Who’s Harry Crumb? (1989)
Who’s Harry Crumb? is a ridiculous slapstick comedy in the vein of the later Pink Panther films, where most of the laughs come from how sophomoric the makers of the film are willing to go to embarrass the protagonist. After a career mostly playing comic relief side characters or sharing the bill with other performers, John Candy gets to show what he can do with a film that allows him to cut loose with his many comedic talents. Crumb marks his first headliner since Going Berserk, when Candy was mostly a nobody outside of Canada. Unfortunately, he is likable and talented, but it’s not enough. Uncle Buck, released later the same year, would be the one to break him through.
Candy plays Harry Crumb, the bumbling son who never quite lived up to the reputation of his sleuthing father and grandfather in his family’s long-standing detective agency. Instead of running the company, he is relegated to being a lowly trainee as their Tulsa office. Ineptitude is just what the CEO of the company, Eliot Draisen, in Los Angeles wants from an investigator for reasons of his own. Draisen flies out Crumb to Los Angeles to crack the case involving the kidnapping and ransom of Jennifer Downing, the beautiful heiress daughter of P.D. Downing (Corbin) and his philandering new wife Helen (Potts). Crumb begins to use his penchant for disguises to get to the bottom of things.
Directed by Paul Flaherty, who worked on “SCTV” with Candy for many years as a writer for that skit comedy show, along with his brother Joe, one of the leading players of that cult show who makes a small appearance in Who’s Harry Crumb?. The direction in this film, in general, is as clumsy and awkward as its main character. The editing of the set-pieces makes it hard to tell just what’s going on from moment to moment.
The biggest draw, of course, is John Candy himself. Candy felt that Who’s Harry Crumb? would be the turning point in his movie career. Up until then, he had little creative input on the films he made and parts he would play within them. Not only would Candy serve as Executive Producer, but Candy’s friend, Arnon Milchan, would also produce the film. Milchan had made many excellent films up to that point, including The King of Comedy, Once Upon a Time in America and Brazil. He worked with Candy to ensure that the entire film would conform to John Candy’s talents, which included lots of physical humor and off-the-wall characters for him to play. Also, he would feel comfortable by working with other talented entertainers he knew and trusted from his “SCTV” days.
Candy gets to utilize many of his comedic skills to try to bring the comedy to life. Plenty of physical comedy is on display, some quite funny, such as when klutzy Crumb gets his tie caught into an industrial shredder, and he tries desperately to get out before anyone sees him. Candy gets to don a variety of disguises and accents, though, like many comedies of the 1980s, some are viewed today as examples of the cultural and ethnic insensitivity of Hollywood’s yesteryear. While Candy’s sweet-natured humanity comes out underneath, the character as written is decidedly one-dimensional, forcing the big guy to mug desperately for each forced laugh.
Some of the jokes and plot points make little sense. For instance, we learn early on that Draisen is the one responsible for the ransom request, hoping to use the collected money to lure the gold-digging Helen to his amorous schemes. Still, he is also shown to have a priceless 90-million-year-old pterodactyl egg in his possession that he keeps on his desk in such a way that Crumb nearly breaks it several times (before he does). If he sold that egg that was bound to break, none of what occurs would happen. Another sequence involves an air duct that happens to be big enough for someone the size of John Candy to crawl around in, with air conditioning powerful enough to shoot someone the size of John Candy through and out of the building.
An excellent supporting cast surrounds Candy, all appealing in their respective roles. The problem comes from the script from Robert Conte and Peter Martin Wortmann. Annie Potts gives the part of the scheming, gold-digger wife her sexpot all. Known more today for her recurring role in the Saw franchise, Shawnee Smith doesn’t get to do much comedically as Jennifer Downing’s sister Nikki but does make for a fun sidekick for all of Candy’s shenanigans. Laugh out loud moments can be had, but they do require sitting through quite a bit of mediocre attempts to get to them.
The music is a little dated and cheesy, and smooth jazz sounds on the funkier side by French composer Michel Columbier. Crumb makes better use of its soundtrack of already established hits, like James Brown’s “I Got You” to create the funky good time, and the fast-paced “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler for a chase scene. There is one original song by The Temptations that ends the film called, “Big Fun (Harry Crumb)” that isn’t half bad, so long as you don’t expect peak Motown.
By the end of the film, you sense they thought this could be a franchise. Still, the film was not much of a hit in 1989, debuting at #5 in a struggle to find oxygen with other comedies like Three Fugitives and Her Alibi, plus the continued runs of Twins and The Naked Gun in theaters, raking in under $11 million for its entire theatrical run. Candy himself was frustrated by Tri-Star Pictures’ marketing push, primarily because he had given them his marketing ideas (including a variety of giant billboard advertisements) that they declined and to see how poorly theirs did only rubbed salt in the wound. They didn’t have enough faith in the picture to promote it any more than they had to. I’m uncertain of the budget; perhaps shooting in Vancouver saved the film enough in taxes that they didn’t take a bath, though they did have to pay for palm trees to be imported to give the town at least the semblance of a Southern California vibe. Reportedly, it was one of the rainiest periods in Vancouver in many, many years, attempting to emulate the sunny California weather even more trying.
The appeal of Who’s Harry Crumb? will mostly be limited to just die-hard fans of John Candy, and perhaps to some smaller draw to those who snicker at really dumb slapstick. Otherwise, it feels too familiar after several better films starring the likes of Inspector Clouseau and a funnier interpretation of the formula in 1985 starring Chevy Chase as Fletch. Candy is a much better comedian and actor than this film would suggest, though it continues to showcase that he is good at playing zany characters as he would so often do on “SCTV.” The Naked Gun did most of this in a much better and funnier fashion just a year prior.
Qwipster’s grade: D+
MPAA Rated: PG-13 for crude humor, sexual content, and brief language
Running time: 94 min.
Cast: John Candy, Annie Potts, Jeffrey Jones, Shawnee Smith, Tim Thomerson, Barry Corbin, Valri Bromfield, Doug Steckler, Renee Coleman, Wesley Mann
Small roles: Joe Flaherty, Jim Belushi, Lyle Alzado
Director: Paul Flaherty
Screenplay: Robert Conte, Peter Wortmann