Dennis the Menace (1993 film) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dennis the Menace |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Nick Castle |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | John Hughes |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Thomas E. Ackerman |
| Editing by | Alan Heim |
| Studio | Hughes Entertainment Hank Ketcham Enterprises |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | June 25, 1993 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Money made | $117.2 million |
Dennis the Menace (released in the United Kingdom as Dennis to avoid confusion with an identically named comic strip character) is a 1993 American family comedy film based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name. It was directed by Nick Castle and written and coproduced by John Hughes, and distributed by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment label. It concerns the misadventures of a mischievous child (Mason Gamble) who wreaks havoc on his next door neighbor, George Wilson (Walter Matthau), usually hangs out with his friends, Joey McDonald (Kellen Hathaway) and Margaret Wade (Amy Sakasitz), and is followed everywhere by his dog, Ruff. It also features a cameo appearance by Jeannie Russell, who played Margaret on the original 1959 TV series.
Released on June 25, 1993, the film was a commercial success, grossing $117.2 million on a $35 million budget despite receiving mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. A direct-to-video sequel called Dennis the Menace Strikes Again was later released in 1998 without the cast from this film. A second one called A Dennis the Menace Christmas was released in 2007 with a different cast from both this film and the second one.
Contents
Plot
Five-year-old Dennis Mitchell is a constant source of mischief, especially to his retired next door neighbor, George Wilson. George pretends to be asleep to avoid Dennis, who mistakes this for illness and shoots an aspirin into his mouth with a slingshot. Dennis' parents, Henry and Alice, try to discipline him as they get ready for work, and leave him with his friend, Joey McDonald, at the home of their classmate, Margaret Wade, whom they dislike. As they fix up an abandoned treehouse in the woods, itinerant criminal Switchblade Sam arrives in town.
Vacuuming up spilt paint in the garage, Dennis inadvertently shoots a glob of it onto George’s barbecue grill; tasting it, he suspects Dennis. Henry and Alice leave Dennis with a teenage babysitter named Polly, who invites her boyfriend, Mickey, over. Sneaking outside, Dennis pranks them by ringing the doorbell and hiding until Mickey tapes a thumbtack to it. Switchblade Sam commits a string of robberies throughout town, and is noticed by Chief Bennett.
Bringing the sleeping George an apology card, Dennis plays with his dentures, loses the two front incisors, and replaces them with Chiclets just before he has his picture taken for the local newspaper. Henry and Alice both leave on business trips, but are unable to find anyone willing to babysit Dennis. George's wife, Martha, agrees to let him stay with them, happy to treat him as the child they never had. George is infuriated by slipping in Dennis' spilt bath water, and discovering Dennis has replaced his nasal spray with mouthwash and the latter with toilet cleanser. Dennis lets his dog, Ruff, in the Wilsons’ house, leading George to mistake him for Martha in the dark living room. In the attic, Dennis' carelessness causes George to slip on split mothballs and nearly get crushed by a canoe which contains the garden lanterns he's looking for.
George has been chosen to host his garden club's "Summer Floraganza", having spent almost forty years growing a rare orchid that will finally bloom that night. During the party, Dennis presses the garage door button (thinking it's a doorbell, repeating his earlier ding-dong ditch prank), and it opens and upends the entire dessert table, and is angrily sent to his bedroom. While the Wilsons and their guests await the flower’s nocturnal display, Switchblade Sam robs their house, stealing George’s antique coin collection. Dennis, who heard him and then discovers the empty safe, alerts George, distracting everyone from the flower's brief blooming, and it dies afterward. Furious and unaware that he has been robbed, George coldly chastises Dennis, who flees to the woods in sadness and is caught by Switchblade Sam. Henry and Alice arrive home to learn he has disappeared, prompting a town-wide search, and even a guilt-ridden George sets out to look for him after realizing that he was telling the truth about the robbery.
Switchblade Sam prepares to leave town with Dennis as an unsuspecting hostage. Showing him the proper way to tie him up, Dennis handcuffs him, loses the key, unintentionally bludgeons him, and sets him on fire. Just as Dennis discovers George’s stolen coins and realizes Switchblade Sam is a thief, the latter attempts to stab him but is snared in a rope caught by a passing train. The next morning, Dennis returns home with the captured Switchblade Sam and George's recovered coins, to the relief of George and the entire neighborhood. Switchblade Sam is arrested, and Dennis naïvely returns his knife and he attempts to stab him with it again, but Chief Bennett closes the police car door on his hand, causing him to drop the knife down a storm drain and wince in pain before being driven away.
Dennis and George make amends, and Alice mentions that she can bring Dennis to work with her as her office now has a day care center. George insists he would be happy to watch Dennis himself, just as Dennis accidentally flings a flaming marshmallow onto his forehead. During the closing credits, Dennis gets Alice's condescending coworker, Andrea, caught in the office copy machine.
Cast
- Mason Gamble as Dennis Mitchell
- Walter Matthau as George Wilson
- Joan Plowright as Martha Wilson
- Christopher Lloyd as Switchblade Sam
- Lea Thompson as Alice Mitchell
- Robert Stanton as Henry Mitchell
- Amy Sakasitz as Margaret Wade
- Kellen Hathaway as Joey McDonald
- Paul Winfield as Chief Bennett
- Natasha Lyonne as Polly
- Devin Ratray as Mickey
- Hank Johnston as Gunther Beckman
- Melinda Mullins as Andrea
- Billie Bird as Edith Butterwell
- Bill Erwin as Edward Little
- Arnold Stang as Photographer
- Ben Stein as Boss (only cameo shot at meeting)
- Jeannie Russell as Neighbor
Production
Production President Terry Semel wanted Tim Burton to direct the film, but executive producer Ernest Chambers rejected the idea and instead hired John Hughes as the writer. Mason Gamble won the role of Dennis Mitchell after beating out a reported 20,000 other children who had auditioned for it.
The film premiered on June 25, 1993. It was known simply as Dennis in the United Kingdom in order to avoid confusion with an unrelated British comic strip, also called "Dennis the Menace", which also debuted in 1951.
Music
The film's music was composed by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith, who was John Hughes' first and only choice to write the score for it. The short-lived Big Screen Records label released an album of Goldsmith's score alongside the film in July 1993; La-La Land Records issued the complete score in April 2014 as part of their Expanded Archival Collection on Warner Bros. titles.
Additionally, three old-time pop hits were featured in the film: "Don't Hang Up" by The Orlons, "Whatcha Know Joe" by Jo Stafford (from the 1963 album, Getting Sentimental over Tommy Dorsey) and "A String of Pearls" by Glenn Miller.
Video game
The film also spawned a platforming video game for the Amiga, Super NES, and Game Boy platforms. It included stages based on Mr. Wilsons' house, the great outdoors, and a boiler room among others.
