to the relief of George and the entire neighborhood. Switchblade Sam is arrested, and Dennis naïvely returns his knife and he attempts to stab him with it, but Chief Bennett closes the police car door on his hand, causing him to drop the knife down a storm drain and wince in pain before being driven away. Dennis and George make amends, and Alice mentions that she can bring Dennis to work with her as her office now has a day care center. George insists he would be happy to watch Dennis himself, just as Dennis accidentally flings a flaming marshmallow onto his forehead. During the closing credits, Dennis gets his mother's condescending coworker, Andrea, caught in the office copy machine. Cast Mason Gamble as Dennis Mitchell Walter Matthau as George Wilson Joan Plowright as Martha Wilson Christopher Lloyd as Switchblade Sam Lea Thompson as Alice Mitchell Robert Stanton as Henry Mitchell Amy Sakasitz as Margaret Wade Kellen Hathaway as Joey McDonald Paul Winfield as Chief Bennett Natasha Lyonne as Polly Devin Ratray as Mickey Hank Johnston as Gunther Beckman Melinda Mullins as Andrea Billie Bird as Edith Butterwell Bill Erwin as Edward Little Arnold Stang as Photographer Ben Stein as Boss (only cameo shot at meeting) Jeannie Russell as Neighbor Production Mason Gamble won the role of Dennis Mitchell after beating out a reported 20,000 other children who had auditioned for it. The film premiered on June 25, 1993. It was known simply as Dennis in the United Kingdom in order to avoid confusion with an unrelated British comic strip, also called "Dennis the Menace", which also debuted in 1951. Music The film's music was composed by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith, who was John Hughes' first and only choice to write the score for it. The short-lived Big Screen Records label released an album of Goldsmith's score alongside the film in July 1993; La-La Land Records issued the complete score in April 2014 as part of their Expanded Archival Collection on Warner Bros. titles. Additionally, three old-time pop hits were featured in the film: "Don't Hang Up" by The Orlons, "Whatcha Know Joe" by Jo Stafford (from the 1963 album, Getting Sentimental over Tommy Dorsey) and "A String of Pearls" by Glenn Miller. Reception The film was a success at the box office. Against a $35 million budget, it grossed $51.3 million domestically and a further $66 million overseas to