Taglines: You are who you pretend to be.
Taking Care of Business movie storyline. Jimmy Dworski (Jim Belushi) is a criminal serving the last 48 hours of a jail sentence. He wins a couple of baseball tickets by calling a radio quiz show. With help of other inmates, he escapes to go watch the game.
When by chance he finds the Filofax of executive Spencer Barns(Charles Grodin) who loses it while traveling on a business weekend. Jimmy finds cash, credit cards and the key to a big mansion. He jumps on the opportunity and starts posing as Barns. While the real Barnes is trying to find his Filofax he gets in all sorts of trouble. How will things turn out when the two finally meet?
Taking Care of Business is an 1990 American comedy film, starring James Belushi and Charles Grodin. It was directed by Arthur Hiller. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Filofax. The movie’s name matches the title song, Takin’ Care of Business, by Randy Bachman, recorded by the Canadian rock group Bachman–Turner Overdrive (BTO).
About the Story
A convicted car thief and diehard Chicago Cubs fan, Jimmy Dworski (Belushi) wins tickets to the World Series. Unfortunately, he still has a couple of days left to serve in prison and the warden (Héctor Elizondo) won’t let him leave and come back. With the help of other inmates, Jimmy stages a riot so he can sneak out of prison to see the game. On the way, he finds the filofax of uptight and spineless yuppie advertising executive Spencer Barnes (Grodin), which promises a reward if it is found.
Over the next day, Jimmy takes on Barnes’ identity —- staying in the Malibu beach house of Spencer’s boss, flirting with the boss’s daughter, even taking a meeting with a powerful Japanese food company magnate named Sakamoto (Mako Iwamatsu). The fake “Spencer”‘s unorthodox methods, such as beating the magnate at tennis and telling him about the poor quality of his food products, gets the attention of the taken aback Sakamoto.
However his unconventional negotiations with the food company insults some of the executives, seemingly ruining Spencer’s reputation. Meanwhile, lacking his precious filofax, the real Spencer Barnes is spiraling into the gutter. Losing all his clothes, his car and money, he has to rely on an old college acquaintance, the neurotic and overbearing Debbie Lipton (Anne De Salvo) who keeps trying to rekindle a relationship with him.
Taking Care of Business (1990)
Directed by: Arthur Hiller
Starring: Jim Belushi, Charles Grodin, Anne De Salvo, Loryn Locklin, Stephen Elliott, Hector Elizondo, Veronica Hamel, Gates McFadden, John de Lancie
Screenplay by: Jill Mazursky, J.J. Abrams
Production Design by: Jon Hutman
Cinematography by: David M. Walsh
Film Editing by: William Reynolds
Costume Design by: Marilyn Matthews
Set Decoration by: Donald Krafft, Linda Spheeris
Music by: Stewart Copeland
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: August 17, 1990
Hits: 431
