Take This Job and Shove It (1981)

The "Alison Group" has bought four beer breweries in difficulties. The young but rising top manager Frank Macklin is sent to reorganize one of them - the one which happens to be the main ... See full summary »

Director:

Gus Trikonis

Writers:

Barry Schneider (screenplay), Jeffrey Bernini (story),

Stars:

Robert Hays, Barbara Hershey, David Keith

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Hays	...	Frank Macklin
Barbara Hershey	...	J.M. Halstead
David Keith	...	Harry Meade
Tim Thomerson	...	Ray Binkowski
Eddie Albert	...	Samuel Ellison
Penelope Milford	...	Lenore Meade
Charlie Rich	...	Hooker
Martin Mull	...	Dick Ebersol
Art Carney	...	Charlie Pickett
David Allan Coe	...	Mooney
Lacy J. Dalton	...	Mooney's Wife
Royal Dano	...	Beeber
Bruce M. Fischer	...	Jimmy
Virgil Frye	...	Cleach
James Karen	...	Loomis

Storyline

The "Alison Group" has bought four beer breweries in difficulties. The young but rising top manager Frank Macklin is sent to reorganize one of them - the one which happens to be the main company in his home town. At first his old buddies are reluctant to have him as new boss, but since he can't save all of them from the severe changes, the climate soon changes. Then he learns that he increased the profit so much, that the his bosses have decided to resell his brewery profitably to an incompetent Texas oil millionaire...

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Plot Keywords:

brewery | title based on song | iowa | obscene finger gesture | independent film

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Taglines:

...Robert Hays hasn't had this much fun since "Airplane"!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 April 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Apáñatelas como puedas

Filming Locations:

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$17,569,030 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Group Ventures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The appearance of Bob Chandler's "Bigfoot" monster truck is the first appearance of such a vehicle in a movie and generally credited with nationalizing the monster truck craze. Bigfoot trucks went on to appear in Cannonball Run II, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, Police Academy 6: Under Siege, Road House, Tango & Cash and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

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Quotes

Ray Binkowski: It's the battle of the luxury cars. Lincoln Continental and American know-how and skill against the German machine.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Fugitive Alien (1991)

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Soundtracks

"You Can Count on Beer"
Music and Lyrics by Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn & Michael Lloyd
Performed by Lacy J. Dalton and David Allan Coe
©1981 WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) & Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)

User Reviews

"I'm tellin' ya, man, you keep telegraphing your punches!"

Good ol' boy comedy-drama about the corporate buyout of an Iowa brewery and its effects on the employees and townspeople certainly had the opportunity to comedically explore greed and position in big business. Unfortunately, this movie-version of the hit song by Johnny PayCheck isn't at all the trenchant satire the opening moments hint it might be; instead, director Gus Trikonis (of all people) settles for redneck clichés and easy stabs at pathos (such as the veteran bottler who is transferred--one might say promoted--to distribution, but asks to return because he can't read). Robert Hays is the small-town boy who made good, returning to his roots to overhaul the brewery and act as hatchet-man; Tim Thomerson (way over-the-top) and David Keith are his boyhood pals who earn their living at the plant, while Barbara Hershey floats in and out of the movie as a former squeeze (she ends up making love with Hays after a mud fight, still caked in dirt). Some of the dialogue in Barry Schneider's exceedingly-thin screenplay has a little kick, but Trikonis in general is not good with actors: he keeps everybody shouting, even when the machines are turned off. *1/2 from ****