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Moonstruck
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.
1987 · Directed by Norman Jewison · 102 min · Comedy · Drama · Romance · Screenplay in the scene database · 18 frames
Tagline
Life. Family. Love.
Plot
Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini works as a bookkeeper and lives in Brooklyn Heights with her parents Cosmo and Rose and her paternal grandfather. Loretta's boyfriend, Johnny Cammareri, proposes to her before leaving for Sicily to tend to his dying mother. Loretta accepts, insisting on following tradition as she believes failing to do so led to her first husband's sudden death after two years of marriage.
Johnny asks Loretta to invite his estranged younger brother Ronny—whom Johnny hasn't spoken to in five years—to the wedding. Cosmo, who runs a successful plumbing business, dislikes Johnny and is reluctant to pay for a formal wedding. Rose is relieved that Loretta is not in love with Johnny, as she warns that the men women love can hurt them the most.
Loretta visits Ronny at the bakery, but Ronny refuses to attend the wedding. He says he was engaged once, but his fiancée left him after he lost his hand in a bread slicer. Ronny blames Johnny for causing the accident by distracting him. Loretta is persistent and cooks Ronny a steak at his apartment, explaining that Ronny is like a wolf who gnaws off its own paw to escape a trap. The accident was not Johnny's fault. Ronny was simply escaping a bad relationship. Ronny reacts furiously and passionately, kissing Loretta. Ronny carries Loretta to his bed where they have sex.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: John Patrick Shanley
- Cinematography: David Watkin
- Edited by: Lou Lombardo
- Music: Dick Hyman
- Production design: Philip Rosenberg
- Produced by: Norman Jewison, Patrick J. Palmer
Cast
- Cher as Loretta Castorini
- Nicolas Cage as Ronny Cammareri
- Vincent Gardenia as Cosmo Castorini
- Olympia Dukakis as Rose Castorini
- Danny Aiello as Mr. Johnny Cammareri
- Julie Bovasso as Rita Cappomaggi
- John Mahoney as Perry
- Louis Guss as Raymond Capomaggi
- Feodor Chaliapin Jr. as Old Man
- Anita Gillette as Mona
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Italian
- Studios: Star Partners, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Patrick Palmer & Norman Jewison Productions
- Budget: $15,000,000
- Box office: $122,100,000
- Themes: opera, marriage proposal, husband wife relationship, italian american, sicily, italy, widow, superstition, full moon, man woman relationship, mama's boy
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