My Breakfast with Blassie

This movie got together because the man who produced wrestling manager and former wrestling champion Fred Blassie's novelty song, "Pencil-Neck Geek", Johnny Legend, wanted to film a very cheap parody of the awful art movie My Dinner with Andre, and decided that Blassie's young friend and protege, the eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman would be the perfect foil. Unlike My Dinner with Andre, which was carefully planned, Andy and Johnny Legend planted a few people in a Sambo's and just filmed Andy and Fred shooting the crap over breakfast for an hour. I think that's better anyway, as I HATE art movies They improvised wonderfully, and you gotta hand it to them for pulling off such a funny film in no time for no money. Andy was of course a huge fan of wrestling and he and Fred were friends for years, and you could tell by the way they talked to each other that they respected each other a great deal. The film is hilarious, and gives you real insight into the minds of Andy Kaufman, and Fred Blassie, the man who invented the infamous phrase, "Pencil-neck geek."

However, if you hate Andy and/or wrestling, I suggest you watch My Dinner With Andre instead.

The intention of this movie is to make fun of a pretentious art film using Freddie Blassie, the most bombastic, crude, and intellectually offensive personality in the media at the time. He was a legendary, loud-mouth wrestler known for calling his opponents, and anyone else he disliked, "pencil-neck geeks". (I remember he once held "geek" ringside announcer Dick Lane upside-down outside a window in the middle of a telecast.)

However, Kaufman's and Zamuda's cynical snot and vomit routines, no doubt intended to provoke Blassie into a rage, backfire. Although Blassie never seems to be "in" on the joke -- he is genuinely offended by (or blissfully ignorant of) Andy's mocking behavior -- Blassie comes across as warm, good-humored, brutally honest, and full of the love of life. Towards the end, Andy seems genuinely in awe of Blassie whose rich stories and politically-incorrect observations contrast sharply with Andy's feigned(?) shallowness and politeness.

Overall, this is a good film and very funny in places, but I came away more in admiration of Freddie Blassie than Andy Kaufman. Were it not for Andy's more imaginative routines in television, I would have a very poor impression of him. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this film, which, if nothing else, gave me an overwhelming nostalgia for Sambo's pancakes.

For some reason I always believe Andy's on screen life wasn't totally scripted. When I realize what I've seen was completely planned and possibly even rehearsed, I feel a bit stupid. Then I remember that believing he was for real is all he wanted so then I feel better. The conversation here is boring. Blassie doesn't question if Andy really broke his neck and even says he told his wife Andy was really hurt when he saw it on tv. Blassie does have trouble hiding the fact that he's a total jerk but he manages to stay calm. The other people who were in Sambo's are the best part. It's clear they were meant to incite Blassie and even though they failed, they are the only reason to watch this.

Andy Kaufman was his own brand of genius, and his particular style of nonsense is on display, for good and ill, in this often overlooked gem of an indie film. It's gross, over the top, and as always Andy has fun making you guess whether what you're seeing is real or an elaborate gag for the camera (hint: that's his longtime co-conspirator Bob Zmuda sitting behind him for much of the film, and later getting rather nosey).

And then there is Blassie, one of the superstars of old time wrestling. We hope he's goofing for the camera too but some of his coarse comments seems to be coming from the heart. He reveals himself -- as a sexist clod, as a seasoned world traveler, as a garrulous guy who has played a ridiculous role all his life and loved every minute of it -- in a hundred little ways in this movie, as when he admits that he loves to kill time wandering through hardware stores, never actually buying anything, just "picking stuff up and playing with it." The hand towel gag may be over the top but it sure looks like it has roots in some personal issues for Freddie -- maybe even compulsions -- about keeping his hands clean. Check out his spotless fingernails.

I saw Freddie wrestle in the Garden when I was a kid, cheered my head off when Bruno Sammartino made him submit with a bearhug, and watched him on UHF TV in New York many times, and I always suspected he was a smart man behind all the wrestling BS. This proves it, and also gives a lot of insight into the good and bad aspects of his character. All in all, I wish I'd eaten breakfast with him too. (Especially if he paid!)

Words can not convey how simply wonderful this thing is. The king of men and Kaufman sit at a Sambos and discuss everything under the sun. One of Andy's quieter achievements. A must see for any serious fan of either man's work. The other user had it correct. It is a masterpiece.