Looking back at Joel Schumacher‘s DC Cab

"Fool! Your fare is the only thing stopping me from breaking your face!" - Samson

The Recap

After the success of his first feature picture, Joel Schumacher moved straight on to what, surely, could only be a sure fire hit on paper: comedy - check, fastish cars - check, classic caper elements - check, Mr. T and Irene Cara (well it was the 80s) - check. Nothing could possible go wrong, could it? Well, actually, quite a lot, as I revisit D.C. Cab.

The story starts as we meet wet behind the ears Albert Hockenberry (Adam Baldwin), who has come to the nation's capital to make his way in the world. He plans to start working for his father's ex army buddy, ageing hippie Harold Oswelt (Max Gail). When he arrives at D.C. Cab company, what he finds is a rundown business that is barely keeping itself afloat. The team is comprised of a wannbe pimp, a Rastafarian who comes from Middle America and an activist who is against drug pushers on the streets of the city.

Seeing the job as a means to an end, the drivers wait in vain for something better to come along and lose focus on the job at hand. When Albert arrives he decides to change all this and get the team working together for the common good of the company.

It seems their luck turns around when an antique violin is left in the back of one of the cabs. Picking up the $10,000 reward, Harold wants to share the cash with his co-workers, but his wife has other ideas and, after picking up the reward, throws him out of the house and out of her life.

Unhappy with the cash they were promised now vanished, the cabbies begin to revolt, but Albert decides to put his own money into the business and get them all to work for their own piece of the pie and to make themselves better people.

All seems to be going well until Albert is kidnapped along with two diplomat's children and the gang need to decide if they can work as a team and save the day - which, of course, they do. Happy endings all round!

Thoughts & Reaction

As I mentioned above, D.C. Cab must have looked a great idea on paper and for Schumacher having had such a success with his previous comedy outing, it must have seemed a shoe in for a follow up success and maybe money-wise it was. (Unfortunately, I cannot find any record of its costs or box office receipts.) But quality-wise this movie really doesn't stand up to some of the better ensemble movies of the time, by managing to, literally, offend everybody at least once throughout its 100 minute running time.

Story-wise you feel as if you are watching two different movies. One is a family caper and the other is an Animal House rip off and the two do not merge together well. I can only imagine once this movie hit home video in the early 80s, parents probably thought, "Oh, Mr. T is in it. He's great in The A-Team. My kids will love it," and then were bombarded with questions about drugs and nudity for weeks after.

The cast for this movie is well placed, if somewhat underutilized. Adam Baldwin plays the small town boy with heart, but you fail to really connect with his story, which is important as it drives the whole message of the film along. What does make up for it, though, is Mr. T and the rather insane Gary Busey who play two of the cab's employees, Samson and Dell, to great comic effect and make the movie ever so more slightly watchable.

The overall problem with this film, though, is you just wish there was more. More comedy, more action and more real laugh out loud moments, but all you end up with is wishing you had watched a Police Academy movie instead of a wannbe comedy that really never finds its feet.

Schumacher's next project would be a million miles away from this, making what would become one of the premier brat pack movies of the 80s and really put him on the map as a director.

Next time I will be looking at St. Elmo's Fire.

D.C. Cab Key Info:

Released: 16th December 1983
Distributed By: The Guber-Peters Company
Budget: Unknown
Box Office Gross: Unknown
Best DVD Edition: D.C. Cab DVD

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