Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Danny DeVito | ... | Vic DeSalvo | |
Rhea Perlman | ... | Francine Kester | |
Gerrit Graham | ... | Parker Braithwaite | |
Bernadette Birkett | ... | Mrs. Sweeney | |
Barry Corbin | ... | The Colonel | |
Louis Giambalvo | ... | Goody DeSalvo | |
Ronny Graham | ... | Cap'n Andy | |
Huntz Hall | ... | Benny Bentson | |
Basil Hoffman | ... | Frank Friedlander | |
Kevin McCarthy | ... | Wes Vandergelder | |
John Megna | ... | Al | |
Michael Richards | ... | Sal | |
Ron Rifkin | ... | T.V. Director | |
Joe Santos | ... | Tony | |
Vincent Schiavelli | ... | Skip Imperiali |
Vic De Salvo, a sympatic mafioso, manipulates with the help of Francine, a girl working for the TV audience controler, the data of the audience watching his program of a small channel. Thus he converts himself into a star of the TV screen. Written by Volker Boehm
Hilarious movie reminiscent of Mad TV and SNL mock TV shows. First saw this on cable in the 80s and fell off my chair laughing. This is the kind of stuff Danny Devito does best. Dark, sarcastic humor.
Struggling producer Vic de Salvo (Devito) hatches a scheme to become a big TV star by creating and staring in his own shows and selling them to a struggling network. When he meets and falls in love with Francine, (Rhea Perlman) a woman who works for the Neilson Ratings Beaureau, he uses her knowledge to kidnap the Neilson families and send his mobster crew to "house-sit" for them and tune into his shows.
The mock shows are hilarious and I swear some of them are actually templates for shows that were minor hits later on. This reminds me a little of "Stay Tuned". Well worth a look, though slightly dated. Future "Cheers" stars, Perlman and George Wendt and an early look at Michael Richards ("Seinfeld"'s Kramer).