Made in Heaven

Director: Alan Rudolph Alan Rudolph

Overview

Alan Rudolph directed this offbeat, boy-meets-girl romance in which boy dies, dead boy meets dead girl, dead boy loses dead girl, and dead boy tries to find dead girl again. The tale begins is a small Pennsylvania town, where Mike Shea (Timothy Hutton) dreams of escaping small town life and moving to California with his girlfriend Brenda (Mare Winningham). But Brenda leaves him with his motor running and Mike takes off alone. On the way, he rescues a woman and her children from an icy river but perishes himself. He finds himself in Heaven, where he is greeted by Aunt Lisa (Maureen Stapleton), who explains the rules and regulations. Once in the ethereal realm, Mike falls in love with a heavenly lass with flaxen locks named Annie (Kelly McGillis). But their love is torn asunder because Annie has not yet earned her wings on Earth; she must leave on a tour of duty and put in time inhabiting a human body. Mike is beside himself in despair, but the heavenly powers, in the form of Emmett (Debra Winger), chain-smoking and sporting an orange crewcut like a ghostly Laurie Anderson, offer him a deal. Mike can return to Earth, but only on the stipulation that neither he nor Annie will remember each other. They then have thirty years in which to find one another again.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2009
UPC:	0883316219898
Original Release:	1987
Rating:	PG
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	15,919

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kelly McGillis	Annie Packert / Ally Chandler
Timothy Hutton	Mike Shea / Elmo Barnett
Debra Winger	Emmett Humbird
Maureen Stapleton	Aunt Lisa
Ann Wedgeworth	Annette Shea, Mike's Mother,Actor
James Gammon	Steve Shea, Mike's Father
Mare Winningham	Brenda Carlucci
Don Murray	Ben Chandler
Marj Dusay	Mrs. Packert,Miss Barnett
Ray Gideon	Mr. Packert
Zack Finch	Billy Packert
Tim Daly	Tom Donnelly,Actor
Amanda Plummer	Wiley Foxx
Ellen Barkin	Lucille
Neil Young	Truck Driver
Tom Petty	Stanky, Mechanic
Ric Ocasek	Shark
Tom Robbins	Mario, the Toy Maker
John Considine	Angel with Top Hat
Gary Larson	Cameo Appearance
James Tolkan	Mr. Bjornstead
Gailard Sartain	Sam Morrell
Leon Martell	Reginald - T.V. Interviewer
Matraca Berg	Matraca
Robert Knepper	Orrin
Robert Gould	Chandler Toy Co. Executive,Chandler Toy Co. Executive
Willard Pugh	Guy Blanchard / Brian Dutton,Guy Blanchard/Brian Dalton
David Rasche	Donald Sumner
Vyto Ruginis	Lyman McCray
Emmet Humbird	Himself
Patricia Earnest	Mrs. Burwell
Mark Isham	Zeus/Keyboards,Composer
Patrick O'Hearn	Titus White/Bass Player
Elliott Street	Andy
Michael Klastorin	Murray
Henry Sanders	Henry
David Bethany	Best Man at Chandler Wedding
Pete Munro	Tailor at Wedding Rehearsal
Johnny Popwell Sr.	Mr. Wainfield/Choir Director
Stuart Manne	Det. Caeser
Randy Cash	Gas Station Attendant
Dirk Blocker	Shorty
Danielle Aubuchon	Girl at Clios
Paul Simmons	Man on Curb
Georges Pappas	Engineer at Recording Studio
Kerrie Cullen	Mother at River
John Rosenberg	Campus Friend
Jon Kohler	Clio Awards Presenter

Technical Credits

Alan Rudolph

Bruce A. Evans

Raynold Gideon

Alan Rudolph	Director,Screenwriter
Max W. Anderson	Special Effects
David Blocker	Producer
Bruce A. Evans	Producer,Screenwriter
Raynold Gideon	Producer,Screenwriter,Producer
Pam Dixon	Casting
Robert Jackson	Sound/Sound Designer
Ron Judkins	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

With Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis as the leads, and a premise that reads like classic Hollywood fantasy in the Here Comes Mr. Jordan vein, Made in Heaven probably sounded splendid on paper - like a real charmer. And in the right hands, it could have been exactly that. But the producer-scriptwriters flubbed by bringing in Alan Rudolph, one of the most eccentric of all directors, and someone with whom they supposedly had major creative differences. Rudolph has made outstanding movies (Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Choose Me), but he tends to make oddball choices in every one of his films. In certain contexts, that off-center approach works, but Heaven is the type of material that calls for a more conventional studio filmmaker - a Dick Benjamin or a Garry Marshall. What we get is exactly the opposite; as it stands, the movie buckles beneath the weight of bizarre and quirky elements, such as an in-drag supporting role from Debra Winger (who looks like Martin Short here), as the movie's divine emissary; self-indulgent cameos by Rudolph's friends, such as Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Ric Ocasek; and a weird subplot with Ellen Barkin as a coked-out, gun-wielding nut who recruits Hutton's character to hold up a bar. There are other problems, as well, including one glaring lapse in continuity (during Hutton's first scenes back on Earth), and an unsatisfactory excuse for an afterlife. The movie's Heaven not only looks sloppy, with cheap, unimaginative studio sets, but it suffers from a lack of cohesion - we never believe that this is an actual place. And it functions according to poorly-conceived and murky rules, particularly the notion that heavenly residents can summon an individual, or create their surrounding environment, simply by imagining it. (Think of the narrative problems that this would introduce if the scriptwriters had taken it to its logical conclusion!) The sort of fanciful storytelling that this movie aims for has worked beautifully elsewhere, but the best examples demonstrate an air-tight narrative logic - such as Emile Ardolino's wonderful 1989 fantasy Chances Are. The producers of Made in Heaven had probably hoped for something along those lines, but wound up with a misfire. Actually, the movie's finest element may be its theatrical one-sheet poster, with one of the most endearing promotional images and taglines in memory, but the content doesn't live up to the expectations that the advertisement sets forth.

All Movie Guide - Nathan Southern