Super Troopers
| Super Troopers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jay Chandrasekhar |
| Written by | Jay Chandrasekhar Kevin Heffernan Steve Lemme Paul Soter Erik Stolhanske |
| Produced by | Richard Perello |
| Starring | Jay Chandrasekhar Kevin Heffernan Steve Lemme Paul Soter Erik Stolhanske Brian Cox |
| Cinematography | Joaquín Baca-Asay |
| Edited by | Jay Chandrasekhar Jacob Craycroft Kevin Heffernan |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,000,000 |
Super Troopers, (also known as Broken Lizard's Super Troopers) is a 2002 comedy film written by and starring the Broken Lizard comedy group (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske). Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen and Brian Cox co-star while Lynda Carter has a cameo appearance. The movie was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. It has become a cult classic, especially on college campuses. On costs of $14 million for production and marketing, the movie only made $18.5 million at the box-office but gained respectable amounts in DVD sales.
Plot
The plot centers on five Vermont state troopers who seem to have more of a knack for pranks than actual police work. Most of their time is spent devising new ways of hazing the new recruit, "Rabbit", and tormenting their easily infuriated radio dispatcher, Farva. Their days of pranking and slacking off are cut short when the troopers suddenly find themselves attempting to solve a murder, bust a drug-smuggling ring, and avoid being eliminated by the state's impending budget cut.
The troopers have an ongoing rivalry with the local police department in Spurbury and constantly quarrel with them; one such dispute breaks out into an all-out fistfight, further increasing the station's chances of being shut down. The rivalry eventually results in the governor's (Lynda Carter) praise for the efforts of the Spurbury PD, who had managed to keep one step ahead of the state police by making their department appear responsible for the confiscation of the smuggled drugs.
Defeated, the state police unexpectedly stumble upon the local police running protection for the drug smugglers. The film's epilogue finds the state troopers' local division still eliminated due to the budget cuts; however, the members manage to obtain the position of local police officers and thus continue their hijinks in and around their jurisdiction.
The Troopers
- Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn (Jay Chandrasekhar) — Hard-nosed and deadpan, yet still has a sense of jocosity, Ramathorn is the senior trooper in the group. He has a hippie girlfriend, who owns a "head shop", and a son, Arlo. His ethnicity is an ongoing source of confusion for everyone who knows him.. "Ramathorn" is a corruption of the south Indian name "Ramanathan". The ethnicity jokes involve people confusing "Thorny" for someone of Latino or African-American descent.
- Robert "Rabbit" Roto (Erik Stolhanske) — The rookie trooper. The least desired tasks are often delegated to him, though he is generally well-liked. He is often the butt of cruel and sometimes dangerous pranks due to him being a rookie, which he takes with good humor and no small amount of eagerness.
- MacIntyre "Mac" Womack (Steve Lemme) — Though all the troopers enjoy pranks, Mac is easily the most dedicated. His pranks include the "metal cup" and the infamous "repeater", as well as the opening scene's car chase that tricks his fellow officers into following him.
- Jeff Foster (Paul Soter) - Arguably the calmest and most reserved trooper, his incompetent wooing of local police officer Ursula (Marisa Coughlan) is a subplot and source of comedy throughout the movie. He also seems to be incapable of growing a moustache.
- Rodney "Rod" Farva (Kevin Heffernan) — Overweight and not too bright, he is the least liked one amongst the troopers. He is also indefinitely under suspension, due to his inability to control his anger in the line of duty. Farva often tries unsuccessfully to be "one of the boys", performing practical jokes (shenanigans) that, unlike the other troopers, are cruel and unusual instead of good-natured and humorous. He is under suspension for something involving a school bus full of kids.
- John O'Hagan (Brian Cox) — The captain of the group, he is somewhat of a mentor and father figure to the troopers. While he was once a prankster himself, he has matured with age. He is now preoccupied with avoiding the impending budget cut.
Trivia
- In the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard film, two characters participate in a scene involving characters from Super Troopers. This is primarily due to the movies sharing the same director Jay Chandrasekhar who is also a member of Broken Lizard.
- The "Johnny Chimpo" logo (displaying a monkey apparently masturbating with a banana) used by the drug smugglers is the official logo of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe.
- Footage from Super Troopers was edited into previews for Broken Lizard's follow-up comedy, 2004's Club Dread.
- Although the movie is based on the Vermont State Police, it was actually filmed in Southern Dutchess County, in Upstate New York. The "Town Cop" scenes were mainly filmed in the City of Beacon and the "Highway Cop" scenes were mainly filmed on NY Route 117 in Westchester County, New York.
- The couple pulled over by Rod Farva, whom he calls "chicken fuckers", are Kevin Heffernan's parents in real life. Mr. and Mrs. Heffernan knew that their son was going to say something vulgar, but they weren't prepared for the "chicken fucker" line.
- When Thorny and Rabbit are chugging maple syrup at the diner, it is revealed in the DVD special features that the actors originally drank a tea that looks like syrup. However, real syrup was eventually used when the tea was not thick enough to pass as syrup.
- At the 2006 Comic-Con Convention in San Diego, California, comedy troupe Broken Lizard revealed that a prequel for the film is in the works. The film will take place in the 1970s and will follow the fathers of the main characters.[1]
In the famous "meow" scene foster actually says meow 11 times to the man but mac only records it as 10.
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