honky tonk freeway
with the headline: harsh view of america in' honky tonk freeway' .
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jeez, i just watched the trailer. awful. the last tagline spoken “honky tonk freeway…. get off on it! ”
honky tonk freeway | 1981 upcoming movies | movie database | joblo. com, release date 1981, latest pictures, posters, videos and news
congregational church of mount dora was painted pink as part of the filming for honky tonk freeway. - original source: w. t. bland public library
during the filming of honky tonk freeway. downtown mount dora was painted pink and called ticklaw florida. myself and lots of my family were extras… | pinteres…
'' honky tonk freeway'' is rated pg ('' parental guidance suggested''). it contains some sexual innuendoes and bathroom jokes. janet maslin
congregational church of mount dora was painted pink as part of the filming for honky tonk freeway. - original source: w. t. bland public library (gillespie, ryan / courtesy photo )
geraldine paige and deborah rush in honky tonk freeway (1981). never saw it, hear it' s bad but surely worth it just for paige. | actress nuns | pinterest | hon…
honky tonk freeway is a action film released in 1981. the film stars david rasche as eddie white, paul jabara as t. j. tupus and howard hesseman as snapper. honky tonk freeway was produced for $ 24, 000, 000. since it' s release it has grossed over $ 1, 000, 000 in ticket sales and $ 1, 000, 000 in rental and home sales .
not many movies can blow up an interstate, have a star - studded cast, and severely injure a hollywood automotive legend… and then quickly fade into obscurity. but that is the case with honky tonk freeway .
thirty - five years after the release of honky tonk freeway, residents will have the chance to get a peek back into that time, and assess for themselves how much gold was really in all that pink .
it would be a year before the honky tonk freeway buzz built back up again with the movie’s release in august 1981, but the mount dora topic was ready. publisher al liveright in a page one announcement wrote ,
“the overriding question about emi’s honky tonk freeway is why anyone should want to spend over $ 25m. on a film as devoid of any basic humorous appeal … (its) long - term commercial appeal appears to be almost nil. ”
anyway, i’ve never even heard of honky tonk freeway until today, so i had to go to imdb to look at the details. i discovered for those who can’t stand having seen this, it can be rented from amazon. com .
then the lights dimmed and the much - awaited event finally began filling the screen. the first image of palm trees exploding while a freeway proves to be the whole flick’s banana peel, because everything after slips and falls in helter - skelter confusion. honky tonk freeway was a bomb, one of the biggest flops in hollywood history .
the second redeeming feature of the honky tonk freeway is a daring stunt by hollywood legend dean jeffries. while his name is known more for creating custom movie / tv cars like the monkeemobile and the green hornet’s black beauty, he was also an accomplished stuntman .
a premiere party for
honky tonk freeway
was held aug. 21, 1981, at the mount dora chamber of commerce building. gov. bob graham and others who were there then attended the opening - night showing at the tropic theater in leesburg .
in some respects it’s easy to see why honky tonk freeway was such a costly flop at the box office in 1981. in the times of austerity we currently enjoy, the movie would certainly resonate more with audiences now than in the relatively affluent times in which it was birthed. we don’t want to give honky tonk freeway too much credit though. it’s hardly withering satire, and far more could, and perhaps should have been made of the quickly - dropped subplot of corrupt officials (the same sort of behaviour was also ruining british towns and cities at the time): but its feel - good goofiness and larger than life characters may well sucker you in. honky tonk freeway is nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests, and some parts of it are actually rather good. it’s also probably the only movie in which you can see william devane waterskiing from the back of an elephant: and that’s worth anybody’s time and money .
emi, which must have been well aware of the movie’s impending death, immediately sold the rights for video distribution, and honky tonk freeway closed after one week in theaters, banished to the video purgatory. emi took a $ 11 - million loss, a hit so severe that the british film company never made another foray into american film .
one of at least three filmed productions where actor peter billingsley played a character called
billy
which is a name similar to his surname of
billingsley
. the titles are: death valley (1982) (billy), honky tonk freeway (1981) (little billy), and sherman oaks (1995) (billy baker) .
the story, or rather stories of honky tonk freeway are told through vignettes, since the action follows the separate adventures of a large cast of characters; the wheeze being that they will all ultimately come together as they descend on ticlaw. some of the stories are well - crafted, and the stellar cast also makes the movie an attractive draw .
despite the spectacularly expensive bridge explosion and the 100 + ft. jump in a commercial - grade truck, the movie flopped at the box office. there are plenty of elements that could be blamed – everything from a deceitful production company to a disjointed plot. but regardless, the lavish stunts made honky tonk freeway one of the biggest money - losers of its time .
honky tonk freeway, directed by john schlesinger; written by edward clinton; director of photography, john bailey; film editor, jim clark; music by george martin and elmer bernstein; produced by don boyd and howard w. koch jr. ; released by universal pictures. at the ziegfeld, avenue of the americas and 54th street. running time: 107 minutes. this film is rated pg .
it came 35 years ago with the release of
honky tonk freeway ,
a film with a $ 24 million budget that included painting many buildings in the quaint downtown pink. baker appeared in the film, which had an all - star cast that included jessica tandy, hume cronyn and beau bridges plus hundreds of lake county residents as extras such as baker — who appears for all of a second .
jeannine oppewall entered the film industry in the late 1970s after a six - year association with the great design innovators, charles and ray eames. she worked as a set designer (blue collar, blow out, the rose, honky tonk freeway) before rising to the position of production designer in 1983 with tender mercies, the modestly budgeted ‘slice of life’ film, which brought robert duvall an academy award .
today that would be the job of the cgi department on a film, but 35 years ago, honky tonk freeway demolished the entire span with real explosives, fire, and shrapnel. the trick was that i - 75 had not yet been completed through all of south florida, and the production company paid to have the palmer road overpass in the small town of fruitville initially constructed out of wood and plaster .
peter sorel already had more than 30 credits when we first worked together on honky tonk freeway in 1980. a few years later, john r. hamilton, a veteran of many westerns with john ford and john wayne, was the still photographer on silverado, my first and only western. while yet a tyro cinematographer, i had the honor of working with many legendary still photographers — and learning from all of them .
honky tonk freeway is an early 1980s comedy about the fictional small town of ticlaw in florida. it has an economy that relies on tourism, but is deemed too insignificant to warrant an exit on the newly constructed freeway. with the whole world passing them by, the townspeople, under the leadership of mayor / preacher kirby t calo (the charismatic william devane) decide to strike back against the corrupt authorities and let the world know they exist. it is directed by john schlesinger (the british talent behind billy liar, midnight cowboy and marathon man) .
honky tonk freeway’s plot involves many different character stories that are all on an inevitable path through the fictitious town of ticlaw, florida. the tiny southern settlement would love to welcome tourist dollars, but their town didn’t get an exit on the new interstate. this could almost be a satire on how expressways changed america’s main street, but everyone is playing a tired stereotype with zero humanity. thus, the flick only qualifies for cringe - worthy cinema .
honky tonk freeway (1981). welcome to ticaw, florida, a tiny town just off the highway with big dreams of attracting huge tourist dollars. but when construction of the new freeway leaves them without a crucial exit ramp, the desperate townsfolk decide to take motor matters into their own hands. now with the help of a water - skiing elephant, a rampaging rhino, some well - placed explosives and an invasion of very odd travelers, this busy freeway is about to take one extremely strange detour. stars: david rasche, beau bridges, beverly d' angelo, paul jabara, howard hesseman, jenn thompson, daniel stern & peter billingsley. directed by john schlesinger. original release date: august 21, 1981 .
mount dora movies under the stars continues this friday, august 19 with a screening of honky tonk freeway (1981), the movie which was filmed in part in mount dora and for which portions of town were painted pepto - bismal pink. the screening will be in elizabeth evans park starting at dusk. food and drinks will be available for purchase; bring your picnic blanket. if the weather is inclement, the movie will be screened in the community center (on baker street next to mount dora city hall) .
as much of an affront as'' honky tonk freeway'' may be to patriots, because its snobbism about america is so acid, it' s bound to bother film buffs even more. mr. schlesinger has combined'' nashville,'''' handle with care'' and other road films, and slapped the material together with no particular reverence or ingenuity. however, he works jauntily and enthusiastically, and his car movie isn' t the retread it might have been. like the people it' s about, it' s got gumption .
for one thing, the movie confuses with so many characters and plotlines happening at once. it feels dated to start with, perhaps because the theme song “honky tonk freeway” by brooks and dunn plays to the trucker / cb wave of the late ‘70s, a sound which had lapsed to disco and was by then drowning in “betty davis eyes. ” director schlesinger was british and may not have understood florida tourist culture. for locals, there isn’t enough mount dora in it—much of it is a road movie—and the raunchiness, even for 1983, is uncomfortable at places. and the jokes—well, most miss their mark by a mile .
sylvia miles' s poodle is alive and well, the one that appeared in'' midnight cowboy'' wearing false eyelashes and yapping nastily at everything in sight. not that particular dog, perhaps, but certainly its attitude. john schlesinger, who directed that film and has now made'' honky tonk freeway,'' still thinks america is a crass, foolish, disagreeable place, and he has nothing to say about it that' s new. however, mr. schlesinger has dusted off some old gags, shamelessly borrowed some more recent ones and put together a movie that' s almost as surprisingly funny as it is silly .
it not only disappeared from box offices quickly, but by the time the movie was ready to hit theaters, the real overpass was constructed and i - 75 was open for business (it has even been expanded since then). this flick didn’t even get the chance at a cult following over the years like le mans or the wraith, and that’s a bit of a shame. in the modern era where movies do their best to digitally make everything look real, this film was one of the last to be made with real fire and guts. but for those of us in the know, there is a lasting legacy to the honky tonk freeway .
“you really don’t know, because i have been involved in movies that you probably haven’t even heard of that were huge, ” says billingsley, a new york native whose crystal blue eyes still shine with a childlike glow, even from behind a decidedly more mature countenance. “honky tonk freeway, at the time, it cost $ 26 million dollars, which was like the t3 of its day, and it didn’t really make any money. paternity was with burt reynolds, who was the number one box office draw, and it bombed; you feel this hype and this energy and this confidence on the set, [ like ] ‘wow this is going to rock! ’ and ‘we’re great! ’ and then, it doesn’t open. ”
see if you' ve heard this before:'' honky tonk freeway,'' which opens today at the ziegfeld theater, presents a bunch of oddballs who have nothing in common except the fact that, by the end of the movie, they will all bump into one another somewhere in dixie. the run - in will occur when the town of ticlaw, fla. , finally makes its communal wish come true. ticlaw sits beside a new interstate without an exit to call its own, and no amount of bribe money in kentucky fried chicken boxes seems to be remedying theproblem. therefore, the citizens of ticlaw take the matter into their own hands. there' s nothing they won' t do to get that exit built .
ticlaw, a small town in florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. the government constructs a freeway that passes near ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. the... see full summary »
throughout his long career, roberts appeared in over 30 feature films, including: in a lonely place (1950); the killers (1964) written by gene l. coon and featuring ronald reagan in his last film role; the chase (1966) with steve ihnat; westworld (1973) with majel barrett, charles seel, alan oppenheimer, kenneth washington and paul sorensen; demon seed (1977), with fritz weaver, gerrit graham, michael dorn and felix silla; and john schlesinger' s honky tonk freeway (1981), which featured teri garr, jerry hardin and jeffrey combs. he also appeared in the mini - series roots, which starred levar burton, as well as many television series, including i dream of jeannie, mission: impossible, gunsmoke, the mary tyler moore show, sanford and son, and all in the family .
when you think about the whole drift of the movie—small florida town seeks economic salvation in a freeway exit—time plays its own tricks. perhaps director john schlesinger’s ambition, or the ghost of it—he later said filming the movie was personally “a shattering experience”—comes back hauntingly. consider that the real florida town of mount dora is now getting an actual freeway exit; was it prophesized by that movie 35 years ago? and does the golden promise of all that new business—like the painted - pink business district along donnelly street—come at a cost like we see in the movie ?
an outrageous trip through roadside america from the oscar - winning director of midnight cowboy and darling. welcome to ticaw, florida, a tiny town just off the highway with big dreams of attracting huge tourist dollars. but when construction of the new freeway leaves them without a crucial exit ramp, the desperate townsfolk decide to take motor matters into their own hands. now with the help of a water - skiing elephant, a rampaging rhino, some well - placed explosives and an invasion of very odd travelers, this busy freeway is about to take one extremely strange detour .
directed by oscar winner john schlesinger and starring william devane, beau bridges, beverly d' angelo, hume cronyn and jessica tandy, honky tonk freeway is an exuberant satire on america' s undying love affair with all things on wheels. this wildly good - natured and outrageously entertaining roadside farce is presented here in a brand - new digital transfer, in its as - exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. it' s vacation time, and carloads of americans are making their way to florida in relentless pursuit of a good time; among the travellers are an aspiring children' s author, a couple of bank - robbers, an elderly lady with a drink problem and two nuns. they little realise they' re about to be caught up in a small - time mayor' s madcap scheme to turn his neglected town into a tourist trap! special features [ ] original theatrical teaser and trailer [ ] image gallery [ ] original promotional material pdf
whoever said that everything' s big in texas must have had this bar in mind. stampede is huge, some 35, 000 square feet of honky - tonk decadence. not only are there dance lessons tonight, but free pool (with seven tables) and texas hold' em. video games are also scattered throughout. if you never made it to the ill - fated toby keith' s i love this bar & grill before it closed, stampede houston is what that should have been: a mammoth dance floor and stage, bbq pit out front, plenty of big - screen tvs with sports on and, most importantly, a mechanical bull in the corner .
the movie goes like this: a small florida tourist town called ticlaw struggles to attract visitors to their hotel and wildlife safari park, which includes a water - skiing elephant named bubbles. the state builds a freeway near the town, and the town’s mayor pays $ 10, 000 to assure they get an off - ramp. when that doesn’t happen, the townfolk take matters into their own hands, painting the town pink and blasting a hole in the freeway to divert traffic. tourists from all over the country truck into town, bringing with them a whole lot of partying, hijinks and mayhem .
there’s no mention of honky tonk freeway getting pulled from the tropic theater in leesburg after just one week, but then there’s no mention of the movie at all after that in the topic. it seems like everyone quickly got that the movie was a flop turned back—perhaps with more hurry—to the next business at hand. in the wake of a spike in break - ins, the city promoted participation in neighborhood watch. about 35 black residents appeared before city council to protest the city’s unfair hiring practices. car wrecks continued to pile up on old 441 (road were much, much more dangerous back then .) al liveright sold the topic soon after to citrus belt publications, inc. , and the paper’s new focus was broader. the football kickoff issue featured stories about the programs at mount dora, eustis and tavares. citrus belt had also bought the weeklies in tavares and eustis, and over the years, the three papers slowly downsized into the relics of local coverage which ended in 2009 and the mount dora topic disappeared from its hometown .
ticlaw, a small town in florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. the government constructs a freeway that passes near ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. the people of ticlaw, led by its mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project .
ticlaw, a small town in florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. the government constructs a freeway that passes near ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. the people of ticlaw, leaded by it' s mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project .
long ago in a faraway backwater of the universe, a small town dreamed of salvation in a freeway exit to a main street painted pink. at the same time, in weird parallel deserving of an episode of the twilight zone, mount dora welcomed hollywood onto donnelly street, hoping that tourist gold would flow their way from theaters across america .
ticlaw, a small town in florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. the government constructs a freeway that passes near ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. the people of ticlaw, leaded by it' s mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project. (less )
urltoken honky tonk freeway [ vhs ]: paul jabara, howard hesseman, teri garr, jenn thompson, peter billingsley, beau bridges, beverly d' angelo, daniel stern, sandra mccabe, celia weston, deborah rush, geraldine page, george dzundza, joe grifasi, hume cronyn, jessica tandy, frances lee mccain, renny roker, ron frazier (ii), william devane, jerry hardin, john ashton, john c. becher, alice beardsley, davis roberts, loretta tupper, frances bay, rollin moriyama, kimiko hiroshige, james staley, shelly batt, jason keller (ii), shane keller, kelly lange, kent williams, arnold johnson, nancy parsons, jessica rains, ann risley, helen hanft, don morgan, paul keenan, robert stoneman, randy norton, al corley, murphy dunne, leo burmester, jeffrey combs, jack murdock, ann coleman, gordon haight, jack thibeau, martha gehman, george solomon, dick christie, anita dangler, mags kavanaugh, gloria leroy, jo ann dearing, joseph sheppard, phil de carlo, ken phillips, brad m. bucklin, david rasche, lois hamilton, jason d. keller, john schlesinger: movies & tv
the movie told the story of ticlaw, a small florida town with a single attraction — a safari park. when the government builds a freeway nearby but fails to include an exit into town, townsfolk jump into action in hopes of rectifying the situation to continue to lure tourists. efforts include billboards about a water - skiing elephant, giving away gas for free and painting the town pink .
shooting in mount dora was supposed to begin in february, but production delays at the second location in fruitville (a little town close to sarasota) pushed the mount dora filming into may. (the i - 75 freeway, then under construction, was to have reached a point where a half - finished bridge would be incorporated into the shooting—where it could be “exploded”— but it wasn’t done in time. )
urltoken - placing floridapast on the map, on fade at a time. we are the pioneer fader of florida .
preserving floridapast in floridapresent for floridafuture
- it' s what we love to do for you! come visit floridapast on facebook for more floridapast shares - urltoken - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a interesting fade for ticlaw, otherwise known as mt. dora. this moment captured, during the filming of honky tonk freeway, showing all the buildings that were painted pink for the movie. i borrowed some history to share ;
this movie was filmed in the small central florida town of mount dora. the off ramp filming location took place at the i - 75 and palmer road overpass in sarasota, florida. most of the highway scenes take place on i - 75 between sarasota and ft myers while the highway was still under construction. dynamite crews blew up the south bound lane overpass at i - 75 and palmer road before the tampa to miami leg of the highway was completed in 1981. many portions of fruitville were painted pink to match the sets in mount dora and remained pink for decades afterward. palmer road was never designated for an i - 75 exit because it is not a main thoroughfare. the exit for fruitville is on fruitville road about 2 miles north of the filming location .
please credit and read more here - urltoken
when a tiny town in florida is passed over by the new interstate highway, corrupt mayor kirby (william devane) and his cronies plaster the freeway with illegal billboards that draw unsuspecting tourists to the mayor' s tacky amusement park. the unwilling visitors include squabbling suburban parents snapper (howard hesseman) and ericka (teri garr), despondent waitress carmen (beverly d' angelo), aspiring children' s book author duane (beau bridges) and a drug - addled hitchhiker (daniel stern) .
british director john schlesinger (known for midnight cowboy (1969), sunday, bloody sunday (1971) and marathon man (1976) ) directed this large - cast ensemble comedy to skewer american enterprise and the american dream, in the style of robert altman' s nashville (1975). this crude, overstuffed, fragmented and shrill film with a slapstick finale told about an isolated small florida tourist town named ticlaw without a freeway off - ramp exit to its safari park. so to ensure visitors and not be bypassed, the town was painted pink, free gas was offered as a lure, and the town featured a water - skiing elephant named bubbles and a wild charging rhino .
in this involved send - up of two american icons - - the automobile and the tourist trap - - the tiny florida town of ticlaw strives desperately for success after it has been denied the most essential of all tourist amenities - - a freeway exit. the insane, and mostly successful, schemes of the mayor (william devane) and other distinctly unbalanced citizens interrupt, often hilariously, the lives of various eccentric travellers forced into a place they never intended to be. critics disagree violently on whether this is a neglected classic or sophomoric nonsense. the winning record of director (john schlesinger) (midnight cowboy, marathon man, cold comfort farm, etc. ,) and first - class performances by william devane, beau bridges, beverly d' angelo, hume cronyn, jessicatandy and a plethora of great character actors - - not to mention the water - skiing elephant and the wild rhino - - argue that it' s worth a look .
when i was a kid i loved this film, i remember the theme song was brilliant, and i love the mayor who was played by william devane. i watched it again not so long ago and still has the same charm, plus it has a great car pile up. there is a small town, who' s main attraction is a skiing elephant called bubbles, but when the highway build a freeway which then threatens the lively hood of the towns business, but with a promise a off ramp, well cash under the table, this never happens, so this gives the local folks no choice but to take matter into there own hands. this is a great film to watch on a lazy sunday afternoon. the sad thing about this film was, it was a major flop at the box - office, if not one of the worst in the history of cinema, costing thorn emi a british company a shed load of money, it' s such a shame because for me this is a top film. it would be nice if there was a blu - ray release, but i wont hold my breath .
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urltoken
the fragmented film was mostly about the various' road stories' of various caricature - types who were enroute to the tourist - trap town with an ambitious but crazy mayor kirby t. calo (william devane): two new york bank robbers, an aspiring children' s book writer with a book titled randy the carnivorous pony (beau bridges), a wacky elderly couple (hume cronyn and jessica tandy), a discontented and frustrated nun (deborah rush), and a small - town nymphomaniacal whore (beverly d' angelo) bringing her mother' s ashes (in an urn on the dashboard) to the town .
the film was allegedly the most expensive comedy made up to its time. it received one razzie nomination: worst original song (
you' re crazy but i like you
). its financial backers at emi ltd. , impresarios lew (lord) grade and bernard (lord) delfont, had already recently financed a number of flops: raise the titanic (1980), the jazz singer (1980), the village people musical can' t stop the music (1980), and the legend of the lone ranger (1981). their investment of $ 11 million in this american film was a nail in their movie - making coffin .
the film' s tagline said everything :
there' s never been a film like roar - and there never will be again !
however, this curious film had some similarities to the big hit in the mid 1960s, born free (1966) .
wildlife animal rights activist and actress tippi hedren starred in this semi - documentary (home) film production opposite her husband - - the film' s director, co - star, and writer. it told the story of madeleine (hedren), with her long estranged scientist / husband hank (marshall) living in the african jungle with their three children (one being real - life daughter melanie griffith) - and other than that, just a minimal plot, with the many leopards, lions, tigers, etc. filling out the cast .
this family adventure film was made over a period of eleven years, and during filming caused director / star noel marshall, hedren, cinematographer jan de bont and melanie griffith to all be injured or mauled by a lion. melanie' s injury required 50 facial stitches and plastic surgery to repair. other problems on the set (behind the scenes) besides the maimings included a flood, a fire, foreclosure, and a feline virus that decimated the wild animal cast. the film was screened for only one week .
in 1972, hedren founded and became president of the roar foundation and shambala preserve, an 80 - acre wildlife habitat 40 miles northeast of los angeles (in acton, ca located at the edge of the mojave desert between the antelope valley and the santa clarita valley), to provide sanctuary for dozens of exotic animals who have suffered from gross mistreatment and neglect. in early december of 2007 when one of the bengal tigers mauled a preserve' s caretaker, the whole issue of the danger of captive animals was again raised - - recalling the white - tiger mauling of roy horn (of the illusionist team of siegfried and roy) four years earlier before a horrified las vegas audience .
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during the scene where the orphans are being shown the petting zoo, a crew member or the director can be heard giving the cue to
scream! scream! ricky !
as the children become afraid of the white horse they' ve mistaken for
ricky the carnivorous pony .
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i rented this video when it first came out in the 1980' s and i loved it. there are many stories intertwined together throughout the movie. when i saw i could purchase it on amazon video to watch whenever i wanted, i knew i had to purchase it. watched it the other night and still very funny. i have seen it many times in the past so i know what is coming next in the movie. i would recommend it to anyone who likes a good comedy .
classic comedy, major stars for a low promoted movie of its day. a hidden gem. sure the acting is not great and the plot is far fetched, but it is just absolutely funny. if someone loves older comedies of early 80s, this one is worth adding to collection. its rare so price is high .
if you have been to mt dora, fl or are going there it is a fun movie to watch .
i was taking a bus tour to mt dora, fl where this film was made in 1980. my grandson was able to bring the movie up on my computer for me. i' ve wanted to go there since i saw the movie in the 80' s. i could not get it on netflix or local libraries. the lakeside inn is the oldest continually operational inn in the state of fl. the movie was a little corny but i loved it because i was going there. i am pleased the movie will stay on my computer for a month. can show my friends .
this video recording is region 2, not playable in us or canadian players so l could not view it .
love this movie. i live in the town this was filmed in, during the time of filming .
many good actors. enjoyed it because we live near there and know people who actually saw the elephant water skiing .
i seen this was a kid when i rented it from the video store in the 80' s, and seeing it again on dvd, i remembered it was good, and that beverly d' angelo was in it, but i wondered ...
i can see why this movie bombed. it' s disjointed and vulgar and the stories never seem to connect .
very funny movie definitely glad i bought it. i will watch again in the future .
i live close to mt dora florida (the place the movie was made) so i wanted to see it. it' s just ok they paint the town pink .
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they paint the town pink, quite literally. they put up illegal billboards celebrating the chief local tourist attraction, a waterskiing elephant who, unfortunately, has not yet been taught to waterski. they give away free food and gas, and on sundays, led by an exit - happy mayor (william devane), they pray. nothing works. meanwhile, up north, dozens of people and one rhinoceros are unwittingly preparing to converge on the town .
two of these northerners (george dzundza and joe grifasi) have just robbed a new york bank, where a black derelict stands by the tellers muttering'' i' m o. j. simpson. i gotta get me a camera and run through airports!'' one (beau bridges) is from chicago, and has just written a children' s story called'' rudy the carniverous pony.'' when his wife burns the story in a frying pan, he leaves her and heads south. a blond dentist and his wife (howard hesseman and teri garr) are traveling with their two awful children through monument valley in a recreational vehicle with such elaborate insides that nobody bothers to look out the window. the voluptuous owner of a pink edsel (beverly d' angelo) is leaving paducah, ky. , because she has slept with 300 different men there. she says it wasn' t easy .
mr. schlesinger can' t possibly keep all these characters, or a dozen others of equal importance to edward clinton' s lively screenplay, in focus. so the movie' s structure is a mess. the story begins and ends in ticlaw, but the film goes for long stretches without mentioning the town, and characters have a way of popping up just as they are about to be forgotten. this movie didn' t need a director; it needed a juggler. however, mr. schlesinger handles some of the individual scenes well, and he never creates much hope that the whole film will hang together anyhow. whatever value the movie has is in its players and its gags, not in any continuity .
the film is so uneven that it incorporates both a strain of bawdy humor (which is markedly unfunny) and some touches reminiscent of late 1950' s to early 60' s disney. (the people of ticlaw sometimes seem on the verge of inventing flubber .) the cast is good, but there' s no one here who can do much to hold the movie together. hume cronyn and jessica tandy are on hand as an advertising man and his alcoholic wife, who declares proudly that her husband invented bad breath. geraldine page and deborah rush play a mother superior and a novice who won' t stay a novice for long. and paul jabara gives the most obvious nod to'' nashville,'' as a songwriter whose music is awful.'' nashville'' had good songs that were a whole lot better, and bad songs that were a whole lot worse .
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dean jeffries flies a gmc c6500. photos courtesy kevin jeffries and the dean jeffries archives, unless otherwise noted .
[ editor’s note: this piece comes to us from myles kornblatt, the curator at the miami auto museum. he contributes to multiple automotive publications and is the automotive correspondent for the florida weekly. ]
this month marks the 35th anniversary of the movie hitting theaters. it’s not surprising that a film featuring a water - skiing elephant belly flopped at the box office, but today it deserves more than a footnote in history – especially in the car community .
a ford fan would be in heaven with all the blue oval classics seen in the film like an edsel ranger, a lincoln continental town coupe, and even a rare 1949 mercury two - door station wagon. but it was a gmc that really makes the whole film memorable (more on that in a moment) .
the movie had all the right elements. it was filled with known actors like beau bridges, beverly d’angelo, teri garr, hume cronyn, and jessica tandy. there were rising stars like daniel stern and peter billingsley, before he played ralphie in a christmas story. it was even directed by john schlesinger – the same man who made midnight cowboy and marathon man .
so, why is it worth your attention? because the last 20 minutes are filled with two of the most daring events put on film .
first, in the movie, the people of ticlaw decide they do not want to be bypassed. so they blow - up the overpass in a spectacular midnight explosion to make sure people have to stop in their town .
“there was only one take – one and done, ” recalls marlena gore. the movie had one of the largest budgets for a comedy at the time, but they still were only willing to blow up the bridge once. gore witnessed this nighttime explosion when she was eleven years old. the filming was a popular event that brought in many locals as extras, including her future husband .
while gore doesn’t appear on film, it might have had an interesting impact on her life. she is currently the project manager for a revolutionary - style “diverging diamond” interchange that is being constructed just a few miles up i - 75 from where the filming took place. it’s a little too sappy to suggest that this movie fully inspired gore to better her hometown interstate, but it is kismet that someone who witnessed the destruction is making that same corridor a bit better today .
jeffries passed away in 2013, but according to his son kevin, “he did hundreds of stunts during his career in motion pictures, but clearly the i - 75 jump in florida was the most spectacular. ”
the movie concludes with a gmc c6500 boxtruck soaring over the entire missing roadway span, and jeffries was driving. just like the exploding bridge, there was only one take, but for a very different reason. “after flying over the overpass, the stunt truck landed so hard that it broke his back, requiring him to grab his leg with his hand so that he could push down and apply the brakes to stop the truck, ” recalls kevin jeffries .
in a tale that could only come from a gritty stuntman who was also a master hot rod fabricator, jeffries was not pleased with the level of care at the local hospital. so he built a custom aluminum cast for his torso and went back to work. for those who love the man’s automotive creations, but don’t know this side of the story, tom cotter’s book, dean jeffries – 50 fabulous years in hot rods, racing & film, goes into great detail. it’s currently out of print (i. e. expensive), but worth it to read the whole tale .
jeffries was particularly proud of this feat and the multi - car pileup that it created on film – it feels reminiscent of his earlier work on the blues brothers. according to kevin, “jumping the four - ton truck across the missing overpass was something my father would often discuss with friends and admirers. ”
just drive down i - 75 south past sarasota. about a mile beyond the fruitville road exit is an overpass that hundreds of tourists and commuters unwittingly drive over this every day. that little bridge is a gateway to true hollywood history, and the bump you feel at the end might have been the one that broke dean jeffries’ back .
nice write - up on a forgotten piece of cinema history. it may yet find a cult following !
i was living in orlando at the time this was made, and remember some scenes being shot late at night on what we used to call the east - west expressway, which i used daily in my commute. probably second unit stuff. now i live in sarasota, and drive on this section of i - 75 frequently. can’t seem to escape this movie !
i remember them filming here. i was attending the local junior college, and some of the guys in the theater department got work as crew on the filming. we were all excited, until the actual movie debut. as mentioned, not a good movie except for the final 20 minutes or so. the plot, if there really was one, was pained at best. however, there are a couple of items for possible corrections, albeit minor. fruitville is not really so much as separate community, but more of a rural neighborhood of sarasota. leave it to a miami guy to get that part wrong (note: just a joke. florida cities tend to be pretty antagonistic towards each other .) the fruitville road goes east to west, with i - 75 and farms east and downtown sarasota and the gulf to the far west. i had no idea that ms. gore is the project manager of the diverging diamond being built one exit north of this location, but kismet certainly seems to have a hand in this .
i’m impressed by jeffries’ back brace idea. a dozen years ago i fell off my roof and landed on my butt, causing radiating stress cracks up my back – 12 of them. i also broke a leg and had a concussion. after fusion surgery, i was fitted with a very similar back brace that i wore while my skeleton healed. it was made of molded plastic, and monstrously uncomfortable, but the design was very similar to jeffries’. he should have patented that thing. my surgeon and hospital care were both terrific. other than a slightly stiff back, i have no side effects. in fact, within three months of surgery, i was riding my motorcycle again. i hope i live as long as he did.
honky tonk freeway is a 1981 comedy film directed by john schlesinger . the film , conceived and co-produced by don boyd , was one of the most expensive box office flops in history , losing its british backers thorn-emi an estimated $ 11,000,000 and profoundly affecting its fortunes and aspirations . the film was financed in part by accountant roy tucker 's tax avoidance schemes funded by the rossminster banking group . 
honky tonk freeway is a 1981 comedy film directed by john schlesinger. the film, conceived and co-produced by don boyd, was one of the most expensive box office flops in history, losing its british backers thorn-emi an estimated $ 11,000,000 and profoundly affecting its fortunes and aspirations. the film was financed in part by accountant roy tucker's tax avoidance schemes funded by the rossminster banking group.
honky tonk freeway is a 1981 comedy film directed by john schlesinger. the film, conceived and co-produced by don boyd, was one of the most expensive box office flops in history, losing its british backers thorn-emi an estimated $ 11,000,000 and profoundly affecting its fortunes and aspirations. the film was financed in part by accountant roy tucker's tax avoidance schemes funded by the rossminster banking group.