For other uses, see The Fabulous Baker Boys (disambiguation).
The Fabulous Baker Boys
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by
Steve Kloves
Written by
Steve Kloves
Produced by
Paula Weinstein
Mark Rosenberg
Starring
Jeff Bridges
Michelle Pfeiffer
Beau Bridges
Cinematography
Michael Ballhaus
Edited by
William Steinkamp
Music by
Dave Grusin
Production companies
Gladden Entertainment
Mirage Enterprises
Distributed by
20th Century Fox
Release date
October 13, 1989 (1989-10-13)
Running time
114 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$11.5 million
Box office
$18.4 million
The Fabulous Baker Boys is a 1989 American romantic comedy-drama musical film[2] written and directed by Steve Kloves. The film follows a piano duo consisting of brothers, who hire an attractive singer to help revive their waning career. After a period of success, complications ensue when the younger brother develops a romantic interest in the singer. Brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges star as the eponymous Baker Boys, while Michelle Pfeiffer plays lounge singer Susie Diamond.
The Fabulous Baker Boys was Kloves's directorial debut and second screenplay. He conceived the story based on Ferrante & Teicher, a piano duo he had grown up watching perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, which inspired him to write a film about working class musicians who are also siblings. Determined to direct the film himself, Kloves sold the script to producers Paula Weinstein and Mark Rosenberg. It was subsequently rotated among several production companies before it was ultimately obtained by 20th Century Fox in 1986. Pfeiffer underwent several months of voice training to perform all of her character's songs, which largely consist of jazz and pop standards. While both Bridges brothers play their instruments on camera, their audio was dubbed by the film's composer, Dave Grusin, and musician John F. Hammond, respectively. Although primarily set in Seattle, Washington, the film was shot mostly in Los Angeles, California, from December 1988 to March 1989.
The Fabulous Baker Boys was released on October 13, 1989 to critical acclaim, but underperformed at the box office. The National Board of Review named it one of the year's 10 best films. Reviewers praised Pfeiffer's performance in particular, often selecting her rendition of "Makin' Whoopee" on top of a grand piano as a standout. The scene is considered to one of the sexiest in film history, according to several media publications. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards at the 62nd Academy Awards: Best Actress (for Pfeiffer), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score. Pfeiffer won nearly every acting award for which she was nominated during the 1989–1990 awards season, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, but lost the Academy Award to Jessica Tandy.
^Cite error: The named reference maslin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Mason, Aiden (2017). "The Top Five Dave Grusin Movie Scores of His Career". TV Overmind. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
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