Overboard (1987 film)

The film's soundtrack was composed by Alan Silvestri while the Wright Brothers music used in the film was produced by Gary S. Paxton in Nashville, TN. Although it opened to mixed reviews and was a box office success, Overboard has become a cult film and has been remade several times. In 1992, it was adapted in the Indian film Ek Ladka Ek Ladki, in 2006, it was adapted into the South Korean television series Couple or Trouble, and in 2018 it was remade with Anna Faris and Eugenio Derbez (in reversed roles). The plot of the 1997 Malayalam film Mayaponman is loosely based on this film.

Plot[edit]

Heiress Joanna Stayton is accustomed to a wealthy life with her own yacht and fortune, along with her husband Grant Stayton III. While waiting for her yacht to be repaired in the fictional seaside town of Elk Cove, Oregon, Joanna hires local carpenter Dean Proffitt, a widower with four sons, to remodel her closet. Dean produces quality work, which she dismisses because he used oak instead of cedar, despite her not having requested this at the start.


Dean agrees to redo the closet if he is paid for the work he has already done, to no avail. The two have an argument, during which he berates her for her entitled attitude. This results in an angry Joanna throwing Dean and his tool kit into the water. That night, as the yacht sails away, Joanna goes on deck to retrieve her wedding ring, but loses her balance and falls overboard. She is later fished out of the water by a garbage scow. Now suffering from amnesia, Joanna is taken to the local hospital. Grant learns of this and heads to pick Joanna up, but after observing her while she’s held in the psych ward, he decides otherwise. Intending to have her fortune to himself, and having had enough of her demeaning attitude (not unlike Dean and her unfortunate staff), he returns to the yacht and has parties with younger women, lying that Joanna has decided to leave him, and celebrating because of it.


After seeing her story on the news, Dean seeks revenge by encouraging Joanna to work off her unpaid bill. He goes to the hospital and tells her that she is his wife Annie and the mother of his four unruly sons. And he manages to pull off his claim by providing intimate knowledge about her strawberry-like birthmark (located on her left “cheek”), which she herself has forgotten about and hasn’t yet noticed. She reluctantly goes home with him and is appalled by the family’s ramshackle residence.


Joanna initially has difficulty dealing with Dean's sons and the heavy load of chores, but she soon adapts. She even manages to display ingenuity a few times, like using the hair dryer to defrost the refrigerator, and using the vacuum to clean the table. As she masters her responsibilities, she learns about the boys' school and family issues, and that Dean is secretly working two jobs to make ends meet. She falls in love with him and starts to care about his sons. She streamlines the money problems with more efficient budgeting and convinces Dean to be a more responsible father.


Joanna makes Dean's dream come true by helping him design a miniature golf course based on various international attractions, such as Mt. Rushmore, the Pyramids and Sphinx of Egypt, the Grand Canyon, Mt. St. Helens, the Russian Cathedral, and the Statue of Liberty (the “Leaning Tower of Pizza” being the concession stand). He also falls in love with her, but does not tell her about her real identity, fearing that she will leave. Four months later, Joanna's mother Edith learns what happened and threatens to have Grant hunted down. He is reluctantly forced to end the partying and return to Elk Cove to retrieve Joanna, whose memory is restored upon seeing him. Realizing that she was manipulated, a distraught Joanna returns with Grant to their yacht, which heads for New York.


Joanna finds her old lifestyle boring and unfulfilling (something which Dean had pointed out to her during their initial argument, but she didn’t want to admit) and is uncomfortable with how rudely Grant and Edith treat the boat staff. She apologizes to her butler Andrew and the crew for her spiteful treatment towards them, and soon realizes how happy she was with Dean and his sons, prompting her to turn the yacht back towards Elk Cove.


The next morning, Grant finds out that Joanna has changed course and becomes insane with jealousy over the fact that she actually prefers Dean over him. While taking charge of the boat, out of spite and wounded pride, he admits to purposely abandoning Joanna and having numerous affairs with other women in her absence.


Dean and the boys arrive on a Coast Guard cutter to rescue Joanna, but are called away due to a sighting of salmon poachers. She is stunned the boat is turning around, thinking Dean changed his mind. Desperately, he runs to the back of the boat and calls out to Joanna. He then jumps into the water to swim to her, and she does the same. An insane Grant furiously takes aim at Joanna with a bow and arrow, only to be booted overboard by Andrew, who informs him he’s leaving his employment and going to work for Joanna instead.


Dean initially believes Joanna gave up her rich life for him, but she tells him the money and the boat are hers. The two are then brought on board the Coast Guard boat, and they stand above his four sons who are making out their Christmas lists. Dean asks Joanna what he could possibly give her that she doesn't already have. She answers, "A little girl", and they kiss while the boat sails off into the sunset.