Dennis the Menace
Short description
Dennis the Menace is a family comedy about a five-year-old boy whose endless energy and mischief wear down everyone around him, especially his grumpy next-door neighbour, Mr. Wilson. When Dennis's parents have to leave town, the Wilsons end up looking after him, just as Mr. Wilson is waiting for a rare plant of his to bloom. A drifter and petty thief arrives in the neighbourhood at the same time, and the two threads gradually come together.
The film was directed by Nick Castle, whose earlier credits include The Last Starfighter and The Boy Who Could Fly; it is the third of the seven features he directed. John Hughes wrote the screenplay and produced with Richard Vane. Walter Matthau plays Mr. Wilson, Mason Gamble plays Dennis, Joan Plowright plays Martha Wilson, Christopher Lloyd plays Switchblade Sam, and Lea Thompson and Robert Stanton appear as Dennis's parents. It runs 96 minutes.
Made for about 35 million dollars, the film took roughly 117 million worldwide, a solid return. Audience scores sit in the middle: 5.7 on IMDb from around 69,000 votes and 5.9 on TMDB from about 1,650 votes, while a critics' rating of 3.9 from 25 reviews places reviewers below the general audience.
What's left behind the scenes
- Around 20,000 children auditioned for the role of Dennis. When the pool of potential candidates was narrowed down to ten, they were asked to audition together with Walter Matthau, after which six-year-old Mason Gamble was cast.
- In the United Kingdom, to avoid coinciding with the identically named character from the British comic "Dennis the Menace," the film was released under the title "Dennis." Both of these characters, the American and the British, were created in 1951, three days apart.
- During filming, Mason Gamble lost two baby teeth and had to wear special false caps.
- Most of the film's shooting took place in the city of Evanston, Indiana. In his free time, Mason Gamble usually spent time playing with the neighborhood kids.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
