1977 film by Jonathan Kaplan This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as Reflinks (documentation), reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) | Mr. Billion Theatrical release poster Directed by| Jonathan Kaplan Written by| Ken Friedman Jonathan Kaplan Produced by| Steven Bach Ken Friedman Starring| Terence Hill Valerie Perrine Slim Pickens William Redfield Chill Wills Jackie Gleason Cinematography| Matthew Leonetti Edited by| O. Nicholas Brown Music by| Dave Grusin Production company Pantheon Pictures Distributed by| 20th Century Fox Release date * March 3, 1977 (1977-03-03) Running time | 89 minutes Country| United States Language| English Budget| $4,590,000[1] Box office| $1,300,000 (rentals)[2] Mr. Billion is a 1977 action comedy/action-adventure film[3][4] directed by Jonathan Kaplan. It is notable as the Hollywood debut of Terence Hill. It's also the last film of actor William Redfield, who died before its release. ## Plot[edit] After billionaire Anthony Falcon dies in a freak accident, he leaves his entire estate to his nephew, easygoing Italian mechanic Guido Falcone. In order to claim his billion-dollar inheritance, Guido must reach San Francisco within twenty days to sign a document. His uncle's greedy assistant, John Cutler (Jackie Gleason), wants the money for himself, and hires female detective Rosie Jones (Valerie Perrine) to prevent Guido claiming his inheritance.[5] ## Cast[edit] * Terence Hill \- Guido Falcone * Valerie Perrine \- Rosie Jones * Jackie Gleason \- John Cutler * Slim Pickens \- Duane Hawkins * William Redfield \- Leopold Lacy * Chill Wills \- Colonel Clayton T. Winkle * Dick Miller \- Bernie * R.G. Armstrong \- Sheriff T.C. Bishop ## Production[edit] The film was the idea of Dino de Laurentiis, who wanted to introduce Terence Hill, at that time one of the biggest movie stars in Europe, to international audiences. He signed director Jonathan Kaplan, just coming off the successful White Line Fever. Kaplan says production was difficult - he wanted to cast Lily Tomlin but the studio insisted on Valerie Perrine. Shooting took place in Italy. Kaplan says the highlight was working with Jackie Gleason; despite his drinking problem, Kaplan says he could sober up Gleason by doing old routines from The Honeymooners and getting laughs from the crew.[6] ## Reception[edit] Mr. Billion was a major financial flop and Kaplan calls it the biggest failure of his career.[6] In a retrospective review, the critic Keith Bailey called it "yet another case of Hollywood bringing a foreign actor in, and getting him to do different material than what made him famous in the first place".[7] ## References[edit] 1. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p258 2. ^ Solomon, pg 233. 3. ^ "Mr. Billion (1977)". www.allmovie.com. Retrieved 1 September 2019. 4. ^ "Mr. Billion (The Windfall)". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 1 September 2019. 5. ^ "Home | Terence Hill Offizielle Webseite". 6. ^ a b Jonathan Kaplan on Mr. Billion at Trailers From Hell 7. ^ http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/rev253.html ## External links[edit] * Mr. Billion at IMDb * Mr. Billion at AllMovie * Mr. Billion at Rotten Tomatoes * v * t * e Films directed by Jonathan Kaplan * Night Call Nurses (1972) * The Student Teachers (1973) * The Slams (1973) * Truck Turner (1974) * White Line Fever (1975) * Mr. Billion (1977) * Over the Edge (1979) * 11th Victim (1979) * The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980) * Heart Like a Wheel (1983) * Project X (1987) * The Accused (1988) * Immediate Family (1989) * Unlawful Entry (1992) * Love Field (1992) * Bad Girls (1994) * Reform School Girl (1994) * Brokedown Palace (1999) *[v]: View this template *[t]: Discuss this template *[e]: Edit this template