I saw the Freshman this past weekend. It’s been quite
awhile since I’ve seen this film, but each time I do
it reminds of the first time I saw it. It was the
summer of 1990 and I was in college. I saw it with my
then college girlfriend, and I thought it was very
funny. She was upset that I thought Penelope Ann
Miller was beautiful in the film. I laughed every time
she’d say Matthew Broderick’s character name-which was
Clark-but she said it with the typical New York east
coast accent. So I laughed when I heard her say,
“Cl-aaarrr-k” each time. She also wears some very
stunning dresses in the film and she is a very
attractive young woman in this film.
The story line has a Matthew Broderick playing Clark
Kellogg a young man starting his freshman year of
college at a prestigious film school in New
York-honestly I think it was NYU. Upon his arrival he
manages to get a ride someplace-but not to school-from
Bruno Kirby who steals his bags and belongings. This
of course turns out to be the crux that gets Clark
involved with the Sabatini family early in this film.
Clark “accidentally” comes across Bruno Kirby’s
character and Kirby promises an easy job for Clark to
pay him back for stealing his bags.
This job turns out to be to drive an illegally
transported Kimono Dragon from the airport to some
place in Jersey-talk about being initiated into NYC!
Clark finds himself in the middle of working for a
mobster without realizing it. Next he finds he’s about
to marry Mr. Sabatini’s daughter Tina-who is played by
Penelope Ann Miller. Clark seems to be on a
rollercoaster and it may very well lead to his grave!
One of my favorite scenes in the movie is near the
end. Broderick learns that Mr. Sabatini-played by
Marlon Brando, who looks a lot like the Godfather,
this could be on purpose too-has a plan to get
Broderick out of trouble and himself out of the
business for good. He does learn that it’s a high risk
plan and they could all end up dead, or perhaps living
in Palermo Sicily. Later Broderick is contemplating
his future….and he says to himself, “in a few hours I
would be free, or dead, or Rodolfo Lasparri" It makes
me laugh every time I see it.
This film is very entertaining, and makes me laugh
when I see it. Broderick’s performance is reminiscent
of his role as Ferris Bueller back in 1986’s hit
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Penelope Ann Miller is
stunning to see in this film and her performance is
excellent. She plays her character well. She portrays
Tina as an independent, intelligent woman who does not
step on any of the actors toes in this film and as
such gives a superb supporting performance.
If you enjoy Matthew Broderick, or like to laugh I’d
say give this film a view. It’s always been worth my
time to see it.
The Freshman [1990] imdb.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099615/
Yahoo Movies-the freshman
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800142712/details
Monday, December 17, 2007
