Plot

A filthy-rich businessman bets a corporate rival that he can live on the streets of L.A. without the comforts of home or money, but it proves to be tougher than he thought.

Sticking to great comedy in a way no one else can, Mel Brooks plays a wealthy businessman who finds himself getting suckered into a bet with a rival business over the worst slum area of L.A. They both want to develop on it and both own half. Mel agrees to living as a homeless person in this neighborhood. If he can make it 30 days without his wallet or anything else, then the rival will sign over his half of the property. It's full of visual gags, one-liners, and even some heartwarming scenes. Mel's character learns a lot along the way.—Michelle Scaturro

In some reports, Los Angeles-based industrialist Goddard Bolt is the richest man in the country if not the world. Making his fortune in real estate development, he is uncaring about the effect of his developments on anything or anyone but lining his own pocketbook. Such is the case with his latest planned development for the slums of Los Angeles, which he will raze completely for that upscale replacement. He has thus far purchased half the land, the other half owned by his equally cutthroat and uncaring competitor, Vance Crasswell, who has the same plan for the land. Although initially tricked into it, Goddard, believing his general acumen which resulted in his financial success will carry him through, willingly enters into a bet with Vance that he, Goddard, can live and survive in that slum neighborhood with nothing--no money, no contacts, and no one knowing who he really is in having money--for 30 days, the winner of the bet to take ownership of all the land. As Vance does whatever he can to make Goddard lose the bet and as Goddard lives in that neighborhood among the diverse group of street people he encounters, their bet has the potential to extend beyond the 30 days for various reasons--if Goddard does survive those 30 days.—Huggo

A rich businessman makes a bet he can survive on the streets of a rough Los Angeles neighborhood for 30 days, completely penniless. During his stay, he discovers another side of life--and he also falls in love with a homeless woman. How much difference does one month make?—John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks) is the callous CEO of Bolt Enterprises. Bolt shows little regard for other people's needs or for the environment, and has his eye on the slum of Los Angeles so he can tear it down. Bolt makes a bet with his biggest rival, Vance Crasswell (Jeffrey Tambor), who also has an interest in the property, that he can survive on those streets for 30 days. Should Bolt lose, Crasswell owns the property, but should Bolt win, Crasswell will sell it for practically nothing.

There are three conditions: #1) Bolt will be completely penniless;

#2) He must wear an electronic anklet that will activate if he leaves the boundaries, forfeiting the bet if he exceeds 30 seconds out of bounds;

#3) At no time can he reveal to any of the slum area residents that he is Goddard Bolt. To add to the look, Bolt has his mustache shaved off, then Crasswell confiscates his toupee and rips the top pocket of his jacket.

Unbeknown to Bolt, Crasswell schemes to make Goddard's stay on the streets as bad as possible. Bolt, homeless, hungry and filthy, is befriended by skid-row inhabitants like Sailor (Howard Morris) and Fumes (Theodore Wilson) and given the nickname "Pepto" after falling asleep in a crate with a Pepto-Bismol logo on its side. In the process, he meets and eventually becomes attracted to Molly (Lesley Ann Warren), a homeless woman who used to be a dancer on Broadway. During a scuffle with two muggers, Bolt is pushed out of bounds, which activates his anklet. To prevent the "30-second forfeiture", Bolt rushes back in, which impresses Molly with his supposed bravery as it looks like he is tackling the muggers.

Bolt learns a series of important life lessons during his 'adventure', namely that life is not about accomplishments or material success but rather the integrity of the human spirit. However, Bolt is unaware that the unscrupulous Crasswell has no intention of honoring their bet. When Crasswell realizes Bolt is honoring the bet fair and square, Crasswell bribes Bolt's lawyers into fabricating the story that Bolt had lost his mind and has his property seized. Forced to live on the streets for good and remanded to a free clinic by mistake, a drugged Bolt murmurs that "life stinks", but Molly implores him to remember small things such as the two of them waltzing that make life livable. Crasswell, meanwhile has his own plans for the slum area, planning to tear it down as well. Bolt incites Fumes and the other slum residents to stage a mock battle on the ceremony while it is televised.

Crasswell attempts to stop Bolt with a steam shovel, to which Bolt fights Crasswell in another steam shovel akin to "dinosaur fights". When Bolt's shovel has plucked Crasswell and has him hanging by his jacket, the scene is freeze-framed into a news report saying that Crasswell, in a court case, was forced to admit he made a bet with Bolt in order to get him to understand the slum conditions, then reneged on the terms. Bolt, now in control of the area, has plans to renovate it into the "Bolt Center" which will give the slum residents employment, renovate the tenements into livable homes and give the children a private school financed entirely out of pocket by Goddard Bolt. The news report ends by saying Bolt has married Molly and the press are expecting an extravagant CEO-type event, only to then be shown Goddard and Molly taking their wedding vows in a simple chapel in the slum area, then driving off in a limousine with a vanity plate "PEPTO".