Jack the Bear

1993
PG-13
1h 39m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

4.5K

YOUR RATING

Home Video Trailer from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Play trailer0:32

2 Videos

27 Photos

Comedy Drama

Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys.Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys.Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

4.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations

Videos2

Photos27

+ 20

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Principal photography was completed in the summer of 1991, but the film's post-production lasted over a year. The creative team decided to film more footage with Danny DeVito. However, DeVito had other prior commitments that kept the film from being completed. Director Marshall Herskovitz and producer Bruce Gilbert initially clashed in the editing room, but they ultimately patched up their differences and worked as a team. In July 1992, DeVito's additional scenes were filmed. The film was finished in October, but the studio's Christmas schedule had already been filled, and it ultimately was released in April 1993.

Goofs
At the end when Jack is playing the piano, Dylan comes downstairs and starts walking towards him. In the next shot, Dylan is back at the stairs again.

Quotes
[last lines]
John Leary: Say it again. What did you say? Say it again. Say it again.
Dylan Leary: [whispering the name of his mom's favorite story] Jack the Bear.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Cop and a Half/The Adventures of Huck Finn/Jack the Bear/The Opposite Sex How to Live with Them/Intervista (1993)

Soundtracks
Darkness, Darkness
Written by Jesse Colin Young
Performed by The Youngbloods
Courtesy of the RCA Records Label of BMG Music

User reviews31

Review

Featured review

dark, but honest

I found "Jack The Bear" to be a touching, honest portrayal of how life's trying times effect us, bring us closer together, and teach us to carry on. I found the acting very good and the dialogue believable. Devito does a good job in delivering his character earnestly, and his comic genius is well employed through his character's job as a movie host. Gary Senise does his usual fine job and the young actors are all excellent. The flashbacks of the mother are done tastefully, and though a dark film, it is entertaining and enjoyable. The scenes of the neighborhood kids interacting are accurate and the dialogue very natural and real. The attitudes of that era are captured quite accurately as well. I recommend this film highly.