Arguably, Brewster breaks the conditions of the will on several occassions. Here's one. Any others?
Mailing the rare, upside-down plane stamp violated "You must not destroy what is inherently valuable." Everyone knows that a postmark invalidates a rare stamp's worth.
He didn't destory it though, he used it. What I want to know is that last 20,000$, isn't that women going to work for him after the time limit is up?
shareNah, she gave him a receipt before the clock struck 12. Under cash-accounting rules, the money was spent before the cutoff.
shareI came here to address the same subject. It's an arguable point though. The stamp, beyond its value as a collectible, is still a stamp. He didn't destroy it, he mailed it. He also bought the town lunch. Did they "destroy" the food or use it for its natural purpose?
I guess it depends on whether a stamp technically stops being a stamp when it becomes a valuable collectible.
For example, what if he bought a rare Picasso, as Uncle Rupert suggests, and then maybe has it "restored" which alters its value? Is that okay? It's not the same thing as "torching it."
Has anyone stopped to think that Richard Pryors character may not have been SMART ENOUGH to spend his money in a more sensible way? He was a JOCK after all...lol.
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Just watched the movie again today.
One of the conditions the old man lays down is that he can only give away 5% to charity and another 5% gambling, but beyond that he can't "give the money away." He can hire people but has to get service for his money.
What about when he buys the town lunch? Isn't that the same as giving it away? How is buying someone lunch different from buying them a car or something?
Doesn't he also buy some stuff for John Candy? Like John uses Brewster's money to buy that gold-plated catcher's mask. Isn't that an asset, even if it's Candy's and not Brewster's? Or does Candy sell it back at the end to help Brewster raise money? I only watched the first half of the flick today, I can't remember.
He also buys jackets for the baseball team. Same deal. Or did they give them back before the deadline?
I think the basic idea is for him to spend the money. Giving it away is too easy, but if he's going out shopping, paying for stuff...I think that was in the spirit of the will.
shareI think the point here is that such things as stamps and food are consumable goods: they are used once, then not again. This does not mean they are destroyed. Thoughts?
Conciousness: that annoying time between naps
Okay here is the factors of Montgomery Brewsters Will in having to spend 30 million in 30 days without gaining assets. Renting the hotel for one month was something and it was the same buying uniforms and renting penthouses for his baseball team. He was only allowed to give 5 percent to charity and only gamble away another 5 percent. When he bought alot of people lunch it was a temporary asset and eating the food is allowed. Most of the money was spent on the people he hired but that had to show alot of value for their service. The one and a quarter million stamp was not a thing broken in the will and it was only mailed there and the man at the shop got the money not the postal service and once it was mailed and postmarked on a stamp it was no longer an asset he owned. He was allowed to buy others gifts but however only low priced ones not high valued jewelery and it would have been easier for him if he was allowed to just give it to people and charity.
In my opinion that ten million he made on that investment did not come from the original 30 million he had to spend. It was earned in an investment accidetally and if Drake wasn't around he could have deposited it in someone elses name in another account like in a Swiss Bank if possible. That would have been an insurance if he lost in the end and he would have been set for life on that Ten Million but instead his shortcut after that was the millions spent on the None of The Above campaign.
I think that Roundfield could have let Monty have the 300 million before that nick of time ending because Warren purposely withheld that 20 grand on that furniture deposit but however the 20 grand advance fee for Angela to get a degree to be a lawyer was spent before Monty inherited that 300 million.
Yes Warren was gonna sue Monty for that 20 grand he had in the end if he lost but however, when Monty inherited that 300 million in the Nick of Time, he and Angela and Mr. Roundfield would have Grandville Baxter and also Warren sent to the showers which is an expression for Cooler or Hoosegow or Brig in navy term or jail. Angela would still have to use that 20 grand for the law school fee to earn that degree.
But however if Monty lost there was Spike with his savings who would have bought a ten grand car and went to some cabin out west. Then Spike would have tried to get that collection a second time.
The $10m John Candy made for him counts - the condition of the will was that he was to return to the attorney's office "penniless" and with only the clothes on his back - having spent $30m but still having $10m in his pocket would surely not count as "penniless" :)
shareThis is true, the $10m John Candy made for him counts (Monty even says "No! I'm right back where I started..."), but I think it's implied that he then goes on to spend all of the money (the $20m he still has + the $10m from JC) on the None of the Above campaign.
It is certainly never referred to again, and it's not like an extra $10m could just be glossed over - not when the whole point of the film is the amount of money he has left.
Actually,
Now where did the money for the $10 Million come?
Did Spike go into the till and invest the money behind Monty's back? That would have been a violation because someone helped him spend it, but he would not have been liable for that, because it would have only occurred if Angela had allowed him access to the account without Monty's authorization.
The way I always understood the money, the way that Spike was so glum about the whole thing was that it came from money that Spike gave the investor, meaning out of the the $100,000 that Spike had been paid. In that case, the $10 million would not have been included in the total that was officially Spike's salary and the return on Spike's investment, and thus that $10 million would have been Spike's money and not Monty's
Well, it's probably way too late to even bother, but your understanding of where the money came from is incorrect.
Monty asked Spike and the Adviser/Broker to sell off the stock from the Iceberg Venture that actually ended up increasing in value. I presume this was so Brewster could curtail any further increase and get rid of the money some other way. But Spike says that they kind of went behind Monty's back and invested in something else which actually made money. So, it was Monty's brokerage agent (who must have been give some power to undertake such transactions for Brewster) who invested Monty's money. It was not money from Spike's paycheck.
Yeah spike says to monty that he used brewsters companys corporate name to make some investments which ends up making monty 10 million dollars
"When your down here with me you'll float too!!"
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He hired John Candy. He didn't just buy things for him.
shareBuying the town lunch would in all likelihood be considered OK under the 'charity' term. When you give money away, whether or not it's a registered charity (which his uncle's will did NOT specify it had to be), it's considered charity.
The stuff Spike (John Candy) bought would not be considered a part of the money that Brewster had to spend anymore, since it had been paid to Spike as a salary. Once paid, it was gone from the $30m. And just a small correction, the uncle did not say he had to get 'service for his money', he had to get 'value for his money'. Two slightly different terms but a world apart in interpretation if this had been a real-life situation.
The deal with the team uniforms and the exhibition game against the Yankees would fall into the same plan as the lunch for town. Charity.
Having said all that, I still say Brewter's Millions is probably one of the greatest comedies of the latter 20th century. I wish I could be Brewster!!
well if you're in the UK, it's on in 2 hours or so, and i'll be watching it ^_^
sharecouldnt he hire someone to do something outrageous for the entire amount? Say he wants to see someone eat a hamburger off of the floor in the subway. every one has a price, and while most would be below 30 million I'm sure if you took 100 hamburgers down to the subway you could spend a lot of money paying people to eat them. Thats just one example of course he could hire people to do anything.
shareNo he didnt buy John Candy stuff..He made up a title for him and payed him...100,000 dollars or something. Meaning John Candy bought that stuff with what he was being paid.
shareJust watched the movie. John Candy says the mask was supposed to be for someone else he didnt show up to get it so "they gave it to me" Spike was hired by Monty and was paid for his services so the money he spent was his. This is how I precieve the scene.
shareHere's a Question, Brewster was allowed to spend 5% of the 30 Million on Charity...
He Gave 100,000 to the Animal Charity early in the film....then he won 1.5 Million on the long shot betting and game that to Charity....
5% of 30M is 1.5M....So is he allowed to spend 5% of the Profit Made on Charity? If so then 5% of the 1.5M he won is still 75,000...so either way he went over on Charity Donations. Did I miss something?
I think since that 1.5M wasn't part of the original 30M he can do whatever he wants with it, because the rules only apply to the original 30M. I wonder if he can just give away any additional profit as long as the terms of the original 30M are met? Because like you said "Brewster was allowed to spend 5% of the 30M on Charity..."
john candy bought the catcher's mask with the money monty was paying him.
"Life is what happens while you're making other plans" - Vincent quoting John Lennon in COLLATERAL
the 1.5 million was won. he was allowed to gamble and give away 5%, he places 50k on the field hocky game, and gives the bookie some money for all the long shots. so him winning 1.5 mill is not in violation, he just could not spend more then that and he didn't.
What if he bought alot of expensive clorhes and gave them away to Charity? what that work or no?..because technically he didnt spend the money on charity he spent the money on clothes...then decided to give the clothes away?
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Brewster did not purchase any clothes, he rented them. The same with the penthouse apartment, it was leased for a month and he paid to have it remodeled and then returned to its original state, most likely under the terms of the lease agreement.
http://www.vle.org/
the stamp is only worth the useable value, postage marked, It could be purchased for more, Kinda like scalping tickets to a game.
shareNah, the stamp's value is it's current market value: ~$1m. Just like the line about "go out and buy a dozen Picassos, then use them for firewood"... the IPO price for most Picassos was tiny compared to their current market price.
shareThe most ridiculous part of the movie was when he had to check out of his room by 3pm yet when he finally makes his way to the law office it's like 11:45 at night...gee, if only he had gone there earlier, then he would have known exactly where the $20,000 was, found Warren, and had more then enough time to spend the money instead of waiting till 11:58pm to frantically spend it. I'd love to write a re-make of this movie to reflect today's lifestyle. Now I know it's only been 20 years or so but I've always thought the one from 1985 could have been done a little smarter.
shareIf he had gotten there earlier, it would have done him no good. Until Warren ment him (which Warren knew HAD to be very close to the closing time of the will's conditions) he would just be there early - and the senior partners wouldn't have let him inherit one second prior to midnight, knowing what Warren was about to do.
shareWell, he had no way of knowing about the $20,000 that Warren held for him. He figured that he had spent all his money so he was going there thinking he'd won. Then when he got on the elevator Warren cornered him with the dough. Warren was probably waiting for him to come to the office all that time, although now that I think about it, he was supposed to come before midnight. The time was set at the beginning. He wouldn't have come earlier.
shareWrong.
The stamp's value was 24 cents. That was printed directly on the stamp and is the only amount that will be guaranteed for it.
The 1.5 million dollar worth is what a COLLECTOR values it at, not what the actual value is.
its all good to discuss things like this, but at the end of the day this has gone on a little too far!
whats great about films like this is that things like that can happen in them and inconsistencies dont really matter!
legendary film, especially for a child of the eighties like me.
I thought the movie was great and was surprised that this was at least the seventh remake. Hard to believe it was done twice (as a silent) in the early part of the twentieth century. What I find even more amazing is the amount of analysis on the terms of the will. I was chuckling to myself as I read through the previous posts. I kept commenting to myself that these people sure have a lot of time on their hands. Then I realized that I had just spent 15 minutes or so reading the intense discussions on whether or not Monty screwed up, by mailing a valuable stamp etc. Anyways, that's my two cents worth. Cheers to all.
shareYes, I didn't know it was filmed before until I read Roger Ebert's review of the film.
shareNo, he doesn't have pre-paid legal services, he funded Angela's education to become a lawyer. He gives her a $20,000 advance.
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It was a retainer. Non-refundable. It was no different than paying salary for the others in advance.
shareServices paid in advance with the expectation of services being rendered in any future point can be considered a labor asset I guess, he can still sell those services to someone else who may use them, the beauty of hiring everybody else was that they had no olbigations outside of the week they were paid for. If he had all these employees though I wish they would disclose whether or not he withheld their taxes.
shareI believe that once you put a stamp on a letter, no matter how rare it is, the value of the stamp becomes exactly what it says on the stamp...yes, he may have invalidated the stamp's worth but he disposed of it as an asset so I don't think he really violated the will.
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