Real Genius

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Real Genius
Real Genius Poster.
Directed by	Martha Coolidge
Produced by	Brian Grazer
Written by	Neal Israel Pat Proft Peter Torokvei
Starring	Val Kilmer Gabriel Jarret William Atherton Jon Gries Ed Lauter Michelle Meyrink Robert Prescott Deborah Foreman
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by	Richard Chew
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	August 7, 1985
Running time	108 Minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$13,000,000 (USA) (sub-total)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Real Genius is a 1985 comedy film starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret. The movie is set on the campus of "Pacific Tech," a fictitious technical university in the US based on Caltech. Chris Knight (Kilmer), is a genius in his senior year working on a chemical laser. He came to the university as a somber, assiduous student but mellowed over time after deciding that there is more to life than just work. Mitch Taylor (Jarret) is a new student on campus who is paired up with Knight to work on the laser. Mitch is much like Knight used to be, and has trouble settling in. Eventually, Knight teaches Mitch how to enjoy himself and live on campus without "burning out".

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast and characters 3 Production 4 Reception 5 Possible sequel 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

The CIA contracts Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) of Pacific Tech to construct a chemical laser weapon capable of eliminating individual human targets from space. To this end, Hathaway forms a research team composed of his students at the university who will design and perfect the device; they will believe that they are advancing the frontiers of physics, completely unaware that it will be used as a military weapon. When the Agency insists upon increasing the output power of the laser, Hathaway searches outside of the university for a fresh perspective and sets his sights on emerging prodigy Mitch Taylor. The Professor informs Mitch and his parents that Mitch has been accepted for the mid-winter term at Pacific Tech. Mitch will become the second youngest student ever accepted into the university; the youngest "cracked under pressure within 6 months." Upon arriving on campus, Mitch is assigned a dorm room with Chris Knight. Chris is in his senior year at Pacific Tech and already works on the laser project. Mitch meets the rest of the team, including graduate assistant Kent (Robert Prescott), who sees Mitch as a threat (particularly because the professor tells Kent that he will now be reporting directly to Mitch).

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Hathaway has purchased an enormous house near the university campus and is spending huge amounts of money to have it renovated and furnished. An Air Force officer suspects (correctly) that Hathaway is using project money to finance the improvements on his house while making his students do the work for free. The officer warns Hathaway that when funding for a project is cut (as the laser project will be if not completed by its assigned deadline), the government performs an audit. This provides the additional pressure needed to get Hathaway to rush the project.

Back at the dorm, Mitch meets Jordan (Michelle Meyrink), a hyperkinetic student with whom he falls in love. He also encounters the mysterious Laslo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries) who appears and disappears via Chris' closet. After a stressful day of working, Mitch tells Chris that he is having trouble with the laser and thinks that they're going in the wrong direction. He comments that Chris is the only one who knows how to use the thing, which is frustrating because he's never around. Chris decides to make it up to Mitch and throws a party on campus. Kent discovers the party and informs Hathaway that his prize student is goofing off instead of working on the project. Mitch gets in trouble with Hathaway, who questions if it was the right decision to have accepted someone so young into the school. Mitch, upset, returns to the dorm and calls his parents in tears. He tells them that he dislikes the school and wants to come home. They tell him to stay strong and that his room has already been rented out.

Meanwhile Kent, eavesdropping on the conversation, records it and plays it back later during lunch in the cafeteria. Humiliated, Mitch returns to his room and begins to pack up his things. Chris tells Mitch to get even with Kent; he counsels, "It's a moral imperative!" Mitch, Chris, and their circle of eccentric friends disassemble Kent's car and reassemble it in his dorm room, pumping the hydraulic suspension to simulate it sleeping and snoring in his bed. Furious with his shenanigans and slacking off, Hathaway sends for Chris and tells him that regardless of his marks at the end of the semester, he is going to be flunked out of Pacific Tech. In a reversal of the first act, Chris, resigned to his fate, has a discussion with Mitch who convinces him that he can't leave and he must get even with Hathaway. This time Mitch advises Chris that "It's a moral imperative!"

Much to the Professor's surprise, Chris decides to regularly attend classes and continues to work on the laser project. He even takes Hathaway's final exam. Before the exam, Kent tampers with the laser by putting grease on the optics. Afterwards, during a routine test by Chris, the laser malfunctions and destroys itself. Angered, Chris heads to the dorm room kitchen where, after stumbling across some frozen nitrogen ice, he has an epiphany and solves the power problem that has been plaguing the project, by using frozen solid fuel (instead of gaseous fuel) for the laser's power source. The team tests Chris's improvements and fires a beam "hotter than the sun," which burns a path across town. It gives Hathaway the five megawatts he needs and Mitch, Chris and the gang decide to go out for dinner to celebrate. However, during their celebrations, Laslo analyzes their new creation and deduces that the laser's only true purpose can be for use as a weapon. Returning to the school, they find that Hathaway has already taken the device, and Chris faults himself for not realizing the professor's plan sooner. After an inventive interrogation of Kent (by modifying Kent's braces to operate as a radio-receiver, through which Mitch gives commands, identifying himself as Jesus), the group finds out that the laser is going to be tested soon at an Air Force base nearby.

Chris and Mitch manage to sneak in and successfully crack the computer controlling the laser, to change its target coordinates to Hathaway's new house. They call the Dean (Severn Darden) and the local Congressman (Joe Dorsey) and inform them to visit the house to witness the weapon firing. Inside the home, the gang have placed a huge Jiffy Pop tin (popcorn having been established as a food that Hathaway intensely dislikes). Posing again as Jesus, Mitch has also directed Kent to the house. When the laser hits the house, it lights up a stained-glass window, further convincing Kent of the authenticity of "the Voice". Absorbing the laser energy, the massive volume of popcorn expands and causes serious structural damage to the house. At the same time, a corner reflector that Chris and Mitch placed outside the window returns part of the beam to the aircraft-mounted laser, destroying it. Popcorn floods out through the house's expanding seams and broken windows onto the grounds, pushing Kent along with it. Pulling Kent from the mountains of popcorn, the Pacific Tech heroes and neighborhood children frolic in the popcorn over the closing credits to the Tears for Fears hit "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".

[edit] Cast and characters

• Val Kilmer as Chris Knight
• Gabriel Jarret as Mitch Taylor
• Michelle Meyrink as Jordan Cochran
• William Atherton as Prof. Jerry Hathaway
• Jon Gries as Laslo Hollyfeld
• Robert Prescott as Kent Torokvei
• Ed Lauter as David Decker
• Louis Giambalvo as Maj. Carnagle
• Yuji Okumoto as Fenton
• Deborah Foreman as Susan Decker
• Patti D'Arbanville as Sherry Nugil
• Tommy Swerdlow as Bodie
• Monte Landis as Dr. Dodd
• Severn Darden as Dr. Meredith
• Sandy Martin as Mrs. Meredith
• Joe Dorsey as Congressman
• Randy Lowell as Cornell
• Dean Devlin as Milton
• Mark Kamiyama as "Ick" Ikagami
• Paul Tulley as Mr. Taylor
• Joanne Baron as Mrs. Taylor
• Beau Billingslea as George

[edit] Production

To prepare for the film, Martha Coolidge spent months researching laser technology, the policies of the CIA, and interviewed dozens of students at Caltech.^[1]

While the actual campuses used in the filming were those of Pomona College and nearby Occidental College, many references suggest that "Pacific Tech" is a thinly disguised version of Caltech, mixed with some elements of similarly-technical Carnegie Mellon University.^{[citation needed]} Dave Marvit, a former Caltech undergraduate student, was a consultant for the film, and photographs of graffiti on the walls of Dabney House at Caltech were used for interior sets.^{[citation needed]} The initials "DEI", well known at Caltech to stand for "Dabney Eats It", occur several times in the film: "Darlington Electronic Industries" sponsors Dr. Hathaway's TV show (and Chris and Kent compete for a job there), and the students transport the popcorn to Dr. Hathaway's house in a service van ostensibly belonging to "Drain Experts, Inc." Coolidge, a stickler for authenticity, had many Caltech undergraduate students on the set as extras.^{[citation needed]} The Tanning Invitational scene, featuring bikini-clad women (an actual Caltech annual event at the time), was filmed during finals week, and therefore all the extras in that scene are non-students.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Reception

In her review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "the film is best when it takes them seriously, though it does so only intermittently."^[2] David Ansen wrote in his review for Newsweek magazine, "When it's good, the dormitory high jinks feel like the genuine release of teen-age tensions and cruelty. Too bad the story isn't as smart as the kids in it."^[3] In her review for the Washington Post, Rita Kempley wrote, "Many of the scenes, already badly written, fail to fulfill their screwball potential...But despite its enthusiastic young cast and its many good intentions, it doesn't quite succeed. I guess there's a leak in the think tank."^[4] Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half stars out of four, saying that it "contains many pleasures, but one of the best is its conviction that the American campus contains life as we know it."

[edit] Possible sequel

Val Kilmer has expressed interest in making a sequel to Real Genius, but no shooting dates have been set. ^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Real Genius at the Internet Movie Database
• The T-Shirts and Fashion of Chris Knight

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