Jack the Bear is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Herskovitz, written by Steven Zaillian based on the novel of the same name by Dan McCall, and starring Danny DeVito.

The film is about John Leary (DeVito), a single father raising his two sons (Robert J. Steinmiller Jr. and Miko Hughes) in the 1970s San Francisco Bay Area after the death of his wife (Andrea Marcovicci).

Jack Leary and his younger brother Dylan start over in Oakland, California, in 1972 following the death of their mother Elizabeth, who was killed in a car collision.

The boys live with their father John, who entertains late-night horror film audiences as Midnight Shriek host-commentator "Al Gory".

During an airing of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a drunken John interrupts the movie and mimics the racially charged beliefs of Norman while naming the candidate.

Fearing for his current state of mind, John lets his in-laws take the boys to their home in Los Angeles as he decides to shape up.

However, chased up to the higher point of the tree, Jack watches Norman losing his grip and falling into the backyard behind the Leary house where he is mauled to death by the neighbor's Doberman Pinschers.

Soon after, as Norman's parents move away, Dylan returns home while John gets his job back with his show now airing more comical horror films like Abbott and Costello.

In 1989, it was reported that a new incarnation of the project was in development, with former CBS Theatrical Films hire Ron Yerxa as a co-producer and Steven Zaillian as a screenwriter.