Easy Money

Easy Money Movie Poster 1983

"No cheating, no gambling, no booze, no smooking, no pizza, no nothin'.  We're taking all the fun out of life-and putting it into a movie".

Another classic Dangerfield flick, Easy Money came out in 1983 and had a pretty good cast.  Rodney Dangerfield starred as Monty Capuletti, Joe Pesci as Nicky Cerone, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allison Capuletti, and Geraldine Fitzgerald as Mrs. Monahan.  The movie earned nearly 30 million dollars at the box office.

In this movie, Monty (Dangerfield) is a hard living man.  He makes his living as a baby photographer during the day, while gambling, drinking, and smoking dope in the evening, often with his best friend, Nicky (Pesci).  When Monty's mother-in-law dies, Monty gets a surprise when he learns that a stipulation of the 10 million dollar inheritance was that Monty must clean up his life for at least 1 year in order to get the money.  If he cannot make it, the family will inherit nothing.

The rest of the movie is about how Monty is able to live cleanly, in the midst of his wild friends, and an old employee of his mother-in-law who tries to sabotage him.  In the end, Monty makes it 1 year, only to find out his mother-in-law had faked her own death in an effort to get Monty to straighten up.  Thankfully, she does uphold her end of the deal, and Monty's family gets the cash.  But the year is up, so Monty heads out for gambling and beer with his friends.