Fire Sale (film)

Fire Sale is a 1977 comedy film starring Alan Arkin (who also directed) as Ezra Fikus; Rob Reiner as his brother Russel; Vincent Gardenia as their father Benny; Sid Caesar as Benny's brother Sherman; Anjanette Comer as Marion (Ezra's wife); and Kay Medford as Ruth (Benny's wife).

Synopsis

Benny Fikus decides to cash in on his business' fire insurance by committing arson. Benny plans to have Sherman, who is in a mental hospital believing that World War II is still being fought, escape and burn down Benny's failing clothing store which he has made Sherman believe is a Nazi military headquarters.

During a vacation trip with Marion, Benny has a heart attack, and his sons Ezra and Russel take over the store. The low self-esteemed Russell wants to expand the store and marry his girlfriend, while Ezra needs money to adopt an orphaned 6'8" African-American teenage boy named Booker T (Byron Stewart). Ezra needs Booker T. to play on the high-school basketball team he coaches because he has won a total of two games in seven years as a coach and is in danger of losing his job.

Fire sale

A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices, typically when the seller faces bankruptcy or other impending distress. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. A fire sale may or may not be a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventory. Fire sales are said to occur in the financial markets when bidders who value assets highly are prevented from bidding on them, depressing the average selling price below what it otherwise would be. This lowering of the price can cause even further issues because it may be inaccurately perceived as signaling negative information.

Sports usage

In American professional sports, a fire sale occurs when a team trades many of its veteran players, especially expensive star players, to other teams for less expensive and usually younger players. Teams usually have a fire sale for financial reasons. The term is generally thought of as different from merely "rebuilding" a team, because during a rebuilding process, teams often obtain players who are already in the major leagues or who are close to being major-league-ready, while retaining at least some of their key veterans (such as a franchise player) while also getting players from their minor league system; most rebuilding teams have few veterans remaining to jettison in the first place. On the other hand, trades in a fire sale often bring a team draft picks and prospects who have little to no major-league experience in their sport, in exchange for proven, experienced veterans. The term comes from the perception that the team is trying to get rid of all its players.

Fire sale (disambiguation)

Fire sale may refer to: