Bushwhacked (film)

Bushwhacked

Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by Greg Beeman
Produced by Charles B. Wessler
Paul Schiff
Written by John Jordan
Danny Byers
Tommy Swerdlow
Michael Goldberg
Starring Daniel Stern
Ari Greenberg
Jon Polito
Anthony Heald
Brad Sullivan
Natalie West
Music by Bill Conti
Cinematography Theo van de Sande
Edited by Ross Albert
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • August 4, 1995 (1995-08-04)
Running time
 90 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $7.9 million (U.S. only)[1]

Bushwhacked is a 1995 comedy, action and adventure[2] film starring Daniel Stern, Jon Polito, Anthony Heald and Brad Sullivan. This was Greg Beeman's last theatrical film before he moved on to direct television movies for Disney Channel. This also marked Sullivan's last theatrical appearance before his retirement in 2000 and death in 2008. It was originally planned to be a spin off film to the Home Alone franchise with Daniel Stern reprising his role as Marv.

Plot

Max Grabelski (Daniel Stern) is involved with delivering packages to a millionaire named Reinhart Bragden (Anthony Heald) for a $50 tip for each one. He shows up one night, delivering one at 10pm instead of 10am (which the company he works for, Freedom Express, guarantees as the delivery time for all packages). Inside he finds a fire and Agent Palmer (Jon Polito) tries to arrest him for starting it and killing Reinhart, but he grabs a gun and escapes. On the news, Palmer falsely names Max as the suspect in Reinhart's murder. He also claims that he was trying to take money that was scheduled to be taken out of circulation (which was being delivered to Reinhart to be taken care of).

Max then finds out from his boss that another package for Reinhart is to be delivered to a place called Devil's Peak. He drives up there while, at the same time, Ranger Scout Troop 12 is planning an overnighter near there. Troop 12 consists of Gordy Patterson, whose mother is the leader, Ralph, who constantly complains about her performance as the leader, Milton Fishman, the troop genius who lacks confidence, Dana Jareki, the youngest member, and Barnhill, who continuously brags about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Following the inclusion of Kelsey Jordan, the only female member, Gordy convinces his mother to find a new leader. Max steals a car, drives to a gas station, and meets Scout Leader Jack Erickson (Brad Sullivan), who was going to meet them there and whose Hummer he then steals at gunpoint when the attendant figures out he is the wanted man. He switches places with Jack (whom he calls "Sergeant Doofus" for putting an obscene sticker on his car window), gluing his hands and chin to the steering wheel, and takes his stolen Hummer.

The troop begins to leave for the campground, but Mrs. Patterson refuses since Dana isn't with them, to which Ralph explains that his father refused to let him go. They leave, but at that moment, he arrives, stating that his father changed his mind and gives her his permission slip (it is later revealed by Mr. Jareki that Dana forged the signature). Max heads to Devil's Peak but an officer informs him he is "late" for the troop. He is mistaken for the Scout Leader and finds himself in the midst of the overnighter. FBI agents then swarm the base of Devil's Peak and Palmer and Jack go after him and the troop (who are now considered hostages). He begins acting weird around them, who see it as brilliance rather than crazy and they decide to scale the mountain rather than just have an overnighter. They are discovered by Palmer and Jack after they accidentally urinate on them, and Max and the troop escape from the pursuing Palmer and Jack as they run on a fragile bridge that connects from one cliff to the other. While the others make it across, Milton is the only member that remains on the bridge since he is scared of heights and also due to the self-confidence that he lacks. Max desperately yells at him to get across and after some thought, he successfully does so and Max cuts the last supporter of the bridge, causing it to give way just as Palmer and Jack arrive.

The next day, after camping out for the night, the troop, listening to Gordy's homemade radio, hear that they are being "held hostage by a psychotic murderer" and they realize Max's true identity rather than the Scout Leader originally sent to help them. Panicked to see via his credit card that it is him, they send out distress signals for help using fire produced smoke, which Palmer and Jack see. Milton spikes Max's canteen with allergy medicine, cough syrup, and sleeping pills to incapacitate him. Persuaded by the troop to drink from it, he finally gives in and does so, but it doesn't immediately take effect. Eventually, the plan works little time later, but not before Milton accidentally calls out Max's last name.

Palmer, however, shows up alone and "arrests" Max. This draws suspicion upon Gordy, as he knows something is wrong since Jack was not with Palmer. On cue, the troop hear a helicopter flying by and think they are safe until it flies past them. They then realize that Max is innocent upon seeing it was piloted by a well and alive Reinhart and explains the situation to him. He and Palmer are in on the scheme and try to frame him because "no one gives a damn about him" and plan get away with the money once and for all. They also plan to kill not only him, but also the entire troop involved to stage the situation as a murder-suicide. It is then revealed Palmer handcuffed Jack to a tree nearby.

As Reinhart and Palmer prepare to kill Max, the troop, having eavesdrop on their plan, attack them by using Kelsey's bra as a sling shot, but while attempting to hit Reinhart, they accidentally hit Max with one of the rocks and falls into the river below. The troop then flee with Reinhart and Palmer in pursuit, during which Dana gets separated from them. The rest of them are then forced to jump off a cliff into the river, while Reinhart and Palmer continue to pursue Max and troop via the helicopter. Max and the troop end up getting away after surviving a near-death experience on a waterfall with the help of Dana, who pulls them to shore. Hearing the helicopter approaching, they throw their bags in the river to trick Reinhart and Palmer into thinking they are dead. They believe it and fly away to Devil's Peak. Max and the troop later camp out for the night in a cave.

The next morning, Max and the troop climb Devil's Peak while Mrs. Patterson discovers a note left by him that has an address written on it (where he was headed) and she drives up there only to be tied up by Reinhart. The troop make it to the top of the peak just in time to intercept the package, and realize that Mrs. Patterson is held captive. When a debate on whether or not the troop should take part in the rescue escalates, Palmer, who was within earshot of hearing the argument, threatens them at gunpoint. Jack, who had freed himself from the handcuffs, intervenes, subdues, and glues him to a tree. Max sets off to save Mrs. Patterson, but while attempting to untie her, they are caught by Reinhart, who forces them outside at gunpoint to the porch. Before Reinhart can kill Max and Mrs. Patterson, Gordy intervenes and stops him, who almost shoots Gordy when he attempts to draw his pistol at him, but he trips and falls off the porch, hanging on to a lone branch on the side of a cliff. Max, out of anger, knocks out Reinhart and his fake teeth and rescues Gordy from certain death. As a result, the troop receive Eagle Scout honors. Fortunately, Max is proven innocent and Jack tells him that when he took the troop in his place on the camping trip, he was not following the rules since this was his first time, but when Reinhart and Palmer went to kill them, he was considered a hero for saving the troop and Jack hires him by becoming a real scout leader. The troop congratulates him, then Jack tells him that he's taking the kids to Yosemite National Park, he tells them that he's only taking them there, but Jack says he's taking not only "his" troop, but others in the Ranger Scouts as well and they all come after Max and "his" troop and he screams.

Cast

Reception

The film received a 11% rating Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews.[2] It grossed $7.9 million in the United States.[1]

Home media

The original unedited "PG-13" version of the film was released on VHS in 1996 and released another VHS version under 20th Century Fox's "Selections" banner. A widescreen version was also released on Laserdisc. It was re-released again on VHS as part of the Family Feature series on February 6, 2001 as a PG rated film when Beeman dubbed out some of the profanity used in it. The DVD, also rated PG, was released on March 11, 2002 and was later re-released in 2009. The Family Feature DVD version presented it in both full screen (side A) and widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (side B), while the 2009 reissue was only presented in full screen. Despite the fact Beeman dubbed out most of the curse words originally spoken in it to receive a PG rating, the re-released VHS and DVD version did not have the f-word dubbed out.

References

  1. 1 2 3 boxofficemojo.com. "Bushwacked". Accessed February 26, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Bushwhacked". rottentomatoes.com. 1 January 1995. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

External links

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