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Heartbeeps

  • 1981
  • PG
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
4.3/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
Heartbeeps (1981)
Two household robots run away and try to start a family.
Play trailer2:23
1 Video
23 Photos
Artificial IntelligenceComedySci-Fi

Two household robots run away and try to start a family.Two household robots run away and try to start a family.Two household robots run away and try to start a family.

  • Director
    • Allan Arkush
  • Writer
    • John Hill
  • Stars
    • Andy Kaufman
    • Bernadette Peters
    • Randy Quaid
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.3/10
    1.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Allan Arkush
    • Writer
      • John Hill
    • Stars
      • Andy Kaufman
      • Bernadette Peters
      • Randy Quaid
    • 42User reviews
    • 39Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 9 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:23
    Trailer

    Photos23

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    Top cast21

    Edit
    Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    • Val
    Bernadette Peters
    Bernadette Peters
    • Aqua
    Randy Quaid
    Randy Quaid
    • Charlie
    Kenneth McMillan
    Kenneth McMillan
    • Max
    Melanie Mayron
    Melanie Mayron
    • Susan
    Christopher Guest
    Christopher Guest
    • Calvin
    Richard B. Shull
    Richard B. Shull
    • Factory Boss
    Dick Miller
    Dick Miller
    • Factory Watchman
    Kathleen Freeman
    Kathleen Freeman
    • Helicopter Pilot
    Mary Woronov
    Mary Woronov
    • Party House Owner
    Paul Bartel
    Paul Bartel
    • Party Guest
    Wally Ann Wharton
    • Party Guest
    • (as Ann Wharton)
    Barry Diamond
    Barry Diamond
    • Firing Range Technician and Catskil Performer
    Stephanie Faulkner
    • Firing Range Technician
    Jeffrey Kramer
    Jeffrey Kramer
    • Party Butler Robot
    Irene Cagen
    • Party Maid Robot
    • (as Irene Forrest)
    Karsen Lee Gould
    • Party Maid Robot
    David LeBell
    David LeBell
    • Forklift Driver Robot
    • (as David Gene Lebell)
    • Director
      • Allan Arkush
    • Writer
      • John Hill
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews42

    4.31.7K
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    Featured reviews

    Pooua

    A Charming Allegory

    Before "Bicentenial Man"... there was a group of robots...

    I watched this movie one time, 20 years ago, but I still remember it fondly. I have always thought of it as an allegory, centered around two robots who "grow up" through their wild, teenage years, have a child and face crises together. They finally discover the meaning of love, in a way that is deeper than just being fond of each other, as they sacrifice for each other.

    I was so impressed with this movie that I can still recall much of the dialog. I remember the jokes and plot twists. The movie is light-hearted, funny and insightful and is even poignant at times.
    xxxhull

    One of the greatest cult movies ever!!!

    I saw this movie at the drive-in and on hbo in the early 80's and i still remember it! It is a kids movie but lets look at the wizard of oz it's the same sort of fantasy movie that everyone can enjoy!!!! I just wish it would come out on dvd in widescreen! So if there is anyone out there that works for a dvd company that can get the rights to this film or who works for the studio that made heartbeeps, really needs to release it in widescreen or special edition, it's a real good movie, i mean if anyone liked the movie Bicentennial Man with robin williams where he plays a robot trying to find himself you will love this movie, if you need a reference, i think its Bicentennial Man meets a love story!
    dlee47

    Sweet, romantic family film (There are so few)

    The first time I saw this movie I had rented it for my daughters. I was looking for a family type movie we could watch together. I was pleasantly surprised and my girls loved it. It is a sweet, romantic story of three robots out for an adventure to a distant tree filled mountain. They discover love and the meaning of friendship. My girls are grown now, but I own the movie and we still watch it occasionally.

    Bernadette Peters is beautiful and Andy Kaufman is a riot. It was fun to see Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel (pre "Eating Raoul") at a party where the robots try to blend in.
    6matrix29

    Slow but charming in a way

    HEARTBEEPS is a movie about a pair of malfunctioning companion androids returned to the factory for repairs. A simple conversation about mutual shared functions progresses to a trip to the woods with a 'Catskill' comedy unit (that has a vocal patterned after Rodney Dangerfield). They determine that stealing a UPS P-600 type truck. They assemble another small child-minded robot 'child' to tote spare parts and begin to slowly treat it as their son. Meanwhile the inventory staff notice the robots were missing and begin a search, however, the overheard conversation with the factory boss unknowingly gives a malfunctioning 'Crimebuster Deluxe' robot the purpose to hunt down and return the 3 missing robots. The factory inventory employees are also now tasked with locating and retrieving the missing androids, but their paths do not cross with the overactive Crimebuster unit. During the story, both androids slowly discover their love for each other and the desire to make the best life possible for the child they built together. When the android duo deduce that their child will need to have some sort of purpose or it will be discarded or destroyed by the humans, the kindly scrapyard owners note that they should take their child to the factory to give the child a purpose. The android family now begins slow walk back to the robot factory, but their power packs are now running very low.

    The plot itself is fairly charming if you are not too impatient about the slow pace or the overly redundant dialog. This isn't an action movie or even a sexy romance flick, but just a simple lightly romantic science-fiction movie with rather good makeup and nice special effects (but the effects are not plot-mover item for the story as is common with the movies these days). It aims for a charming fanciful mindset and achieves it, but the pacing is too slow and the story dialog so thin that it really does not have enough "oomph" to give an emotional investment from the audience. HEARTBEEPS is a slow yet charming movie with sadly not enough script or philosophy to fill out the movie runtime. I find I rather like it for what it wanted to be, but many people will not appreciate that and be disappointed. I think this could be remade today (now that audiences are more accepting of science fiction in general) with a similar budget and a complex conceptually expanded script and succeed as a charming sci-fi family movie.
    Wizard-8

    Obscure for good reasons

    If you have witnessed Andy Kaufman's slant on comedy, you may understand why I avoided this movie of his for years. Actually, for most of that time, I couldn't see it even if I wanted to - video stores in my area didn't stock it, and it never appeared on TV. I had to rent it online when recently I finally got the courage to give it a try.

    My heart sank during the first few seconds of the movie. The comedy in this opening is both very familiar and unfunny, and the movie manages to sink further and further as it goes on. There's barely a story here, with the bulk of the movie consisting of the robots wandering around... and around... and around until you want to scream. It doesn't help that the robot characters are a turn-off. They don't have much of a personality (they seem very stupid - why should we care about stupid characters?), and their voices are very annoying to the ear.

    The makeup is good, I'll admit. But it seems odd that they spent time for the makeup when not bothering to present the rest of this world as a futuristic world (the vehicles of this world, for one thing, are present-day gas-powered vehicles.) It's even more odd to consider that no one involved with this movie realized along the way that this project was a train wreck.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Because this movie was so poorly received at the box office, Andy Kaufman's "The Tony Clifton Story," a movie about the life and times of his alter-ego Tony Clifton, was scrapped by the movie studios.
    • Goofs
      When the Crimebuster begins spinning and shooting at Val and Aqua in the junkyard, you can see Calvin on the rear platform long before his character ( and Susan ) jump on Crimebuster to shut it down.
    • Quotes

      Val: [looking at trees] These are douglas firs.

      Aqua: That's very interesting.

      Val: Thank you.

    • Crazy credits
      Before the Universal logo, Crimebuster introduces himself for over a minute.
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: Taps, Cinderella, Taxi Zum Klo, Heartbeeps (1981)
    • Soundtracks
      THE BREAK
      Performed by Kat Mandu

      Courtesy of Dee Jay Productions

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    FAQ20

    • How long is Heartbeeps?Powered by Alexa
    • Who wrote the story to the movie "Heartbeeps" starting Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 18, 1981 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Herzquietschen
    • Filming locations
      • Santa Cruz, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Universal Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $12,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,154,696
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $407,464
      • Dec 20, 1981
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,154,696
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 18m(78 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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