Taglines: You never choose love. Love chooses you.
Frankie and Johnny movie storyline. Johnny (Pacino) is a middle-aged man, just released from prison who’s looking for a job. He’s hired as a short-order cook in a local diner where he meets Frankie, an emotionally scarred waitress who is trying to move on with her life after getting cheated on in her last relationship, three years prior to the start of the film.
Prior to that, she experienced a physically and emotionally abusive relationship. Her only friends seem to be her friendly gay neighbor Tim (Lane) and her fellow waitresses at the diner. She has chosen safety in solitude. Johnny attempts to win Frankie’s heart but quickly realizes it will be quite a challenge in this true-to-life romantic dramedy.
Frankie and Johnny is a 1991 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Garry Marshall, and starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer in their first film together since Scarface (1983). Héctor Elizondo, Nathan Lane and Kate Nelligan appeared in supporting roles. The original score was composed by Marvin Hamlisch.
The screenplay for Frankie and Johnny was adapted by Terrence McNally from his own off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987), which featured Kenneth Welsh and Kathy Bates. The most notable alteration in the film was the addition of several supporting characters and various locations; in the original play, only the two eponymous characters appeared onstage, and the entire drama took place in one apartment.
The title is a reference to the traditional American popular song “Frankie and Johnny”, first published in 1904, which tells the story of a woman who finds her man making love to another woman and shoots him dead. Another film of the same name, Frankie and Johnny (1966) starring Elvis Presley and Donna Douglas, takes its name from the song but is in no other way related to this film.
Frankie and Johnny (1991)
Directed by: Garry Marshall
Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Héctor Elizondo, Nathan Lane, Kate Nelligan, Jane Morris, Greg Lewis, Al Fann, Ele Keats, Fernando López, Glenn Plummer
Screenplay by: Terrence McNally
Production Design by: Albert Brenner
Cinematography by: Dante Spinotti
Film Editing by: Jacqueline Cambas, Battle Davis
Costume Design by: Rosanna Norton
Set Decoration by: Kathe Klopp
Art Direction by: Carol Winstead Wood
Music by: Marvin Hamlisch
MPAA Rating: R for language and sensuality.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: October 11, 1991
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