American Raspberry

Series of parody skits skewer social topics and television commercials under the pretense of illegal television broadcasts by some unknown group. Some are quite funny while others don't survive the test of time. A few were licensed from National Lampoon. Some of the funniest are the parodies of the U.S. President and his chief arguing about the conspirators and actions to take. The ending is rather sardonic and poignant in light of Gorgeous Georgie and Doofus Dickie. Well produced and directed in spite of limited budget. Available as part of the Drive In 50-movie pack released by Mill Creek Entertainment. Unfortunately, the source print while complete was apparently turning or had lost color and the transfer has many extremely dark areas. But, the comedy doesn't suffer from such. These are similar to skits from the early years of Saturday Night Live.

No, this isn't "Kentucky Fried Movie" or "Tunnelvision" (which I haven't seen in YEARS) but it's funny. A few misses and yeah, lots of dated material that, had I not grown up with some of these ads, I just would have found them amusing, not FUNNY. As I watched yesterday and finished up this morning, I could hear people saying, "That's just not funny. That's sick. It's disgusting that someone would find THAT funny after all that's happened." etc. The hunting sequence in Austin really hit me that way. You know what? This movie isn't MEANT to be nice, polite and bland, it's meant to stab you in the funny bone and twist until you can't help but laugh. Making fun of the extreme is great humor. No, not everyone will appreciate it, but not everyone is supposed to. It's like REAL TV, if you don't like it, change the channel.

Now, if I could only find "Tunnelvision" "Grove Tube" somewhere, my collection could be complete.

As I am kind of a fetishist for these 1970's sketch comedy movies, I was rather excited to finally have a look at this one, which I had neither seen nor heard of. As far as I can tell, this is the only example of this small but potent sub-genre I haven't seen yet.

If you liked Tunnelvision, which is much more well-known that this flick, you will enjoy the politically incorrect humor on display here, in the form of rapid-fire TV commercial and TV program parodies. This even has the same voice over guy as Tunnelvision (for part of it).

There are plenty of familiar character actors on display here if you were a TV watcher in the 1970's, including George Furth (you might recognize him from Blazing Saddles) as the President of the United States.

Also keep an eye open for fleeting parts by Stephen Furst, Three Stooge associate Mousie Garner, Harry Shearer, and current candidate for Governor of Texas and long time musician and mystery novelist Kinky Friedman, performing his chestnut "Ol Ben Lucas." This film is currently obtainable as it is present on a DVD box set titled "50 Drive-In Classics." Do an internet search for that and you should find it no problem. It costs about 20 bucks.

I'd put this movie about half-way up the scale of entertainment in this genre. Of course, Kentucky Fried Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon are at the top, as they were the only ones of these sketch movies made with any kind of budget to speak of.

As I was a young boy in the late 70's, I do remember most of the stuff they are taking off on in Prime Time, but you young movie hounds of today won't remember the R-O-L-A-I-D-S TV commercial, the Sears Die Hard battery spots or the American Express "Do You Know Me?" campaign, I fear.

In spite of its die-hard political incorrectness, it seems to give most minority or religious groups something to be angry about (equal opportunity offender), and its jokes are mostly laugh-inducing, which can ameliorate a multitude of sins.

If you like this film try the following, in order of recommendation: Kentucky Fried Movie, Tunnelvision, Amazon Women on the Moon, The Groove Tube, Loose Shoes, The Boob Tube, American Tickler, and Miss Nymphet's Zap-In. If there's any of these type of movies I forgot or am not aware of, drop me a line...

This is one of the films I got in the Mill Creek Drive-in 50-pack collection. This movie is also known as "Prime Time". It's a crazy, politically incorrect comedy.

I don't think this is a comedy that everyone will "get" the humor in - it could easily offend some people if they do not watch the film with an open mind and realize the fact it's crazy 1970s comedy film that is not meant to be taken seriously.

The film is basically a series of fictional television programs and commercials being aired by an unknown group. In between the TV programs and commercials you will see a zany group of people that trying to find out the source of the transmission and put an end to the TV hijacking.

Great little comedy film if you do not take it seriously.

6/10

This one feels like an even-lower-budget and less funny cousin to Kentucky Fried Movie. This has a loose storyline of the government and military officials gathering to deal with the problem of some mysterious forces tampering with the airwaves and airing all sorts of parody commercials, skits and telethons. I probably would've loved this if I saw it when I was 12, but it's clearly intended for adults, and juvenile ones at that.

There's some good tasteless laughs, but mostly pretty poorly paced sketches sometimes leave you guessing the punchline well before you see it. The shorter bits were the funnier ones. The LONG Charlie's Angel parody seems to go on forever since it's really a one-joke premise.

Watch for brief appearances by folks like Harry Shearer and author/musician/politician Kinky Friedman.