Americathon (1979)

"Americathon" is one of those films I have known about since its theatrical release in 1979. It's iconic movie poster, of Uncle Sam flashing the cast teased a satire to end all satires. The film fails miserably, and mostly works today as a Generation X version of "spot the star."

It's 1998, and Sam Birdwater (Chief Dan George), head of NIKE (National Indian Knitting Enterprises) has loaned the United States $400 billion dollars- a cute amount considering our national debt today. The U.S. is a shell of its former self after the energy crisis of the Carter administration, who were all lynched. China is a global power, England is our 57th state, the Arabs and Jews got along so well at the Camp David Peace Accords that they banded together to create a giant country (United Hebrab Republic), and everyone now lives in their cars and bikes to work. Vietnam is the new French Riviera, where the rich vacation. Former California governor, now President Chet Roosevelt (John Ritter) is running things from the Western White House (a condo), and Birdwater wants his loan back or else he's foreclosing on the country. Inflation is so high that only gold coins are accepted currency, and a cup of coffee costs twenty-five dollars- a joke I didn't even bat an eye at. It's decided that the country will raise the money with a massive thirty day telethon, and media expert Eric (the part is played by Peter Riegert, but his narration is oddly voiced by George Carlin) is brought in. Former movie star Monty Rushmore (a flailing Harvey Korman) hosts what turns out to be a 24/7 showing of ventriloquist acts as behind-the-scenes sabotage and an eventual presidential kidnapping occur.

Time has not been kind to this film, which wasn't received very well when it came out. The script is all over the place, trying too hard to do everything at once, and only generating a couple of chuckles. The original songs by The Beach Boys, Eddie Money, Elvis Costello, and Nick Lowe all thud. I could see the panicked expressions on some of the performers' faces as they went over-the-top to liven up the lame material.

The film is forty-five years old at this writing, and I wish someone would do a documentary on the making of "Americathon," and whether the cast and crew knew things weren't going well during the shoot, especially since most of the cast are no longer around. I think they were aiming for a "Network"/"Nashville"-type political comedy, and failed miserably. I laughed hardest at the "first all-gay state of North Dakota" line, but then the film makers post a picture of South Dakota's Mount Rushmore. There is no edge, no bite- just comedy veterans and newcomers trying to save a sinking ship of a film, with Buzby coming off worse than anyone. "Idiocracy" and "UHF" would arrive later and do certain elements much better.

"Americathon" doesn't generate laughs, just sympathy.

Stats:
(1979) 86 min. (2/10)
-Directed by Neal Israel
-Screenplay by Neal Israel & Michael Mislove & Monica Mcgowan Johnson, Adaptation and Play by Phil Proctor & Peter Bergman
-Cast: John Ritter, Harvey Korman, Peter Riegert, George Carlin, Fred Willard, Zane Buzby, Nancy Morgan, Richard Schaal, Allan Arbus, Elvis Costello, Chief Dan George, Tommy Lasorda, Meat Loaf, Jay Leno, Peter Marshall, David Opatoshu, Howard Hesseman, The Del Rubio Triplets, Jake Steinfeld, Dorothy Stratten, Zelda Rubenstein
(PG)- contains physical violence, some gun violence, some profanity, sexual references, drug references