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The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
In writer/director Steve Kloves' directorial debut
film, about two struggling, Seattle-based piano-musicians with an
outdated act (playing together on matching grand pianos):
- the two "Fabulous Baker Boys": the two
brothers (in fiction and real-life) - younger, carefree, womanizing
piano lounge player Jack Baker (Jeff Bridges) and less-talented,
older, married Frank Baker (Beau Bridges), who were in a restroom
preparing for their two-person piano show at the Starfire Lounge
- after 15 years of playing together; Jack sprayed Frank's hair
with black, paint-like Crowning Glory's Miracle Hair to cover his
bald spot and conceal his age (Jack: "This is paint, Frank!" -
Frank: "No, it's a magical sheath that simulates a dazzling
head of hair")
- the sequence of their awful, painful auditions to
potentially hire a female vocalist for their act to enliven their
show - there were a total of 37 failed auditions, including Blanche "Monica" Moran
(Jennifer Tilly) singing "Candyman", and other Bad Singers
crooning "Up, Up and Away" and "Tiny Bubbles" -
and more
Failing Auditioner Blanche "Monica" Moran
("Candyman")
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Bad Singer
("Up, Up and Away")
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Bad Singer
("Tiny Bubbles")
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- the audition of the 38th vocalist who arrived an
hour and a half late - unrefined, gum-chewing, white-trashy, tough
girl, ex-hooker/escort Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer), an amateur
with no previous formal music training; she explained her entertainment
experience ("The last couple of years, I've been on call for
the Triple A Escort Service"); after meaningfully singing "More
Than You Know" - she asked: "So?"
- after Susie was hired, the montage of singing gigs
- all the while showing the singer's improvement with tremendous
stage presence and sex-appeal - unexpectedly entrancing audiences,
and resulting in an increase in bookings and gigs for the trio, but
then developing tensions that emerged in the group when Jack began
dating Susie - endangering the relationship between the two brothers
- the scene of Frank's upset that Jack was becoming
emotionally involved with Susie - and his warning before a show:
"Leave her alone. I mean it. Jack, this isn't a hatcheck girl
you can leave behind at the Sheraton. You've got two shows a night
with her!...I know trouble, and its name starts with an 'S'...You do
me a favor, little brother. Stick to cocktail waitresses"; later
after their show (during which they had lovingly called themselves "one
big happy family" on stage, an argument developed between the
two boys, and they insulted and threatened each other by tossing a
kiwi and pineapple at each other in their hotel room; watching from
an adjoining room, Susie noted: "It's the f--king Newlywed Game"
- the New Year's Eve show scene (in Frank's absence)
in which high-heeled, sensuous Susie Diamond, wearing a high-slit,
slinky red dress, sang "Makin' Whoopee"; she slithered
atop a slippery piano top (similar to Jessica Rabbit's sexy performance
of "Why Don't You Do Right?" in Who
Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)) as Jack accompanied her and the
camera executed a 360-degree circling around her
"Makin' Whoopee" Performance
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- the sex scene on New Year's Day (early morning)
after the entire hotel ballroom was emptied following their show,
and Jack and Susie were left alone - Jack's seduction of Susie
-- he massaged her shoulders, disattached her red dress straps,
and then unzipped the lower part of her dress, rubbed her back,
and kissed her neck; when the front of her dress fell down, he
grabbed her right breast (and the view of them faded when they
sank down and began to have sex on a table)
- the scene of an embarrassing, small-time telethon
(to raise money for a new Lahuga High School gymnasium), that Frank
had unfortunately signed them up to appear - for publicity; after
the duo was given an impressive but incorrect intro: ("Well
friends, we are very pleased to have with us two of the most respected
men in the musical entertainment field. The Fabulous Bunker Boys!
Come on out here guys. Hey, nice suits, fellas. Now, I know that
a lot of you amateur musicians out there are gonna wanna rap with
these guys, and don't worry, as soon as they're finished up here,
they're gonna be manning the phones. Well, all right. What are we
waitin' for? Take it away, guys!") - the two finally started
to perform at 3 am - but then were almost immediately interrupted
by the telethon host with an update on money totals ("Uh-oh,
you know what that means, don't we? It's time to turn that big board
over again. I'm afraid you guys will have to wait a few minutes")
- Jack attacked the MC and charged out of the studio
- outside, the two brothers vehemently argued with
each other - Jack was incensed that his brother hadn't checked everything
out, had 'kissed ass', had besmirched their dignity and turned them
into "clowns"; Frank defended himself as the responsible
and professional one --
"Don't you think I'd like to walk up to one of these assholes
and blow smoke in his face? You're god damned right I would! But I
can't. I have to be responsible, little brother. I have to make sure
the numbers balance out in my favor at the end of each month so everyone
else can go on living their lives"
- when Jack walked away from
the
"speech," Frank made a major accusation against his brother: "You
just had to do it, didn't you Jackie? You couldn't keep your cock in
your pocket"; Jack retaliated: "Who I f--k and who I don't
f--k is none of your f--king business! You got that!" - and then
when the argument escalated, the two became physical with each other
- the film's conclusion in Frank's home - the two brothers
eventually ended up burying the hatchet, although Jack had decided
to go his own way ("I'm not coming back, Frank...I just can't
do it anymore. I've been lying to myself long enough") - they
shared a drink together from a bottle that they had saved since their
first professional engagement, then reminisced happily about one
of their early gigs, and joined together to play a spirited, vocal
version of: "You're Sixteen"
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Frank and Jack
(The Baker Boys)
Susie Diamond's Winning Audition ("More Than You Know")
Frank: "Leave her alone. I mean it"
Jack: "Go to bed, Frank, or this is gonna get ugly"
Sex Between Jack and Susie in Empty Ballroom
Ugly Telethon Incident
Vicious Brotherly Argument After Telethon
Ending: Reconciliation Between the Brothers
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