Echo Park (1986 film)

Echo Park is a 1986 American comedy-drama film set in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The plot follows several aspiring actors, musicians and models. The cast includes Tom Hulce, Susan Dey, Cheech Marin and Michael Bowen. Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, has a brief cameo as a secretary. Echo Park was the final film of veteran actor Timothy Carey.

Plot
May, a single mom, wants to become an actress. Her next-door neighbor August, a bodybuilder, wants to become a worthy successor to his hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger. They live in a district of Los Angeles known as Echo Park, not far from Dodger Stadium, and dream of a better life.

Jonathan, a pizza delivery boy, arrives at May's door and is immediately smitten with her. As he entertains her young son, Henry, she goes out to pursue an acting opportunity that has come along, only to discover that it involves disrobing in private residences, delivering "strip-o-grams." May gives the strip-o-grams a try and August tries to meet his idol at a reception at the Austrian embassy, while Jonathan worries that the two are more than mere neighbors.

Cast

 * Susan Dey as May Greer
 * Tom Hulce as Jonathan
 * Michael Bowen as August Reichtenstein
 * Christopher Walker as Henry Greer
 * Shirley Jo Finney as Gloria
 * Heinrich Schweiger as Mr. Reichtenstein
 * Cheech Marin as Syd
 * John Paragon as Hugo
 * Cassandra Peterson as Sheri
 * Timothy Carey as Vinnie
 * Robert R. Shafer as Commercial Director
 * Skip O'Brien as Prisoner
 * Biff Yeager as Jailer

Reception
Echo Park maintains a 78% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, saying that the film "has no great statement to make and no particular plot to unfold. Its ambition is to introduce us to these people and let them live with us for a while. The movie is low-key, unaffected and sometimes very funny."