1987 Three Men and a Baby

Three Men and a Baby is based on a French farce, Trois Hommes et un Couffin. It was directed by Leonard Nimoy, who had just directed the most profitable and best Star Trek movie of the time, The Voyage Home.

The cast is excellent and together make a wonderful triple act. Led by Tom Selleck, he is an architect living with two bachelor friends, played by Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson.

All three actors had something to prove. Selleck found fame from his tv show Magnum P.I.; Danson was another tv star with the extremely popular sitcom Cheers, and Guttenberg was known to audiences as the cheeky officer Mahoney from the movie series Police Academy. For most actors it is difficult to shake off the roles that made them famous, their popularity becoming almost an albatross. It is a shame that these three couldn't quite break out of that, as here and in other movies, they are very good.

To the story; three bachelor's living a lovely single life in New York are greeted one morning with a baby on their doorstep. A note reveals that one of them could be the father. They are left to hold the baby and juggle those duties while carrying on with their busy work and social schedules.

It's a lovely farce. Reminiscent of movies from the 30's and 40's, typically with Cary Grant. The chemistry between the three leads is wonderful, and Nimoy clearly has fun with the script as well as not being shackled by space trips and Spock.

As with a lot of movies from the 80's, Peter Cetera crops up; here his song, Daddy's Girl, is used in a funny and heartwarming montage sequence.

The movie proved a hit around the world and the inevitable sequel was put into production. The $11m budgeted film grossed a reported $240m worldwide. The sequel, while popular, did not live up to this one.

It's a great film check it out and enjoy. It was distributed by Touchstone Pictures, which in the 80's was an arm of Disney as they tried to branch out into more adult entertainment. Back in the 80's Disney was not a popular or cool brand and the image of sweet fairytales for kids was a tricky one for the company; it is strange to think now how close they were to being bankrupt. Touchstone helped them out of a hole.