Twins (1988 film)

Julius and Vincent Benedict are twins, the result of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to combine the DNA of six fathers to produce the perfect child. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and the twins were born. The mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all.

Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles and believed his mother abandoned him. With no one but himself to rely on, Vincent seduced a nun, escaped from the orphanage, and later became an indebted, small time criminal. Julius was raised on a South Pacific island by Professor Werner, one of the scientists from the experiment, who put him through intense physical training and extensive study. Both believed Mary Ann died during childbirth.

Each twin was unaware of the other's existence. On Julius' 35th birthday, Werner finally tells Julius about Vincent.[5] With Werner's blessing, Julius proceeds to Los Angeles to find his brother. Julius eventually tracks Vincent down in jail, where he is being held for unpaid parking tickets and driving with an expired license.

Julius bails Vincent out, but Vincent does not believe his story and abandons him in a parking lot. Julius pursues Vincent to his workplace and finds him being beaten up by Morris Klane, one of three loan shark brothers that Vincent owes $20,000. Julius subdues Morris, earning Vincent's trust and respect. He later meets Vincent's girlfriend Linda Mason and enters a romantic relationship with her twin sister Marnie.

Over dinner, Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage that shows their mother is still alive, but believing that she abandoned him at birth, Vincent shows no interest in finding her. Believing that their mother may have also been lied to, Julius tracks one of their six fathers to the address on the document. The father directs Julius to Dr. Mitchell Traven, Werner's colleague, in New Mexico.

Vincent steals a late model Cadillac from a parking garage run by his buddy (to sell to a chop shop) and finds a prototype fuel injector in the trunk that was to be delivered to industrialist Beetroot McKinley in Houston, in return for $5 million. Vincent decides to pose as the delivery man, Mr. Webster, and deliver the fuel injector himself so he can collect the money and pay off his debts. He reluctantly allows Julius, Linda and Marnie to accompany him to New Mexico to find Traven, while Webster begins pursuing Vincent. In the process, he encounters the Klane brothers and shoots them in the legs as a warning to keep away from Vincent.

In New Mexico, Traven reveals the truth to the twins, pointing out that Julius resulted from the best genes, and spitefully denouncing Vincent as having come from the "useless" genetic material, leaving Vincent distraught. After Julius threatens him, Traven directs them to Santa Fe, where their mother lives in an art colony. Julius convinces Vincent to regain his spirits and they continue their journey.

On the way to Santa Fe, the twins are accosted by the Klane brothers, but they fight them off for the last time. At the art colony in Santa Fe, a gardener informs Julius and Vincent that their mother has died. They leave, unaware that the gardener was in fact Mary Ann, who did not believe their story, having been told she only had one son who died at birth.

Abandoning Julius and the girls in New Mexico, Vincent heads to Houston alone to deliver the prototype to Beetroot. Julius chases after Vincent, sensing his whereabouts thanks to twin telepathy, and finds him seconds after the exchange with Beetroot. Webster appears and kills Beetroot and his bodyguard, demanding the money from Vincent. Julius intercepts Webster, allowing Vincent to escape, but Vincent returns and agrees to give Webster the money to save Julius. Webster decides to kill them anyway for seeing his face, but Vincent, at Julius' subtle prompting, kills him by dropping a heavy chain onto him and burying him.

Julius and Vincent return both the prototype and $4 million (with Vincent skimming $1 million) and use a $50,000 reward to pay off Vincent's debts and start a consulting firm. Their publicity reaches the art colony, and Mary Ann learns that her sons are alive. She violently confronts Traven for concealing the truth and then tracks Julius and Vincent down to their workplace, where they share a warm reunion.

Sometime later, Julius and Vincent marry Marnie and Linda. Both marriages produce twin children, and the couples are last seen meeting their mother and Professor Werner on an outing.

The original music score was composed by Georges Delerue and Randy Edelman. Edelman has scored three more films for the director (Ghostbusters II; Kindergarten Cop; and Six Days, Seven Nights) whereas this was Delerue's only work for him.

In March 2012, Universal announced the development of a sequel titled Triplets with Schwarzenegger and DeVito due to return with Eddie Murphy as their long lost brother. Reitman was set to co produce.[12][13]

In April 2015, it was announced that plans for the film were put on hold. In March 2018, Schwarzenegger confirmed that the script for Triplets was finished and that Murphy was officially attached to the film. Schwarzenegger briefly discussed how Murphy's character became the brother of his and DeVito's characters saying "funny thing that happens in the mixing of the sperm". It is unknown if Reitman will still be involved in the film, as originally announced in 2012.[14]

• Junior: A 1994 movie also starring Schwarzenegger and DeVito and directed by Reitman.
• List of American films of 1988
• Humse Badhkar Kaun: A similar 1998 Indian Hindi movie

• Twins at IMDb
• Twins at AllMovie
• Twins at the TCM Movie Database
• Twins at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Twins at Box Office Mojo
• Twins at Rotten Tomatoes