Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Carny (1980)


United Artists
Directed by Robert Kaylor
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Gary Busey and Robbie Robertson work a booth in a traveling fair. Busey is Bozo, who sits in a cage with a microphone insulting people, who get so irritated they buy baseballs to try to dunk him in water. Some of the rednecks on the midway get a little too worked up by his antics and one of the sideshow freaks is killed. In a plot turn stolen from 1932's Freaks, they get their revenge. Meanwhile, Jodie Foster is a runaway who joins the fair, gets involved in a love triangle with Busey and Robertson, but eventually finds her own way. Overflowing with authentic carnival atmosphere, but the plot lacks cohesiveness and there is a forced happy ending.

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