'80s Roulette: COUSINS
Joel Schumacher's remake of a French hit charms largely on the strength of its cast.
I have (almost) every single movie released in theaters in the ‘80s in the United States on a hard drive, and once a week, I’m going to hit shuffle and review whatever film comes up first.
Welcome to ‘80s Roulette!
FEBRUARY 10, 1989
Cousins
Ted Danson, Sean Young, Isabella Rossellini, William Petersen, Lloyd Bridges, Norma Aleandro, Keith Coogan, Gina DeAngeles, George Coe, Katharine Isabelle, Alex Bruhanski, Stephen E. Miller, Gerry Bean, Gordon Currie, Saffron Henderson, Michele Goodger, Andrea Mann, Mark Frank, LeRoy Schulz, Gloria Harris, John Civitarese, Kate Danson, David Robert Moore, John Hurwitz, Babz Chula, Bernadette Leonard, Denalda Williams, Margo Pinvidic, Tom McBeath, Dolores Drank, Michael Naxos, Lorraine Butler, Ann Leong, Harold MacDonald, Lorena Gale, Monica Marko, Wes Tritter, David W. Rose, Sharon Wahl, George Goodman, Tom Heaton, Sheila Paterson, Gary Pembroke Allen, Antony Holland, Cathy Bayer, John Paterson, Michele Moyier, Bill Henderson, Jerry Adolphe, Geraldo Dominelli, Lee Oliphant, Reuben Gurr, John Lee Mitchell, Sean Hosein, Doug Elliott, Tom Keenlyside, Terry Vincent, Grant Cepuran, Frank Dato
cinematography by Ralf D. Bode
music by Angelo Badalamenti
screenplay by Stephen Metcalfe
based on the screenplay Cousin, Cousin by Jean-Charles Tacchella
produced by William Allyn
directed by Joel Schumacher
Rated PG-13
1 hr 53 mins
Larry and Maria are cousins by marriage, but when they learn their spouses have been having an affair, a complicated and important relationship develops.
William Allyn did not have a prolific career as a producer. He started his career as an actor, and he worked a lot in ’50s and ‘60s TV before he jumped to producing with the smash hit Peyton Place. He produced a few TV movies in the ‘70s, but he had his eye on features, and he was determined to find the right property, something that would make a splash. When Cousin, Cousine was released in the US in 1976, it was a pretty solid hit and ended up with an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Allyn immediately started chasing the remake rights, and it took him several years to finally lock them down. It took him even longer to actually get it made, and it ended up as one of only two theatrical features he managed to get across the finish line.