Stitches
(1985)
R | 89 mins | Comedy | 23 August 1985
Director:
Alan SmitheeWriters:
Michel Choquette, Michael PaseornekProducers:
William B. Kerr, Robert P. MarcucciCinematographer:
Hector R. FigueroaEditor:
John DuffyProduction Designer:
Diane CampbellThe 18 May 1983 HR announced the forthcoming picture, to be directed by Rod Holcomb. However, onscreen directing credit goes to “Alan Smithee,” a pseudonym once used when a director elected to remove his name from being associated with a film. According to the 25 Sep 1985 Var, director William A. Levey supervised the re-editing of Stitches, resulting in the “Alan Smithee” screen credit.
The 30 Jun 1983 HR reported the Stitches property initially belonged to Lorimar Pictures, before ending up at MGM, where it was sold by producer John Dunning to the independently operated, Marcucci/Kerr Productions, owned by producers Robert P. Marcucci and William B. Kerr.
Principal photography on the $3 million picture was expected to be completed the first week of Jul 1983, according to the 30 Jun 1983 HR.
The 1 Jul 1983 LAT announced that after securing independent financing, filmmakers reportedly poured over 150 scripts, on which they claimed to have spent $50,000, before selecting Stitches as the screenplay they would produce.
The 18 Sep 1985 Var reported that International Film Market had secured North American distribution rights to the picture. A regional release to include between 170--225 prints was scheduled for Oct 1985 in New York and Los Angeles, CA. However, according to the 16 Oct 1985 Var, the film was released on 23 Aug 1985 with nine prints in Corpus Christi and El Paso, TX, and in Birmingham and Huntsville, AL, taking in $114,000 in box-office receipts after seventeen days. A 27 Nov 1985 Los Angeles release ...
The 18 May 1983 HR announced the forthcoming picture, to be directed by Rod Holcomb. However, onscreen directing credit goes to “Alan Smithee,” a pseudonym once used when a director elected to remove his name from being associated with a film. According to the 25 Sep 1985 Var, director William A. Levey supervised the re-editing of Stitches, resulting in the “Alan Smithee” screen credit.
The 30 Jun 1983 HR reported the Stitches property initially belonged to Lorimar Pictures, before ending up at MGM, where it was sold by producer John Dunning to the independently operated, Marcucci/Kerr Productions, owned by producers Robert P. Marcucci and William B. Kerr.
Principal photography on the $3 million picture was expected to be completed the first week of Jul 1983, according to the 30 Jun 1983 HR.
The 1 Jul 1983 LAT announced that after securing independent financing, filmmakers reportedly poured over 150 scripts, on which they claimed to have spent $50,000, before selecting Stitches as the screenplay they would produce.
The 18 Sep 1985 Var reported that International Film Market had secured North American distribution rights to the picture. A regional release to include between 170--225 prints was scheduled for Oct 1985 in New York and Los Angeles, CA. However, according to the 16 Oct 1985 Var, the film was released on 23 Aug 1985 with nine prints in Corpus Christi and El Paso, TX, and in Birmingham and Huntsville, AL, taking in $114,000 in box-office receipts after seventeen days. A 27 Nov 1985 Los Angeles release was planned to include ninety to ninety-five prints.
An advertisement in the 13 Dec 1985 DV announced earnings of $609,486 after two-weeks in Los Angeles area theaters.
End credits acknowledge: “Special Thanks to: Anheuser Busch, Nike, Pasadena College of Chiropractic.”
At Branford School of Medicine, newly arriving students get a tour of campus and are assigned their cadavers. Upperclassmen Bobby Stevens Al Rosenberg, and Barfer Bogan, pretend to be corpses and come to life, running naked around campus, and Dean Gordon Bradley is not amused. Bradley assigns uptight student Howard Pierce to spy on the pranksters and report back to him. Bobby, Al, and Barfer meet their new roommate, Sam Boon Tong, and take him to a bar. There, Bobby sees his former girl friend, Nancy McNaughton, who dropped out of medical school to marry another man. She embraces Bobby, explaining she did not go through with the wedding, and has returned to finish school. Later, Bobby flirts with Bambi Bilenka, and offers to tutor the beautiful new med student. When Nancy sees him with Bambi, she becomes upset. Bobby notices Boon struggling with English, and delays partying to help him study. Over time, the friends continue playing pranks around campus, pretending to be professors and assigning ridiculous assignments to the new students. Nancy becomes angry when Bobby and the other male students trick the females into removing their clothes, as they watch from behind a two-way mirror. She takes revenge by having her friend, Ramon, pose as a doctor and give physical exams to the young men. Al Rosenberg advises Bobby to forget about Nancy. During hospital rounds, the students are introduced to elderly patient Osgood Hamilton, Jr., an important Branford benefactor who plans to be the first cryogenically frozen candidate for revivification when he dies. Dean Bradley plans to use the historic event ...
At Branford School of Medicine, newly arriving students get a tour of campus and are assigned their cadavers. Upperclassmen Bobby Stevens Al Rosenberg, and Barfer Bogan, pretend to be corpses and come to life, running naked around campus, and Dean Gordon Bradley is not amused. Bradley assigns uptight student Howard Pierce to spy on the pranksters and report back to him. Bobby, Al, and Barfer meet their new roommate, Sam Boon Tong, and take him to a bar. There, Bobby sees his former girl friend, Nancy McNaughton, who dropped out of medical school to marry another man. She embraces Bobby, explaining she did not go through with the wedding, and has returned to finish school. Later, Bobby flirts with Bambi Bilenka, and offers to tutor the beautiful new med student. When Nancy sees him with Bambi, she becomes upset. Bobby notices Boon struggling with English, and delays partying to help him study. Over time, the friends continue playing pranks around campus, pretending to be professors and assigning ridiculous assignments to the new students. Nancy becomes angry when Bobby and the other male students trick the females into removing their clothes, as they watch from behind a two-way mirror. She takes revenge by having her friend, Ramon, pose as a doctor and give physical exams to the young men. Al Rosenberg advises Bobby to forget about Nancy. During hospital rounds, the students are introduced to elderly patient Osgood Hamilton, Jr., an important Branford benefactor who plans to be the first cryogenically frozen candidate for revivification when he dies. Dean Bradley plans to use the historic event to promote the School of Medicine. For their next prank, the boys break into Dean Bradley’s office, and change the invitation for his first year student reception from a formal event to a “punk rock” costume party. When the wild students arrive, they alarm the uptight guests, and embarrass Dean Bradley. Bradley’s spy, Howard Pierce, tries to discover who was behind the prank, and presses Boon for information. In time, Bobby Stevens saves the life of a man by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him, and impresses the assistant dean, Dr. Sidney Berman, as well as Nancy, who rewards him with a kiss. Later, Nancy calls an early end to her date with another man so she can see Bobby. However, when she arrives at his room, she finds him in bed with Bambi Bilenka. Bobby appeals to Nancy and promises to change his womanizing ways, but she does not trust him. When Bobby faints after donating blood, Nancy rushes to his side, and he again apologizes, telling her how much she means to him. In time, Howard Pierce finds Bobby’s stethoscope in the dean’s office, and reports him to Dean Bradley. The dean threatens to expel Boon, if Bobby does not confess to changing the party invitation. He demands that Bobby write a letter of apology and leave Branford School of Medicine. Bobby denies responsibility, but after he speaks to Boon and learns how much the school means to him, Bobby decides to confess. He packs his belongings, refusing to tell his friends why he is leaving school, but they force the truth out of him, and plot to save Bobby. Bobby’s friend, vending-machine operator Ralph Rizzo, visits Osgood Hamilton, Jr. in the hospital and pleads with the donor to appeal to Dean Bradley not to expel Bobby. However, during their conversation, the elderly man dies. His body is immediately put on ice in preparation for being cryogenically frozen. When Ralph visits Osgood’s deathbed to apologize, Osgood suddenly revives, and Ralph sneaks the man out of the hospital. Sometime later, Nancy tells Bobby that Assistant Dean Berman plans to appeal to the board to keep him at Branford, and Bobby is thrilled. Dean Bradley holds a ceremony to publicize Osgood’s cryogenic procedure, unaware that the patron is still living. Elsewhere, the medical students dress in costumes for their annual student pageant, but arrive at the auditorium for the event to find that Dean Bradley has taken over the space for his publicity event. Inside, mayhem ensues when the costumed students storm in, and Bradley discovers a skeleton inside Osgood’s body bag. Dressed as a nurse, Osgood is carried in by the students. He takes the microphone, revealing to the crowd that he is alive. Afterward, Bobby and friends debate giving up their antics to become responsible doctors, but rethink the idea.
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