Heartbeeps

Andy Kaufman went on David Letterman and apologized for this movie. He said he wanted to give everyone their money back if they had seen the movie. I'm not sure he was entirely joking. It's bad enough that you might want your money back, but it's stupid enough to keep you interested in watching it.

I tortured my friends by showing them this movie. They enjoyed the psycho malfunctioning cop robot. Years later they still bring it up.

I would put this movie on the same level as SuperFuzz.

Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters star in this slightly futuristic romantic comedy, playing Val and Aqua. They're robots who meet while put into storage, and make a connection. They also make a break for it, escaping from a factory on a "data finding" mission. They are hunted down not only by factory employees Charlie (Randy Quaid) & Max (Kenneth McMillan), but also by an out of control police robot called The Crimebuster. Val & Aqua are joined by a comedian robot named "Catskil" (voice of Jack Carter) and a cute little thing dubbed "Phil".

It might be just me, but personally I found this dopey movie rather endearing. It's not the debacle one might assume it to be (Kaufman DID apologize for it during an appearance on David Lettermans' late night show), although it clearly won't be for all tastes. Some viewers find it too slow, but I thought the pacing was adequate enough; the harmless little movie only runs an hour and 18 minutes anyway. It's not particularly witty, although the dialogue is good for some chuckles. Catskils' dialogue largely consists of one-liners concocted by Henny Youngman, although Carter did come up with some of his own material. Lovely widescreen photography is an asset, as is the appealing soundtrack composed by John Williams. The undeniable standout is the makeup created by Stan Winston.

The cast is all likable enough. The only thing this viewer didn't like was the fact that Christopher Guest and Melanie Mayron were wasted in minor roles. It's nice to see a variety of familiar faces in supporting parts and bits: Richard B. Shull, Dick Miller, Kathleen Freeman, Mary Woronov, and Paul Bartel. The great trailer announcer Ron Gans is a hoot as the voice of the Crimebuster. Director Allan Arkush is one of many filmmakers who came out of the Roger Corman school, and his other credits include things like "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and "Get Crazy".

"Heartbeeps" doesn't add up to much when it's all over, but it's still a pleasant enough diversion.

Six out of 10.

Before "Bicentenial Man"... there was a group of robots...

I watched this movie one time, 20 years ago, but I still remember it fondly. I have always thought of it as an allegory, centered around two robots who "grow up" through their wild, teenage years, have a child and face crises together. They finally discover the meaning of love, in a way that is deeper than just being fond of each other, as they sacrifice for each other.

I was so impressed with this movie that I can still recall much of the dialog. I remember the jokes and plot twists. The movie is light-hearted, funny and insightful and is even poignant at times.

I saw this movie at the drive-in and on hbo in the early 80's and i still remember it! It is a kids movie but lets look at the wizard of oz it's the same sort of fantasy movie that everyone can enjoy!!!! I just wish it would come out on dvd in widescreen! So if there is anyone out there that works for a dvd company that can get the rights to this film or who works for the studio that made heartbeeps, really needs to release it in widescreen or special edition, it's a real good movie, i mean if anyone liked the movie Bicentennial Man with robin williams where he plays a robot trying to find himself you will love this movie, if you need a reference, i think its Bicentennial Man meets a love story!

If you have witnessed Andy Kaufman's slant on comedy, you may understand why I avoided this movie of his for years. Actually, for most of that time, I couldn't see it even if I wanted to - video stores in my area didn't stock it, and it never appeared on TV. I had to rent it online when recently I finally got the courage to give it a try.

My heart sank during the first few seconds of the movie. The comedy in this opening is both very familiar and unfunny, and the movie manages to sink further and further as it goes on. There's barely a story here, with the bulk of the movie consisting of the robots wandering around... and around... and around until you want to scream. It doesn't help that the robot characters are a turn-off. They don't have much of a personality (they seem very stupid - why should we care about stupid characters?), and their voices are very annoying to the ear.

The makeup is good, I'll admit. But it seems odd that they spent time for the makeup when not bothering to present the rest of this world as a futuristic world (the vehicles of this world, for one thing, are present-day gas-powered vehicles.) It's even more odd to consider that no one involved with this movie realized along the way that this project was a train wreck.