Shaking the Tree (film)

Shaking the Tree is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Duane Clark, starring Arye Gross, Gale Hansen, Doug Savant and Steven Wilde.

Shaking the Tree
Directed by	Duane Clark
Written by	Duane Clark Steven Wilde
Produced by	Robert J. Wilson
Starring	Arye Gross Gale Hansen Doug Savant Steven Wilde
Cinematography	Rohn Schmidt
Edited by	Martin L. Bernstein
Music by	David E. Russo
Production companies	Magnificent Mile Productions Reality Productions
Release dates	October 1990 (1990-10) (Chicago International Film Festival) 15 November 1991 (1991-11-15) (UK)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Cast

• Arye Gross as Barry
• Gale Hansen as John "Sully" Sullivan
• Doug Savant as Michael
• Steven Wilde as Terry "Duke" Keegan
• Courteney Cox as Kathleen
• Christina Haag as Michelle
• Michael Arabian as Nickel
• Dennis Cockrum as Bannelli
• Nathan Davis as Grandpa Sullivan
• Ron Dean as Duke's Father
• Brittney Hansen as Brigette
• Turk Muller as Ape
• Ned Schmidtke as Mr. Jack
• Maurice Chasse as Cashier
• Mik Scriba as Tony Villanova
• Barbara Robertson as Nurse
• Kirk Thatcher as Craps Player

Reception

Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the "flaw at the heart" of the film was the "improbability of such cross sections of humanity ever cohering in real life."^[1]

Roger Ebert of RogerEbert.com rated the film 0.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "The characters and their problems are both so cliched that it makes you wonder if the filmmakers had ever seen a movie before; didn't they realize how stunningly unoriginal, how worn out and overused, this material was?"^[2]

Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times called the film "yet another Diner wannabe".^[3]