Along with a long line of well-established actors interested in the role of Chauncey Gardiner Neil Simon was one who saw in the part a vehicle for his particular talents.
Chance the Gardener:
Good morning, Louise.
Louise:
He's dead, Chance. The old man's dead.
Chance the Gardener:
I see.
When Chance is watching himself on the large screen in the store window display, he uses his home remote control to try and change the channels on that set, but it controls another TV instead. However the remote is of the earlier "ultrasonic" technology, and these sound waves DO NOT pass through glass at the required strength needed to work. Those of us born before the movie can recall that jiggling your keys would make a remote controlled TV unwittingly change channels, or turn off and on. At about this same time the now common "infrared" RCs were coming out, albeit at outrageous prices. These signals CAN in effect pass through glass, despite some losses due to reflection. For the scene to be technically correct they should have used an IR remote, which would not make those "ringing bell" metallic sounds.
Under the end titles of the theatrical release are outtakes of Peter Sellers as Chance recounting the encounter with Abbaz. Sellers breaks character and laughs during each attempt. The lines do not appear in the movie. Certain versions of the film have credits with white text on a black background without the outtakes.
CBS edited 3 minutes from this film for its 1984 network television premiere.
English, Russian, Italian
$30,177,511
$30,177,511