{"id":6701,"date":"2024-10-23T13:35:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6701"},"modified":"2024-10-23T13:35:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:35:04","slug":"gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/23\/gas\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gas <\/strong>(1981)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 94 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Les Rose\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Susan Scranton and Dick Wolf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Paul Zaza\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Rene Verzier\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 24, 1981 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Susan Anspach, Howie Mandel, Sterling Hayden, Peter Aykroyd, Helen Shaver, Sandee Currie, Keith Knight, Donald Sutherland, Alf Humphreys, Philip Akin, Michael Hogan, Paul Kelman, Dustin Waln, Vlasta Vrana, Harvey Chao, Briane Nasimok, Vincent Marino, Carl Marotte, Bob Parson, Richard Donat, Art Grosser, Jeff Diamond.\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $2.8M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The summer of \u201979, when I was a mere lad of 11, will forever be ingrained in my memory as the summer of those long, long lines at the gas pumps. Our country was in the midst of a gas shortage brought on by decreased oil output from the Middle East in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. What I remember most is my father screaming things like, \u201cJC, the line\u2019s a mile long!\u201d and\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll be here all GD day!\u201d as we sat in the car awaiting our turn at the pump. While he ranted and raved, I got to thinking about the comic potential of the situation. Even at such a young age, I knew there was a funny movie just waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Two years later, I saw the comedy Gas<\/strong> listed among the major releases for that summer. I really wanted to see it, but it didn\u2019t open at any theaters near me. In fact, I don\u2019t remember it opening in Philadelphia at all although my friend Jeff says he saw it at a theater near him with his dad. Anyway, I finally got to see it on cable at a friend\u2019s house (not Jeff!) in summer \u201983. It wasn\u2019t exactly what I expected, but I liked it nonetheless. Jeff, on the other hand, absolutely HATES this movie. His FaceBook posts about the Canadian-made comedy are far less than kind. Okay, they\u2019re totally brutal. His posts are what really prompted me to rewatch Gas<\/strong> (courtesy of YouTube). Is it really that bad and I just don\u2019t remember? NOPE! With all due respect, I must respectfully disagree with Jeff. I laughed myself silly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Les Rose (Hog Wild), the movie centers on greedy oil tycoon Duke Stuyvesant (Hayden, Dr. Strangelove) and his nefarious scheme to increase his profits by inventing a phony gas shortage. This, of course, creates chaos and confusion at the pumps with all the crazies trying to fill their tanks. That\u2019s not all. A few people are on to his plan. People like freelance photographer Sarah (Currie, Terror Train) who snaps a shot of Duke in front of his supposedly empty storage tanks. He and his dim-witted sons Earl (Waln, Visiting Hours) and Baron (Vrana, Rabid) spend the movie trying to get their hands on the film while she negotiates a relationship with rectal thermometer salesman Matt (comedian Mandel) much to the ire of her jealous, ultra-overprotective brother Ed (Dan Aykroyd\u2019s younger bro Peter). In addition, TV newswoman Jane (Anspach, Five Easy Pieces) wants nothing more than to break the story, but her boss won\u2019t let her because Duke is one of the station\u2019s top sponsors. That doesn\u2019t stop her from driving recklessly around town with her frightened Asian cameraman (Chao, Videodrome) to get her story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s plenty more going on in Gas<\/strong>. Gas station owner Ira (Knight, Meatballs) is forced into a scheme to steal and sell gas by the two proprietors of a funeral home for pets, Guido (Hogan, High-Ballin\u2019) and Nino (Kelman, My Bloody Valentine). Yes, they\u2019re Italian which automatically means they\u2019re involved with the Mafia. A couple of Army guys, Lou (Humphreys, My Bloody Valentine) and Lincoln (Akin, Nowhere to Hide), need to replace the gas they sold as a side deal before inspection. A prostitute named Rhonda (Shaver, The Believers), seeing there\u2019s money to be made from horny guys waiting in those gas lines, plies her trade from a van parked nearby. There\u2019s also a masked bandit (Diamond), a wealthy Arab in a limo (Nasimok) and a busload of Japanese Elvis impersonators. Hovering over and commenting on the action from his helicopter is local DJ Nick the Noz (Sutherland, Animal House).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Gas<\/strong> came out the same summer as The Cannonball Run and Honky Tonk Freeway which also offer up a heaping helping of automotive madness. The final 10-15 minutes of Gas<\/strong> are wild with all the stunts, crashes and pile-ups. Somebody even knocks over a fruit stand, a clich\u00e9 usually seen in chases in foreign locales. I guess Gas<\/strong> counts since it was filmed in Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll agree with Jeff on one point; Gas<\/strong> is a dumb movie. HOWEVER, it seems to know it\u2019s dumb and simply doesn\u2019t care. It\u2019s a cut loose and raise hell kind of comedy. It references the Three Stooges on more than one occasion. The late Knight does a dead-on Curly imitation. One of the cool things about the movie is its game cast. They\u2019re down for anything no matter how silly, juvenile or embarrassing. Aykroyd\u2019s character is especially over the top with all the shouting, insane facial expressions and breaking stuff. It\u2019s weird seeing Mandel with hair. Hayden is clearly one hell of a good sport for agreeing to take part in this goofy comedy. The late Currie was an attractive woman. On top of everything else, Gas<\/strong> is something of a My Bloody Valentine reunion with Kelman, Knight, Humphreys and Carl Marotte (as Rhonda\u2019s \u201cpartner\u201d) all showing up in it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Being an early 80s, pre-PC comedy, it also indulges in offensive stereotypes. The good news is it\u2019s an equal opportunity offender. Nobody is safe- e.g. Italians, Arabs, Asians, Jews, blacks, gays, rednecks, women and Canadians. All that\u2019s missing are German Nazis and Irish drunks. Gas<\/strong> also has a tasteless running gag involving Ed\u2019s incestuous fixation on his sister. It\u2019s nasty alright, but in the context of an early 80s Canadian-made comedy, it feels strangely at home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I probably shouldn\u2019t like Gas<\/strong> as much as I do, but I can\u2019t help it. I know it isn\u2019t particularly well made or well written. I can\u2019t believe it got picked up by a major studio. It\u2019s lowbrow, low class and panders to the idiot demographic. It aims low and hits its target squarely in the bullseye. That\u2019s what I like about it! It does what it does unapologetically. It\u2019s actually funnier than a lot of today\u2019s so-called comedies. I\u2019m fairly certain I\u2019m in the minority with my love for Gas<\/strong> but what can I say? Movie Guy likes what Movie Guy likes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hey Jeff, I\u2019d like to invite you to write a rebuttal. I know you have strong opinions too and they deserve to be heard.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gas (1981)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 94 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Les Rose\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Susan Scranton and Dick Wolf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Paul Zaza\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Rene Verzier\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 24, 1981 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Susan Anspach, Howie Mandel, Sterling Hayden, Peter Aykroyd, Helen Shaver, Sandee Currie, Keith Knight, Donald Sutherland, Alf Humphreys, Philip Akin, Michael Hogan, Paul Kelman, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-guilty-pleasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Gas-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6913,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6701\/revisions\/6913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}