It was the first film to receive a PG-13 rating, although it was the fifth to be released with that rating (after Red Dawn, The Woman in Red, Dreamscape, and Dune).[3] Crenna received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his supporting role and Marisa Tomei made her big screen debut with a minor role in the film.
Plot
In the summer of 1963, Jeffrey Willis joins some friends for a day of gin rummy at El Flamingo Club, a private beach resort on Long Island for a July 4 gathering. There, he meets the girl of his dreams Carla Sampson. After the gin game and being told of the club's strict policy regarding guests, Jeffrey is upset, but not for long, since he immediately lands a job as a car valet and eventually, cabana steward. Jeffrey is an 18-year-old kid from a middle class Brooklyn family and his father does not approve of him working at the private club.
His hero and mentor at the resort is the reigning gin rummy card game champ, Phil Brody, a salesman of exotic sports and luxury cars.[4]
Jeffrey, a winning gin rummy player himself, and his friends admire Brody and how his wins at the Gin rummy table make him seem "psychic," knowing which cards to give up. Brody also takes a liking to Jeffrey, eventually showing him his car business, and gives him hopes that car sales are where he belongs as a career.
Jeffrey gets further immersed in the "easy buck", as evidenced by Phil showing off his success, as opposed to Mr. Willis' manual labor, or the example of Phil's brother, who studied for years to become a lawyer but has had little financial return. During dinner, Jeffrey notably says he "will not be needing college" and plans to pursue being a car salesman instead. Jeffrey and his co-workers at the El Flamingo also venture to Yonkers Raceway together, risking cash on a horse tip but coming up short when the trotter breaks stride.
Eventually, Jeffrey leaves home to pursue the sales job. However, Brody, angry that he disturbed him during a dance class, reveals to him that the job opening at the car dealership is for a stock boy, not as a salesman as Jeffrey had been led to believe was his when he asked for it. Brody lectures Jeffrey in a similar lesson that Mr. Willis had "You can't plant a tree and expect to hang a swing on it the next day", and recommends Jeffrey accept the stock boy job to prove himself and work his way up.
Jeffrey becomes shocked at his mentor's actions and reconsiders college.
Meanwhile, Jeffery continues dating Carla and eventually sleeps with her. But as the summer draws to a close, she tells him that she will be returning to college in California and hopes he will get a chance to visit her sometime.
On Labor Day and the last day of the summer at the El Flamingo, Jeffery observes that a regular onlooker, "Big Sid", is feeding signals to Brody, the true cause of his winning streak. When Big Sid and a member of the gin team playing against Brody's team are overcome by the heat, Jeffrey fills in, opposing Brody, and seeking to help win back the unfair profits Brody won from his friends over the course of the summer.
Jeffrey and his team eventually win back what was unfairly lost, including a good profit besides. Impressed that he was defeated without cheating, Phil says they can "skip this stock boy nonsense" and offers him the salesman job, but Jeffrey declines.
Realizing the mistakes he made in rejecting his father's good advice, Jeffrey makes up with his dad in a touching final scene at Larry's Fish House ("Any Fish You Wish"), where his family is dining.
Cass Elliot, of the Mamas & The Papas fame, told producer and friend Michael Phillips about Neil Marshall's script, which took over ten years to finally get made into a film.[5]
The film grossed a total of $23,859,382 domestically.[2]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[6]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[7]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times described The Flamingo Kid as "an ebullient, unsentimental Summer of '42, updated to the summer of 1963" and wrote that "even if The Flamingo Kid comes out of sit-com country, the character and the performance effortlessly rise above their origins." He also stated that "the film has the kind of slickness one expects of the most popular television fare, but it also has a bit of the satirical edge of a film like Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid."[8]
Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called the film "a sluggish but thoughtful comedy" and "a summer comedy that somehow sees the light on the shortest day of the year, like a much-needed Caribbean vacation." She also commented that "the performances make up for the sloppy history in the film, and it's a good-hearted and diverting story."[9]
Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post stated that "The Flamingo Kid is filled with banal chatter about "dreams" and ends with TV-style happy-family hokum […]. But it also has some snappy sitcom dialogue." He also wrote that "Marshall undercuts the best thing about his own movie -- its authenticity. Even at its most enjoyable, The Flamingo Kid leaves you haunted by its lack of ambition."[10]
Soundtrack
A soundtrack to the film was released by Motown.[11]
A stage musical based on The Flamingo Kid is currently in development for a future Broadway production. The musical features a book and lyrics by Tony Award winner Robert L. Freedman, music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel, and direction by Tony Award winner Darko Tresnjak.[12]
Following in the footsteps of Tresnjak and Freedman's Tony Award-winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Flamingo Kid premiered at Hartford Stage in Hartford, Connecticut, and ran from May 9 to June 15, 2019. The cast included Jimmy Brewer as Jeffrey, Samantha Massell as Karla, Adam Heller as Arthur, Marc Kudisch as Phil Brody, Lesli Margherita as Phyllis Brody, Liz Larsen as Ruth, Lindsey Brett Carothers as Joyce, Ben Fankhauser as Steve, and Alex Wyse as Hawk. The creative team also included Denis Jones (choreographer), Bruce Coughlin (orchestrations), Alexander Dodge (scenic design), Linda Cho (costume design), Philip Rosenberg (lighting design), and Peter Hylenski (sound design).[13]
Remake
Deadline Hollywood announced in September 2012 that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a remake of The Flamingo Kid. Brett Ratner and Michael Phillips were to act as producers on the film, while music video director Nzingha Stewart was working on the script.[14] In 2015, it was reported that ABC Studios was contemplating a half-hour television comedy series based on The Flamingo Kid,[15] but nothing came of that either.
