Manny's Orphans

Manny's Orphans (also known as Kick!) is a 1978 American family comedy film directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The film was also distributed under the title Kick!.[1]

Manny's Orphans
Directed bySean S. Cunningham
Written byVictor Miller
Steve Miner
StarringJim Baker
Malachy McCourt
Music byHarry Manfredini
CinematographyBarry Abrams
Edited bySteve Miner
Production
company
Sean S. Cunningham Films
Distributed byVestron Video (VHS)
Release date
  • September 6, 1978 (1978-09-06)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Manny (Jim Baker) coaches soccer for the fashionable Creighton Hall school, but is relieved of duty because he is "not a good match" for the school. He finds a job at a Catholic home for orphans, where he forms a new soccer team, with the help of one very good player, Pepe, who turns out to be a girl. Pepe is the sister of one of the orphans, who comes to the all-boy orphanage posing as a boy, because her former foster home was an abusive environment.

Along the way, Manny has incurred a gambling debt, his creditors begin to lean on him, and the boys find out. They set up a soccer game and stake the outcome against Manny's debt. If they win, then the debt shall be forgiven.

Cast
  • Jim Baker – Manny
  • Malachy McCourt – Father Arch McCoy
  • Chet Doherty – Dr. Berryman
  • Sel Skolnick – Mr. Caputo
  • Xavier Rodrigo – Raoul
  • Melissa Valentin – Pepe
  • Ari Lehman – Roger

Production

Of the film, writer Victor Miller said: "Steve Miner came up with the idea for it and I wrote the screenplay and we did it, another low-budget film [along with Here Come the Tigers], and shot it around Bridgeport, Connecticut."[1]

Director Cunningham said: "We had this notion of a bunch of orphans in a halfway house, they put together a soccer team and the underdog wins. So we raised the money to do what became known as Manny's Orphans. It was a lot of fun to make, and again I loved working with the kids. I really thought it was going to be a breakthrough film for me."[1] Cunningham also maintains that the reaction was "lukewarm", and although United Artists optioned it as a pilot for a TV series, they did not buy it.[1]

gollark: It *cannot be proven* that this holds in all situations ever, because this is a statement about reality and not our models.
gollark: As far as anyone knows, yes.
gollark: Current physical theories say it can't. They seem to be right about this so far, but the models *do not create reality*, it goes the other way round.
gollark: ...
gollark: > If someone found tomorrow that you could create energy from nothing, and it can't be proved that that can't happen unless you already start from a model, the models would have to be updated.

References
  1. Bracke, Peter (October 11, 2006). Crystal Lake Memories. United Kingdom: Titan Books. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-845-76343-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.