Gabriel Pingarron Movies

After several weeks filming The Scout in the late 1970s, star Peter Falk and director Howard Zieff abandoned the project. Two decades later, writer Andrew Bergman gave his original script to Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson, who polished it as a vehicle for Brooks and director Michael Ritchie. Brooks stars as Al Percolo, a talent scout for the New York Yankees whose latest recruit (Michael Rapaport) has just vomited on the field and fled. Sent to Mexico as punishment by his boss (Lane Smith), Percolo finds phenomenal young pitcher Steve Nebraska (Brendan Fraser). Before he can get back to the Big Apple, however, Percolo gets pink-slipped by the Yankees, so he offers Nebraska as a free agent. After a stellar tryout, Nebraska is signed for millions. Soon after, he starts to exhibit odd behaviors that may be linked to psychological problems. A psychiatrist (Dianne Wiest) hired by the ball club wants Nebraska in daily therapy, so Percolo ends up babysitting a mentally unstable pitcher. Brooks' normally winning mix of laughs with psychological insights didn't add up to box office or critical success, despite cameos from real-life sports figures such as George Steinbrenner and Steve Garvey. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This wacky buddy comedy was the fifth in a series of Hollywood remakes of films by French director Francis Veber, none of which were box office successes. Sheila Kelley is Valerie Highsmith, an heiress who, despite her family's wealth, suffers from horribly bad luck. On a vacation to Mexico, she takes a fall, causing amnesia, then is mugged and kidnapped for ransom. When her father (Sam Wanamaker) becomes frustrated with the failed attempts of a detective, Ray Campanella (Danny Glover) to find his daughter, he teams a very reluctant Ray with Eugene Proctor (Martin Short), an accountant whose bumbling bad luck is even worse than Valerie's. The theory is that perhaps two such incredibly unlucky people will act like magnets, with Eugene leading Ray to Valerie's location. Although Ray finds Eugene irritating, the unlikely partners eventually begin making surprising progress in the case, despite Eugene's never-ending screw-ups and pratfalls. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide