Dennis the Menace

"He's armed... He's adorable... And he's out of school for the entire summer."

1993 1h 36m EN

😐

5.9

MID

🥫

28%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.7

IMDB

★5.9TMDB · 1,657🥫28%Rotten Tomatoes●49Metacritic★5.7IMDB · 68,951

FamilyComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Mr. Wilson's ever-present annoyance comes in the form of one mischievous kid named Dennis. But he'll need Dennis's tricks to uncover a collection of gold coins that go missing when a shady drifter named Switchblade Sam comes to town.

“He's armed... He's adorable... And he's out of school for the entire summer.”

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Cast

Walter Matthau
Mr. Wilson
Mason Gamble
Dennis Mitchell
Joan Plowright
Martha Wilson
Christopher Lloyd
Switchblade Sam
Lea Thompson
Alice Mitchell
Robert Stanton
Henry Mitchell
Amy Sakasitz
Margaret Wade
Kellen Hathaway
Joey

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nick Castle
Writers: John Hughes
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

33 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Dennis the Menace Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Directed by Nick Castle, shot by Thomas E. Ackerman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Alan Heim shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Walter Matthau and Mason Gamble and Joan Plowright carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He's armed... He's adorable... And he's out of school for the entire summer.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nick Castle directs. Thomas E. Ackerman behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Alan Heim cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
233 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Dennis the Menace Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Nick Castle, shot by Thomas E. Ackerman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Alan Heim shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Walter Matthau and Mason Gamble and Joan Plowright carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "He's armed... He's adorable... And he's out of school for the entire summer.".
9IMDB entry: tt0106701 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Thomas E. Ackerman
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Alan Heim
Production design: James D. Bissell
Costume design: Bridget Kelly
Sound: Kevin E. Carpenter
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $35,000,000
Box office: $117,270,765
Return: 335% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Dennis the Menace (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes: 28% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 49/100
IMDB rating: 5.7/10 · 68,951 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

3 wins & 3 nominations total

Part of

Dennis the Menace Collection

Dennis the Menace is a 1993 American family comedy film based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name. Dennis the Menace concerns the misadventures of a mischievous child (Mason Gamble) who wreaks havoc on his next door neighbor George Wilson (Walter Matthau), usually hangs out with his friends Joey (Kellen Hathaway) and Margaret Wade (Amy Sakasitz), and is followed everywhere by his dog, Ruff. The film also features a cameo appearance by Jeannie Russell who was a cast member on the original television show. Released on June 25, 1993, Dennis the Menace was a commercial success, grossing $117.2 million on a $35 million budget despite receiving negative reviews from critics. A direct-to-video sequel called Dennis the Menace Strikes Again was later released in 1998 without the cast from this film. Another direct-to-video sequel called A Dennis the Menace Christmas was released in 2007 with different cast from both first and second films.

Also by

Nick Castle

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2020-08-21
★ 4/10
Bad watch, unlikely to watch again, and can't recommend unless you're just dying to see a poor version of "Home Alone" in reverse. I've probably seen this before, but I can't remember it, and I used to read "Dennis the Menace" in the funny papers, can't say I was even that big a fan then. And maybe I'm too much of a grumpy old man myself at this point, but this little brat is borderline evil in his stupid behavior. The old man is a jerk too, but it is largely reactionary. I can't even remember the inevitable heart-warming resolution of the child lying to the old man at the end of the movie right before he does it again. It's like watching a serial killer documentary: this is a sociopathic character, and I'm glad we don't have modern day versions of this, at least not that I can see.

Production companies