Semiquincentennial Movie Project #30: Cold Turkey

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

Week #30: Iowa -

 

 

The state of Iowa was established on December 28, 1846.

Details about Iowa:

State bird: eastern goldfinch

State flower: prairie rose    

State tree: bur oak

Additional historical trivia:

While Texas is home to the world's largest convenience store, the Buc-ee's in Luling, they don't allow trucks. The world's largest truck stop is in Walcott.

The legendary plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper occurred in Iowa.

The first bridge built over the mighty Mississippi River was built here.

In 1869 Arabella Mansfield became the first female lawyer in the US.

The trampoline was invented in Cedar Rapids. 

Obviously (or maybe not), Field of Dreams was filmed here.

  

Famous people born in Iowa: Samuel Z. Arkoff, who was one half of the founding team of American International Pictures (see AIP sidebar on the left side of this page), John Wayne!!, Ashton Kutscher, Kurt Warner, Shawn Johnson,  travel writer Bill Bryson (and check out some of his work...), Grant Wood (the painter of "American Gothic"), First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, Vice President (under FDR) Henry Wallace, and US President Herbert Hoover.

Cold Turkey (1971): 

How the hell is this movie not known by more people? (Maybe it is well-known in some sectors of the population, but it is definitely not a world wide phenomenon...) The cachet of stars involved would seem to indicate that it should be a big name, whether or not it is on the same level as, say. Blazing Saddles. I mean, just look at the cast: Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart are the anchors of the film, and Norman Lear, who gave us All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times and Maude, essentially being the face of produced TV comedies of the 70's, was the writer an director of the film. And the rest of the cast is also familiar to anyone who was a devotee of 70's and 80's comedy on TV: Jean Stapleton, Tom Poston, Paul Benedict, Bob (Elliot) and Ray (Goulding), Barnard Hughes, Vincent Gardenia and even Edward Everett Horton. Hell, it even has Randy "Short People" Newman on board for the music.

But, until I decided to pick this film for my entry for Iowa, I had never even heard of it.

Perhaps a lot of the blame could be placed on it's timing. With the exception of Dick Van Dyke most of those other names were still on the other side of their fame. Jean Stapleton, for instance, had only just started her career in the role of Edith Bunker on All in the Family, and Bob Newhart was still a year away from his breakout on TV on The Bob Newhart Show. Paul Benedict as the iconic British neighbor of George and Louise Jefferson was still a couple of years down the road. (I should note here that, although the film was released in 1971, the film was actually made in 1969, so even most of those "stars" were even further away from their iconic status when the film was actually produced.)

The basic premise is that executives at the Valiant Tobacco Company want to improve their image. With the help of an advertising executive, Merwin Wren (Bob Newhart), they plan a stunt which NOBODY in their right mind would follow through with. Wren cites how Alfred Nobel, who made millions with the invention of dynamite, made his name a household symbol of good will by using his wealth to create the Nobel prize. The idea is that the Valiant company would offer a town a $25 million prize if the entire town could go without smoking for a month.

 

Ridiculous, right? That's exactly what the tobacco company thinks. No town could possibly ever get all of it's citizens, 100% of them, to give up smoking, so the town would achieve a PR bonus by proposing it, but since it has to be the WHOLE town agreeing to it, and it being thought impossible to achieve a 100% commitment, they would look good without even having to pony up the money.

Except! The little town of Eagle Rock in Iowa has had a depressed economy for the last few years, and greed trumps addiction. It's not easy, to be sure. I think this town may be one that has the highest percentage of smokers vs. non-smokers. It looks like around 75% or more of them light up. But through the efforts of a goodwill endeavor by the local minister, Rev. Brooks (Dick Van Dyke), a gung-ho effort is made to get the town 100% committed to stopping smoking, albeit mostly for the moolah that will flow into the city coffers (coughers?).

 

It isn't quite the gargantuan effort that it would take to get a town the size of, say, Des Moines, whose 1970 census population was over 200,000. Eagle Rock only has a meager 4,000 citizenry. But with the efforts of Brooks and some rather greedy citizens in the city management, the entire town agrees to give it a shot.

 

Of course, this isn't Mayberry and Brooks isn't Andy Taylor. The town is full of a bunch of people who aren't exactly likeable in the first place. Couple that with the intense withdrawal that is bound to happen when you quit a habit like smoking, and you have the makings of a "chaos du jour". Anybody watching this film will either laugh at the antics of the drug withdrawal, or possibly even look at it with a self-righteous smirk (especially if you are not a smoker yourself).

Some of the humor derives from some well-acted characterizations, however. Barnard Hughes is one of the highlights, as a doctor who usually has a cigarette to calm his nerves before operating. You probably don't want this guy cutting you open when he has shaky hands from lack of nicotine. 

Another great part is when a radio announcer says that the best way to curb the nervousness from withdrawal is sex. Which leads to a couple of humorous scenes when Brooks keeps showing up at the house and his wife's look of resignation as to what's coming next. (BTW, this is a PG movie, so don't get any ideas you are going to see anything you couldn't let your kids see).

 

Another highlight of the film is an overenthusiastic old lady, Odie (Judith Lowry), who wants to be top dog law enforcement officer in town when it comes to making people stick to the commitment. As well, Graham Jarvis is a hoot playing the town wannabee gestapo stooge who takes it upon his own to form a watchdog agency that stops every car entering the city limits and searches them for contraband tobacco.

 

We also get the comedy team of Bob and Ray showing as various parodies of then current newscasters, which to be truthful, is hit or miss. The two appear, variously, as "Walter Chronic" (Walter Cronkite), "David Chetley" (a composite of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley). "Paul Hardly" (Paul Harvey), "Harry Reasonable" (Harry Reasoner and "Mike Walrus" (Mike Wallace).

 

 

Even Van Dyke's character is not immune to the inane change of personality. Although he is not the goody-two-shoes type that he had often played in his TV and movie career here, he starts out with his heart somewhat in the right place. But even he succumbs to the personality change that is prevalent among the populace.

 

As it becomes apparent that the town of Eagle Rock may actually buck the odds and win the coveted prize the tobacco company tries desperately to find a way to make the town renege on it's goal. The ultimate ruse at the end is what really makes this black comedy film zing to it's conclusion. I won't give away the ending, but pay attention... Wren is not running around with a gun-shaped cigarette lighter just for show...

 

It turns out that this movie has garnered more attention than I thought at first. To be sure, it was a new one for me, since I said I had never heard of it, but there were plenty of reviews of it online that I began to think maybe I have just been leading too sheltered a life. One review even clued me in on a tidbit I thought worth repeating:

Apparently Van Dyke attended an anti-smoking seminar and an event that happened at said seminar inspired him to pitch an idea to Lear about focusing on one guy's attempt to quit smoking. It was Lear who transformed the idea to a whole town quitting, and thus we got... I hesitate to call it "comedy gold"... but let's just  call it "comedy bronze"...

As stated above the movie was actually filmed in 1969, but studio execs were wary that it wouldn't be received with much enthusiasm, so it's release was delayed by two years. And, as it turned out, it wasn't a real big hit. It only made a meager $130,000 in it's first week. And it only pulled in $5 million by the end of it's first run. It wasn't entirely well received either. It holds a meager 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Although Roger Ebert, at the time, gave it a 4 out of 4 stars, many other contemporary reviewers were not so generous. Variety said it was marred by sluggish pacing and a bizarre ending. Ebert's cohort Gene Siskel said that "scene after scene runs too long". 

To be honest, it has a rather limited viewership. Most of it's screenings were in the mid-west, according to my sources.  Interestingly enough, this was the only theater released film that Lear, who had made his name in the small screen world, ever directed.  Overall I would say it's just an OK film, but probably would have been better suited as a TV movie, thus making it more suited for Lear output in the first place.

Well, folks, gotta get this old Plymouth back to the garage. And, since I quit smoking myself years ago, that trip through Eagle Rock is going to be uneventful.

Quiggy