Storyline

Flash used to be a talented baseball player, but he took to drinking and now he sells stolen watches in the streets. One day he meets Chu Chu, who, before falling into alcoholism like him, was a successful entertainer. Now she still dances, but in the streets, for no more than a cent or two. Luck seems to smile at them the day they find stolen government documents forgotten some place. They decide to return them to their legal owners, but instead of the expected reward money, all they get is a load of trouble.—Guy Bellinger

Plot Keywords

character names as title, six word title, vagrant, san francisco california, homelessness

Short Review

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B00E6DF1E38F93AA1575BC0A967948260Janet Maslin review from 1981Movie ReviewChu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)'PHILLY FLASH,' A BURNETT-ARKIN ROMPBy Janet MaslinPublished: August 29, 1981Considering the caliber of its leading players, ''Chu Chu and the Philly Flash'' is an amazingly charmless movie. Alan Arkin and Carol Burnett might be expected to generate some interest by virtue of their mere presence in the film, but they are teamed up for a painfully contrived tale, playing lovable losers who aren't lovable at all. Flash (Mr. Arkin) is a dim-witted derelict graced with childlike innocence, and Emily (Miss Burnett) gets to wear bananas in her ears, so the roles are not without their appealing sides. But the movie itself is almost entirely flat.Emily, a dancing instructor about to be evicted from her fleabag apartment, meets Flash in the street, where he is peddling broken watches and she is performing as Chu Chu, the One Man Latin Band. A briefcase full of secret government documents drops out a window, and an intrigue plot is born. So is an unlikely partnership, which allows these two floundering souls to find each other amid all the gloom and grime that make up their world. Like everyone else in the movie, Emily and Flash are dirty, ragged and down on their luck, but somehow indomitable all the same.The screenplay, by Barbara Dana, flings together a whole host of zanies and crazies, who are united mostly by the cheerful resignation with which they accept their miserable circumstances. Jack Warden plays a skid-row entrepreneur who sells the bums window-washing fluid so they can do business with passing cars, and who grandly hands out ''a nice cheese sandwich'' to everyone but Mr. Arkin. Ruth Buzzi is one of his feeble-minded, ever-smiling assistants, living with him on the rag-tag barge that typifies the movie's aggressively offbeat sets. A lot of energy has gone into making ''Chu Chu and the Philly Flash'' an elaborate production, but not much of that energy is warranted. The movie opened yesterday at the Criterion and other theaters.Miss Burnett's wardrobe, by Bob Mackie, is the funniest thing in the movie. As Chu Chu, she wears an outfit seemingly made from ingredients found at thrift shops and vegetable stands, including a very becoming pineapple atop her head. As Emily going incognito, she appears in a purple vinyl raincoat, skintight red dress, black beret and white sunglasses with wings on the frames. Her role is so poorly defined that she is often upstaged by her costumes. Mr. Arkin, who turns up in a variety of dirt-hued getups, has much the same problem.''Chu Chu and the Philly Flash'' is rated PG (''Parental Guidance Suggested''). It contains a very little strong language. Janet MaslinThe CastCHU CHU AND THE PHILLY FLASH, directed by David Lowell Rich; screenplay by Barbara Dana; story by Henry Barrow; director of photography, Victor J. Kemper; edited by Ar- gyle Nelson; music by Pete Rugolo; produced by Jay Weston; released by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. At the Criterion, Broadway and 45th Street; Gotham Cinema, Third Avenue and 58th Street, and other theaters. Running time: 98 minutes. This film is rated PG.Flash . . . . . Alan ArkinEmily . . . . . Carol BurnettThe Commander . . . . . Jack WardenJohnson . . . . . Danny AielloCharlie . . . . . Adam ArkinMorgan . . . . . Danny GloverVince . . . . . Sid HaigB.J. . . . . . Vincent SchiavelliConsuelo . . . . . Ruth BuzziVittorio . . . . . Vito ScottiLandlord . . . . . Lou JacobiBetty . . . . . Barbara DanaHarry . . . . . Scott BeachClem . . . . . Geoff Hoyle

Trailer

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