The Gong Show Movie

Damned by critics and 1970s cultural tastemakers as a TV broadcasting nadir, prolific producer (and author) Chuck Barris's deliberately tacky talent-search series The Gong Show looks somewhat prophetic in our Warholean era of reality-TV and “idol” programs. The Gong Show Movie, Barris's own 1980 feature-film spin-off, was a box-office flop for Universal, co-scripted by Barris's friend, subversive auteur Robert Downey, Sr. (who was set to direct until Barris himself took the helm). The essentially one-joke premise finds Barris playing himself as the harried host-impresario, nagged by a ratings-obsessed producer, his concerned live-in girlfriend (Robin Altman, the real-life Mrs. Barris for a time) and, mainly, by obnoxious fans and would-be performers, who assail him with impromptu auditions in an escalating variety of inappropriate situations, sending the schlub hero into a meltdown. The seeming intent here was to serve up a too-hot-for-TV Gong Show, with more innuendo and profanity than the Unknown Comic and Jaye P. Morgan were able to get past censors. If one accepts that limited scope, then this seldom-seen cult item makes for a guilty-pleasure curio. Noteworthy in bit parts and cameos are such troupers as Tony Randall, Harvey Lembeck, Vincent Schiavelli, Mabel King, and Phil Hartman. Bowing on Blu-ray with an amusing audio commentary by pop culture historian Russell Dyball, this is a strong optional purchase. (C. Cassady)