Citizens Band

It sounds like a redneck movie about truckers, but it's really a gentle character study. The story centers around the citizen's band radio craze of the 1970s. Against this backdrop, the lives of a group of small town residents is examined in a successful blend of comedy and drama. Le Mat is quite likable as the unofficial enforcer of the local airwaves. His girlfriend is played by Clark, his "American Graffiti" co-star. There are fine performances from Blossom and McGill, as Le Mat's father and brother, respectively. There's a funny subplot about a bigamist trucker featuring Napier, Wedgeworth, Rodd, and Elias. The finale is a little forced, but this early effort from Demme mostly rings true.

In the heartland town of Union, Blayne Lovejoy (Paul Le Mat) is a young man who volunteers for REACT (Radio Emergency Associated Communication Teams) offering assistance under the handle of "Spider" to truckers and motorists via CB while working in CB Radio repair. Blayne lives with his father Floyd "Papa Thermodyne" (Roberts Blossom) which has put a strain on Blayne as he's recently ended his engagement with Pam (Candy Clark).

Citizens Band (Also known under the titles of Handle with Care and The Great American Citizens Band) is a 1977 dramedy film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Paul Brickman who'd eventually write Risky Business. The film was one of a number of film's put out by Hollywood during the height of the CB fad with hits such as Smokey and the Bandit and Convoy to more obscure works such as Smokey Bites the Dust. Several directors passed on the project until Jonathan Demme accepted the role of director having fallen in love with the characters of the script rather than the story itself. Made for a budget of less than $2 million, Paramount hoped the film would be a sleeper hit and adopted a "wait and see" approach with the film given very little marketing or promotional push with the hope being the film would be spread by word of mouth and catch onto the CB wave. The film underperformed at the box office with Paramount eventually recalling the prints and trying to release the film under the new title of Handle with Care after coming to believe the film was being mistaken as a musical for the presence of "Band" in the title. While critical reception was positive and actor Peter Falk loved the film enough to bring Demme on to Columbo to direct an episode, the movie has largely fallen into obscurity which is a shame because it's way better than stuff like Convoy or various other films that tried to tap into the CB Radio craze.

At its core, Citizens Band is a character study of small town and on the road eccentrics who come together via CB adopting various handles and identities that come with those handles with the characters' interactions over CB often revealing thoughts and motivations left unspoken or muted in their interpersonal connections. Paul Le Mat is really good as Blayne Lovejoy "Spider" who is torn between loyalty to his ailing father and his desire to make something of his life which has left him strained in his relationship with his ex-fiance Pam and brother Dean who are well-played by Candy Calrk and Bruce McGill. Despite taking more of a dramatic turn with CB Radio in comparison to Smokey and the Bandit or Convoy, the movie still allows for humorous asides such as a subplot involving a trucker named "Chrome Angel" played by Charles Napier who has two wives in Portland and Dallas who come to be aware of each other leading to a messy situation that is mediated by prostitute "Hot Coffee" in a scene that's uncomfortably funny. The one downside of the film is the ending which has a search and rescue climax that feels very at odds with all the time we spent building up the characters and their personalities and it doesn't feel like it addresses everything that was set up.

It really is a shame Citizens Band was such a flop upon release because if Paramount had put faith in the film it probably could've tapped into the same blockbuster status Smokey and the Bandit rode despite being released in the shadow of Star Wars. If you have the wherewithal to check out Citizens Band I highly recommend you do so.

Another example of a movie featuring independent stories that find a connecting point, "Handle With Care" (or "Citizens Band") puts its own twist on the genre by having the stories connect through the use of CB radios by the main characters.

As with almost any movie of this type, some of the stories are better than others. The story featuring "Spider" (Paul Le Mat) as a sort of CB super-hero who makes sure that people don't abuse the airwaves was a bit silly, and reminded me a lot of the old '70's TV series "Emergency," combined with a bit of "Batman" - without the costume. Like the paramedics of "Emergency" kept responding to largely unrelated emergencies with at best only a loose thread holding every episode together, Spider similarly dealt with an injured trucker (Charles Napier) and a pilot forced to crashland on a highway, and - like the Caped Crusader without the cape - he took on a boy who used the radio for underhanded purposes, a neo-Nazi who spread hatred and a radical Catholic priest who was trying to convert listeners. The best story was of that rescued trucker, who turns out to be a bigamist and who has to deal with both wives coming to see if he's OK. That story was also responsible for most of the humour in the movie, and was, I thought quite well done. Spider's dysfunctional family, and the sexual CB fantasies of "Warlock" and "Electra" were other connecting stories.

It was an inconsistent movie - some stories were very good and very funny, some were quite dull to be honest. It's worth no more than a 5, but in fairness it's a 5 that's worth watching.

I especially enjoyed this film because I was present when it was made in Marysville, CA. I worked security for the film and in fact I drove the police car flashing the spotlight when the cows were let out of the truck and made a mess all over the parking lot. The cow manure was hand made by compost purchased at the local Montgomery Wards Store. It was fun to watch it being made and the money wasn't too bad either. Charles Napier was a lot of fun to talk to as was most of the crew and cast. Paul LaMat wasn't too friendly but I guess he had more important things on his mind other than talking to peons. It amazed me how the talented the crew and prop people are, making cow dung, etc. to look so very real. Several movies have been made here in the 60's and 70's and most are supposed to be made in small southern towns.

Speaking of whimsy (I just saw Life Aquatic), here's another ensemble piece, this one centered on an array of Southern jes' folks who live out their fantasy lives via CB radio. From bigamist trucker to alcoholic dad to humorous Nazi to overbearing but good-hearted gym teacher to every individual we glimpse in between, everyone is acutely and humanely drawn, and the action moves forward in an organic, relaxed way that is extremely endearing. Only at the end, when the whole ensemble converges to witness the dad's happy redemption, do things feel badly contrived; up to then the gentleness and fluidity of Demme's and writer Paul Brickman's conception carry us along smiling.