Honky Tonk Freeway.

Review #2565: Honky Tonk Freeway.

Cast: 

Beau Bridges (Duane Hansen), Beverly D'Angelo (Carmen Odessa Shelby), William Devane (Mayor Kirby T. Calo), Hume Cronyn (Sherm), Jessica Tandy (Carol), Teri Garr (Ericka Kramer), George Dzundza (Eugene), Joe Grifasi (Osvaldo), Geraldine Page (Sister Mary Clarise), Howard Hesseman (Snapper Kramer), Paul Jabara (T.J. Tupus), Jenn Thompson (Delia Kramer), Peter Billingsley (Billy Kramer), Daniel Stern (Hitchhiker), Celia Weston (Grace), Deborah Rush (Sister Mary Magdalene), Frances Lee McCain (Claire Calo), with Jerry Hardin (Governor), and John Ashton (Otto Kemper) Directed by John Schlesinger (#1431 - Midnight Cowboy)

Review: 

"I see HONKY TONK FREEWAY as a comedy about characters, so it needs extremely fine care and acting. This is what appealed to me, because I’m mainly intrigued with the people in my films rather than with the plot. This is a comedy about people living on the brink, and that’s the way most people actually live, I think. "

To be honest, I had this film on my radar for a couple of months because of its unusual allure. You've got an Academy Award winning director (12 years, but sure), a couple of name actors...and a movie that was a noted financial failure (with Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment in particular taking the hit in a time where they also took part in productions of The Jazz Singer and Can't Stop the Music). Apparently, the first step in the making of the film came with producer Don Boyd, who was travelling around locations when working near Boston that gave him an idea to then take to playwright and aspiring screenwriter Edward Clinton. As it happened, John Schlesinger wanted to make a big comedy movie after finishing work on Yanks (1979). When Schlesinger came into the production (who once stated that some of the charm that attracted him came from the "naivete" and "fresh [writing]" of Clinton), a handful of drafts were crafted with the collaboration of Clinton (which namely involved the characters in town and development). With a movie production he called at the time his "most complicated" (owning to a production that ballooned to over $23 million with filming in Florida [Mount Dora, Sarasota, mostly] to go along with orphans and various animals) before more money was spent on promotion before distribution by Universal Pictures that, to put it mildly, did not find any type of audience. At any rate, Schlesinger did keep directing, with such movies as The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) and Pacific Heights (1990) while Boyd* produced a few films every now and then, most notably with Aria (1987) while Clinton never wrote another film. 

Evidently, certain folks thought the movie was "anti-American". What exactly is un-American about disciplined chaos? People love a good scalawag, particularly when they see themselves in the person getting, shall we say, screwed over. There's a wide variety of ridiculous people all covered with this movie (one with quite the time capsule: a person at one point is shown wearing an ERA yes button*) that happens to be funny (in shorter terms, it's the type of folks who don't care if you use the word "virago"* in a sentence). Is it a great "satire" or one with useful "irony"? Look, let me level with you on something that seems straight enough to ward off a conman: you are either going to have fun with a comedy because you laughed enough times to have it win you over or you did not have fun. I had fun with these oddballs, ones who don't have that much shame to go around. In their eyes, being subtle isn't worth a damn if it doesn't aid in chasing "the dream". Sure, the dream could be as simple as playing hardball to get an off-ramp (what's a little bribery in the name of community), believing that a carnivorous pony is the book ticket, or trying to make it to Florida of all places to settle down*. Some of the episodic elements are hit and miss, mainly because you can only go so far over the place with getting folks to a small Florida town. Devane is probably the best part of the movie because there is something so entertaining about his desperation as both mayor and preacher in a town that goes for whatever he wants in the simple art of the deal: even weird publicity is still publicity (beyond the attempt to make a safari park attraction, anyway*). Dzundza and Grifasi make for fair enough goofball robbers while you get some worthy religious (and inevitable) hypocrisy from the pair of Page and Rush. Others end up mostly fine in characterization but likable enough if you happen to appreciate the presence of say, Bridges (duh) or D'Angelo (sure) or Tandy (take it or leave it). My only quibble is the ending, because it doesn't really know how to end besides, I'm not kidding, a motor collision involving a character nobody cares about (Jabara, playing a wannabee singer in a movie that already loves its title song a bit too much) and a rhino. Sure, it can be construed as following along the lines of other madcap movies such as say, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), but you would hope for something a little better for a movie that already could be thought of as (wrongfully) a poor man's Nashville (1975). As a whole, it comes and goes for 108 minutes of useful enough entertainment that has its ebbs and flows with humor coming in all sides of the oddballs of America that may be up your alley on the curiosity freeway.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

Yes, you heard that right, Acknowledged in August Again. I had enough fun with it back in 2024, so let's do it all over again with some movies that didn't get proper recognition back in its day and see if they deserved better. 

Next up...Fraser. Buscemi. Sandler. AIRHEADS!

*Special credit goes to this article I stumbled onto when googling the movie that I think delivers a bit of insight into the movie on their own terms: Box office failure: "Honky Tonk Freeway" and the risks of embarrassing the United States by Julia Prewitt Brown

*Boyd is a busy guy, as evidenced by stuff such as this: The University of Exeter - Honorary Graduates - Saturday 17 January 2009 morning ceremony

*The thing about not being religious is if you don't believe, then Phyllis Schlafly may just be dead rather than in Hell, or, worse yet, Heaven.

*Okay, I read that word in a tweet once.

*I knew someone who lived in Florida. They're dead to me now, but I hope they enjoyed that state because I'll be damned if I spend time there.

*Incidentally, Devane landed his most noted regular role as a politician-turned-businessman in the soap opera Knots Landing two years after this movie. Nice.

Vegas Vacation.

Review #1083: Vegas Vacation.

Cast: 
Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold), Beverly D'Angelo (Ellen Griswold), Randy Quaid (Cousin Eddie), Ethan Embry (Russell "Rusty" Griswold), Marisol Nichols (Audrey Griswold), Miriam Flynn (Cousin Catherine), Shae D'Lyn (Cousin Vicki), Wayne Newton (Himself), Wallace Shawn (Marty the Blackjack dealer), Juliette Brewer (Cousin Ruby Sue), Sid Caesar (Old Guy), and Siegfried & Roy (Themselves) Directed by Stephen Kessler.

Review: 
I couldn't find any time in the review to make a Vegas sports joke/reference, given that they now have a hockey team (and a particularly good one this year), with the timing of this review to their appearance in the Conference Finals against the Winnipeg Jets (a team that I like and follow a bit more than the Golden Knights, although I appreciate both being in the final four) being a coincidence. In any case, enjoy the review and enjoy a good Conference Finals.

Remember the first three films? Although each had a varying quality to them, they managed to be fairly entertaining pieces of entertainment (at least for the first and third ones, in my view), with Chase and D'Angelo being key standouts, especially in National Lampoon's Vacation (#804). This time around, I can't say that is the case. If National Lampoon's European Vacation (#1060) could be cited by me as an average film, Vegas Vacation could be cited as an awful venture that produces the least amount of returns of the four films, which is made fairly obvious by the first half of the film. It is actually strange to see how long it took to make a fourth film that followed after National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (#771), being released eight years later, by which time Chase had already passed 50 and the two Griswold children are replaced again by actors who now look like they could almost be in college. This time around, the National Lampoon moniker has been removed, with the vacation destination being just one place (as evidenced by the title). It is the only Vacation film with a PG rating, as compared to the R rating for the first film and a PG-13 rating for the other two. The humor certainly feels sanitized in some part because of this decision to go for PG, although that doesn't mean that funny films can't come from things rated PG, it just means that this film isn't funny because of its attempts to reach across the aisle for audiences.

At any rate, it is obvious that this film doesn't have much motivation to go on beyond a bunch of weak gags and a few indulgent cameos that actually seem more interesting to watch than the actual film and its plot. When the parts with Wayne Newton and Siegfried & Roy are more interesting to watch than the scenes with the Griswolds, I think you have a big problem. It isn't so much that they don't have much chemistry with each other as a group, it's just that it feels more like a mediocre sitcom kind of family than anything actually really particularly funny, dwelling in cliché levels (particularly involving Las Vegas) that aren't at all surprising. Chase looks tired in his role (grey hair included), not really making the material given to him leap off much, with the greed aspects seeming more stale than anything. D'Angelo does fine, taking her material and rolling with whatever it leads to (ridiculous as it is), whether with Chase or Newton. Quaid's bumpkin role garners a few laughs, but it isn't anything too particularly new or any too funny. Embry and Nichols deliver plain performances, but it isn't anything too particularly annoying at least. The other members of the cast aren't too terrible, but they don't contribute to too many laughs; Caesar (in his final on-screen appearance) shows up near the end of the film, which is slightly amusing in its briefness for his gestures, sad as that may seem. Newton is okay, but sometimes his scenes fall a bit tiresome, in part because the movie doesn't really have much focus besides just throwing a bunch of gags and lines (and a few visuals of Las Vegas) and hoping it sticks with him. Shawn does fine with this brief but scuzzy part, even if the gag (involving Chase who can't stop losing in bets) gets tiresome fairly quickly. Each of the four Griswolds have their own kind of story, and only D'Angelo's feels particularly interesting, cliché as it is.

The components of writing and directing for this film are a bit different than usual, with the film's screenplay was done by Elisa Bell, who had written a few teleplays for TV movies prior to this film, while Bob Ducsay (a long time editor for films such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - #201 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi - #1027) contributed to the story, with Stephen Kessler (in his feature film debut) as director. The blame falls in part to them, but it also falls to people who thought it was a good idea to make a film after eight years with the belief that this would be a huge hit. Instead, the result that came from this movie is a huge dud. Is it horrible? No, but it is a miserable misfire that drags its cast down just as much as it drags the audience down with its attempts at humor. I'm reminded of my actual time spent at Las Vegas a few years ago with my dad, in which I bought a snow-globe that I still have in my house to this day. The brief experience I spent there (including a bad attempt at swimming and staying at a motel) was easily better than the time I spent watching this movie.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

National Lampoon's European Vacation.

Review #1060: National Lampoon's European Vacation.

Cast: 
Chevy Chase (Clark Griswald), Beverly D'Angelo (Ellen Griswald), Dana Hill (Audrey Griswald), Jason Lively (Russell "Rusty" Griswald), Victor Lanoux (The Thief), Eric Idle (The Bike Rider), John Astin (Kent Winkdale), Mel Smith (London Hotel Manager), Robbie Coltrane (Man in Bathroom), Maureen Lipman (Lady in the Bed), William Zabka (Jack), Willy Millowitsch (Fritz Spritz), and Erika Wackernagel (Helga Spritz) Directed by Amy Heckerling (#982 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

Review: 
It is interesting to note that I finally am getting to this film, the sequel to the original to National Lampoon's Vacation (#804) but paradoxically this serves as my third review of the Vacation series, since I also reviewed National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (#771). In any case, I hope at least some of you fellow readers are enjoying Spring Break, or any sort of vacation. 

There is a certain amount of charm and amusement that sprung from the situations and the cast from the first film that made for a fairly entertaining movie, with Chase and D'Angelo being key highlights. The latter part of my statement is still true, but I can't say that this is a particularly good film. I don't hate it, but I know without much doubt that this is a fairly average movie. The biggest problem is that the film gradually feels repetitive the longer it dwells in all of these locations that the film gets itself to, feeling episodic and not always consistent. There are some famous landmarks seen throughout the film (with a few of them used for gags), which are fairly interesting to look at, such as Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and the Colosseum, so that's a fair highlight. Chase and D'Angelo manage to generate some amusement once again, being the best part of the film due to feeling the most adept for this material and the most familiar. Hill and Lively do okay, but some of the gags with them are a bit hit-and-miss, with the jokes involving the former binging on food seeming old after a while. Throughout the four locations (London, Paris, West Germany, Rome) is a bunch of different personalities and cast members that make for okay experiences to watch with the main four, with a bunch of cliches that one would expect. It doesn't really have anything too rip-roaring aside from a few moments involving visual gags and a bit of crass humor, but it isn't anything too particularly terrible, just being a bit silly (which I don't hate, actually). At least at 94 minutes it isn't particularly a big waste, but it doesn't too particularly well when compared to the original film. I don't find this to be anything too special, but sometimes that may very well just be enough on vacation.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

National Lampoon's Vacation.

Review #804: National Lampoon's Vacation.

Cast
Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold), Beverly D'Angelo (Ellen Griswold), Imogene Coca (Aunt Edna), Anthony Michael Hall (Russell "Rusty" Griswold), Dana Barron (Audrey Griswold), Randy Quaid (Cousin Eddie), Christie Brinkley (Girl in Red Ferrari), John Candy (Russ Lasky), Eddie Bracken (Roy Walley), Brian Doyle-Murray (Kamp Komfort Clerk), Miriam Flynn (Cousin Catherine), James Keach (Motorcycle Cop), and Eugene Levy (Ed) Directed by Harold Ramis (#138 - Bedazzled, #208 - Caddyshack, and #342 - Groundhog Day)

Review
[Skip to the second paragraph if you don't want to read a recollection of the past]
It has been a while since the last Lampoon film I watched (#771 - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), so I figured that this would fit with summer coming right up. From personal experience, I remember when me and my dad decided to drive all the way to Oregon years back (and vice versa). I was 14, but even with the problems that occurred (spark plugs problems, having to drive right straight through California* because we drove too far to the left in Arizona), it was still fun, if not with a few hurdles.

With this movie, I can relate to the frustrations of trying to have some fun on a vacation, but I also can have some laughs, which is what helps the movie, alongside a wonderful cast. Chase and D'Angelo have great chemistry along with good timing, coming off as natural, if not beleaguered. Chase does a great job selling this character, who clearly wants to have fun with his family, and it is fun (if not odd) to watch him gradually get more and more frustrated. It's an episodic kind of movie, expressed through their stops to different towns from St. Louis to Coolidge to (somewhere in) Arizona, all with a Wagon Queen Family Truckster, which is a great ugly car, complete with four headlights and wood paneling that would make a lumberjack blush. The music selection (Holiday Road, Blitzkrieg Bop) are also pretty good, fitting the movie well. Hall and Barron are also pretty good, making perfect examples of kids on a road trip, a weird road trip at least. The rest of the cast are also pretty memorable, such as Quaid and his bumpkin of a character that certainly endears to people who get to deal with at least one quirky relative every so often. There's a certain charm this movie has in that one can relate to (and giggle) with the experience in the movie, such as when they finally reach their destination, Walley World. Not to spoil much, but let's just say that it serves as a fine climax, complete with John Candy being added to the fray. For anybody looking for a vacation movie with all the stops of fun (and misery), I'd check this one out.

*Note: Nothing against California, which actually was pretty decent, if not a big state to go through. My highlight? Getting to drink Mr. Pibb for the first time. Hey, I was 14, give me a break.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Review #771: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Cast
Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold, Jr), Beverly D'Angelo (Ellen Griswold), Randy Quaid (Cousin Eddie), Juliette Lewis (Audrey Griswold), Johnny Galecki (Rusty Griswold), John Randolph (Clark Griswold, Sr), Diane Ladd (Nora Griswold), E. G. Marshall (Art Smith), Doris Roberts (Frances Smith), Miriam Flynn (Cousin Catherine), Cody Burger (Cousin Rocky), Nicholas Guest (Todd Chester), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Margo Chester), and Brian Doyle-Murray (Frank Shirley) Directed by Jeremiah Chechik.

Review
Please forgive me for not having watched the two Vacation films released before this one. They (along with Vegas Vacation) will be reviewed in 2016. Probably.

Ah Christmas. It's a time of year in which families try to eat food and get along with each other...and other stuff, because I usually just stay home. But I can relate to at least a few things in the movie, particularly the sticky sap tree, and trying to get a collection of lights to work...though I can't say I ever had that many lights (of course I keep my lights on the tree). The characters are pretty much what you probably have in your own family (no I won't reuse this line later) on Christmas, from over-determined to...bighearted to (insert number) degree of grumpy relatives. Chase certainly sells Griswold's lingering madness well. D'Angelo (along with Lewis and Galecki) certainly make for a good cinema family. My favorite scene with them is the opening scene, especially the part about getting a big ol' Christmas tree in the forest. The buildup to it is pretty enjoyable as well (I can relate in a sense to dealing with drivers from the past with my dad). Sure, there are moments when bitterness and circumstance get in the way, but in the end, it's all full of cheer.

In the pile of Christmas films (which apparently is almost 40) I've reviewed in five years, Christmas Vacation has moments of hilarity, but the movie's real strength is the seasonal charm that the movie evokes, especially the enthusiasm of the main character. It's interesting how comedies like this can be christened Christmas classics, but I can see why. It's not a perfect movie, but it just fits the bill of being a Christmas movie that one can accept.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.