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Press Release for the movie "Who's Harry Crumb ?" (1989)
Harry Crumb, private investigator, modestly considers himself an expert sleuth.
With nerves of steel, body of iron and brain of stone, he fearlessly stares
trouble in the face. Trouble is, he has no idea what he's looking at. Somehow,
Harry always manages to bungle and bamboozle his way towards the solution of
every crime. After all, he is a Crumb.
"Part of Harry Crumb's charm is that he believes so deeply in himself," notes
WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? screenwriter Peter Martin Wortmann. "Although Harry never
gets anything right, he never knows it so his self-image remains intact. All of
the comedy in this film comes out of the fact that the audience knows what's
going on and Harry Crumb doesn't."
Wortmann co-wrote WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? with his longtime collaborator Robert
Conte. The two hoped to create a contemporary American mystery-comedy, which
eventually became WHO'S HARRY CRUMB?
Harry Crumb is the last Crumb in a long line of distinguished Crumb
investigators. First there was Augustus Crumb, then Lionel Crumb. But, as Harry
will tell you, he is his own Crumb. The famous detective has been summoned to
the "Home Office" to apprehend some wily kidnappers who've abducted
multi-millionaire P.J. Downing's beautiful daughter. The case will require all
of his keen skills of deduction -- his photographic memory, his knowledge of
high-tech surveillance and his special talent, the mastery of disguise.
Chameleon-like, Harry easily camouflages himself to suit each dangerous
situation -- no small accomplishment, given Harry's considerable presence. That
Rastafarian repairman with the lilting Patois accent saving your television may
be Harry Crumb, installing one of his sophisticated spy devices. That Hungarian
hairdresser with the flamboyant attitude could be Harry Crumb, gleaning
essential information from a witness. That window washer with the Don King
hairdo, careening back and forth on that scaffold outside the window? Harry
Crumb, surreptitiously on the trail. Crumb is a formidable adversary who leaves
no stone unturned. However, he often leaves a trail of broken debris.
His suspects regard Crumb as bumbling. It's true, his methods are a tad
unorthodox... there was that little incident when he crashed through the
skylight at the Yacht Club while spying on his suspects. Luckily, his catlike
reflexes enabled him to land on that ceiling fan -- nasty business, spinning
like a top above the crowd. Naturally, no one noticed. He was, of course
incognito. He still hasn't quite figured out how his intrepid efforts got him
sucked into that damn air vent. The fearless Crumb will stop at nothing to nab
the devious criminal.
And this kidnapping case is full of them. Conniving Helen Downing, a sly, gold
digging bombshell, who's obviously married P.J. Downing for his multi-millions.
She's having a torrid affair with Vince Barnes, the local tennis pro with biceps
and a tan and a lust for Helen and her husband's fortune. (Not necessarily in
that order. ) And that smarmy Eliot Draisen, who's brought Harry in to uncover
the kidnapping. Or so he says. He's so smug. But, he underestimates his
colleague Crumb. Might have something to do with Harry's unfortunate habit of
destroying Elliot's office every time he approaches it.
This trio is trouble and Crumb knows it. Even if he doesn't know he does.
Crumb's on the prowl and rest assured, he'll solve this kidnapping. In spite of
himself.
Tri-Star Pictures and NBC Productions present an Arnon Milchan/Frostbacks
Production, A Paul Flaherty Film. John Candy stars in WHO'S HARRY CRUMB?, also
starring Jeffrey Jones, Annie Potts, Tim Thomerson, Barry Corbin and Shawnee
Smith. Music is by Michel Colombier and Danford B. Greene is the editor. Trevor
Williams is the production designer and Stephen M. Katz is the director of
photography. John Candy serves as executive producer and George W. Perkins is
co-producer. Written by Robert Conte and Peter Martin Wortmann, it is produced
by Arnon Milchan and directed by Paul Flaherty.
Impressed by screenwriters Conte's and Wortmann's quick wit and colorful writing
style, director Paul Flaherty, who recently directed the successful comedy "18
Again," was immediately drawn to the project.
"I had about 20 scripts to read but none of them made me laugh out loud the way
this one did. It was the kind of thing that just jumps right off the page at
you," recalls Flaherty. Flaherty had the perfect Crumb in mind -- his old friend
John Candy, whom he's worked with for several years on the famed "SCTV" comedy
show in Canada.
"I thought the script was inherently funny," Candy notes. "The situations were
all very clever and bright. The whole spirit of this picture is wonderful." The
opportunity to work with Flaherty again also intrigued Candy.
Candy also serves as executive producer for the film, a new challenge for the
actor. As such, he assumed an active role in most aspects of the production,
including script development, music score and casting.
Casting the role of Eliot Draisen, Crumb's sleazy boss who thinks he's duped him
into handling the kidnapping case to serve his own greedy ends was pivotal.
Draisen and Crumb play off each other in several scenes and the role required a
subtle foil to Crumb's often grandiose repartee. They found their man in veteran
comedic actor Jeffrey Jones. Flaherty says that Jones was cast because he added
a positive image to a negative role.
Jones notes: "On the surface, Eliot is a businessman -. a straight-ahead kind of
guy who dresses in suits and collects paleontological objects. He seems to be a
cultured individual running a successful detective agency. In actuality, the man
is mad!"
Draisen also happens to be obsessively in love with his client's nymphomaniac
wife.
"Everything Eliot does is motivated by his insane desire to have Helen Downing
-- one woman in the world who is absolutely, proof-bound not interested in him."
Annie Potts plays Helen Downing, the deliciously avaricious bombshell plotting
to kill her millionaire husband with her lover the insipid Vince Barnes, local
tennis pro. The role is a decided change for Potts, who can be seen as the
wholesome Mary Jo on the popular sitcom "Designing Women."
"Helen is a real shark. She's cold-blooded and does not operate on a moral code
like most sensible people. She's greedy and the only thing she cares about is
money and there's nothing she won't do to get it," Potts remarks.
Potts, who's played everything from a whiny secretary in "Ghostbusters" to a
punked out record-shop manager in "Pretty In Pink," admits she didn't think
she'd get the part of Helen.
"I thought getting this part was pretty much of a long-shot. I don't think the
general consensus of me is the profile of a nymphomaniac murderess. I liked it
because it was quite different from anything I've ever played."
Crumb's only true ally in the Downing household is Nikki Downing, the kidnapped
Jennifer's sister. A feisty, good-hearted teenager living in the shadow of her
beautiful sister, Nikki is played by Shawnee Smith, who recently starred in "The
Blob" for Tri-Star. independent yet sensitive, Nikki finds Crumb quirky but
endearing and she becomes his sidekick and guide.
The film also features stand-up comedian Tim Thomerson as Vince, a burned out
tennis pro caught in a torrid love affair with Helen and the instrument of her
murderous schemes. Admired character actor Barry Corbin plays Helen's betrayed
husband.
The filming of WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? was made both challenging and unpredictable by
the multitude of sight gags incorporated into Harry's adventures.
"It seems like every day we were destroying something. Somebody was falling off
a chair or going through a wall," recounts director Flaherty, who readily
concedes there are special difficulties to filming physical comedy. "You have
performance levels to worry about as well as the physical side."
Special effects team Dewey Gene Grigg and Michael Clifford wrangled the wide
scope of effects in WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? -- everything from self-propelled
bicycles crashing through walls to ceiling fans propelling human beings.
"When most people think of special effects, they think of explosions and blood
and things burning down. We're so serious in effects that we're not used to
being silly," says Clifford. This light-hearted atmosphere was due, in part, to
John Candy.
"In the beginning, John told us that this is a comedy and he saw no reason why
it couldn't be as pleasant and funny off camera as it is on," Clifford says.
"John is also very game -- we sent a lot of sparks around him, jerked his tie
into a paper shredder and sent him through a skylight, to name a few."
Obviously, on WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? the stunts and special effects were integrally
linked. Stunt coordinator Bill Ferguson worked closely with Candy to assure that
the stunts not only looked good but were safe.
The most complicated stunt-effect sequence involved Harry Crumb falling through
a restaurant skylight onto a ceiling fan.
"The idea of a grown man riding a ceiling fan is pretty outrageous, I think when
you see it on film it will be so funny because of John. I don't think the
audience will realize what it took to get him up there; what makes the fan turn
and why it doesn't fall down," says Clifford.
"On paper you're laughing and then you realize you have to go up and do it,"
Candy notes. For that specific stunt, Candy was suspended high above a platform
that was specifically designed to shoot his close-ups.
Equally important to the Crumb persona is his elaborate disguises, which
required the magic of make-up artist Ben Nye, Jr. and hair stylist Dionne
Taylor. Some of the flamboyant disguises required five or six hour make-up
sessions. Nye and Taylor are veteran Candy experts. In "Planes, Trains and
Automobiles," they gave Candy a hair permanent and mustache. In "Spaceballs,"
they transformed Candy into a dog named Barf and in "Armed and Dangerous," they
cloned him as Divine.
WHO'S HARRY CRUMB? was shot primarily on location in Vancouver, which "acted" as
Los Angeles. The primary set, the swank offices of Crumb & Crumb, was created in
a newly constructed, unleased office building in downtown Vancouver. Portable
palm trees accompanied the production to most of its outdoor locations, to
simulate Los Angeles boulevards. The Vancouver weather definitely did not
parallel Los Angeles' -- during production, Vancouver suffered its rainiest
spring in a century.
"The weather even affected our two-week interior shoot," recalls director of
photography Stephen Katz. "We needed to see the downtown skyline out of Harry's
window, so we spent hours balancing the inside and outside light. Every time a
cloud came by, it messed up the whole lighting set up." The intrepid DP solved
the problem by stationing a crew member on the roof of the set with a walkie
talkie to alert Katz of approaching cloud breaks.
The production utilized five different locations to create the Downing estate,
including Vancouver's elegant Hycroft mansion (currently the University of
British Columbia's Women's Club).
With the cooperation of the Canadian government and Air Force, the filmmakers
also shot a challenging special effects sequence at the Vancouver International
Airport. Two months of planning and preparation went into securing this
sensitive location, which, for security reasons has been off limits to film
productions. The sequence was a success and soon after the production headed
home to California for additional location shooting.
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