» Production Date: 1991
» Country: USA
» Runtime: 118 min
» Rating USA: R
» Genre: Drama / Romance / Comedy
» Box-Office Gross USA: $22,773,535

Jane Morris - Nedda
Greg Lewis - Tino

Directed - Garry Marshall
Screenplay - Terrence McNally (based upon his own play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune)
Producer - Garry Marshall
Co-Producer - Nick Abdo
Executive producers - Charles Mulvehill, Alexandra Rose & Michael Lloyd
Photography - Dante Spinotti
Production Design - Albert Brenner
Original Music - Marvin Hamlisch
Song "Frankie and Johnny [A Man and A Woman]" - Terence Trent D'Arby
Costume Design - Rosanna Norton
Film Editing - Jacqueline Cambas & Battle Davis
Casting - Lynn Stalmaster

Production Company - Paramount Pictures

Terrence McNally's stage play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune was a two-character piece, which starred Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham on Broadway.

Garry Marshall's film version of the McNally play streamlines the title to Frankie and Johnny, expands the dramatis personae to include at least a dozen fascinating characters, and "glamorizes" the decidedly unglamorous Frankie and Johnny in the forms of Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino (their first co-starring stint since Scarface).

Purists carped at the changes, but overall the film is likeable enough to transcend these carps. While serving an 18-month sentence on a forgery charge, Johnny (Al Pacino) discovers the joys of cooking and classical literature. Upon his release, he is hired by gruff but good-hearted New York diner owner Nick (played by Garry Marshall "regular" Hector Elizondo). Also working for Nick is a waitress named Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer). When Johnny expresses interest in Frankie, she keeps him at arm's length, her mistrust of men stemming from an unmentioned but obviously traumatic experience in her past.

Eventually, however, Frankie and Johnny do get together, their curious relationship setting the stage for a dramatic denouement wherein both lovers bare their souls. The bulk of the original McNally play is concentrated in the film's final 20 minutes; the rest of the picture is a kaleidoscope of comic and poignant vignettes and quick-sketch character studies.

Of the newly minted characters, the standout is Nathan Lane in the traditional "gay best friend/severest critic" role: he plays the character so effectively that one forgets he's essentially a cliché. As for the stars, Al Pacino is ideally cast as Johnny, but Michelle Pfeiffer, superb though she is, seems a bit ill at ease as the emotionally tattered Frankie; she totally wins the audience's hearts, however, in the film's memorable bowling-alley sequence. Smoothing over the rough spots in Frankie and Johnny is the evocative musical score by Marvin Hamlisch.

» Playwright Terrence McNally originally wrote the role of Frankie for Kathy Bates. Johnny was played by Kenneth Welsh in the 1987 Off-Broadway production of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" that starred Bates.

» Kathy Bates campaigned to get the role in the film, but lost out to Michelle Pfeiffer.

» In a scene at the beginning, Frankie is on a bus reading a magazine. On the front cover is Penny Marshall, the sister of Garry Marshall who directed the movie.

» One scene called for actor Al Pacino to be surprised after opening a door. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) was filming in a nearby studio, so director Garry Marshall arranged for Kirk and Spock be on the other side of the door that Pacino opened.

» The football team on the poster behind Nick when Johnny enters the restaurant for the first time is PAOK from Thessaloniki, Greece, with a double-headed eagle as its emblem.

» New York City, New York, USA
» Raleigh Studios - 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

» Original Title: Frankie & Johnny
» Spanish Title: Frankie y Johnny
» French Title: Frankie & Johnny
» Italian Title: Paura d'amare
» German Title: Frankie und Johnny
» Hungarian Title: Krumplirózsa
» Latin-American Title: Frankie y Johnny

» USA - 11 October 1991
» Argentina - 19 December 1991
» Germany - 19 December 1991
» Austria - 20 December 1991
» Netherlands - 17 January 1992

» Sweden - 24 January 1992
» Spain - 31 January 1992
» France - 5 February 1992
» Australia - 6 February 1992
» Finland - 7 February 1992

» 1992 - BAFTA Awards
BAFTA Film Award - Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Kate Nelligan (Won)

» 1992 - GLAAD Media Awards
GLAAD Media Award - Outstanding Film (Won)

» 1992 - Golden Globes, USA
Golden Globe - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical): Michelle Pfeiffer (Nominated)

» 1991 - National Board of Review, USA
NBR Award - Best Supporting Actress: Kate Nelligan (Won)

Sources: IMdB.