Quick Change (1990)
March 12, 2025 11:02 AM - Subscribe
Bill Murray's only directing credit is this 1990 heist comedy, starring him and Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, and Jason Robards. (Justwatch.) Starts with Murray's character robbing a mid-Manhattan bank while dressed as a clown. Turns into a chase .... sort of. Also features Reg E. Cathey, Phil Hartman, Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, and Kurtwood Smith, plus some grimy on-location bits of late-1980s New York City, a monster truck, a comparison of rental prices, and an assiduous city bus driver. Co-directed by Howard Franklin, who also wrote the screenplay (adapting it from a book).
I rewatch this often. So many perfect scenes.
The bike joust.
Flores por los mortos
What kind of clown are you?
The crying on the inside kind I guess.
posted by funkaspuck at 3:22 PM on March 12 [3 favorites]
The bike joust.
Flores por los mortos
What kind of clown are you?
The crying on the inside kind I guess.
posted by funkaspuck at 3:22 PM on March 12 [3 favorites]
For some reason I always remember Tony Shalhoub (in one of his first movie roles!) making the "Honk! Honk!" noises when trying to tell people about the bus.
posted by Pedantzilla at 12:39 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
posted by Pedantzilla at 12:39 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
i can remember somewhere between 5 and 10 years ago, doing a happy dance when I was checking out at Menards, a great plains big-box hardware chain, and seeing this dvd in the checkout dumpbox of straight to video bad kids' movies and old TV shows nobody watched when they were new. And this was after it was starting to gain traction in reputation. I've never seen a physical copy since. But I have it.
posted by jkosmicki at 12:50 PM on March 13 [5 favorites]
posted by jkosmicki at 12:50 PM on March 13 [5 favorites]
I think that this is really two movies: a short one about someone's perfect plan for robbing a bank and getting away with it, and a longer one about what a hassle it is just to get out of NYC, which I can relate to having lived there briefly. (A few years after this came out, I was moving out of Brooklyn, and carefully researched the route that I would take for the quickest and easiest way out of the city... and still managed to miss a turn and ended up driving halfway through Brooklyn before I figured out how to get to the bridge.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:12 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:12 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
Thanks for posting this! I saw this only one time - when it first played in theaters. I guess I was 19. I only remember Bill Murray dressed as a clown, some kind of criminal caper, and the fact that I really loved it. Will be watching it again this weekend.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:39 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]
posted by SoberHighland at 6:39 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]
Bad luck just seeing a thing like that.
posted by whuppy at 8:27 AM on March 15 [1 favorite]
posted by whuppy at 8:27 AM on March 15 [1 favorite]
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posted by gwint at 12:05 PM on March 12 [3 favorites]