Real Men

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For the album by John S. Hall and Kramer, see Real Men (album).

Real Men
Directed by	Dennis Feldman
Produced by	Martin Bregman
Written by	Dennis Feldman
Starring	James Belushi John Ritter Barbara Barrie Bill Morey Isabella Hofmann Isa Andersen Gail Barle Mark Herrier Dyanne Thorne
Music by	Miles Goodman
Cinematography	John A. Alonzo
Editing by	Malcolm Campbell Glenn Farr
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	September 1987 (USA)
Running time	85 min.
Language	English
Budget	Unknown
Gross revenue	$873,903 (USA))
IMDb profile

Real Men is a 1987 comedy/sci-fi film starring James Belushi and John Ritter as the heroes: suave, womanizing CIA agent Nick Pirandello (Belushi) and weak and ineffectual insurance agent Bob Wilson (Ritter). The film fared poorly at the box office in part because United Artists was still compensating for the heavy losses sustained by Heaven's Gate and cut advertising costs for this movie. Profits for the film were not good but the film became a cult hit following pay/cable television airings and its release on video and DVD.

[edit] Plot

CIA Agent Pillbox (a second role played by Ritter) has been negotiating with aliens (referred to as Ufoes) for seven years over a "good package" that would counter a biological accident that will wipe out all life on Earth in five years. The Ufoes will trade the package for a glass of water. However, another item up for trade is a Big Gun that could destroy a whole planet, and a CIA faction wants us to trade for the Gun for possible use against the Russians (overlooking that using the gun would destroy the whole planet as well). During a practice run of the meeting with the Ufoes, Pillbox is assassinated by someone from the CIA, so CIA head Millard Cunard (Morey) decides to do something drastic: draft meek insurance agent Bob Wilson (Ritter's main role) and have him trained by experienced agent Nick Pirandello (Belushi) in order to meet with the aliens.

Nick saves Bob from an attempted assassination by the Russians (who are also interested in the Big Gun). With his family relocated for their safety, Nick and the disbelieving Bob must drive across the country and get to Washington by Friday (a week's time) in order to meet with the aliens, overcoming a variety of hilarious obstacles on the way and learning more about themselves through each other.

[edit] Cult Following

The film bombed in theaters but found a cult following after its original CBS/Fox Video home video and laserdisc release.

An updated DVD release came from MGM, who now owns United Artists, on December 2, 2003, almost two months after the passing of star John Ritter. With its full-frame transfer and mono sound, it looks like a port of the laserdisc edition, with the only extra being the notable theatrical trailer that did not consist of scenes of the movie but Belushi and Ritter, in character, talking about their contrasting lifestyles and personalities. The trailer's tagline is "Becoming partners for a dangerous secret mission wasn't their idea. Only the CIA could think of something that stupid." Although the release didn't win over any of the old fans, it introduced a new generation to the movie.^[1]