Lost in America movie storyline. David and Linda Howard are successful yuppies from LA. When he gets a job disappointment, David convinces Linda that they should quit their jobs, liquidate their assets, and emulate the movie Easy Rider, spending the rest of their lives travelling around America…in a Winnebago! (This is a kind of large, luxurious mobile home which suits a 1980’s yuppie more than the counterculture dropout approach of Easy Rider.) His idealized, unrealistic plans soon begin to go spectacularly wrong.
Lost in America is a 1985 satirical road comedy film directed by Albert Brooks and co-written by Brooks with Monica Johnson. The film stars Brooks alongside Julie Hagerty as a married couple who decide to quit their jobs and travel across America. Other cast are Sylvia Farrel, Tina Kincaid, Candy Ann Brown, Maggie Roswell, Hans Wagner and Brandy Rubin.
About the Story
David and Linda Howard are typical 1980s yuppies in Los Angeles who are fed up with their lifestyle. He works in an advertising agency and she for a department store. But after he fails to receive a promotion he was counting on and is instead asked to transfer to the firm’s New York office, David angrily insults his boss and is fired. He coaxes his wife to quit her job as well and seek a new adventure.
The Howards decide to sell their house, liquidate their assets, drop out of society, “like in Easy Rider”, and travel the country in a Winnebago recreational vehicle. They leave L.A. with a “nest egg” of a hundred thousand dollars, but do not get very far. The plan goes awry when Linda loses all their savings playing roulette at the Desert Inn Casino in Las Vegas, where a desperate David tries in vain to persuade a casino manager to give the money back.
With nowhere to go, the couple quarrels at the Hoover Dam, then ends up in Safford, Arizona. David unsuccessfully applies for a delivery job at a local pharmacy and resorts to an employment agency. Obnoxiously reminded by a counselor about being fired from his high-paying job in advertising, David accepts the best position available—as a crossing guard, taunted by local school kids.
Lost in America (1985)
Directed by: Albert Brooks
Starring: Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty, Sylvia Farrel, Tina Kincaid, Candy Ann Brown, Maggie Roswell, Hans Wagner, Brandy Rubin
Screenplay by: Albert Brooks, Monica Mcgowan Johnson
Production Design by: Richard Sawyer
Cinematography by: Eric Saarinen
Film Editing by: David Finfer
Set Decoration by: Richard C. Goddard
Music by: Arthur B. Rubinstei
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 15, 1985
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