Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

California Suite

 California Suite
type
TVTItem
 California Suite
label
California Suite
 California Suite
page
CaliforniaSuite
 California Suite
comment
California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross, with a screenplay by Neil Simon adapted from his own 1976 play of the same name.Four groups of people are staying at the famous Beverly Hills Hotel. They are: "Visitors from New York": Hannah Warren (Jane Fonda), a well-to-do Manhattanite—she's apparently a professional but the movie never specifies what she does—has made a hurried trip to L.A. to retrieve her 17-year-old daughter Jenny (Dana Plato), who has run away from home and is staying with her father, Hannah's ex-husband Bill (Alan Alda). "Visitors from London": It's Oscar night, and British actress Diana Barrie (Maggie Smith) is up for Best Supporting Actress. She has flown in for the ceremony along with her husband, antiques dealer Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine). All is not well in their marriage. "Visitors from Philadelphia": Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau) has come to the West Coast for his nephew's bar mitzvah. His wife Millie (Elaine May) isn't due to arrive until the next day, which gives his sex-obsessed brother Harry (Herb Edelman) a chance to hire Marvin a hooker named Bunny (Denise Galik) for the evening. Things go awry. "Visitors from Chicago": Doctors Chauncey Gump (Richard Pryor) and Willis Panama (Bill Cosby) are vacationing together along with their wives Lola (Gloria Gifford) and Bettina (Sheila Frazier). Their visit to Los Angeles starts with their rental car overheating on the freeway, and things go downhill from there.Maggie Smith, who plays an actress nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, actually did win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for this movie.
 California Suite
fetched
2023-06-14T21:57:57Z
 California Suite
parsed
2023-06-14T21:57:57Z
 California Suite
isPartOf
DBTropes
 California Suite / int_1b65dfad
type
The Cameo
 California Suite / int_1b65dfad
comment
The Cameo: James Coburn appears in the film-within-a-film as Diana Barrie's co-star.
 California Suite / int_1b65dfad
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_1b65dfad
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_1b65dfad
 California Suite / int_2c171242
type
Anthology Film
 California Suite / int_2c171242
comment
Anthology Film: Four separate, unconnected (apart from geographical proximity) stories about visitors to the Beverly Hills Hotel.
 California Suite / int_2c171242
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_2c171242
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_2c171242
 California Suite / int_37065c74
type
Hangover Sensitivity
 California Suite / int_37065c74
comment
Hangover Sensitivity: Marvin wakes up wincing from a hangover after his night of drinking. Things get even more unpleasant when he finds the hooker still in his bed, passed out cold, with his wife due to arrive from the airport at any moment.
 California Suite / int_37065c74
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_37065c74
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_37065c74
 California Suite / int_3c0a4666
type
Noodle Incident
 California Suite / int_3c0a4666
comment
Noodle Incident: Hannah, calling her boyfriend on the phone, says "When have you known me to be intimidated?" After a pause, she rather sheepishly says "That doesn't count!" The only hint comes moments later when she says she doesn't have time for "erotic conversation."
 California Suite / int_3c0a4666
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_3c0a4666
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_3c0a4666
 California Suite / int_5313c266
type
Bookends
 California Suite / int_5313c266
comment
Book Ends: Begins and ends with Diana on the plane, having to watch her own movie.
 California Suite / int_5313c266
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_5313c266
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_5313c266
 California Suite / int_5a365ed2
type
Incompatible Orientation
 California Suite / int_5a365ed2
comment
Incompatible Orientation: A particularly unfortunate case in that Diana and Sidney are already married. Diana, who apparently has been in denial for a while about the fact that her husband is gay, finally confronts him about it.
 California Suite / int_5a365ed2
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_5a365ed2
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_5a365ed2
 California Suite / int_73d4b01a
type
In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It
 California Suite / int_73d4b01a
comment
In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: The opening credits name the movie as "Neil Simon's California Suite".
 California Suite / int_73d4b01a
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_73d4b01a
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_73d4b01a
 California Suite / int_78270847
type
Curse Cut Short
 California Suite / int_78270847
comment
Curse Cut Short: An enraged Chauncey gives Willis a check for the damages.
 California Suite / int_78270847
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_78270847
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_78270847
 California Suite / int_86bbf6b5
type
Newscaster Cameo
 California Suite / int_86bbf6b5
comment
Newscaster Cameo: Entertainment reporter Army Archerd plays himself at the Academy Awards red carpet. (It was the real red carpet at the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony, the one where Annie Hall beat Star Wars.)
 California Suite / int_86bbf6b5
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_86bbf6b5
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_86bbf6b5
 California Suite / int_87f5a0c
type
Bandage Mummy
 California Suite / int_87f5a0c
comment
Bandage Mummy: Bettina sprains her ankle playing tennis...Bettina accidentally slams her tennis racket down on her husband's head...Lola slams her head into the medicine cabinet in the room and gives herself a confession...Chauncey and Willis's ridiculous fight sends Chauncey crashing through the glass door...in their last scene all four are swathed in bandages and casts as they stagger through the airport on the way out of town.
 California Suite / int_87f5a0c
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_87f5a0c
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_87f5a0c
 California Suite / int_9cede50e
type
Toplessness from the Back
 California Suite / int_9cede50e
comment
Toplessness from the Back: Not one, not two, but three times! First there's Toplessness from the Back from Hannah as she's changing out of her bikini at Bill's house. Then there's toplessness from the back from Diana (Maggie Smith fanservice!) as she's changing out of her dress following the Oscars. And it's topped by the Bunny's toplessness in the end...
 California Suite / int_9cede50e
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_9cede50e
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_9cede50e
 California Suite / int_ab5eea65
type
Dramatic Irony
 California Suite / int_ab5eea65
comment
Dramatic Irony: Millie, observing Marvin's bizarre behavior and his strange reluctance to let her go into the other half of the suite, says "What's the matter, you got a girl in here?" Marvin laughs a fake laugh and says "That's right, I got a beautiful blonde in my bed!" He does have a beautiful blonde in his bed, namely the hooker who passed out after drinking too much tequila.
 California Suite / int_ab5eea65
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_ab5eea65
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_ab5eea65
 California Suite / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 California Suite / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: Hannah and Bill are laying on the beach in front of his house. After some conversation a bikini-clad Hannah gets up and says "Can we go? I fee like we're playing From Here to Eternity.
 California Suite / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_c75df49a
 California Suite / int_ce40dbf7
type
Fake Action Prologue
 California Suite / int_ce40dbf7
comment
Fake Action Prologue: The opening scene features a man and a woman in a plane in an extremely erratic flight over the Himalayas, with the plane swooping up and down as the man struggles not to crash it. It turns out to be a scene from Diana Barrie's movie.
 California Suite / int_ce40dbf7
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_ce40dbf7
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_ce40dbf7
 California Suite / int_d7fc9fd0
type
Vitriolic Best Buds
 California Suite / int_d7fc9fd0
comment
Vitriolic Best Buds: Presumably Chauncey and Willis are friends, seeing as how they went on vacation together, but they do nothing but snipe at each other and insult each other from the first time they appear onscreen, as their car is overheating on the highway. Things get angrier and angrier as Willis changes the dinner reservation, and Chauncey and Lola get stuck in a tiny closet of a room, and they wreck the car...eventually matters climax with a ridiculous slapstick fight in which they manage to totally wreck the suite.
 California Suite / int_d7fc9fd0
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_d7fc9fd0
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_d7fc9fd0
 California Suite / int_e3847ee8
type
Cigarette of Anxiety
 California Suite / int_e3847ee8
comment
Cigarette of Anxiety: Hannah is startled to learn that Bill has given up vices like drinking and smoking after moving to California to write for the movies. She starts smoking up a storm as it comes time to decide what to do about Jenny, telling Bill "I can't be expected to give up my daughter and cigarettes in one day."
 California Suite / int_e3847ee8
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_e3847ee8
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_e3847ee8
 California Suite / int_f237981e
type
The Alleged Car
 California Suite / int_f237981e
comment
The Alleged Car: Chauncey and Willis did not do a good job picking a rental. The car overheats on the freeway. They fix that problem, only to wind up locking the keys in the car when Chauncey slams the hood on the car, which somehow locks the doors. Later, on the way back from the restaurant, they crash the car when the brakes fail.
 California Suite / int_f237981e
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_f237981e
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_f237981e
 California Suite / int_fa6bfde9
type
Have a Gay Old Time
 California Suite / int_fa6bfde9
comment
Have a Gay Old Time: Seemingly deliberately lampshaded by Sidney. Diana, who is starting to suspect the truth and is asking pointed questions, asks him what he does with his afternoons when she's working. He says "I lead a very gay life." (By 1978 hardly anybody was using "gay" in its original sense.)
 California Suite / int_fa6bfde9
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_fa6bfde9
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_fa6bfde9
 California Suite / int_name
type
ItemName
 California Suite / int_name
comment
 California Suite / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 California Suite / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 California Suite
hasFeature
California Suite / int_name
 California Suite / int_name
itemName
California Suite

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 California Suite
hasFeature
Genre Anthology / int_79df5466
 California Suite
hasFeature
Incompatible Orientation / int_79df5466
 California Suite
hasFeature
Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title / int_79df5466
 California Suite
hasFeature
Starring a Star as a Star / int_79df5466
 California Suite
hasFeature
The Film of the Play / int_79df5466
 California Suite
hasFeature
Vacation Films / int_79df5466