause some trouble for the Club and what they serve, and see Clark as a way to get to Sabatini.
©TriStar Pictures
Poor Clark is taken aside by two thuggish guys, Chuck Greenwald (Jon Polito) and Lloyd Simpson (Richard Gant), who claim to work for the Department of Justice: Division of Fish and Wildlife. They are teaming up with Dwight, the stepfather who can’t seem to leave well enough alone, to try and bring down the Gourmet Club. But Clark already has enough on his plate: not only is his film school professor breathing down his neck, he somehow finds himself engaged to Sabatini’s daughter, so there’s that. With a nod to environmental overtones, the trials and tribulations of being a newbie in the city that never sleeps, and a huge send-up of Mob movies and tropes (especially with a Godfather doppelganger!), this movie is certainly a worthy vehicle for the likes of Matthew Broderick. Let’s just hope it doesn’t go to his head.
Watch-Alike(s): My Blue Heaven (1990) dir. by Herbert Ross
My Cousin Vinny (1992) dir. Jonathan Lynn
