Twins 1988 | 80's Movie Guide

Taglines: Only their mother can tell them apart. Twins movie synopsis. Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a South Seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate lowlife and is about to be killed by loan sharks when Julius discovers that he has a brother and begins looking for him. Twins is a 1988 American buddy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman about unlikely twins (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito) who were separated at birth. The core of the film is the contrast between DeVito's streetwise persona matched with Schwarzenegger's intellectual persona. The original music score was composed by Georges Delerue and Randy Edelman (Edelman would score three more films for the director, whereas this was Delerue's only work for him). The film was a commercial success, earning $11 million on its opening weekend, and going on to gross $216 million worldwide. Instead of taking their usual salaries for the film, Schwarzenegger and DeVito both agreed with the studio to take 20% of the film's box office returns; this resulted in them receiving the biggest paychecks of their movie careers. About the Story Julius Benedict and Vincent Benedict are fraternal twins, the result of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to combine the DNA of six fathers to produce the perfect child. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and twins were born. The mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all. Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles and believes his mother abandoned him. With no one but himself to rely on, Vincent escaped from the orphanage and became an indebted, small-time crook. Julius was raised on a South Pacific island by Professor Werner, where he engages in intense physical training and extensive study. Each twin is unaware of the other's existence. On Julius's 35th birthday, Julius is revealed he has a twin brother. With Professor Werner's blessing, Julius proceeds to the United States to find his brother. Julius discovers that Vincent lives in L.A. and eventually tracks him down in jail for unpaid parking tickets. Julius bails Vincent out, but Vincent does not believe his story and abandons him in a car park. Julius pursues Vincent to his workplace and finds him being beaten up by Morris Klane, a loan shark enforcer. Julius subdues Morris, earning Vincent's trust and respect. He later meets Vincent's girlfriend Linda Mason and enters a romantic relationship with her sister Marnie. Over dinner, Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage that shows their mother is actually still alive, but believing that she abandoned him at birth, Vincent shows no interest in finding her. Julius tracks one of their six fathers to the address on the document. The father directs Julius to Mitchell Traven in New Mexico, the other professor who headed the experiment. Vincent steals a late-model Cadillac Sedan de Ville for his chop shop contact and finds a prototype fuel injector in the trunk that was to be delivered to an industrialist, Beetroot McKinley, in Houston, for five million dollars. Vincent decides to pose as the delivery man and deliver the fuel injector himself so he can collect the money and pay off his debts. He reluctantly allows Julius, Linda and Marnie to accompany him to New Mexico to find professor Traven. Mr. Webster, the real delivery man, begins pursuing Vincent. In New Mexico, Traven reveals the truth to the twins and directs them to Santa Fe, where their mother lives in an art colony. On the way to Santa Fe, the twins are accosted by the Klane brothers, but they fight them off for the last time. At the art colony in Santa Fe, a painter informs Julius and Vincent that their mother has died. They leave, unaware that the painter is in fact their mother, Mary Ann, who didn't believe their story. Twins (1988) Directed by: Ivan Reitman Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Kelly Preston, Chloe Webb, Bonnie Bartlett, Trey Wilson, Marshall Bell, David Caruso, Nehemiah Persoff, Tom McCleister Screenplay by: William Davies, William Osborne Production Design by: James D. Bissell Cinematography by: Andrzej Bartkowiak Film Editing by: Donn Cambern, Sheldon Kahn Costume Design by: Gloria Gresham Set Decoration by: John T. Walker Art Direction by: Christopher Burian-Mohr Music by: Georges Delerue, Randy Edelman Distributed by: Universal Pictures Release Date: December 9, 1988