Untitled Document
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updated: august 01, 2008     
  Awakenings 1990
GENERAL INFORMATION

directed by - penny marshall
screenplay by - steve zaillian
music by - randy newman
genre - drama
rating - PG-13
runtime - 121 min
gross - $52,096,475
premiere - december 12, 1990 (century city, ca)
2nd screening - december 17, 1990 (new york, ny)
theatrical release date - december 20 , 1990 (limited)
                                            january 11, 1991
(wide)
dvd release date - september 10, 1997
filming locations - city island, new york, ny
                                 bronx, new york, ny

production company - columbia pictures

  SUMMARY
A new doctor finds himself with a ward full of comatose patients. He is disturbed by them and the fact that they have been comatose for decades with no hope of any cure. When he finds a possible chemical cure he gets permission to try it on one of them. When the first patient awakes, he is now an adult having gone into a coma in his early teens. The film then delights the reactions of their relatives and to the changes of the newly awakened.
  QUOTES
dr. sayer
Earthworms
dr. #1
I'm sorry
dr. sayer
It was an immense project. I was to extract 1 decigram myelin from 4 tons of earthworms.
dr. #1
Really?
dr. sayer
Yes, I was on that project for 5 years, I was the only one who believed in it. Everyone else said it couldn't be done.
dr. #2
It can't.
dr. sayer
I know that now. I proved it.

leonard
It's quiet.
dr. sayer
It's late. Everyone's asleep.
leonard
Oh, I'm not asleep.
dr. sayer
No, you're awake.

dr. sayer
That's the Periodic Table of Elements. I can date my introduction to science by that. It's wonderful, really. It's, uh...It's the universe at its essence. You see, you have your alkaline metals. You have your halogens, your inert gasses. Every element has its place in that order. You can't chance that. They're secure, no matter what.
leonard
You're not married?
dr. sayer
Me? No, I'm not very good with people. I--I never have been, Leonard. I like them. Maybe, if they were less unpredictable.
leonard
Eleanor would disagree with you
dr. sayer
Eleanor?
leonard
Miss Costello
dr. sayer
Oh, of course. She has spoken to you about me? What did she say?
leonard
That you're a kind man. That you care very much for people.

nurse
Dr. Sayer, something about fruit trees.
woman
Prune the fruit trees.
dr. sayer
I will
woman
Hartelijk bedankt.

dr. sayer
Lucy, what year is it?
lucy
What year is it? It's '26, silly.

dr. sayer
I have always loved carnegia, haven't you?
anthony
Dr. Sayer, did you choose this place? Why?
dr. sayer
I always come here.
anthony
Why? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a nice place, but after the first hour it loses something.
dr. sayer
Miss Costello, anthony thinks the group is bored.
eleanor
They are.
dr. sayer
I thought about taking them to the Opera House.
anthony
The Opera..?
dr. sayer
Or the museum of Natural History?
eleanor
Oh, no no no no, I don't think so. There's a lot of dead, stuffed things there.
dr. sayer
What else is there?
  STILLS

   Robin Williams and Robert deNiro                

  MAIN CAST
robin williams - dr. malcolm sayer
robert de niro - leonard lowe
julie kavner - eleanor costello
ruth nelson - mrs. lowe
alice drummond - lucy fishman
keith diamond - anthony
  TAGLINE

There's no such thing as a simple miracle.

  AVAILABILITY

this title is available on:

DVD
Video
CD
Book
Poster

can't find what you're looking for? please let me know

  INTERNATIONAL RELEASE DATES
germany - february 14, 1991
austria - february 15, 1991
france - february 20, 1991
argentina - february 21, 1991
finland - march 01, 1991
netherlands - march 08, 1991
sweden - march 08, 1991
australia - march 14, 1991
uk - march 15, 1991
japan - april 13, 1991
  INTERNATIONALLY USED TITLES
Argentina / Portugal / Spain - despertares
Canada / France - l'éveil
Austria / Germany - zeit des erwachens
Hungary - ébredések
Czechoslovakia - cas probuzení
Finland - heräämisiä
Norway - oppvåkningen
Slovenia - prebujenja
Poland - przebudzenia
Italy - risvegli
Brazil - tempo de despertar
Sweden - uppvaknanden
Greece - xypnimata
  BOX OFFICE DETAILS

gross - $135,026,902 (us)
opening weekend
    - limited -
$417,076 (12 theaters)
    - wide - $8,306,532 (1,282 theaters)
widest release - 1,330 theaters

  DVD EXTRA FEATURES

- Behind the scenes featurette

  FACTS

Based on a true story.
The real name of Robin's character is Dr. Oliver Sacks.

  FUN FACT

Robin will forever be grateful for happy accidents after learning he'd broken Robert DeNiro's nose on the set of Awakenings. Robin felt sure his life and career was over when he accidentally struck DeNiro, breaking his nose - but his moment of madness actually corrected a previous break. Robin explains, "I heard this noise and went, 'Oh Jesus,' and he got up and he was, 'I'm OK, I'm OK,' and his nose was bleeding like crazy...There was a millisecond where you went, 'F**k... dead man.' "Later on he said that his doctor said that I had put his nose back in place from when he'd broken his nose on Raging Bull."

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