America (USA, 1986) 83 min color DIR-SCR: Robert Downey. PROD: Paul E. Cohen, Paul A. Leeman. MUSIC: Leon Pendarvis. DOP: Richard Price. CAST: Zack Norman, Tammy Grimes, Michael J. Pollard, Richard Belzer, Howard Thomashefsky, Monroe Arnold, Liz Torre, Pablo Ferro, Robert Downey Jr., Melvin Van Peebles. (ASA Communications)
Filmed in 1982, copyrighted in 1984, and barely released in 1986 (it’s that kind of movie), America has never gotten a fair shake. What you may have read about this going in actually occurs very late in this scattershot narrative (two men marrying; a TV station bouncing their signal off the moon, which also provided the film’s alternate release title of Moonbeam). It is definitely of its time, made when public cable access and its “anything goes” mentality was on high, with a loose narrative evocative of its previous decade. All of this would’ve been en vogue at the time of its production, but felt like from a different universe by the time it crawled out to theatres and home video.
This ragged-out mishmash, ostensibly about the curious personalities of a struggling low power TV station, is more a sly commentary on the male ego. It may be odd to find a study of gender roles in what is allegedly a series of vignettes at a TV station, but this is a Robert Downey movie. When does he serve anything straight up? What can you stay about a movie where Bob Jolly the station stud is played by… Michael J. Pollard? There is another memorable character with Howard Thomashefsky, in his only film role (according to the IMDB), as the anchor with a toupee and mommy issues who bellows the news at the top of his lungs – perhaps the only way he can assert his manhood. And what is “Action News” reporter Terrance Hackley to do, after his wife (Tammy Grimes) thinks he’s a homosexual and packs a skirt in his suitcase before she runs off with Bob? Well you know what? Zack Norman really rocks a skirt! His new identity wins him sudden accolades (the station blunders into fame in several ways), and becomes the voice of the people! The third act featuring Richard Belzer as a starstruck cabbie may appear forced by comparison, but on the other hand the scene where he crashes his taxi through the newsroom wall can be interpreted as phallocentrism. (Once again, this Downey vehicle becomes a family affair in the casting of Robert Jr., seen early on as Hackley’s son at the breakfast table.)
Obviously, this is not everyone’s cup of tea (would it be a Downey film otherwise?), but I had more belly laughs from this than anything else I’ve seen this year. Like most of Downey’s films, this has a certain appeal for midnight viewing with an oxygen-deprived cerebellum. If one can get into its groove, it is a trip well worth taking.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.