The Bonfire of the Vanities

1990
R
2h 5m

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

27K

YOUR RATING

Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, and Melanie Griffith in The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video

Play trailer2:08

2 Videos

60 Photos

Dark Comedy Satire Comedy Drama Romance

After his mistress runs over a young teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight and attracts the interest of a down-and-out reporter.After his mistress runs over a young teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight and attracts the interest of a down-and-out reporter.After his mistress runs over a young teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight and attracts the interest of a down-and-out reporter.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

27K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 5 nominations

Trivia
The 330-second Steadicam shot of Peter Fallow arriving at the Palm Court of the Winter Garden was a tour de force for operator Larry McConkey. He had to track backwards, get on a golf cart, ride it for 380 feet, get off of it, track backwards 234 feet, get into the elevator, get out, and track for another 250 feet.

Goofs
When McCoy gets off the subway, he is riding the number 1 train and he gets off at 77th Street station. The number 1 train runs on the West Side of Manhattan, nowhere near his Park Avenue residence on the East Side, and there are no 77th Street stops on the number 1 line.

Quotes
Judge Leonard White: [to court room] Racist? You dare call me racist? Well I say unto you, what does it matter the color of a man's skin if witnesses perjure themselves. If a prosecutor enlists the perjurers. When a district attorney throws a man to the mob for political gain, and men of the cloth, men of God, take the prime cuts? Is that justice?
Judge Leonard White: I don't hear you...
Judge Leonard White: Let me tell you what justice is. Justice is the law, and the law is man's feeble attempt to set down the principles of decency. Decency! And decency is not a deal. It isn't an angle, or a contract, or a hustle! Decency... decency is what your grandmother taught you. It's in your bones! Now you go home. Go home and be decent people. Be decent.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Havana/Mermaids/The Sheltering Sky/Awakenings/The Long Walk Home (1990)

Soundtracks
Pennies From Heaven
Written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston

User reviews184

Review

Featured review

Good Movie!

This was a good movie. I have read many reviews that people thought it was awful but in my opinion it was good. There was great casting. Bruce Willis was great as the almost always drunken reporter, Tom Hanks as the having an affair type husband that gets mixed up in a hit and run accident. Beth Broderick was good too even though this movie allowed her a small role it was a very crucial role. Melanie Griffith was irritating at times but that was the way of her character, so she was great at that role. This is a movie I would recommend for teenagers and adults only considering that there is cussing and the overall moral of the movie.