The Apple

I remember seeing this film on late night television back in the early 80's. I thought it was a strange yet intriguing piece of work and was constantly on the lookout for repeat showings. I did manage to catch it another time in the mid 80's but never again since. For years, I was the only person I knew of that had seen "The Apple," much less heard of it. I wondered if I had imagined the whole crazy thing until I came upon a copy of the soundtrack album in a local record store that specialized in hard to find and obscure music. Finally, some hard evidence that this film existed!! A friend of mine, with whom I co-produce a local public access film review program, prides himself on his ability to get copies of hard to find movies. So I presented him with the ultimate challenge: Get me a copy of "The Apple." His unrelenting persistance paid off and last Fall he presented me with my request. I got it home and popped into my VCR and WOW! The film was just as bizarre and entertaining as I remembered! The costumes! The music! The biblical parallels! Alfie and BeBe! Obviously, everyone who has seen it feels passionately positive or passionately negative. But as for me, everytime I see it, I get nothing but the guiltiest of pleasures. If you're lucky enough to get the opportunity to experience "The Apple" do not hesitate!! If you like shiny outlandish costumes and make-up . . . If you can't live without garish production numbers . . . If limited acting (or abundant overacting) ability enhances your enjoyment of a movie . . . "The Apple" is the one for you! Take a bite and enjoy!!

It was only a few years ago that I even knew about this Golan-Globus Cannon musical production that came out the same year as similar flops like Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu or better received hits of the same genre like The Blues Brothers and the original Fame. I'll just say that while I was weireded out by the direction of some sequences and the way they were put together, I actually did like many of the musical numbers and the way they tied to both plot and characterization. And I also thought the actors that sang, with the exception of Catherine Mary Stewart who was nicely dubbed by Mary Hylan, also did a good job. So on that note, I'll just say that The Apple is neither one of the worst nor one of the best of the movie musicals. It's just simply a fascinating futuristic look at a time 14 years after this was made at what the music industry would be like if Disco, Glam Rock, and Folk/Adult Contemporary were the only musical trends (or non-trends) to go to as choices...

Probably made as a "please God, let what happened to ROCKY HORROR

happen to us!", project, THE APPLE is so audacious, so over the top, so

totally awful that it is simply wonderful. The songs are cheesy, the

acting horrendous, the costumes nightmarish, the concept bizarre etc.,

etc., but when all those negatives are put together, the result is a

positively guilty pleasure to top all guilty pleasures. Please, someone,

release a letterboxed DVD of this film so that all its rocky horrors

squeezed onto the small screen can be seen in all their garish terrible/wonderfulness.......

This is one of the most delicious fruits I've tasted in a long time.

Yes, it's cheesy, but you can't beat a whole musical number of

seduction that ends with a literal orgasm, the chanteuse singing

"I'm coming, I'm coming...." Hysterical!

From a pop anthropologic perspective it's also an interesting

image of the transition from disco to early 80s wave and pop. You

can see the seeds of fashion later made popular by the likes of

Madonna, MC Hammer, and many other somewhat unfortunate

style makers. This is the missing link between two distinct genres.

One of the best parts about this movie is its prophetic vision of the

massive corporate take-over of the entertainment industry. While

we are not forced to where little plastic icons on our foreheads,

there is no denying the stifling and destructive power that major

conglomerates have on what we see, hear, and read. So, if not

other reason, I love this movie for how eerily true it rings today.

I was channel surfing a few weeks ago when this...this...this..THING showed up on Flix. I was mesmerized. I grew up in the late 70's, early 80's and this felt like I was zapped back in time to movies like "Little Darlings", "Over the Edge", and "Xanadu". The whole look was scary. It looked like it was shot in a shopping mall. When I checked out the title, I thought "Where has this GREAT BAD movie been all my life! How come I've never heard of it before?" This is one camp classic that truly deserves a full resurrection. VH-1 should do a whole "Where Are They Now" on this movie. I'd love to know what the "actors" in this movie think of it now. Truly bad in a classicly bad/great way.