Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) Universal/Comedy RT: 108 minutes Rated PG (language, some sexual content) Director: John Schlesinger Screenplay: Edward Clinton Music: Elmer Bernstein and George Martin Cinematography: John Bailey Release date: August 21, 1981 (US) Cast: Beau Bridges, Beverly D’Angelo, William Devane, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Teri Garr, George Dzundza, Joe Grifasi, Geraldine Page, Howard Hesseman, Paul Jabara, Daniel Stern, Peter Billingsley, Jenn Thompson, Celia Weston, Deborah Rush, David Rasche, Sandra McCabe, Frances Lee McCain, Jerry Hardin, John Ashton, Frances Bay, Renny Roker, Ron Frazier. Box Office: $2M (US)
Rating: ****
Why did Honky Tonk Freeway crash and burn during its all-too-brief theatrical run in summer ’81? It could be that it followed too closely on the heels of The Cannonball Run. Should it be blamed on the mistaken assumption it was a copy of the hit smash ‘em up comedy? I can see why moviegoers would think that. It was marketed as a madcap car crash comedy as I recall. The title alone evokes the Southern-fried flavor of the subgenre. In actuality, the two movies couldn’t be more different. The only similarity is that they both feature all-star casts. Honky Tonk Freeway is more like a Robert Altman film with its colorful characters and satirical look at American life. It’s actually quite brilliant.
Why then did Honky Tonk Freeway bomb at the box office? The culprit in this case is the studio and its faulty release strategy. In short, it didn’t have one. After some financial hanky panky on the part of the producers, the studio minimized marketing and cut down the number of theaters in which it would be shown. In addition, they yanked it from theaters after only one week. They claimed it was due to the unanimous bad reviews, but I wonder.
I would have seen Honky Tonk Freeway if it opened in any theaters near me, but it didn’t. I didn’t get to see it until I caught it on cable circa April ’83. It’s one of the first movies that I watched, in part or in whole, every time it was on. It wasn’t what I expected, but I dug it just the same.
I’ve always felt the best films about American life come from non-American filmmakers. Who’s better qualified to satirize various aspects of Americana than somebody observing it from an outsider’s point of view? They have the necessary objectivity. British filmmaker John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) successfully captures the essence of a country seen by the movie’s characters through car windows and windshields as they travel along the highways of America. He introduces the audience to people from all over the country as they head towards the same destination, Florida. While they might be headed for different parts of the Sunshine State, we know they will all end up in the small tourist town of Ticlaw at some point. I’m getting ahead of myself here; I should really start from the beginning.
Welcome to Ticlaw, a small town that relies on the tourist trade for economic stability. Kirby T. Calo (Devane, Marathon Man) wears many hats in Ticlaw; he’s the mayor, a Baptist preacher, hotel owner and proprietor of a safari park whose main attraction is a water-skiing elephant named Bubbles. The state highway commission builds a freeway adjacent to the town, but refuses to build an exit ramp for Ticlaw unless Calo can come up with $10,000 for a bribe. They raise the money, but the corrupt commissioner (Frazier, Brubaker) screws Calo on the deal.
When they don’t get their off-ramp, Calo and the townspeople take matters into their own hands to attract tourists. They paint the town pink and erect billboards along the new freeway promising free gas and other perks to those who visit Ticlaw. It works, but the nasty government officials are determined to make the small town fade into oblivion. They tear down the unauthorized billboards without a second thought. Could Ticlaw be a metaphor for the old traditional America that’s slowly being eliminated to make way for the new and improved USA? You bet your Chevy it is!
While the people of Ticlaw try to come up with ways to attract visitors, we meet several folks from different American cities heading to Florida. Their paths will cross a few times before…. I’ll come back to that in a bit. Duane (Bridges, Two-Minute Warning), a copy machine repairman/wannabe children’s book writer from Chicago, leaves his wife after she burns the only copy of his latest literary effort, “Ricky the Carnivorous Pony”. He hooks up with Carmen Odessa Shelby (D’Angelo, National Lampoon’s Vacation) who’s carrying her mother’s ashes to Florida. Two bank robbers from New York City, Eugene (Dzundza, No Way Out) and Osvaldo (Grifasi, F/X), head for freedom with a plastic garbage bag full of cash. Snapper (Hesseman, Private Lessons) and his wife Ericka (Garr, Tootsie) are taking a cross-country vacation in an RV with their two children, bratty Delia (Thompson, Little Darlings) and Little Billy (Billingsley, A Christmas Story) who refuses to pee anywhere but public restrooms. Retired advertising executive Sherm (Cronyn, Cocoon) heads to a retirement community with his alcoholic wife Carol (Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy). Truck driver and wannabe singer-songwriter T.J. (Jabara, Thank God It’s Friday) is hauling a rambunctious rhinoceros and two lions to Calo’s safari park while picking up a succession of attractive female hitchhikers. Throw in cokehead hitchhiker Spanky (Stern, Home Alone), a smooth-talking pimp (Rasche, Sledge Hammer), a busload of Vietnamese orphans and a couple of nuns, stern Mother Superior (Page, The Trip to Bountiful) and sensitive novice Sister Mary (Rush, A Night in Heaven). It’s a recipe for hilarity.
Honky Tonk Freeway has its share of funny moments and priceless dialogue. My personal favorite is the scene where Sherm confronts his wife about her alcoholism in a roadside restaurant; she denies this allegation then proceeds to order five Old-Fashioneds for lunch. I’m also fond of the bit where the pimp attempts to recruit a seafood restaurant waitress (Weston, Alice) while his airheaded companion (McCabe, The Rose) sings “I’m sitting up front” like a five-year-old. Don’t even get me started on Ricky the Carnivorous Pony.
ANYWAY, Calo comes up with a solution to the town’s dilemma. He and a few others blow up a section of the new freeway forcing the various travelers to take a detour right into Ticlaw (by way of a makeshift dirt exit ramp) where they’ll be shown a good time. In essence, he’s holding them hostage until the commissioners agree to build the promised off-ramp.
Although I don’t like revealing the endings of movies, I’m going to make an exception here and tell you that Honky Tonk Freeway ends with a spectacular car crash sequence that looks like something out of The Blues Brothers. It’s a great sequence. It’s well-orchestrated, but feels slightly out of place here. It’s almost as if the filmmakers had to come up with a memorable way to end the movie and decided to consult Hal Needham’s playbook. The broad slapstick comedy doesn’t completely mesh with the brilliant social satire that precedes it. It’s a slight misstep that thankfully doesn’t undo the entire movie.
Honky Tonk Freeway is one of the most overlooked movies of the 80s. It’s interesting to see the characters visit traditional American landmarks like highway rest stops, busy hotels and roadside restaurants designed specifically for tourists. In one scene, some of the characters are shown eating at an IHOP (International House of Pancakes). One explains that IHOP is one of the few constants throughout the US. The entire cast does a great job. They all look like they’re having a ball. One of the best moments belongs to Stern when he encounters Shelby and her mother’s ashes. I’m sure you can figure out where this scene goes.
It’s not completely perfect, but Honky Tonk Freeway is much better than it gets credit for. As satire, it hits the mark more than it misses. Schlesinger gets it mostly right. Unlike The Cannonball Run, the actors don’t try and outmug each other. They play interesting, developed characters with quirks. They’re a cross section of the people that make up the good old USA who literally find themselves on a collision course. I think it’s absolutely brilliant.
