Renaissance Man (film)
| Renaissance Man | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Penny Marshall |
| Produced by |
Sara Colleton Elliot Abbott Penny Marshall Robert Greenhut Andrew G. Vajna |
| Written by | Jim Burnstein |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
| Edited by | George Bowers |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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128 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $24,332,324 |
Renaissance Man is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Penny Marshall, and stars Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar and Cliff Robertson. In Australia, the film is known under the title of Army Intelligence.
Bill Rago (DeVito) is a divorced advertising executive down on his luck. When he loses his job in Detroit, the unemployment agency finds him a temporary job: teaching a class at a nearby U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane.
Initially unenthusiastic, Rago finds that he has only six weeks to teach a group of "squeakers," or low achievers, the basics of comprehension and use of English language. Most of the soldiers are only semi-literate and equally unenthusiastic.
Unable to connect with his pupils and desperate to spark their interest, Rago quotes from his favorite play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare. They are unfamiliar with it (or even the concept of a "play") and a small initial spark of interest is generated. He casts each student as a character in a classroom reading, then takes everyone on a field trip across the Blue Water Bridge to Stratford, Ontario, to a live performance by professionals. He introduces them to Shakespeare's Henry V as well.
Despite the disapproval of their hard-as-nails Drill Sergeant Cass (Hines), and the loss of one of the trainees, Pvt. Hobbs, who is revealed as a drug dealer hiding under an assumed identity, Rago sets an end-of-term oral examination. Even the friendly Capt. Murdoch in charge of the project doesn't expect the soldiers to pass Rago's class, adding that if they fail, they will be discharged from the Army.
Hobbs writes a letter to Rago and Murdoch, whose letters to the prison warden may result in him getting an early parole. Hobbs says he read Othello in the prison library (the librarian said he was the first inmate in 16 years to request Shakespeare) and was thinking about taking college classes once he's released.
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