Paul Mazursky's Down and Out in Beverly Hills is essentially Jean Renoir's Boudu Saved From Drowning revisited. Mazursky produced, directed and co-wrote the film with Leon Capetanos for Touchstone Films in association with Silver Screen Partners II. Down and Out in Beverly Hills is perhaps Mazursky's most overt comedy, not only a comedy of manners, but some hilarious sight gags, many of which are supplied by a Scottish border collie.
Mazursky, a master of creating interesting and somehow lovable characters, transplants Boudu, the bum from France to posh and glitzy Beverly Hills, changes his name to Jerry and drops him into Dave and Barbara Whiteman's swimming pool, instead of the Seine. The result is a story more contemporary and richly textured than Renoir's 1931 film, which was based on a French play of the same name by Rene Fauchois. By structuring the story around the rich of Beverly Hills, Mazursky was able to draw on his own experiences of living in the area and comment not only on that lifestyle, but also on the people who live in Beverly Hills: their guilt, problems, hang-ups. Through the excellent production design of Pato Guzman, who also co-produced, Mazursky was also able to paint a picture of the ambience, mainly through the use of colors, of Southern California.
Down and Out in Beverly Hills is the story of Jerry Baskin (Nick Nolte), a bum who wanders the streets of Beverly Hills with a shopping cart and his only companion, a mangy-looking little dog named Kerouac. When Kerouac is lured away by a woman jogger offering food, Jerry feels abandoned and dislocated and loses his will to live. Wandering aimlessly through the alleys behind the great Beverly Hills mansions, he stumbles into the Whiteman's backyard and decides to commit suicide in their swimming pool. He is saved by Dave Whiteman (Richard Dreyfuss), a nouveau riche clothes hanger manufacturer, and the fun and the conflicts begin.
Whiteman, a ...