Trailer
Plot summary
A pet shop owner in 1935 catches a boy trying to steal a puppy, and to steer him from a life of crime he tells him a story. It begins in 1910, when Johnny Kelly sells newspapers on the streets of New York City. His mother, Ma Kelly, needs an operation the family has no money for. Johnny's father was executed, and Ma keeps the household going by washing other people's clothes. Johnny brawls with a boy named Danny Vermin, and gang boss Jocko Dundee notices him and offers him work. With no honest way to raise the money, Johnny accepts, and takes part in a robbery at a nightclub run by a rival, Roman Moronie. He tells Jocko to call him Johnny Dangerously.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Johnny Dangerously (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The theme song "This Is the Life" was written for the film by "Weird Al" Yankovic, but for legal reasons it was not featured on home video releases until the DVD came out in 2002.
- The film did not match the attention or box office of Amy Heckerling's previous film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and she blamed its failure on the public being unfamiliar with the gangster genre: "it was pure satire of something nobody remembers".
- Two of the film's four screenwriters, Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff, had previously created the hit television series Diff'rent Strokes.
