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Twins
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 low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks.
1988 · Directed by Ivan Reitman · 107 min · Comedy · Screenplay in the scene database · 13 frames
Tagline
Only their mother can tell them apart.
Plot
A secret genetic experiment attempts to produce the perfect child by combining the DNA of several distinguished individuals. The embryo unexpectedly split, resulting in twins: Julius and Vincent Benedict. Their mother, Mary Ann Benedict, is told that Julius died at birth and is never informed of Vincent's existence. The boys are raised separately, each unaware of the other. Julius is taken to a remote island and raised by one of the scientists. He grows into an optimistic, physically imposing, highly educated man, though he remains naïve about the outside world. Vincent, meanwhile, is abandoned at a Los Angeles orphanage and grows up alone, becoming a short, balding, cynical small-time criminal.
On Julius's thirty-fifth birthday, he learns of Vincent's existence and travels to Los Angeles to find him. He locates Vincent in jail and bails him out, though Vincent is skeptical of Julius's claim that they are twins, given their obvious physical differences. After Julius protects him from loan sharks, Vincent begins to accept him. Vincent introduces Julius to his girlfriend, Linda Mason, and her sister Marnie. While Linda reluctantly tolerates Vincent's lifestyle, Marnie dislikes his selfish treatment of her sister. Julius, inexperienced with women, fails to notice Marnie's attraction to him.
Vincent reveals a document suggesting their mother did not die in childbirth, but refuses to search for her, convinced she abandoned him. Soon afterward, he steals a Cadillac, intending to sell it, only to discover a prototype fuel injector hidden in the trunk. Realizing it was meant to be delivered to wealthy industrialist Beetroot McKinley in Houston for $5 million, Vincent decides to deliver it himself and collect the payment to settle his debts. Meanwhile, Webster, the ruthless courier originally responsible for the delivery, begins tracking Vincent down.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: William Osborne, Timothy Harris, William Davies, Herschel Weingrod
- Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
- Edited by: Donn Cambern, Sheldon Kahn
- Music: Georges Delerue, Randy Edelman
- Production design: James D. Bissell
- Produced by: Ivan Reitman
Cast
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Julius Benedict
- Danny DeVito as Vincent Benedict
- Kelly Preston as Marnie Mason
- Chloe Webb as Linda Mason
- Bonnie Bartlett as Mary Ann Benedict
- Marshall Bell as Webster
- Trey Wilson as Beetroot McKinley
- David Caruso as Al Greco
- Hugh O'Brian as Granger
- Tony Jay as Werner
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Universal Pictures
- Budget: $15,000,000
- Box office: $216,614,388
- Themes: experiment, orphanage, twins, perfection, low intelligence, jet engine, twins separated at birth, artist colony, same habits, opposites
More by Ivan Reitman
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