Thursday, December 14, 2017

Americathon (1979)


United Artists
Directed by Neal Israel
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

In the near-future of 1998, America is broke and borrows money from entrepreneur Chief Dan George, who demands repayment. President John Ritter, looking a lot like Donald Trump, hires a media consultant and they come up with the idea of a telethon to raise the money. Harvey Korman, a cross-dressing comedian, hosts it, but it is sabotaged by Fred Willard, an adviser to the president who hopes to capitalize on its failure. Certainly a hit-or-miss affair, mostly miss, but the strong cast, and shear awfulness, actually make it very watchable. Zane Buzby is an energetic punk rocker from Vietnam, Jay Leno a boxer, and other familiar faces. Shameless plugging of Nike is rampant, however.

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