Plot
An eccentric and dogmatic inventor sells his house and takes his family to Central America to build an ice factory in the middle of the jungle...
Release Year: 1986
Rating: 6.6/10 (12,989 voted)
Critic's Score: 49/100
Director:
Peter Weir
Stars: Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, River Phoenix
Storyline An eccentric and dogmatic inventor sells his house and takes his family to Central America to build an ice factory in the middle of the jungle. Conflicts with his family, a local preacher and with nature are only small obstacles to his obsession. Based upon a Paul Theroux novel.
Writers: Paul Theroux, Paul Schrader
Cast: Harrison Ford
-
Allie Fox
Helen Mirren
-
Mother Fox
River Phoenix
-
Charlie Fox
Conrad Roberts
-
Mr. Haddy
Andre Gregory
-
Reverend Spellgood
Martha Plimpton
-
Emily Spellgood
Dick O'Neill
-
Mr. Polski
Jadrien Steele
-
Jerry Fox
Michael Rogers
-
Francis Lungley
Hilary Gordon
-
April Fox
Rebecca Gordon
-
Clover Fox
Jason Alexander
-
Hardware Clerk
Alice Heffernan-Sneed
-
Mrs. Polski
(as Alice Sneed)
Tiger Haynes
-
Mr. Semper
William Newman
-
Captain Smalls
Taglines:
Allie Fox followed his dream to the Mosquito Coast. He planned a paradise. He created a Hell.
Release Date: 26 November 1986
Filming Locations: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $25,000,000
(estimated)
Gross: $14,302,779
(USA)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The film's failure at the box office was mainly attributed to Harrison Ford's performance, which many critics found to be too forced and over-the-top.
Goofs:
Continuity:
While Allie Fox and his family are being lashed by violent winds and near horizontal rain during a hurricane a couple of palm trees in the background are standing perfectly still.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Charlie:
My father was an inventor, a genius with anything mechanical. Nine patents, six pending. He dropped out of Harvard, "to get an education", he said. I grew up with the belief that the world belonged to him, and that everything he said was true. Allie Fox:
Look around ya, how did America get this way? Land of promise, land of opportunity. Give us the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. Have a Coke. Watch TV. Charlie:
Have a nice day. Allie Fox:
Go on welfare. Get free money. Turn to crime - crime pays in this country.
[...]
User Review
Life on La Mosquitia – Chronicles of the Fox Family
Rating: 10/10
Mosquito Coast is one of the best books I have ever read, and the movie
does super well to do justice to that novel. It is also one of Harrison
Ford's best character roles; the eccentricity and opinionated genius of
Allie is done to perfection by him. Peter Weir's brilliant direction is
to be expected considering his other masterpieces – Fearless, also
based on an excellent book of the same name, is one of the best movies
yet. His films (Truman Show, Green Card, and Witness come to mind) tend
to chronicle troubles and eccentric characters to go out on a limb,
literally.
The narration is carefully done, only enough voice-overs to explain the
philosophical implications and underpinnings of the characters'
thoughts and actions. There are, of course, some mysterious elements to
how things happen, which can only be remedied by reading Theroux's book
of the same name.
Taking a very Robinson Crusoe-esquire piece of fiction and putting it
to film is not an easy process. In fact, this is the kind of novel that
can be very easily messed up by the movies with strong action and
adventure type Hollywood direction. Luckily, Weir has done an excellent
job portraying the characters – not so much the plot – of those who
will come to inhabit The Mosquito Coast. In short, not only is Mosquito
Coast a film to watch, it should be required.
RATING: 10/10 "We eat when we're not hungry, drink when we're not
thirsty. We buy what we don't need and throw away everything that's
useful. Why sell a man what he wants? Sell him what he doesn't need.
Pretend he's got eight legs and two stomachs and money to burn. It's
wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong."
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