December 15, 2006 (United States)
The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a homeless salesman. Smith's son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as Gardner's son, Christopher Jr. The screenplay by Steven Conrad is based on the best-selling 2006 memoir of the same name written by Gardner with Quincy Troupe. It is based on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle being homeless. The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a mural that Gardner sees on the wall outside the daycare facility his son attended. The movie is set in San Francisco in 1981.
The film was released on December 15, 2006, by Columbia Pictures, and received positive reviews, with Smith's performance and the emotional weight of the story garnering acclaim. Smith was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.
Storyline[]
In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner invests his entire life savings in portable bone-density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy improvement over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris's life. While he can sell most of them, the time lag between the sales and his growing financial demands enrages his wife, Linda, who works as a hotel maid. The economic instability increasingly erodes their marriage, despite caring for Christopher Jr., their soon-to-be 5-year-old son.
While Chris tries to sell one of the scanners, he meets Jay Twistle, a lead manager and partner for Dean Witter Reynolds and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a taxi ride. After Jay leaves, Chris skips out on paying the fare, causing the driver to angrily chase him into a BART station, forcing him onto a train just as it departs. However, Chris's new relationship with Jay earns him an interview to become an intern stockbroker.
The day before the interview, Chris begrudgingly agrees to paint his apartment for free to postpone eviction by his landlord for late rent. While painting, Chris is greeted by two policemen at his doorstep, who arrest him for failure to pay multiple parking tickets. Chris has to spend the night in jail, complicating his schedule for the interview the next day. Chris narrowly arrives at Dean Witter's office on time, albeit still in shabby, paint-splattered clothes. Despite his appearance, Chris still impresses the interviewers and lands a six-month unpaid internship. He is among 20 interns competing for a paid position as a stockbroker.
A possible position at her sister's boyfriend's restaurant tempts Linda to leave for New York. With regret, she leaves Christopher in Chris's care. However, Chris’s financial problems worsen when his already diminished bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and his landlord finally evicts him and Christopher.
With only $21.33 in his bank account, Chris and Christopher are left homeless and desperate; Chris is able to get food and beds at the local shelter, and eventually scrapes together cash for a motel room, but the locks are then changed when he is unable to pay on time; he is then forced to live out of the restrooms in local BART stations with his son. Later, Chris finds the scanner that he lost in the station earlier. He sells his blood to pay for repairs and then gets a local physician to purchase it, thereby freeing himself to focus solely on his stockbroker training.
Disadvantaged by his limited work hours and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Chris develops several ways to make sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high-value customers in person, a violation of firm protocol. One sympathetic prospect, Walter Ribbon, a top-level pension fund manager, even takes Chris and Christopher to a San Francisco 49ers game, where Chris befriends some of Mr. Ribbon's friends, who are also potential clients. Regardless of his challenges, Chris never reveals his lowly circumstances to his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his supervisors, Mr. Frohm, the last five dollars in his wallet for cab fare. He also studies for and aces the stockbroker license exam.
As Chris concludes his last day of internship, he is summoned to a meeting with the partners. Mr. Frohm notes that Chris is wearing a nice shirt, to which Chris explains he thought it appropriate to dress for the occasion on his last day. Mr. Frohm thanks him and says Chris should wear another one the following day, letting Chris know that he has won the coveted full-time position and reimburses Chris for the previous cab ride. Fighting back tears, he shakes hands with the partners, then rushes to Christopher's daycare to embrace him. They walk down a street and joke with each other (and are passed by the real Chris Gardner, in a business suit).
An epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm in 1987 and sold a minority stake in it in a multi-million-dollar deal in 2006.
Movie Trailer[]
- The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) (Trailer)
Sound Effects Used[]
- Hollywoodedge, Doppler Car Horn By Ap PE077401/Doppler Horn By HighP CT053001
- Hollywoodedge, Elevator Bell DingsL PE192801
- Sound Ideas, CLOCK, ALARM - ELECTRONIC CLOCK ALARM BUZZING