cc - Taking Care of Business, the movie

"I'm an escaped car thief. I broke out of prison to see the Cubs in the World Series."

Taking Care of Business: The Movie

by reggies

I bet every Cubs fan would break out of jail - to see this once in a 100 years experience. This indeed very fictitious movie is called Taking Care of Business and starrs James Belushi as the escaped convict, and Charles Grodin as the man who loses his filofax and gives Belushi unwillingly everything he needs to make his escape as pleasant as possible.
It all starts out with Belushi calling a radio station that gives away tickets when given the correct answer to the question: "What two Cubs pitched no-hitters in 1972?" The answer is, of course, Milt Pappas and Burt Hooton. Hooton was a rookie pitcher, the last to do such a feat until 1999, when Jose Jiminez did so to win against the Diamondbacks. Later he was traded to the Dodgers who went on to win the World Series with him in 1981.

"555-7720, 555-7720, 555-7720 . . ."

Having won those tickets, he escaped from prison and found the filofax that Grodin left behind in a hurry. So Belushi takes on Grodin's identity to spend some nice days, lose the contract Grodin was supposed to get, and to go see the Cubs in the World Series.
However, everything will eventually turn out just fine. The game is great, the Cubs win, Mark Grace gets to act, and all Belushi has to do is break back into the prison to be released that same day. His convict friends pretended they held him hostage all that time.

"Here's to the Cubs winning the World Series - and to big tits!"

Belushi is cool, Belushi is fun, Belushi is a huge Cubs fan in this movie. When he watches the game with Grodin, Mark Grace hits a home-run, with the ball going up all the way to where they are sitting. Having taken only his baseball mitt and his Chicago Cubs cap with him from prison (he dressed along the way) he jumps up and makes a spectacular catch of the ball. The official guards are trying to get him for an interview, but he escapes again thinking they must have recognized him on TV.
Still the catch, any fan's dream, leads to a dialogue which, had the movie been better than it was, would now be legendary:

      Jimmy Dworwski
      (Belushi)
      holding the mitt with the ball in it, showing it to Spencer
"I got it, I got it. Did you see that? I just reached out, I snagged it, Spencer, the home run ball, Mark Grace, the Cubs in the World Series. Did you see that spectacular catch?"

Spencer Barnes
(Grodin)
"No."

Jimmy
"You didn't see it? Why?"

Spencer
"I was on the phone."

Jimmy
"Oh, you should have seen it. You know I was just reaching out, I just grabbed us the catch of the day."

Spencer
"You told me to call home."

Jimmy
"I know, but you could have waited. You could have put them on hold. It was such a great catch."

Spencer
"Elizabeth wasn't there."

      Jimmy
      desperate
"Elizabeth wasn't there? She wasn't there. She didn't see it either?
      beat
Oh, Elizabeth is your wife. She called yesterday."

Spencer
stirred up
"SHE CALLED YESTERDAY?"

"The Cubs are gonna kick but. Yeah!"

The movie is low, with not very many good jokes. Grodin gets into all kinds of troubles, while Belushi is having a fabulous time. Everything happens just the way you expect it. And when it's over, you don't bother about it for more than 2 minutes.
BUT it is a chance to see the Cubs in the World Series. And although Mark Grace is not with them anymore, this year may just be the one. The year the Cubs are going to win it all. It's about time. They may just make it. Maybe 2002.

Or maybe next year.

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