Kingpin movie storyline. Roy Munson was raised to be the best bowler in the world (trained early on by his father). But a fellow bowler, Ernie McCracken and a misunderstanding with some rough punks, leaves poor Roy with the loss of his bowling hand! Not to let this get him down, he gets a prosthetic hand and becomes a travelling sales man. But it’s really all down hill for him from that night on until … One day he meets Ishmael who is Amish and sneaks away from the farm to bowl (his fellow Amish would disown him if they knew)!
Roy convinces Ishmael to let him be his trainer and he’ll make him the best bowler the world has ever seen. Reluctantly Ishmael agrees to go on the road and shortly afterwards actually finds that life outside the farm is quite fun. Soon their paths cross that of Ernie McCracken who is still a top ranking bowler. While Roy’s career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds and all the babes! They both square off for the ultimate bowling championship … to see which one truly IS the champion.
Kingpin is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers and starring Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel, and Bill Murray. The film stars Harrelson as an alcoholic ex-professional bowler who becomes the manager for a promising Amish talent played by Quaid. It was filmed in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (as a stand-in for Scranton), Amish country, and Reno, Nevada.
Professional baseball pitcher Roger Clemens appears in a cameo as the character Skidmark during the restaurant scene. Professional bowlers Parker Bohn III, Randy Pedersen and Mark Roth appear as opponents that Roy Munson defeats on his way to the final match in Reno against McCracken.
The film also features several musical acts. Jonathan Richman (who would play an even bigger musical role in the Farrelly brothers’ next film There’s Something About Mary) fronts the band performing in the restaurant scene, while Urge Overkill performs the national anthem at the tournament in Reno. In the film’s final scene Blues Traveler perform their song “But Anyway” while dressed in traditional Amish clothing.
Kingpin (1996)
Directed by: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Bill Murray, Vanessa Angel, Chris Elliott, William Jordan, Richard Tyson, Lin Shaye, Prudence Wright Holmes, Daniel Greene
Screenplay by: Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan
Production Design by: Sydney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Cinematography by: Mark Irwin
Film Editing by: Christopher Greenbury
Costume Design by: Mary Zophres
Set Decoration by: Bradford Johnson
Art Direction by: Arlan Jay Vetter
Music by: Freedy Johnston
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude sex-related humor and a drug scene.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: July 26, 1996
Views: 140
