| Heartbeeps | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Allan Arkush |
| Screenplay by | John Hill |
| Produced by | Michael Phillips |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Charles Rosher Jr. |
| Edited by | Tina Hirsch |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million[1] |
| Box office | $2,154,696 |
Heartbeeps is a 1981 American romantic-comedy andscience fiction film about two robots who fall in love and decide to strike out on their own.[2] The film was directed byAllan Arkush, written byJohn Hill, and starsAndy Kaufman andBernadette Peters as the robots alongsideRandy Quaid,Kenneth McMillan,Melanie Mayron,Christopher Guest, and the voice ofJerry Garcia in a rare film appearance. It was Kaufman's final performance in a theatrical film.Universal Pictures released the film in the United States on December 18, 1981.
Stan Winston's make-up work forHeartbeeps made him one of the nominees for the inauguralAcademy Award for Best Makeup in 1982, losing toRick Baker forAn American Werewolf in London.[3][4]
ValCom 17485 (Kaufman), a robot designed to be a valet with a specialty in lumber commodities, meets AquaCom 89045 (Peters), a hostess companion robot whose primary function is to assist at poolside parties. At a factory awaiting repairs, they fall in love and decide to escape, stealing a van from the company to do so. They are joined by Catskil, astandup comic robot (which is seen sitting the entire film). His name is a reference to theCatskill resort.
They embark on a quest to find a place to live, as well as satisfy their more immediate need for a fresh electrical supply. They assemble a small robot, Philco (also called Phil), built out of spare parts from the van they stole, whom they treat as their child. Phil speaks in a manner similar toR2-D2.
A malfunctioning law-enforcement robot, the Crimebuster, overhears the orders of the repair workers to get the robots back and goes after the fugitives. With the help of humans who run a junkyard and use Catskil's battery pack, the robots are able to save Phil before running out of power and being returned to the factory. Brought back to the factory, the robots are repeatedly repaired, and their memories cleared. Because they continue to malfunction, they are junked. They are found by the humans who run the junk yard and reassembled. In the junkyard, they live happily and build a sister for Phil named Sophia. The film ends with Crimebuster, after only pretending to have his mind erased, continuing to malfunction and going on another mission to recover the fugitive robots.
Sigourney Weaver was offered a role and was interested in the film, as she wanted to work withAndy Kaufman, but Weaver's agent persuaded her to turn it down.[citation needed]
Because of a strike by theScreen Actors Guild, filming was shut down in July 1980 (along with numerous other movies and television shows). The strike ended at the beginning of October 1980 (filming had started in June).[5]
In his 1999 bookAndy Kaufman: Revealed,Bob Zmuda wrote that Kaufman and Zmuda had "pitched" the screenplay of Kaufman'sThe Tony Clifton Story, a movie about the life and times of his alter-ego Tony Clifton, to Universal Studios. The Universal executives were concerned that Kaufman had not acted in films except for a small role, and they arranged for him to star inHeartbeeps to test whether he could carry a movie. When it became "a box office disaster", plans for the Clifton movie were cancelled.[6]
John Hill adapted the screenplay into a novel,Heartbeeps, published in December 1981.
The film was promoted in magazines such asStarlog andFamous Monsters.[7]
Reviews of the film were negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 0% based on reviews from 6 critics, with an average rating of 1.6/10.[8]
Vincent Canby wrote inThe New York Times that it was "unbearable" and a "dreadfully coy story."[9] Gary Arnold from theWashington Post noted how the film's stars Kaufman and Peters were "unlikely to face serious career setbacks from a minor fiasco only a handful of people will ever see," adding that he faulted the film for having "so little inherent momentum that it seems to need rewinding every few minutes."[10]
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave the film a thumbs down, unfavorably comparing it toStar Wars,The Wizard of Oz and the 1967Jean-Luc Godard filmWeekend.[11]
Kaufman felt the movie was so bad that he personally apologized for it onLate Night with David Letterman, and as a joke, promised to refund the money of everyone who paid to see it.[12]
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn Award | |||
| Best Science Fiction Film | Douglas Green | Nominated | |
| Best Make-Up | Stan Winston | Nominated | |
| 54th Academy Awards | Best Make-Up | Stan Winston[13] | Nominated |
| 1981 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | |||
| Worst Picture* | Universal Pictures[14] | Nominated | |
| Worst Screenplay | Nominated | ||
| Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy | Nominated | ||
| Worst Actor | Andy Kaufman | Nominated | |
| Most Annoying Fake Accent (Male) | Nominated | ||
| Worst On-Screen Couple | Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters | Nominated |
The film was released on DVD on September 13, 2005[15] and on Blu-ray on February 4, 2020.[16]