Little Man Tate
Little Man Tate | |
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Directed by | Jodie Foster |
Written by | Scott Frank |
Produced by | |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Mike Southon |
Edited by | Lynzee Klingman |
Music by | Mark Isham |
Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $10 million |
Box office | $25 million |
Little Man Tate is a 1991 American
Little Man Tate was released theatrically on October 18, 1991, by Orion Pictures to critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised Foster's direction, Frank's screenplay and the performances of the cast. The film grossed $25 million domestically, on a $10 million budget.
Plot
Dede Tate is a young working-class woman of average intelligence raising alone her seven-year-old son, Fred. Fred shows every indication of being a genius. Fred's reading and mathematics abilities are remarkable, and he plays the piano "at competition level", but his intellect has isolated him from his public school classmates.
Fred's abilities come to the attention of Jane Grierson, a former
Fred joins other brilliant young people, and participates in Jane's Odyssey of the Mind event for part of the spring. There he meets one of his heroes, who is one of Jane's prized pupils, the brilliant but slightly bizarre "Mathemagician" Damon Wells, a whiz at math who wears a black cape wherever he goes. After Fred unintentionally upstages Damon at one of the competitions at Odyssey of the Mind, the former is upset with the latter. Damon, however, warms up to Fred when out horseback riding on Jane's ranch, and is Fred's first insight to a world outside academia. Damon tells him: "It's not the size of a man's IQ that matters; it's how he uses it". Jane attempts to become more nurturing, but is unable to relate to Fred as anything other than a case study.
Fred is later enrolled at a university, where he studies
Jane is asked to bring Fred onto a TV panel discussion show on the topic of gifted children. Fred attends but breaks down. He claims his mother is dead, and recites a childish poem (a word-for-word repetition of a poem by Matt Montini, one of his former grade school classmates) before taking off his microphone and walking out of the studio. Dede witnesses some of this as it's being broadcast, and flies back to New York. Jane is unable to find Fred, but Dede discovers him back at their apartment, and embraces him, with him calling her "mom" for the first time in several years.
One year later, Fred has adjusted to the pressures of being a child genius, particularly after an even younger student is admitted to Jane's school. Dede hosts a well-attended birthday party for Fred, reconciling Fred's emotional development with his intellect.
Cast
- Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate
- Alex Lee as Fred Tate Age 2
- Geoffrey C. York as Infant Fred Tate
- Jodie Foster as Dede Tate
- Dianne Wiest as Jane Grierson
- Harry Connick Jr. as Eddie
- David Hyde Pierce as Garth Emmerick
- Debi Mazar as Gina
- P.J. Ochlanas Damon Wells
- Michael Shulman as Matt Montini
- Carolyn Lawrence as Sorority Girl
- Celia Weston as Miss Nimvel
- Danitra Vance as Clinic Doctor
- Nathan Lee as Matt's Teammate
- Richard Fredette as The Bartender
- George Plimpton as Winston F. Buckner
- Elizabeth H. Frietsch as Live Wire Girl
- Jennifer Trier as Grierson Institute Teacher
- Lawrence Gallegos as Fraternity Guy
- D. Michael Pierce as College Student
- Evan Prizant as Child Star, The Adding Machine
- Ellen McElduff as Make Up Woman
- Bob Balaban as Quizmaster (uncredited)
- Gordon Greene as The Doctor
Production
Jodie Foster, who is herself a former child prodigy, was immediately impressed by the film's narrative and was interested in directing it. Orion Pictures was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time and was skeptical about Foster directing the film. They ultimately agreed after she offered to act in the film without payment. The film includes certain autobiographical elements from Foster's life.
Most of the film was shot in
Reception
Box office
In its opening weekend in North America, Little Man Tate was #6 at the box office, grossing $2.3 million. The film grossed a total of $25 million domestically, against a $10 million budget becoming a commercial success.[2]
Critical response
The
Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four and commented on how the film's premise is similar to Foster's life, saying; "Little Man Tate is the kind of movie you enjoy watching; it's about interesting people finding out about themselves and as Foster creates this little man who sees a lot and knows a lot but is only gradually beginning to understand a lot, we can hear echoes, perhaps, of a young girl who once found it more interesting to study French than get her picture in the fan magazines".[5]
References
- BBFC. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
- ^ Little Man Tate. Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "Little Man Tate". Rotten Tomatoes. October 18, 1991. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
- ^ "Little Man Tate Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
- ^ Roger Ebert (October 18, 1991). "Little Man Tate", Chicago Sun-Times