Taglines: One Man’s Mission To Teach The Few, The Proud… The Impossible!
Renaissance Man movie storyline. Bill Rago (Danny DeVito) is a divorced advertising executive down on his luck. When he loses his job in Detroit, the unemployment agency finds him a temporary job: teaching a class at a nearby U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane.
Initially unenthusiastic, Rago finds that he has only six weeks to teach a group of “squeakers,” or low achievers, the basics of comprehension and use of English language. Most of the soldiers are only semi-literate and equally unenthusiastic.
Unable to connect with his pupils and desperate to spark their interest, Rago quotes from his favorite play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare. They are unfamiliar with it (or even the concept of a “play”) and a small initial spark of interest is generated. He casts each student as a character in a classroom reading, then takes everyone on a field trip across the Blue Water Bridge to Stratford, Ontario, to a live performance by professionals. He introduces them to Shakespeare’s Henry V as well.
Despite the disapproval of their hard-as-nails Drill Sergeant Cass (Hines), and the loss of one of the trainees, Pvt. Hobbs, who is revealed as a drug dealer hiding under an assumed identity, Rago sets an end-of-term oral examination. Even the friendly Capt. Murdoch in charge of the project doesn’t expect the soldiers to pass Rago’s class, adding that if they fail, they will be discharged from the Army.
Hobbs writes a letter to Rago and Murdoch, whose letters to the prison warden may result in him getting an early parole. Hobbs says he read Othello in the prison library (the librarian said he was the first inmate in 16 years to request Shakespeare) and was thinking about taking college classes once he’s released.
Renaissance Man is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Penny Marshall, and stars Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Lillo Brancato, Stacey Dash, Cliff Robertson, Ann Cusack, Ben Wright, Kadeem Hardison and Mark Wahlberg. In Australia, the film is known under the title of Army Intelligence.
Renaissance Man (1994)
Directed by: Penny Marshall
Starring: Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Lillo Brancato, Stacey Dash, Cliff Robertson, Ann Cusack, Ben Wright, Kadeem Hardison, Mark Wahlberg
Screenplay by: Jim Burnstein
Production Design by: Geoffrey Kirkland
Cinematography by: Adam Greenberg
Film Editing by: George Bowers, Battle Davis
Costume Design by: Betsy Heimann
Set Decoration by: Jennifer Williams
Art Direction by: Richard L. Johnson
Music by: Hans Zimmer
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some language.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: June 3, 1994
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