diamandis80 The first time I watched this I must have been 8 or 9, and I particularly remember enjoying Carmen's scenes... I might not have understood much of the rest of the plot back then... Watching it again after 30+ years, I love its 80s-ness. The plot may not be super-complicated, but I think it criticizes very nicely, in a lighthearted way, a dysfunctional family model that is still around today and has probably always been. I enjoy watching these movies in a historic sense too. My first thought of the Union Mission scene was how everyone was just sitting waiting there without having a cell phone to play with. Or the existence of electric can openers (I have honestly never seen one of these anywhere else in my life). Or the multiple pay phones. And Richard Dreyfuss was 39 in this movie? Wow. He looks closer to 50 (it's the white hair and moustache). Lastly, sorry to read about Elizabeth Peña. 55 is definitely too young.

namashi_1 Based on a French play, 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' is great fun! An engaging film that comes in-tact with a well-done screenplay & knock-out performances by its superb cast.'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' Synopsis: A millionaire adopts a homeless bum only to make things go crazy. 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' is entertaining from start to end. Sure, there are some loose ends in the writing, but for the most part, the film works largely. The Adapted Screenplay is well-done & pretty funny too. Paul Mazursky's Direction is crisp. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are fabulously done. Performance-Wise: Nick Nolte is simply flawless as the homeless bum. He emerges a scene-stealer here! Richard Dreyfuss & Bette Milder are excellent, as well. The on-screen chemistry between Dreyfuss & Midler is, electric! On the whole, 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' succeeds.

drleomarvin-411-77121 I haven't watched this since the late 80's and just watched it again. It's really a masterpiece. It's a psychological/sociological/historical expose about the California life before the crash. It's also very prophetic in many ways; Such as Dreyfuss' character, Arnold was humping his help, all the hanger makers are in China now, and alternative medicine/practices are endemic outside of California now... :-)Prophetically also was Nolte's pre-incarnation as the "Dude" Labowski played by Jeff Bridges two decades later... I have a family member that became a millionaire from property value growth, growing a business, and then selling it all before the crash. Dreyfuss, Midler, and Nolte have proved to be three of the best performers of our lifetimes. Anyway, try it. You'll like. I'd love to see the Cohen brothers make a sequel or remake... :-)

Michael Neumann Paul Mazursky's southern California update of Jean Renoir's 1932 comedy 'Boudo Saved From Drowning' stars Nick Nolte as a skid row derelict rescued from attempting suicide in the backyard swimming pool of upscale executive Richard Dreyfuss. Installed quite suddenly in the lap of luxury, Nolte begins exerting unusual influence over his benefactors, but the ambiguity of the character and his intentions is needlessly destroyed in the final scenes. Mazursky is on familiar ground for most of the movie, as always at his best when mocking the lifestyles of the rich and trendy, but it's a shame that he felt compelled to combine scenes of near sublime social satire with indiscriminate numbskull farce. Someone should have told him that seeing people fall fully clothed into a swimming pool (as most of the cast is required to do at the film's climax) is only funny when you're there to witness it firsthand.