Johnny Dangerously!

Year: 1984
Director: Amy Heckerling
Stars: Michael Keaton, Marilu Henner, Joe Piscopo, Griffin Dunne, Peter Boyle, Danny Devito, Maureen Stapleton

It’s the 1930’s and we find kind-hearted, good-natured Johnny Kelly (Keaton) at work in his pet shop. Johnny is a bit like Dr Doolittle: he talks to the animals, feeds them regularly, and above all, tries to turn an honest dollar.

One day, he catches a kid trying to steal a puppy, and as punishment the kid is forced to sit and listen to Johnny’s tale – a tale of crime, glamour, and adventure…..

Turns out that Johnny’s mother (Stapleton) is a typical irish washerwoman, who also happens to be a hypochondriac. She’s always needing money to pay for the treatment she feels she needs and so, while his studious brother Tommy (Dunne) studies law, Johnny goes out to work. He gets caught up with local gang boss Jock Dundee (Boyle) when needing a few extra bucks for his mother. Tagging along on a raid on a rival casino, he manages to snatch the raid from the jaws of failure and turn it into a glorious success. His future is secured – but not as honest Johnny Kelly, but under his new name – Johnny Dangerously!

Time progresses and whilst Johnny makes enemies, such as the slimy Danny Vermin (Piscopo), he also makes friends, especially Lil (Henner) a singer in Dundee’s club who is curvier than a very, very curvy thing. Stars, flowers, rainbows, and soon they are married and living in magnificent splendour. Johnny always stays one step ahead of the law and his family – a task that becomes even harder when brother Tommy becomes District Attorney after turning in his boss the DA (Devito) for fraud and embezzlement. Johnny can’t let his family know what he does for a living, despite the close attentions of Tommy, the new DA – it would kill his mother.

When Jock Dundee is nearly killed by a booby-trap bomb in his toilet, Johnny takes over the gang, and tries hard to turn them all legit. But this is not enough for Danny Vermin, who shops Johnny to his brother the DA, and takes over the gang whilst Johnny is sent to death row, framed for murder.

Will Johnny escape in time to foil Danny Vermin’s plot to kill Tommy and rule the city by fear? Only watching the end of the movie will tell!

Johnny Dangerously! is undoubtably one for watching whilst wearing a corset. There are sight gags from start to finish, the strangest situations and incredible dialogue that really should be locked away, never to be quoted again! It’s very much along the lines of the Police Squad/Airplane/Top Secret type of movie and this is helped by some great performances, particularly by Joe Piscopo as the extremely nasty Danny Vermin. Danny DeVito is also very good in a cameo role and look out for Dom DeLuise as the Pope.

It’s a laugh a minute, and then some. If you like sight gags, then this is the movie for you.