Deal

Controversy? Hardly. This 1978 documentary is being released on DVD with the hype that is the next QUIZ SHOW. It is not. The circus-like TV game show "Let's Make A Deal" ran from 1963 until 1977, and has had several sporadic reincarnations since, nearly all starring the slickest of wheeler dealer hosts, Monty Hall. A retrospective today might be of some interest to fans, but this film doesn't even reach back to the show's early days. The majority of this tame and meandering documentary is taken up by the filthy rich producers (Hall included) defending their wildly successful 30-minute ad-fest against critical declaim: Greed is Good! Greed is the American Way! Yeah, tell us something we didn't know. For the Game Show Channel enthusiast, there's lots of footage of the show including a look behind the famous 'doors, curtains and boxes' and a cursory glimpse at some of the contestants who made the costume-parade program such a success. But there's nothing revelatory here. The contestants are treated as a mass of superficial suckers, and there's barely a mention of the famous Carol Merrill, whose POV might have given this film some real insight! Or not. Unfortunately, some of the more ironic bits are saved for near the end. A scene where the lucky winners await the delivery of their 'luxury living room set' to their quaint suburban home is followed swiftly by one of the producers swanning around his palatial Hollywood Hills mansion; his black maid and well-coiffed wife both speechless at their newfound wealth. With any valid perspective, this could have been the 'big deal of the day' - but as it is it's mostly a 'zonk'.