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The Bonfire Of The Vanities Details

1990 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 50
  • from 1428 members

Brian De Palma (SCARFACE) directed this lavish adaptation of Tom Wolfe's best-selling satirical novel, featuring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis. Hanks stars as Sherman McCoy, a distinctly 1980s brand of wealthy Wall Street wizard who takes a mighty fall from his glitzy lifestyle after he and his mistress (.. Read more

Starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Kim Cattrall
Director Brian De Palma
Genres Drama

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The Bonfire Of The Vanities

Brian De Palma (SCARFACE) directed this lavish adaptation of Tom Wolfe's best-selling satirical novel, featuring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis. Hanks stars as Sherman McCoy, a distinctly 1980s brand of wealthy Wall Street wizard who takes a mighty fall from his glitzy lifestyle after he and his mistress (Griffith) put a Bronx youth into a coma via a hit-and-run accident. Alcoholic reporter Peter Fallow (Willis) sees the crime as an opportunity for big headlines, and soon Sherman is the target of every political and media group in the city, including an Al Sharpton-style black leader named Rev. Bacon (John Hancock) and a sleazy D.A. (F. Murray Abraham). SEX IN THE CITY babe Kim Catrall costars as Sherman's long-suffering wife, and Morgan Freeman is the judge who tries to reign in this three-ring media circus of a case. Like the decade it parodies, this film is proudly over the top in its lavishness. It's also filled to overflowing with inspired casting, wildly inventive comedy, and the sort of artistically ambitious tracking shots for which its director is renowned.

Starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Kim Cattrall, John Hancock, Saul Rubinek, Morgan Freeman
Director Brian De Palma
Studio WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time DVD: 2 hrs
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Dubbed French, Italian
Hearing-impaired English, Italian
Subtitles DVD: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish
Released DVD: 15 May 2006
Production year: 1990
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (4) of The Bonfire Of The Vanities

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Brian De Palma's adaptation of Tom Wolfe's scathing novel about the yuppie lifestyles of the Wall Street rich and Park Avenue famous is, admittedly, a flawed satire (the casting of Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffith didn't help), but it's hardly the irredeemably awful disaster most critics led you to believe. And, anyway, even a lesser De Palma picture is a whole lot more interesting than most A-list directors' good ones. Purely from a technical standpoint, it's a marvel — the opening four-minute continuous shot, for example — and now that the glaring media spotlight has been turned off, its subtle entertainment values can gloriously shine through.

    • Radio Times
  • De Palma's film of Tom Wolfe's dark, hilarious magnum opus bombed in the States - amid charges of racism - and it's... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of The Bonfire Of The Vanities

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    Rubbish.

    Clean the oven instead; much more entertaining.

      • Alexander Gener from Blackheath, UK
  • Most recent members' review of The Bonfire Of The Vanities

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    Rubbish.

    Clean the oven instead; much more entertaining.

      • Alexander Gener from Blackheath, UK
  • News and features

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    Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

    Tom Hanks lacks direction

    • 09 Jun 2004

    Multi Oscar winner Tom Hanks has said he will not direct any more films, as he thinks it is too much work. The last film the actor directed was "That Thing You Do" in 1996. The film grossed $26 million overall, less than a third of what "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" made in its first week alone. "I just don't have the inner drive to direct. It means working under enormous pressure for 24 months without a break. I enjoyed that on a small scale, but I wouldn't Read more

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    • Brian De Palma (SCARFACE) directed this lavish adaptation of Tom Wolfe's best-selling satirical novel, featuring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis. Hanks stars as Sherman McCoy, a ...