Brewster's Millions

Brewster's Millions Movie Poster

"You don't have to be crazy to blow 30 million dollars in 30 days.  But it helps".  Brewster's Millions was based on a 1902 novel by George Barr McCutcheon.  By the time this 1985 was released, their had been six predecessors, the earliest from 1914.  In 2012, it was released again.  The 1985 version starred Richard Pryor as Monty Brewster and John Candy as Spike Nolan.  The movie received mixed reviews back in the day, but it still made a sizable profit for Universal.

In this movie, Monty Brewster (Pryor) is a pitcher for a minor league baseball team called the Hackensack Bulls, and his best friend, Spike (Candy) is the pitcher.  Monty inherits a fortune from a great uncle, but only under a number of conditions.  He can take 1 million dollars and leave the rest to charity, or he can attempt to blow 30 million dollars in 30 days, to inherit 300 million.  The catch is not only can he not keep anything he buys in those 30 days, but he is also limited to how much he can give to charity or gamble with.  On top of it all, he is not allowed to tell anyone what he is doing, including Spike, who has been enlisted to help him.

As Monty goes about the business of finding ways to blow the money, Spike, on the other hand, invests it, and after some time has expired, Monty finds that the return on investments equals what he has blown to date.  Monty finds new ways to blow the money, even running for mayor.  The problem is, he is ahead in the polls, and because the Mayor position holds a salary, that ultimately would violate the terms of the inheritance.  In the end, Monty manages to blow the 30 million and thus inherits the 300.