The Pursuit of Happyness: An American Drama Film starring Will Smith as a homeless salesman

Heading: An Emotional Tale of Fatherhood, Poverty and Preservation of Innocence
Introduction:
The Pursuit of Happyness is an American Drama Film released in 2006 which stars Will
Smith playing the role of a homeless salesman named Chris Gardner. His son Jaden
Smith made his debut playing the role of Gardner’s son as Christopher Jr. The movie is
based on the top-selling memoir by same name from Gardner back in 2006 which
discussed his struggle of nearly one year of tiring struggle being a homeless person. The
movie title has an unfamiliar spelling as it came from a mural which writer saw outside a
daycare facility attended by his son. The movie was released by Columbia Pictures and
obtained a fair share of positive reviews as Will Smith’s performance in the movie was
highly regarded all across the world. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and an
Academy Award for Best Actor.
Speaking of Box Office, the movie did pretty well, earning a whopping $27 million on
the opening weekend. It was Will Smith’s one of the consecutive 100-million
blockbusters.
Summary of the Story:
The film starts with the year 1981 in San Francisco where a smart family man named
Chris Gardner has invested his savings in a state-of-the-art bone-density scanner which is
quite an expensive device as compared to a normal x-ray machine. This initiative breaks
his family and start bringing trouble for them as his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) goes
away to New York after leaving him and started working in a pizza parlor. Christopher
Jr. stays with Gardner as the couple understand that Chris can take better care of him.
With lack of monetary funds and a life partner, Chris still determined to make the ends
meet and make his son’s life better, tries his luck at a stockbroker firm for an internship

position of unpaid training being held for 6 months which can benefit his career in the
long run. During the tenure, Chris fights a whole avalanche of problems both
professionally and personally. His last $600 in his bank account also got wasted when
government took them for taxes. At one point, he had no choice but to stay in bathroom
of a subway station. He had to leave office early in order to reach the church so that he is
assured of a place to sleep. He even had to take his suitcase along with him at work since
he didn’t have a home. With all of these hardships and daily struggles, he had 19 other
applicants at work who were fighting for that one position.
He gets called into the office one day where all the upper management of the firm is
present. Chris assumes that this might be the time where he’ll be told that he’s not fit for
the job. But to his surprise, the seniors told him about his prolific performance over the
period of 6 months and that tomorrow he’ll have to come in again as it’s going to be his
first day as Broker. The tears begin to break the wall of Chris’ eyes but he holds them. He
leaves the building and starts crying as the busy people of the city walk past him. He ran
to his son at the daycare, hugs him tight knowing that the good times are finally coming
for them.
The last scene of the movie shows both father and son walking down the street where
Christopher Jr. is telling a joke and a well-suited business man passes by. Chris looks
back at him as the businessman keeps moving forward. That man was none other than the
actual Chris Gardner.
Analysis of the film:
This movie traces the fleeting ups and frightening downs of Chris Gardner. He’s a
salesman facing multiple odds in his life. The film portrays the emotions, sacrifices,
dreams, pressure and love of an ordinary man who is trying to make the ends meet for his
son and wife. Here, Thandie Newton played as Linda is his wife who loses the hope and