The Gong Show Movie

The Gong Show Movie
Directed by Chuck Barris
Produced by Budd Granoff
Written by Chuck Barris
Robert Downey
Starring Chuck Barris
Robin Altman
Music by Milton DeLugg
Cinematography Richard C. Glouner
Edited by Jacqueline Cambas
James Mitchell
Sam Vitale
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • May 23, 1980 (1980-05-23)
Running time
89 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $6,621,520[1]

The Gong Show Movie is a 1980 American comedy film starring, written and directed by Chuck Barris.[2]

Plot

The film shows a fictional week in the life of Chuck Barris as the host and creator of The Gong Show, through a series of outrageous competitors, stressful situations, a nervous breakdown (which compels him to run away and hide in the desert) and other comic hijinks in his life and work on the TV show. Among the highlights included a group of men dressed as a Roman Catholic priest and three nuns lip-synching Tom Lehrer's song "The Vatican Rag", a man blowing out a candle with flatulence, and the uncensored version of Jaye P. Morgan's infamous breast-baring incident.

Reception

The film failed at the box office, not helped by its having opened on the same weekend as The Empire Strikes Back and The Shining. The film received a negative reaction, and was quickly withdrawn from theatrical release. Among the bad reviews at the time, George Burns, after seeing the movie, went on the record and said, "For the first time in 65 years, I wanted to get out of show business".[3]

Home video

The film was never issued on VHS or DVD by Universal, but finally received a Blu-ray release from Shout! Factory on March 29, 2016, nearly thirty-six years after its initial release.

References

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