Men at Work (film)

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Men at Work
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Emilio Estevez
Produced by	Cassian Elwes
Written by	Emilio Estevez
Starring	Charlie Sheen Emilio Estevez Leslie Hope Keith David Dean Cameron John Getz
Music by	Stewart Copeland
Cinematography	Tim Suhrstedt
Editing by	Craig Bassett
Distributed by	Triumph Releasing Corporation
Release date(s)	August 24, 1990 (USA)
Running time	98 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	Unknown
Gross revenue	$16,247,964 (USA)
IMDb profile

Men at Work is an action/comedy film written and directed by Emilio Estevez. The film stars brothers Estevez and Charlie Sheen.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Reception 3 Location 4 Cast 5 Trivia 6 Goofs 7 Soundtrack 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Plot

Carl Taylor (Sheen) and James St. James (Estevez) are a pair of troublemaking garbagemen who dream of owning a surf shop. The two uncover an illegal toxic dumping operation in their own city, Las Playas. The movie begins with the pair collecting trash as they usually do with tossed garbage cans in the street and noise to wake everyone up. A pair of local cops hassle them almost everyday, but Carl and James seem to have gotten used to this treatment by now.

After work the pair peeps on a girl with a telescope and discover that she is being mistreated by the man who is with her. Determined to right the wrong, Carl shoots the man in the rear with a pellet gun from far away. He and James both then hide and laugh. Shortly after their incident the man is strangled and ends up found the next day by Carl and James. They decide that turning in the body would implicate themselves as they shot him with a pellet gun earlier.

Carl and James ask the advice of crazed Vietnam vet Louis Fedders who helps them to stash the body. Louis even helps the trash men get even with the cops that always gave them trouble. By the film's end Carl, James and Louis have discovered a large toxic dumping operation and brought down those responsible.

Taglines: Two garbagemen who know when something smells funny! & Heroes For Hazardous Times

[edit] Reception

Considering its relatively small production budget, Men at Work did well in theaters, grossing $16,247,964 USD, $3,184,311 of that within the first week.

[edit] Location

The majority of the movie was shot in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach in California.

[edit] Cast

• Charlie Sheen- Carl Taylor
• Emilio Estevez – James St. James
• Keith David – Louis Fedders
• Leslie Hope – Susan Wilkins
• Dean Cameron – Pizza Man
• John Getz – Maxwell Potterdam III
• Hawk Wolinski – Biff
• John Lavachielli – Mario
• Geoffrey Blake –Frost
• Cameron Dye – Luzinski
• John Putch – Mike
• Tommy Hinkley – Jake
• Darell Larson- Jack Berger
• Sy Richardson – Walt Richarson
• Troy Evans- Captain Dalton
• Poorman – Narrator

[edit] Trivia

• It is the second film where Keith David and Charlie Sheen starring together. Others are: Platoon and Loose Women.
• Second directional work of Emilio Estevez.
• The Japanese garbage collectors' union demanded that the film be banned from video shelves as it disparaged trash collectors, portraying them in a poor light.
• James' (Emilio Estevez's) locker contains a sticker for "The Circle Jerks", who starred with him in Repo Man (1984).
• The sanitation company where Carl and James work is called Shoreline Waste - their motto is "Your friendly efficient garbage experts".
• The restaurant where Carl and James eat lunch is called Good Stuff. There are three locations in the Los Angeles area - they filmed at the location in Hermosa Beach on The Strand, which James mentions during lunch as a desired location for the surf shop he and Carl dream of opening.
• Emilio Estevez said "People come up to me on the street and say, 'Men at Work (1990) is the funniest movie I ever saw in my life'. But, you know, I do have to question how many movies these people have seen" for that film^[1].
• It is one of the films where Emilio Estevez/Charlie Sheen brothers starring together. Others are: Never on Tuesday (1988), Rated X (2000), Young Guns (1988) and Wisdom (1986). Wisdom and Rated X also directed by Emilio Estevez.
• The dance group Technotronic are incorrectly named 'Technotronics' in the credits.

[edit] Goofs

• Revealing mistakes: When the assassins blow up the car on the beach, the cable used to initiate the explosion can clearly be seen leading from the car on the right side of the picture, while still attached to the vehicle as it flies up into the air. It had been buried in the sand but didn't detach when the explosive went off.
• Crew or equipment visible: In one of the camera angles where we see Carl and James throwing trash into the truck accompanied with Louis (around the time of when they find the dead body in the trash can), the shadows of the camera and cameraman's head can be clearly seen at the bottom of the screen.
• Continuity: When we see at night, Carl and James' rival truck drivers waiting in their car at night for the chase, the back window can be seen to be clearly smashed with a hole in the middle. Later on, the same window is not smashed.

[edit] Soundtrack

Men at Work (Rhino/Wea, July 18, 1990)

1. Wear You to the Ball - UB40
2. Super Cool - Sly & Robbie
3. Big Pink House - Tyrants in Therapy
4. Feeling Good - Pressure Drop
5. Back to Back - Blood Brothers
6. Take Heed - Black Uhuru
7. Here and Beyond - Sly & Robbie
8. Truthful - Blood Brothers
9. Reggae Ambassador - Third World
10. Give a Little Love - Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers
11. Playas Dawn - Stewart Copeland
12. Pink Panther No. 23 - Stewart Copeland

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Men at Work at the Internet Movie Database
• Men at Work at movie-pages.com