A 2000 American crime comedy film directed by Nick Gomez that has a police chief ( Danny DeVito) investigate the death of a woman named Mona ( Bette Midler ), an abusive and spiteful woman who was hated by everyone who knew her. (Eagleburger had been U.S. ambassador to Yugoslvia and had spent almost all of his foreign service career in southeast europe. NO. By the 90s Japan had it totally nailed. They did not have such a bad reputation,at least not as bad as the rear engined Skodas As to Bricklin, Ive always liked of liked the SV-1 and wish Id picked one up when they were really cheap, with the AMC 360 they could be made to really move! They found slipshod handling of stamped body panels, and the assembly lines using dirty, even dented panels; he found painting in dusty areas, not the clean, dust-free booths required for good paint covering and adhesion. The result is that the UK Yugo was a far superior car to the US one, with its dealership network out to make a quick buck. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. . You are probably also aware of the Honda Z or N360 which was existed around the same time. As I understand it, Zastiva had the Yugo designed that way as its plan was, from the beginning, to export the car. Of course, I was charmed by that, as it reminded me very much of the original A1 Golf, and seemed to share the same utility that the original A1 did. My dad is a bit of a FIAT nut so he would wrench on it from time to time. Drowning Mona 2000 PG-13 1 h 36 m IMDb RATING 5.7 /10 15K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:23 1 Video 67 Photos Comedy Crime Mystery When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. He was a statistician in the War Department who became interested in using statistical controls to produce higher-quality manufactured goods. Of course, not wanting to be associated with alleged members of the alleged Romanian Mafia, Bently pulled out. He soon discovers that her death was no accident. 1987 brought about several other trims, the GVL, GVS, GVC,which were very similar other than the door panels and seat upholstery. But they were cheap! Thanks for your first hand account ! I mean, cmon, its an Eastern Bloc car. W. Edwards Deming was key in Japans metamorphosis from a backwards exporter of trinkets and junk to a source for amazingly-high-quality automobiles and electronics. if (window['UnicI'].geo === 'EU') { The Kei cars, like European microcars in the 1950s and early 60s, made car ownership possible for the masses. And the gas cap would not come off. That explains why everyone was driving them then. Not a bit ! Its not unlike the relationship I have with my cockroaches of the road (TM). The Yugo was a far superior car compared against a Chevette, or first generation Hyundai. Mine was still only about a year old, so I was in denial about its performance. He was absolutely correct. In Spain it was called "Todos la queran muerta" (everyone wanted her dead), Too good of a movie not to be on this site in HD. The country was communist, but with good relations with the US and a cosmetically overhauled version of socialism, the idea was the Yugoslavia would compete in Western markets and as a result, the country took on a lot of debt throughout the 70s to update its capacity for making consumer goods, among other projects. When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect.When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect.When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect. The Florida was reviewed very positively in the UK against western cars, and sadly only failed here because of the rise of Fascism in Yugoslavia, and its aftermath.. I would suggest you read Jason Vuics book on the Yugowhat he described the Yugo America advance men as finding, had little to do with shortages of raw materials. I went to an auto place for a part, and was so embarassed to even say Yugo to the clerk, that my voice stuttered and I replied Yugee. It would be interesting to see how the rear suspension was beefed up. This is the same scenario as Chrysler- My parents always said that if you get a Dodge in town itll be a lemon, but in the country, itll be a good car because the smaller country dealer relies on repeat business and does a better PDI, ensuring bolts arent missing, and both sides identify the car correctly. In regard to that old devil corrosion, an honest question: were there any cars of the seventies that DIDNT rust like mad? I cant think of another car that disappeared off the roads faster. These are the kinds of people who don't like to be thrown out of bars because it's a loss of valuable drinking time. I would like to add that once money was in short supply, it was easy to lay a blame on the other side, to stir old misunderstandings and conflicts, send kids to London or USA and start profiting from the war. Barnum and the circus freak show that he brought to America in the twilight of the Reagan years. Parts are no problem, because it is basically a FIAT. YUGO Trivia In the Movie DROWNING MONA, Mona played by Bette Midler is driving a Yugo when its brakes fail, causing her to drown in the lake. Ford was really hit and miss the Granada was horrible, but the Lincoln Town Cars and Mark Vs were pretty good against the tinworm. That means that all Yugos in this movie are from 1986. (not the 1st time Ive done this,haha). Membership also saw a similarly sharp increase, with over 1,800,000 in the same year (300,000 more than in 1970). He was scarred sh*tless and begging me to not make him drive it. Learn how your comment data is processed. Any idea where the Fiat 128 stopped and the 127 started in the Yugo? I had been driving a Datsun 200 SX and the 5 speed was like silk. 2004-2023 IMCDb.org Managed by Controgest SPRL No parts fell off of it, the car generally was in good condition (other than some stains on the seats that I didnt care to speculate about). The Renault Alliance and 18i were still being sold in 1984-85 when the Yugo debuted. Two Yugo episodes: The first while working on a construction crew in the 1987-88 period, at a project west of Rochester, NY one morning a Yugo rolls onto the lot, out pops a nervous, typical pocket-protector young engineering type, tells us he is out of gas, could anyone give him a ride to his job.at Kodak! Down shifting was scary, sometimes you just had to bypass second, sometimes it refused to even go into gear or it would get stuck in gear. They sold boatloads of them in Europe to price buyers, taxi companies, retired folk etc. Ladas seem to be designed to be overhauled on the roadside these are probably the same. If youre familiar with the descent of that once-vaunted company into its current sorry state, appears as if they had too many of this type in management. Bricklin often says that the first model year or so of production the cars were well assembled and then once Zastava saw the money they let things slip. Like all good European cars used to do, it came with its own tool kit and (owner) service manual. The seats were quite comfy too- firm enough but still soft- and with a cotton upholstery that was miles away from the nylon stuff put in other cars of the era. Mona, played by Midler, drowns when the brakes in her Yugo fail and she catapults through a guardrail into the lake below. And the A/C system on the Yugo was an add on! My cell phone was apparently assembled at gunpoint by drunk Yugoslavians in the year 1984 . I know of no explanation for the garbage experience my dad had with his Audi, which broke down regularly. At the very least, Bricklin didnt end up in a hotel room trying to arrange drug deals. Yes, even a Saturn will rust in Detroit, but in less harsh climes, Yugos tend to last well. It just flat refused. The Yugo? (first posted 10/10/2011) Every once in a while, a visionary, iconoclastic automotive pioneer bursts on the scene and, bucking the long odds and naysaying conventional wisdom, delivers a disruptive new line of cars. From the start, Zastava resented the profit dealers made, and thought their expenses exorbitant. But it needed even more tweaking than did the Jugo 45which is what the Yugo was based on. People that assumed any import is better than any American car, jumped on these. As the movie opens, a local woman named Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) speeds down a country road and directly into the Hudson River when her brakes fail. I actually grabbed a brochure on the convertible as a joke, it was only a single page. I attach a picture of a 1100,the previous model,(5 door too! The sexy Marsha Brady girl with the bellbottoms in the Subaru commercials is unforgettable. As for the first gen Civics and to a lesser extent, the second gen Civics, I would guess where we dont have rust to deal with, it was 30+ years and many accrued miles that ultimately were their demise, ie, 200K-300K+ and a head gasket finally blows are what killed them off eventually if not an accident or some other mechanical failure due to age/mileage. var readyGEO; Id actually like to have another one, but beef it up with Fiat parts. Worse, it was not just fenders and rocker panels that looked bad but did not affect the way the car drove. couple of months ago when I was in Athens. Lack of an automatic would hamper the car during all but the final year in the states. Bette Midler chops off son's hand. or all of the Ladas.As has been mentioned already this kind of cheap car ownership I really believe that the cars were treated as disposable, and in that way expectations were met. alignments. The mechanical bits all seemed OK, and no obvious leaks or other damage. Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik had an interesting take on it lately; The first Mazda was also a kei-car, the R-360. Further, it was the only small car of the era that could be genuinely fun to drive. People who took care of some basic maintenance and corrosion protection could see 10 to 15 years of service without too much trouble. Renault has been in state ownership since the 50s, and has been a very profitable company. It is a measure of the local intelligence that when the car and driver are dragged to shore some hours later, the doctor checks her pulse. The writer of Drowning Mona thought it would be hilarious to fill a 2000 crime caper with Yugo vehicles. Nude beaches usually are deprived of sexual context. Knobs came off in your hand, the sliding radio marker on a string would get stuck and not move off of from where it landed. The interior was fading right from day one. The Yugos are a literal running joke throughout the movie. His routine went something likeThe Yugo, what self respecting country would name a car that sorry after itself? They were true babes in the woods, and they lacked the capital to deal with the investment and the costs of distributing cars. And often wins. Before I moved to Atlanta in the early 90s, we sold off our other cars before moving. It is difficult to overstate how rustprone 1970s Japaneese cars were. The base GV had a 1.1L, SOHC motor that originated in the Fiat 128 and the GVX had the 1.3L\, SOHC, motor, also from the Fiat 128 and I think it had the 5spd manual in it but the base GV got the 4spd manual. One of a kind, Im sure, There is an article from 2012, quoting the Time magazine For Some Thematic Elements, Language and Brief Sexuality, Berlinale 2023 Highlights, Part Two: Reality, Manodrome, The Adults, Inside, Golda, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson Feted at SBIFF 2023, Revisiting Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Tragically Common: Jamie Dack, Lily McInerny and Jonathan Tucker on Palm Trees and Power Lines. @EdDan: How do you double the value of your Yugo? The early Japanese cars were not that different from the 360: Junk. The prototypical belt-driven OHC engine Stateside, was the Pontiac Sixand Joe Sherlock, who has a car blog, The View Through the Windshield (http://www.joesherlock.com/blog.html) was involved in the development of the initial fiberglass-impregnated belt. The first thing to appear onscreen is a little blurb about the Yugo car company using the town of Verplanck as a test area for their new model years ago. There are many causes for poor management. She was given a Yugo that wouldnt runthe fix was nine dollars. She picked them up for virtually nothing and was content with bare-bones transportation. The car itself rattled and shook upon starting. The Yugo was not always viewed so favorably, although its $3,990 price ($9,900 in today's dollars) grabbed headlines on its introduction in 1985. (* 5-20 for older cars, up to 200 if they have to change water-pump and rollers, new models are more expensive, but 500 maybe for new BMW). My problem was that I didn't care who killed Mona Dearly, or why, and didn't want to know anyone in town except for Chief Rash and his daughter. Fuji was pretty well aware that the car wasnt suitable for America circa 1969. These cars came with an optional AM/FM cassette deck that was very basic, only 5W total if I recall right, or was that 5W per channel? Say what you will about Bricklin he is a man of action. } With Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Neve Campbell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, Peter Dobson, Will Ferrell, William Fichtner, Raymond O'Connor, Marcus Thomas and . The movie was directed by Nick Gomez, who, in "Laws of Gravity" and "New Jersey Drive," brought a John Cassavetes touch to working-class crime and confusion. Holy mackerel, Goe, what a story and experience! Someone steeped in the maintenace required to keep something like a Trabant running would probably be right at home with a Yugo. Unfortunately, Bricklin was smitten by the cars simple mediocrity and, just like a cartoon character with outsized dollar signs for eyes, he began the process for bringing the homely little car to the states. The Yugo got its biggest role in 2000, in Drowning Mona, starring Casey Affleck, Neve Campbell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito, and Bette Midler, with Will Farrell making a delightful cameo. Now Rash has to decide who killed Mona Dearly. You are my inhalation, I own few blogs and infrequently run out from brand :). Someone around my area with a perverse sense of humor drove a Yugo stretch limo for a few years, those being about 20 years ago. I had very good support for the Yugo as Atlanta is the home of Bayless, which is a big Fiat parts house. And as any living myth, this one spreads into other areas as well: If Germany had built it, would it have been called the Germ? I really dont think that anyone has a competitive advantage in rust resistance any more. As far as ethnicity goes, Im Russian by birth, Belarus to be exact, and have that somewhat stocky build to prove it! Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell are both known as "Final Girls" or "Scream Queens", playing recurring heroines in their respective horror franchise films: Curtis in the "Halloween" franchise and Campbell in the "Scream" franchise--which is loosely based on the "Halloween" mythos. And incompetence does not negate the political reasons, until and unless the failure of management becomes an unavoidable political embarrassment. Several actors in this film have ties to the Batman films. Unscrew the shift knob. The blue one had seen much more use than the red one, but it was still a good runner. When I was living in Montana in 2001, some masochist/crusty old guy was using one as a daily driver and it looked new. Trouble for him was, the rest of America wasnt interested in postwar America. And management, often put there through politics, has little interest in learning of customer dissatisfaction. how did Subaru make the transition from dangerous sardine can to granola FWD/AWD family compact in the US?. It turns out to be murder and Chief Wyatt Rash (DeVito) must investigate. Of course, as pointed out, it was more probable that hed have put the company out of business, too. there used to be a sign on the front that said visionary vehicles but that came down at least two years ago. But what about quality disasters in a different scenario?. The best part was they all had the same license plates on them to just have a semblance of legality! } It's a movie that has an attitude problem it couldn't resolve as easily as it did the mystery to Mona's death. The only car known to have been blown off of the Mackinac Bridge. Rated PG-13 I think we need to re-evaluate the Yugo against 1986 standards instead of 2011 standards. I have often wondered why Bricklin didnt try to make a ploy for the tooling to be set up in a higher quality shop. But recycled steel, for whatever reason, is overly prone to corrosion. Copyright 2011 - 2023 Curbside Classics. To say that the 360 was unsuited to American driving norms is to wildly overpraise the car. As the movie opens, a local woman named Mona Dearly ( Bette Midler) speeds down a country road and directly into the Hudson River when her brakes fail. I see one maybe twice a year. Very well-maintained. Because he SAYS he has a new belt on there, doesnt mean its so. Zastava Zastava made Yugos even after they stopped selling in America. 500 left in running condition? Although I tested it in the summer, the car sputtered and hesitated like it was cold. I presume the folding roof is there just in case the doors jam shut because of a sagging body! Bricklin was kicked out in the first (of two) bankruptcies, true. I paid a lot of attention to new cars back then, and even then I dont know if I ever saw one. Always. Of course not. You mentioned this before; itd make a great article. Both were sold for more than I paid. I saw one on the F4 so they did sell one.Those were a Polish Fiat 500 updated Just rubbish. There was something wrong with every single facet of this car. But before Bricklin made a virtue of safety, he all but made a mockery of same just a half decade before. I actually checked out a Yugo about the same time I was looking at Sundances, Colts and similar vehicles and decided: No, I didnt have the time for the do-it-yourself maintenance it mightve required my current cars took care of that at the time! Even those of us raised on rusting U.S. cars from the 60s were surprised by how fast the Japaneese stuff vaporized. As for the FloridaBricklin was itching to bring it in. She does figure in a quiet little in-joke. Danny DeVito and Neve Campbell appeared together again six years after the release of this film in another comedy "Relative Strangers "(2006). Malcolm Bricklin was one of those guys who is the quintessential P.T. Or maybe Bobby (Casey Affleck), Jeff's landscaping partner, killed her to save the embarrassment of having her create a scene at his wedding to Ellen (Neve Campbell), Chief Rash's daughter. Of course a $800 car isnt worth shyte to the insurance company, so they gave me a token $1000 for my time and trouble (another story). Or wasting half a grand. And when longtime resident Mona Dearly (BETTE MIDLER) drove her Yugo into the river to her death, no one really seemed to care. An accident has happened - the Yugo of one Mona Dearly has careened off the highway and plunged into the Hudson. Thanks for your detailed experience. Jason Vuic details this in his book The Yugo of how management refused plans for premiums for top-grade work or extra effort; of how primitive and shoddy were the paint booths, of how design goofs went uncorrected for years. I was sure youd have had one. Though set in Verplanck, "Drowning Mona" was shot entirely within an hour's commute of Los Angeles. I remember seeing new Yugos at the (I think 1990) Chicago Auto Show. Also in that time, poor workmanship wasnt exclusively Yugos problem. With no new product in the pipeline, Bricklin would either have to find another car to flog or get an honest job, so there was a mutual meshing of interests when he arranged a visit to the Red Banner Factory in Yugoslavia that turned out the new apple of his eye in 1984. In the small, white-trash town of Verplanck, N.Y., a loathsome woman named Mona Dearly (a dour and ugly Bette Midler) drives her car over a cliff and into the river. As a rule, Chrysler got worse as the 70s progressed where Ford and particularly GM got better. By what name was Drowning Mona (2000) officially released in India in English? It couldnt be trusted just sitting in the parking lot. He regaled us with stories of his work at Yugo and claimed that the factory started to develop (or adapt) an automatic transmission for the market in the USA. Damn that X1/9 still looks beautiful just like mine the 81 behind the new Abarth. This has been true of: Renault in its government-ownership days; And, now, Government Motors, which is thumbing its nose at old GM customers who have warranty claims. The problem here was, first, poor management, as I noted; second, a workplace culture and a national culture that was absolute authoritarianism. During lunch the high schoolers came out and lifted it up so the front tires were up on the sidewalk. In a totalitarian state, such as was Yugoslavia, there is no political embarrassment because criticism is a criminal offense. For the rest of the scene, he is dry from the waist up. Later I also replaced steering rack under warranty because of some slack inside. We learn that Verplanck was selected as a test market when the Yugo was being introduced to the United States. Also in Drowning Mona's favor, at the heart of the movie, is a genuinely positive character, Verplanck Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito).He's possibly the only principled citizen in town. . She had a habit of parking illegally, and, faced with a ticket and impound bill that exceeded her estimate of the value of the car, donated it to the towing company. He was a priest for several small parishes in the mountains of a N. Eastern state, I forget which and came around a bend to get from one parish to another when he hit the poor animal and it was enough to total that car out but he got that many miles out of it. *shakes tiny fist*. 5.0 out of 5 stars Drowning Mona music CD. I dont buy junk to begin with, maintain them, and only have minimal issues with them. But for all that, and with weight today an even greater issueour Asian friends seem to have licked the corrosion problem. If Italy had built it, would it be known as the It??? Everyone in Verplanck, N.Y., drives a Yugo. I was unaware of the Bricklin connection at the time, and in fact learned about it here on CC, but I remember seeing some Bricklins as a kid, thinking that they were cool looking cars, and wondering why there werent more of them. My mother drove it to work at the high school one time. \"Drowning Mona\" is bad . The running gear would be the 1.1 Litre straight four that Zastava had learned to build from Fiat and the transmission would be a truly nasty four speed manual. Doug DeMuro joyfully reviewed one a couple of years ago. Honestly, I think Zastava should be commended for the amount of engineering they were able to do independently, modifying and developing Fiat cars. By third world standards, the Yugo was not a terribly bad car and sales continued even after its mother country began breaking up in the early 90s. . English tongues tended to read it JUG-oh not a saleable name. Danny DeVito and Bette Midler appeared in Ruthless People (1986). Danny Devito and Bette Midler starred together in "Ruthless People". ), it was quite good. This article, like many here, evoked some fond memories. During WWII, they built a few Jeeps. Motor Trend reported that their hand picked press ringer broke down during testing. The Italian Government and the Unions forced Fiat to cooperate. And it tanked with the critics. Drowning Mona is a 2000 American 'comedy' film starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Brian Doyle-Murray and box-office superstar Will Ferrell . Yupand does anyone think Fiat or Yugo engineers thought to make the engine a clearance design? Needless to say, it wouldve been better if Bently had just gone ahead and let them have the Mulsanne. Anyway, the employee joked that it even had the rear window warmer to keep your hands warm when pushing it. However, the 67 cu inch motor had plenty of power if you kept it revved, and I never really had a problem keeping up with traffic. Witness the fact that everyone's car of choice is a Yugo; each Verplanck citizen drives one ever since the company conducted a cheap sales test of the vehicle there some 10 years ago. Big deal, huh? There were surely other goofs that were institutionalized. There are lots of related legacies connected with Americas brief, mad affair with the Yugo. @ahight: I think there is no need to put the location square in every screenshot, only the ones with more than a single car visible. Almost everyone in town is a suspect. With the pullout of Fiat, Renault and the British makes just a few years before,. The carpet was very loose fitting and curled up in spots along the edges. Its so interesting to think of how things couldve been different if the country survived Communisms collapse in one peace. He got two large import operations going and he launched the SV-1. Diversity was their strength!!!!!!!!!!! I guess Ive been mispronouncing subaru all these years. It broke down like a Yugo. R/S AUTOLINE INC. (1.3 miles away) 1215 W IMPERIAL HWY, Suite 213, BREA, CA 92821. Why did so many Fiat designs get recycled and built behind the Iron Curtain? At least until the inevitable head gasket problems caused by an Iron head and alloy block. It was 10 years old in Japan at the time. The little cars--all Yugos--are almost identical; they only differ in color, and Rona's has a sunroof. Various ancillaries like alternators were replaced with real FIAT parts. We heard of the Yugo here far away in South Africa, but now I know how it all came about and fell apart. I shut it down to call a dealerand it wouldnt leave the parking spot under its own power. Make and modelMake and yearYearCategoryImportance/RoleDate added (new ones first)EpisodeAppearance (ep.+time, if avail. Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) is an anagram for "only a dream". I would love to find one of those. I was discussing cars with a woman in my office building one day, when she remarked that she had owned a Yugo, and got an incredible number of miles out of it. (Italy) 1989 Chrysler TC 1983 Dodge Omni 1991 Dodge Ram 1980 Ford F - 350 Ford Ranger 1993 Ford Ranger GMC C / K - Series 1992 Honda Civic But these Yugos aren't just a frivolous component of the storythey're essential to establishing the wacky tone of the film. Having seen pics of the 127, I can relay that the Yugo body is a complete reskin no lines or panels are the same or interchangeable. The 360 fit in with the type of Japanese car that was (or would become) the Kei car class, which continues to this day within tightly-defined parameters. They initially started out as an arms manufacturer. Film Focus: Drowning Mona. I remember listening to Car Talk some 5-6 years ago and a caller came on and said that his Yugo (an 87 I think) died at 150,000 miles, not due to mechanical failure, but due to a Deer. I think youre a bit dismissive of Zastava. So it worked pretty well in the domestic market, but USA is another story. Bricklin had formed Yugo of America to import the car and as was his custom, financial shenanigans were part of the mix. The entire dashboard- I mean the WHOLE thing in RHD versions is a single piece of soft foam. Personally I would have gone for the Skoda. There was a dealer in Denver Colorado, called Apple Motors, who used to sell warmed up Yugos. So on the line, a worker would have to cut and install and tape it, with about a 25 percent failure rateincorrectly re-connected. Our narrative today is of a modern P.T. Yugo-mania also swept through Hollywood for a time and was the star car in movies such as The Birdcage, Drowning Mona, Die Hard 3, The Crow, Inspector Gadget and 101 Dalmatians. Another factor was that Subaru managed to kick Bricklin out on the street and take over distribution and marketing before he ran it into the ground. Dont forget, we had the Czech Skoda Estelle, the Russian Lada and the Polish FSO 125p all competing at the bottom of the market. Ive got video somewhere. 500 Yugo cabrio were imported to the States. Zastava built some world class arms. Kathleen Wilhoite (Lucinda) and Melissa McCarthy (Shirley) appeared on Gilmore Girls (2000). It was a nightmare. Whats terrifying is that a convertible version of this thing the flimsiest vehicle imaginable was sold in the U.S. No flimsier than the Toyota Paseo or Geo Metro convertible. I assume some were worse than others, but Ive heard this complaint levied against such a broad range of cars (American, Japanese, Italian, British, even German) of that era that I have to wonder if there was some sort of fire sale on water-soluble steel. Also, the GM Colonades from 73-77 were pretty rust resistant as well. A Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Mercades S-class, and a Bently Mulsane. Very profitable company, would it be known as the it????????. Department who became interested in postwar America no accident but in less harsh climes Yugos! Not a saleable name were part of the scene, he all the... 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