Honky Tonk Freeway

The film travels at a frantic pace, has an amazing cast of character actors, a catchy theme tune, and converging plot lines. All this mayhem is headed for a small Florida town in need of a freeway exit ramp in order to survive. "Honky Tonk Freeway", is a wonderful time capsule of the 1980s. With "Ricky the Carnivorous Pony", a water skiing elephant, a drive through mortuary, a rampaging rhino, and the town of Ticlaw painted pink, what's not to like? Also included are political payoffs, a nun having impure thoughts, a hilarious pair of bank robbers, and a nymphomaniac traveling with her mothers ashes. The finale includes blowing up a highway, and great old cars being crashed. All the carnage is nicely tied together with insults, toilet humor, and stupidity. Despite some drug use, and a few four letter words, "Honky Tonk Freeway" really is harmless fun, and flat out funny. - MERK

I was stunned to read here that this film was big-budget; like others, I saw it long ago and remembered certain things clearly and lovingly. But I never thought of it as anything but a B flick. As such - it's good. Sometimes it's far, far better than good, mostly due to the sublime Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. There are overdone, clumsy moments, and there are moments that are tiny gems (the two nuns at the seafood restaurant, for instance). The whole thing is also supremely early 80's. Yet. This works beautifully as a comfort film. Don't expect great things, take it as it is, and you'll have a fine time. (And, if you own it, you'll do as I do and cut back to the 'old-fashioned' scene a million times.)

I found this movie on Netflix and had to add it to my queue. I wasn't disappointed when I got it as it's just as funny now as when I saw it at a local drive-in theater back then. It builds to a climax nicely with you getting glimpses of the various characters as they begin their trip across America on the "Honky Tonk Freeway, America on wheels." This was a strange comedic role for William DeVane as I remember him as Kennedy in the 1974 TV film "The Missiles of October" and felt no one could have pulled that dramatic character off as well as he did. It reminds me a bit of Dick Van Dyke in "Cold Turkey' where Van Dyke played the local minister. DeVane's role as mayor, minister, and activist was typical for small towns so it makes his character seem amusing and real. Howard Hessman and Teri Garr as the spoiled family in the RV was on target for the time as well. Anyone who has traveled across country with small children, (Are we there yet?) will appreciate those scenes. The scenes of a small town struggling to survive reminded me a lot of the small town I grew up in but they handled it with the charm and humor that you often only saw in small towns. It's sad that many small towns disappeared because of the freeway system and it gives a realistic if humorous view of what they had to do to survive. (Used zoo animals anyone?) All in all, it's a lightweight comedy with no particular message but a humorous glance at America during the early 80's. Well worth watching if you just need a bit of good cheer.

From writer Edward Clinton and director John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy") comes this offbeat collection of character driven vignettes. It's overall quite engaging and it's too bad that the film was a major flop upon its initial release. The cast is excellent and the movie is generally amusing, the kind of thing that should generate some smiles if no outright belly laughs. The main story thread is that of a tiny Florida town named Ticlaw, whose only real claim to fame that they can make is a safari park (including a water skiing elephant) operated by mayor / entrepreneur Kirby Calo (William Devane). When the government creates a brand spanking new freeway, but neglects to put in an exit leading to Ticlaw, Calo and the various citizens resort to some desperate measures to ensure tourist traffic - such as painting the town pink. As this goes on, we're introduced to an assortment of people who each have their own reasons for travelling to Florida. Among them are a pair of bank robbers (George Dzundza and Joe Grifasi), a waitress transporting her mothers' ashes (Beverly D'Angelo) and a copy machine repairman / wannabe children's' book author (Beau Bridges), a veteran nun and a novice one (Geraldine Page and Deborah Rush), a dentist and his family (Howard Hesseman, Teri Garr, Jenn Thompson and Peter Billingsley) in an RV, an old ad man and his alcoholic wife (Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy) and a truck driver & wannabe country & western songwriter (Paul Jabara, who does co-write some of the songs for the soundtrack). One of the delights here is in checking out a cast just FULL of familiar faces - in addition to those mentioned, David Rasche, Daniel Stern, Celia Weston, Frances Lee McCain, Jerry Hardin, John Ashton, Frances Bay, Nancy Parsons, Leo Burmester, Jeffrey Combs, and an uncredited Anne Ramsey all turn up as well. There are enough lively and amusing moments to make for decent entertainment, as well as an ingratiating mixture of satire and slapstick. Schlesinger proves himself quite capable of handling comedy on a grand scale and keeps things interesting throughout, allowing the large cast time to create some memorable and endearing characters. While watching, the viewer will be intrigued to see how all of these people will meet, and what their fates will be. Plus, you just can't help but root for Calo and his crazy comrades, no matter what their methods might be. Overall, "Honky Tonk Freeway" is good fun, is punctuated by some catchy songs, and has enough spirit to make it watchable for a decently paced 107 minutes. Another review here describes it as "Hal Needham meets Robert Altman", which is a very good way to put it indeed. Hopefully more comedy fans can discover it and lift it out of obscurity. Seven out of 10.

The credits read that this was directed by John Schlesinger but that's very hard to believe. VARIETY called it "Nashville on wheels," and that's even harder to believe. This $24,000,000 mess about a small town in Florida trying to get an exit ramp off of a new highway is more head scratcher than anything else. It's a way too long, rambling curiosity that manages to cast William Devane, Beau Bridges, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and Geraldine Page and utterly waste all of them. None of these people are known for their comic prowess and having them bicker, talk in silly southern twangs and dress like nuns is almost embarrassing to watch. Ironically, genuinely funny actors like Howard Hesseman, Teri Garr and Beverly D'Angelo have zero to do. The screenplay is by Edward Clinton, who, not surprisingly, has no other screen writing credits. If you've been dying to see a water-skiing elephant, here's your chance. The great Schlesinger got back on track with seven more feature films including the excellent THE FALCON & THE SNOWMAN and PACIFIC HEIGHTS.

Meant to be some sort of a social commentary about the way that our lives were spinning out of control in the 1970's, this movie plays more like something Mr. Schlesinger threw together after having a bad day on the freeway. A mish mash of snippets about the nuts encountered along the freeway in Florida, and along the freeway of life, the cast is mostly wasted and probably ended up on the cutting room floor. The problem is that what DIDN'T end up on the cutting room floor probably should have! Now available on DVD, it's kinda fun to see a comedy that would have cost $100 million to produce had it been made in 2004. It rolls along and isn't too difficult to sit through, and, strangely enough, in 2004 we're all still pretty much just hopping in our cars and going faster and faster, heading nowhere.

The obsession of modern society with the ownership of a personal automobile is a very appropriate subject for satire. One could consider the role of private vehicles as one of the important elements in population control (although limited in its value by the associated medical costs!). Alternatively one could assess the role of the automobile in the atmospheric pollution that threatens dramatic changes of climate which will have a devastating effect on the lives of all of us; or one could look at the long term impact of more and more fertile agricultural land becoming sterilized by the construction of wide concrete freeways. There is plenty of scope for the inventive film maker to deal with such major themes. Instead most of the films dealing with this issue which have been released so far, raise only such trivial concerns as the infatuation of teenagers with acquiring ownership of their own vehicle, or occasionally with the problems associated with 'driving under the influence'. The film Honky Tonk Freeway is a noble exception to this collection of triviata. In it, the director John Schlesinger takes a long and very devastating look at yet another aspect of the automobile culture, the need for small towns to be closely connected to a major highway network if they are not to just fade away. The film features Ticklaw, a Florida town that has become largely dependent upon the income brought in by short stay tourists heading towards the nearby coast. A new freeway under construction does not provide a promised access junction and the long term implications for the town are serious. The story line is the series of increasingly dramatic steps taken by the town to ensure that it remains an attractive stopping off point for through travellers. The film is a comedy with an edge and with very sharp characterisation. Unfortunately much of it is overdrawn to the point where it almost becomes pure slapstick, and for me this detracts a lot from the message of the film. However, although overlong, it remains quite enjoyable to watch; and the sequences showing an elephant being trained to waterski to entertain the visitors are almost etched in my memory. This could have been a really great film, but unfortunately much of it was so overdrawn that I can only recognise it as a near miss.

A notorious big budget flop when released. This Robert Altman inspired comedy has some terrific moments and an occasionally inspired cast. Although it goes on to long an loses its focus completely, there are enough funny moments that will keep a curious viewer watching until the end. If you are a fan of character actors and actresses, this will be a treat for you; you will recognize so many terrific little known performers throughout this movie (you may not know their names, but you know their faces), heck even the kid from A Christmas Story turns up in a small part. Rent if from Netflix, if you read this, I bet you will enjoy it.

A wonderful film ahead of its time, I think so, In the eighty's it was all about winning, Greed is Good ? Remember that one ? I have seen this film more that 20 times, To me this is a real desert island film, I keep watching because there is always something more to learn about these flawed characters that I just love, Jessica Tandy, and Hume Cronin, are simply wonderful,Also Beverly D'angelo, Beau Bridges come in at a close second, don't get me wrong there are many more great performance's in this film, and it is also the way it is written that made it for me, and I hope you, a film that you will want to see over and over, I think TV shows like "Northen Exposure", and now "Earl" owe a lot to this film. but remember it is not a Tom Cruise film.