| Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Stephen Herek |
| Produced by | Jeffrey Silver Brian Reilly |
| Written by | Neil Landau |
| Starring | Christina Applegate Joanna Cassidy John Getz Josh Charles |
| Music by | David Newman |
| Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. HBO Films |
| Release date(s) | June 7, 1991 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Gross revenue | $25,196,249[1] |
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a 1991 comedy directed by Stephen Herek starring Christina Applegate.
Contents |
Applegate stars as a teenager, whose mother leaves for a two-month summer vacation in Australia, putting all five siblings in the care of a strict tyrannical elderly babysitter. When the babysitter suddenly dies in her sleep, Applegate (as the eldest) assumes the role as "head of the household" to keep the freedom of having no parents around. She fakes a resume to get a job in the fashion industry, but proves capable and lucky enough to succeed.
The film also features Joanna Cassidy, Keith Coogan, Josh Charles, Danielle Harris, and then-obscure actor David Duchovny, later of The X-Files fame. The original music score was composed by David Newman.
The original title was The Real World. This was changed to avoid confusion with the then upcoming new MTV reality series of the same name.
The two groundskeepers for the cemetery who stand over Mrs. Sturak's grave and comment how nice it was for her to leave them the money were played by two of the film's producers.
In one scene, Sue Ellen originally calls her brother Kenny a "prick". However, in order to get the PG-13 rating, Applegate was re-dubbed to say "punk" instead. In another scene, Sue Ellen, who is in a towel after her bath exclaims to Kenny, "When are you going to help me, you lazy little punk?" "Punk" is again re-dubbed, replacing the word "prick".
With her mother in Australia all summer, 17-year-old high-school dream teen Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina Applegate) fantasizes of a fun-filled summer of freedom in the Los Angeles suburbs, even though all her friends are touring Europe for the summer. Her dreams are then abruptly curtailed upon the arrival of elderly Mrs. Sturak (Eda Reiss Merin), whom Mrs. Crandell (Concetta Tomei) has hired as a live-in babysitter for Sue Ellen and her younger siblings: Kenny (Keith Coogan), a heavy metal-loving stoner; Zach (Christopher Pettiet), a romantic ladies' man; Melissa (Danielle Harris), an athletic tomboy; and game show addict Walter (Robert Hy Gorman), the youngest.
Seemingly innocent and gullible, Mrs. Sturak reveals her true colors the moment Mrs. Crandell departs: an iron-fisted, whistle-blowing, no-nonsense disciplinarian. Although Kenny, who left to hang with some friends at the start of the film, manages to avoid her, the rest of the Crandell children are quickly forced to live by overly strict rules: Sue Ellen isn't allowed any freedom, Zach isn't allowed to date, Melissa has to wear feminine clothes, and Walter has to write a book report that will likely take a long time.
Sue Ellen inspires her siblings to rise up against Mrs. Sturak and end her reign of terror. The moment they move in to confront her, however, they discover Mrs. Sturak dead in her chair, presumably dead from either old age or a heart attack from entering Kenny's room. Interestingly, Kenny comes home after she dies and never even meets her. The Crandells panic and debate calling the police, or their mother in Australia, but Sue Ellen realizes that doing so jeopardizes any chance for summer fun. They finally decide to seal Mrs. Sturak's body in a trunk, and drop it off anonymously at the local morgue with a note reading: "Nice old lady inside. Died of natural causes."
Rid of their nightmarish babysitter, Sue Ellen and her siblings breathe a collective sigh of relief—until realizing that all the cash their mother left them for the summer was in an envelope that Mrs. Sturak kept about her person at all times. The Crandell kids now have no money and starvation seems imminent. Sue Ellen again vetoes calling Mom, believing that they can survive and have fun on their own; all she needs is a job. Unfortunately, the only place that hires her is Clown Dog, a fast-food restaurant, where she performs grunt labor in miserable conditions. Despite gaining a friend in Bryan (Josh Charles), a handsome and supportive coworker, Sue Ellen quickly gets fed up with Clown Dog and quits.
She then forges the résumé of a mid-level fashion executive (with most of the material lifted verbatim from a resume-writing guidebook). Posing as a 28-year-old, Sue Ellen applies at General Apparel West, a local clothing manufacturer, for an open receptionist position. Although scorned by Carolyn (Jayne Brook), the sarcastic receptionist due for a promotion, Sue Ellen's résumé garners the attention of Rose Lindsey (Joanna Cassidy), the senior vice president of operations at GAW, who was planning to advance Carolyn to be her new Executive Administrative Assistant. Impressed by the much friendlier Sue Ellen, and smitten by her outstanding résumé, Rose offers the executive administrative assistant position to her; Sue Ellen is hired on the spot, solidifying Carolyn's contempt.
Sue Ellen is overwhelmed at first by her posh new office environment, the confusing technology she must work with daily, and the large workload requested of her by Rose. Adding to her frustration is Gus Brandon, Rose's boyfriend and a fellow GAW employee, who immediately begins hitting on Sue Ellen behind Rose's back. Sue Ellen successfully delegates much of her work to Cathy, an eager-to-help technical writer, and fights off Gus's sleazy advances. She also begins a romantic relationship with Bryan, her former Clown Dog coworker, who turns out to be Carolyn's brother. Although Carolyn repeatedly tries to get Sue Ellen fired, her attempts fail and only further ingratiate Sue Ellen to Rose. Sue Ellen, however, struggles more and more to keep the truth about her double life hidden from Bryan and GAW.
After learning about office money called petty cash, Sue Ellen takes money and comes home with several bags of groceries. She convinces herself that she will be able to pay back the money she stole but half of her paycheck had been taken away for taxes. On top of that, Zach, Melissa, and Walter all steal a majority of the money left and spend it carelessly. The next time she checks there is only $13 in petty cash.
Sue Ellen becomes frightened upon realizing that none of her siblings' purchases are returnable, and she will be held accountable for the missing petty cash. Compounding her distress is bad news from Rose: the company is going under because GAW's dowdy fashions aren't selling amid their buyers, and soon all of them will be out of a job. Around the same time, Sue Ellen and Bryan have a fight and stop speaking to each other.
In a moment of epiphany, Sue Ellen goes out on a limb for GAW by designing brand-new, high-end fashions on her own for GAW. She convinces Rose and the other senior staff members that her hip clothes could pull GAW back out of bankruptcy. Rose is impressed and wants to hold a gala event-type show to reveal GAW's new fashion line to their buyers. Realizing there isn't enough petty cash to rent a hall, Sue Ellen convinces Rose to hold the fashion show at the Crandell house.
Sue Ellen then threatens to turn her and her siblings in so they would help clean up their act and get their home ready to host the GAW event; they use the remaining petty cash to spruce up the house and garden. Sue Ellen gets her high school friends, who have returned from their European vacation, to work as runway models for the show; Zach, Melissa and Walter act as waiters and servers; Kenny becomes cook and caterer for the event. The evening goes off swimmingly, with the audience loving the new GAW clothing line. Right at the show's finale, however, Bryan shows up unexpectedly, quickly followed by a furious Mrs. Crandell, back early from Australia.
Overwhelmed by her lies, Sue Ellen announces the truth to everyone: she's only 17, still in high school, and falsified her entire résumé. She runs off and apologizes personally to Rose, but Rose reassures her that the buyers loved the new fashions and don't care about Sue Ellen's personal life. With GAW's future secured, Rose gladly offers the "real" Sue Ellen another position at GAW, but Sue Ellen declines in favor of pursuing college first. Rose and Sue Ellen exchange a friendly hug before bidding adieu and agreeing to meet for dinner Monday night.
With the party ended and the guests departing, Mrs. Crandell begins to lose her temper, but is quickly calmed down by a now more-mature Sue Ellen. Mom walks around the house, impressed by the cleanliness, expensive new furnishings, and the behavioral turn-around of all her children.
Sue Ellen and Bryan go off alone; she apologizes to him and he forgives her. Just as they embrace and kiss, Mrs. Crandell asks about the whereabouts of Mrs. Sturak. The credits then begin to roll as the film cuts to a scene at the local cemetery, where the two morgue attendants are visiting Mrs. Sturak's grave and saying how nice it was of her to leave them all her money. Her tombstone simply reads: "Nice Old Lady Inside. Died Of Natural Causes."
The New York Post called Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead the best teen hit of 1991.
The film's soundtrack is not sold in stores, but is sold online on Amazon.com and eBay.
Soundtrack:
|
|||||||||||
| Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead | |
|---|---|
|
File:Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Stephen Herek |
| Produced by |
Jeffery Silver Brian Reilly |
| Written by | Neil Landau |
| Starring |
Christina Applegate Joanna Cassidy John Getz Josh Charles |
| Music by | David Newman |
| Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. HBO Films |
| Release date(s) | June 7, 1991 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Gross revenue | $25,196,249[1] |
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a 1991 comedy directed by Stephen Herek starring Christina Applegate.
Applegate stars as a teenager, whose mother leaves for a two-month summer vacation in Australia, putting all five siblings in the care of a strict tyrannical elderly babysitter. When the babysitter suddenly dies in her sleep, Applegate (as the eldest) assumes the role as "head of the household" to keep the freedom of having no parents around. She fakes a resume to get a job in the fashion industry, but proves capable and lucky enough to succeed.
The film also features Joanna Cassidy, Keith Coogan, Josh Charles, Danielle Harris, and then-obscure actor David Duchovny, later of The X-Files fame. The original music score was composed by David Newman.
Contents |
With her mother in Australia all summer, 17-year-old high-school student Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina Applegate) fantasizes of a fun-filled summer of freedom in the Los Angeles suburbs. Her dreams are then abruptly curtailed upon the arrival of elderly Mrs. Sturak (Eda Reiss Merin), whom Mrs. Crandell (Concetta Tomei) has hired as a live-in babysitter for Sue Ellen and her younger siblings: Kenny (Keith Coogan), a heavy metal-loving stoner; Zach (Christopher Pettiet), a romantic ladies' man; Melissa (Danielle Harris), an athletic tomboy; and game show addict Walter (Robert Hy Gorman), the youngest.
Mrs. Sturak reveals her true colors the moment Mrs. Crandell departs: an iron-fisted, whistle-blowing, no-nonsense disciplinarian. Sue Ellen inspires her siblings to rise up against Mrs. Sturak and end her reign of terror. The moment they move in to confront her, however, they discover Mrs. Sturak dead in her chair. The Crandells panic and debate calling the police, or their mother in Australia, but Sue Ellen realizes that doing so jeopardizes any chance for summer fun. They finally decide to seal Mrs. Sturak's body in a trunk, and drop it off anonymously at the local morgue with a note reading: "Nice old lady inside. Died of natural causes."
More panic ensues when the kids realize that all the cash their mother left them for the summer was in an envelope that Mrs. Sturak kept about her person at all times. The Crandell kids now have no money but Sue Ellen decides all she needs is a job. Unfortunately, the only place that hires her is Clown Dog, a fast-food restaurant, where she performs grunt labor in miserable conditions. Despite meeting Bryan (Josh Charles), a handsome and supportive coworker who becomes her boyfriend, Sue Ellen quickly gets fed up with Clown Dog and quits.
Sue Ellen then forges the résumé of a mid-level fashion executive and poses as a 28-year-old as she applies at General Apparel West, a local clothing manufacturer, for an open receptionist position. Although scorned by Carolyn (Jayne Brook), the sarcastic receptionist due for a promotion, Sue Ellen's résumé garners the attention of Rose Lindsey (Joanna Cassidy), the senior vice president of operations at GAW, who offers an executive administrative assistant position to her.
Sue Ellen struggles to keep the truth about her double life hidden from Bryan and GAW. After learning about office money called petty cash, Sue Ellen "borrows" enough for groceries. She convinces herself that she will be able to pay back the money she stole, but half of her paycheck is taken away for taxes and her siblings used even more petty cash to purchase nonreturnable items.
Compounding her distress is bad news from Rose: the company is going under because GAW's dowdy fashions aren't selling amid their buyers, and soon all of them will be out of a job. In a moment of epiphany, Sue Ellen goes out on a limb for GAW by designing high-end fashions on her own for GAW. She convinces Rose and the other senior staff members that her hip clothes could pull GAW back out of bankruptcy. Rose is impressed and wants to hold a gala event-type show to reveal GAW's new fashion line to their buyers. Realizing there isn't enough petty cash to rent a hall, Sue Ellen convinces Rose to hold the fashion show at the Crandell house.
Working together with her siblings and friends, they use the remaining petty cash to spruce up the house and host the event themselves. The evening goes off swimmingly, with the audience loving the new GAW clothing line. Right at the show's finale, however, Bryan shows up unexpectedly, quickly followed by a furious Mrs. Crandell, back early from Australia.
Overwhelmed by her lies, Sue Ellen announces the truth to everyone and apologizes to Rose, but Rose assures her that the buyers loved the new fashions and don't care about Sue Ellen's personal life. With GAW's future secured, Rose gladly offers the "real" Sue Ellen another position at GAW, but Sue Ellen declines in favor of pursuing college first.
With the party ended and the guests departing, Mrs. Crandell begins to lose her temper, but is quickly calmed down by a now more-mature Sue Ellen. Mom walks around the house, impressed by the cleanliness, expensive new furnishings, and the behavioral turn-around of all her children. As Sue Ellen and Bryan embrace and kiss, Mrs. Crandell asks about the whereabouts of Mrs. Sturak. The credits then begin to roll as the film cuts to a scene at the local cemetery, where the two morgue attendants are visiting Mrs. Sturak's grave and saying how nice it was of her to leave them all her money. Her tombstone simply reads: "Nice Old Lady Inside. Died Of Natural Causes."
The New York Post called Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead the best teen hit of 1991.[citation needed]
It has been reported that a reboot of the film, produced by The Mark Goodwin Company, is currently in the works. Ashley Tisdale is currently in talks to star in the film as Melissa Crandell. The current title for the film is "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Back".[1]
| Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead |
| ||||||||||||||
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is a 1991 film about five kids having to take care of themselves when their babysitter dies while their mother is on a 2-month trip to Australia.
Contents |
.....Kenny Crandell Swell will you hurry up Melissa & Zach are beating each other over the last Sno Ball It's the last food we got.
   | The IMDb entry on the film - Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
