40 Fun Facts About The Money Pit

In The Money Pit, which animal leaps out of the dumbwaiter and attacks Anna when she pulls its ropes?

A raccoon springs from the shaft, and Anna's screams send Walter sprinting to help just as more of the house gives way.

In The Money Pit, which roast shoots out of the oven and through a window as the kitchen goes haywire?

A turkey flies from the stove after the blender and the popcorn popper explode, and it lands by way of a second-floor window.

In The Money Pit, what crashes through the upstairs floor just after Walter and Anna pour water into it?

A bathtub drops to the room below, a gag that needed five tubs: one genuine period piece plus fiberglass and plaster copies made to smash.

In The Money Pit, what completion estimate do the contractors keep repeating as the repairs drag on for months?

Two weeks is the promise every time, yet four months after work begins the house is still a construction site.

Which famous director has a presenting credit on The Money Pit, having served as its executive producer?

Steven Spielberg's company Amblin bought the screenplay after it first arrived in 1980 as nothing more than a writing sample.

Which Hollywood star led the 1948 comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, loosely remade as The Money Pit?

Cary Grant starred opposite Myrna Loy as a couple plagued by problems with a country home, a plot remade again in 2007 as Are We Done Yet?

Which hit sitcom's schedule did The Money Pit have to work around to secure Shelley Long as Anna?

Cheers had already won Long an Emmy in 1983 for playing Diane Chambers, so the film had to fit around her television work.

How does The Money Pit end for Walter and Anna, in front of their finally restored house?

They get married outside the finished house, after Max admits he lied about spending the night with Anna.

The real mansion filmed for The Money Pit was finally sold in 2019 with what result for its owners?

A significant loss, measured against what had been spent on renovations, came with the sale at about $3.5 million.

Which part of the house in The Money Pit was built in three versions, one rigged to give way under Tom Hanks?

The main staircase came in three builds, and after one test collapse the crew spent most of a day refitting its pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.

In The Money Pit, what does Walter Fielding do for a living, with musicians among his clients?

Lawyer is the job, in entertainment law, and Tom Hanks was the filmmakers' first choice to play him.

Which instrument does Shelley Long's character Anna play in an orchestra in The Money Pit?

Viola is her instrument, and Shelley Long took music lessons so she would look convincing as a first-chair player.

In The Money Pit, what is the profession of Max Beissart, Anna's vain ex-husband who reclaims his apartment?

Conductor is the job, and his associate Shatov calls him Maestro; he returns early from Europe and wants his home back.

In which country do con artists Estelle and Carlos resurface at the end of The Money Pit, selling another house?

Brazil, specifically Rio de Janeiro, is where the pair reappear, insisting on a cash deal for another old house.

In The Money Pit, what does seller Estelle offer to include in the deal to tempt Walter into buying?

An antique car, a Lincoln, is the sweetener, offered while Estelle insists her husband faces extradition and she must sell at once.

What crime did Walter's father commit before fleeing abroad at the start of The Money Pit?

Embezzlement of millions from the firm's musician clients left Walter in debt, so he and Anna cannot afford a new place in the city.

Which actor turned director, who made My Favorite Year, directed Tom Hanks in The Money Pit?

Richard Benjamin had starred in Westworld and Goodbye, Columbus before directing his first feature film in 1982.

Which former Bolshoi Ballet star plays Anna's ex-husband Max in The Money Pit, two years before Die Hard?

Alexander Godunov defected to the United States in 1979 during a Bolshoi tour of New York, and made his film debut in Witness in 1985.

Which Oscar winner for Reds plays Estelle, who sells the mansion in a hurry, in The Money Pit?

Maureen Stapleton won her Academy Award as the anarchist Emma Goldman in Reds, and had appeared in Cocoon the year before.

In The Money Pit, what collapses and smothers the fire when Walter adds one more log?

The chimney caves in on the fireplace on the evening of the very day Walter got stuck in a hole in the floor.

In The Money Pit, who lends Walter the $200,000 in cash that he needs to buy the mansion?

A young singer client named Benny provides the loan, while Anna sells valuables from her divorce to raise her share.

In The Money Pit, what trade is Art Shirk's brother Brad, who wants $5,000 up front?

Plumber is Brad's trade, and he asks for his check before looking at a single pipe, saying he saw the house years ago.

In The Money Pit, what does carpenter Art Shirk say is wrong with the mansion's fallen front door?

Dry rot is his verdict, delivered the morning after a rainstorm exposes several leaks in the roof.

In The Money Pit, what conceals the hole in the floor that traps Walter while he is home alone?

A throw rug covers the gap, and the official at the door mistakes Walter's cries for laughter and leaves in a huff.

In The Money Pit, what does Walter get from the mansion's doorbell when he rings it on moving day?

An electric shock from the bell is the first warning, and moments later the stuck front door falls flat when he knocks.

In The Money Pit, who does Estelle claim arrested her husband Carlos, forcing her to sell quickly?

Israeli intelligence supposedly seized Carlos over a wartime job tending Hitler's pool, a tall tale that hurries the sale.

Which actress was first lined up to play Anna in The Money Pit but made The Jewel of the Nile instead?

Kathleen Turner chose the sequel, and about fifty actresses auditioned before Shelley Long came back into the picture.

Besides her TV schedule, what personal circumstance first kept Shelley Long from starring in The Money Pit?

Her pregnancy clashed with the dates until Long proposed pushing the shoot back a little, so she could give birth first.

The Money Pit's production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein had just won an Oscar for which 1984 film?

Amadeus earned her the Academy Award shortly before the shoot, and for this comedy she built every house set twice, intact and wrecked.

How were The Money Pit's house scenes scheduled, unusually for a film, because the sets were being wrecked?

In story order was the only way, since each gag wrecked the set a little more; the rooms were modules that came apart easily.

The real mansion used for exteriors in The Money Pit stands in which part of New York State?

Long Island's North Shore supplied the house, a Colonial-style home in Lattingtown that dates from 1898.

The Money Pit's wrecked interiors were built at Kaufman Astoria Studios, in which New York City borough?

Queens is home to the studio, built in 1920, where Goodfellas, Hair and The Wiz were also filmed.

Which Hollywood studio released The Money Pit and built new sets on its lot for a late-added opening scene?

Universal brought the cast back to Los Angeles over Thanksgiving 1985, after filming had wrapped, to shoot a new opening.

Which critic gave The Money Pit one star out of four yet called it a triumph of art direction?

Roger Ebert found the film one monotonous sight gag after another, yet said the artisans behind its stunts deserved a medal.

One review of The Money Pit likened its long chain-reaction gag to the contraptions of which cartoonist?

Rube Goldberg drew complicated gadgets doing simple jobs the long way round, and the reviewer singled out that one sequence as really funny.

Which Tom Hanks hit, the first Touchstone release, came two years before he starred in The Money Pit?

Splash, directed by Ron Howard, cast Hanks as a man who falls for a mermaid and earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay.

Which cinematographer, famed for shooting the Godfather trilogy, photographed The Money Pit?

Gordon Willis also shot films for Woody Allen, and a 2003 guild survey ranked him among the ten most influential cinematographers.

Which screenwriter, a producer of the Alien films, wrote The Money Pit as a reworking of a 1948 comedy?

David Giler wrote it alone; his earlier screen credits included The Parallax View and Fun with Dick and Jane.

Which future star of The Wire has an early screen role as a paramedic in The Money Pit?

Wendell Pierce trained at Juilliard and made his Broadway debut in 1985, years before playing Detective Bunk Moreland.

Which rock band, later famous for the album Pride, plays a fictional group in The Money Pit?

White Lion were between record deals when hired, and their song Web of Desire, performed with the singer Robey, is on the film's soundtrack.