'' is a
1987 Comedy Film starring
Tom Selleck ,
Steve Guttenberg , and
Ted Danson . It follows the mishaps and adventures of three
Bachelor s as they attempt to adapt their lives to pseudo-fatherhood with the arrival of one of the men's love child. The script for the film was based on the
1985 French movie ''
Trois Hommes Et Un Couffin (Three Men and a Cradle)''.
''Three Men and a Baby'' was the biggest box-office hit of that year, surpassing ''
Fatal Attraction '' and eventually grossing US$167 million in the
US alone. The movie was
Leonard Nimoy 's first non-''
Star Trek '' movie directorial role.
The soundtrack included the
Peter Cetera song "Daddy's Girl", which was used for the movie's big music montage sequence.
The movie won the
1988 ASCAP award and the 1988
People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Motion Picture.
The movie was followed by the
1990 sequel, ''
Three Men And A Little Lady ''.
Peter Mitchell (Selleck), Michael Kellam (Guttenberg) and Jack Holden (Danson) are happy living their lives as bachelors in their lofty
New York City apartment which they share. They all have girlfriends, jobs and a carefree lifestyle. This is disrupted when a baby arrives on their doorstep one day. A note with the child, Mary, indicates that it is Holden's, the result of an
Affair with a recent co-star
Actress . The baby arrives in Holden's absence—he is in
Turkey shooting a movie—and his roommates mistakenly believe they are to deliver her to two men who arrive at their door asking for "the package".
They discover moments before their departure that the men are
Drug Dealer s who were actually seeking a package of
Heroin . They retrieve the infant, leaving the men empty-handed.
What results is a major change to the men's lives as they try to adjust to pseudo fatherhood—balancing the demands of work, a social schedule and the rearing of a child. Soon their
Paternal instincts take hold, and they grow attached to the child.
The drug dealers, demanding payment, sack the men's apartment looking for their drugs. The men formulate a plan to trap the dealers when they negotiate a deal to deliver the illicit goods.
Finally the baby's mother arrives, asking for Mary back. Moments before her departure back to
England , Sylvia (
Nancy Travis ) realizes she cannot give up her career to raise her daughter alone. The men, having grown attached to the child, invite her to move into their apartment with them.
A rumor went around that a boy killed himself during filming and his ghost is seen in the movie. But the dead boy was actually a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson's character. Other versions of the rumor are:
- That the boy was the grandson of the rumoured "hanging man" in '' The Wizard Of Oz ''.
- The boy had been killed in the "apartment" where the movie was filmed. In reality, it was filmed on a Sound Stage .
This rumor is an example of an
Urban Legend .
The movie was filmed in
Toronto . The construction scenes took place at
Scotia Plaza a major skyscraper that was being built at the time.
