Director: Bradly R. Swirnoff

What movie inspired the loved movie genre of multiple skits satirizing movies, TV shows, and advertisements? If you said Kentucky Fried Movie, you are right - and wrong. KFM certainly popularized the genre unlike others before it, but the genre's origins come from the 1972 movie The Groove Tube. Whatever the origin, the genre has been popular enough to spawn a number of movies for over 20 years. A few have been good, (Kentucky Fried Movie, Amazon Women on the Moon), most have been mediocre (including Loose Shoes, The Sex O'Clock News, others), and a few have been utter bombs (including American Tickler and Outtakes). One really obscure movie of this kind is Prime Time, and because of the few successful movies in this genre one might think that this is another disappointment. I took a chance on it, and I was surprised to find that despite some really lame material and poor production values, the movie had enough laughs and hilariously tasteless moments to be worth watching. No Kentucky Fried Movie, but a good rental for some tasteless fun.

Unlike other movies in this genre (except for Tunnelvision), the sketches are wrapped around a plot. And like Tunnelvision, this wrap-around is completely unnecessary. (Incidentally, Prime Time was made by the same people) The premise is that across America - and in the rest of the world - regular television shows and programs have been substituted with crude and savage parodies. No one can figure out where the transmission is coming from. It is unknown who is behind it. The country is mostly in an uproar, and riots have broken out over this new programming. The president and his advisors meet to discuss this programming, and how they can possibly turn it off.

Mostly though, the movie is devoted to showing the skits. There are a number of clunkers; a program called "The Shitheads", a Candid-Camera-like show about dropping something nasty on people's heads in public; the long-life of "Die Tough" batteries is proven by attaching a 5 year old battery to an electric chair; a Sexual Deviation telethon; and "Trans Puerto Rican" airlines offering the taste of their country on their airplanes (and you can guess what it's like).

But these dumb moments are outweighed by the hilarity and outrageousness of other segments. A "Fire the handicapped" commercial manages to both jab at political correctness and be funny. The "Winkles" cereal commercial - featuring a very inappropriate prize for kids inside - is hilariously tasteless. Other funny moments include a news story about a Supreme Court decision allowing for abortion through the fetus' fifth year, a sperm bank run as a regular bank but with different "deposits", and an unlucky motorist finding the hard way why Bixby CB radios are considered "the trucker's friend".

That's Harry Shearer of The Simpsons as the unlucky "trucker's friend". There are a few interesting appearances in the movie, including Fred "Hunter" Dryer, comedian Kinky Friedman, TV regular David Spielberg, and - surprise! - Warren Oates as a participant in The Charles Whitman Invitational.

I'm recommending the movie, but as I stated earlier, there are several problems with the movie. First of all, the production values are rock-bottom, with some scenes taking place on a stage with little to no set dressing. Second is that the movie has been ineptly transferred to video. When a film is shot, there is usually some space above and below the picture that you never see - as long as the frame is positioned correctly on screen or video. Someone seriously goofed here, because in many shots you can actually see the spotlights on the ceiling.

Also, many of the commercial parodies are very out of date. I'm old enough to get and laugh at the hilarious parody of Rolaids' "How do you spell 'relief'?" commercials. But there are some segments I simply don't get. Is the commercial for "Stay Down" supposed to be parodying a deodorant commercial? And what the hell is the bizarre skit about the woman with breasts all over her body and saying, "Tits - you can't get too much of them!" supposed to be about? I'm also sure that younger viewers who weren't old enough to see original commercials that were satirized here - such as the takeoff of "Is it live or is it Memorex?" - will be scratching their heads more frequently that I was.

Looking at the credits, I made some interesting observations. One skit was provided courtesy of "National Lampoon" - what did N.L. use it for originally? The copyright at the beginning of the movie is made by Warner Brothers, but the movie is on a long-obsolete independent video label, and the end copyright notice is blacked-out before the credits ended. I recall from old "Variety" magazines that Cannon got the rights to the movie and kept announcing that they would release it in the late 70s/early 80s, but never did. At least, I don't think they did. Can anyone out there tell me if they remember this playing at a theater under one of its two names? Or was it originally made for cable? - Since National Lampoon made some cable productions in the early days of cable, using the clip may be a clue for that fate. Anyone with information about this movie is asked to please contact the author with what they know.
 

UPDATE: Several months after originally reviewing this movie, I received information about the movie from someone who participated in its production. At the person's request, their name will be withheld.

The movie was financed independently at a cost of $50,000, with a negative pickup deal with Warner Brothers. When it was previewed for the WB executive heads, they judged it unreleasable and decided not to exhibit it in any fashion. WB did allow the production team to sell it to Cannon Pictures, who then briefly exhibited it in the Detroit area. Subsequently, it was sold to a cheapo video label (Paragon Video) in the early days of video, along with other Cannon "classics" like New Year's Evil, Hot Bubble Gum, and The Godsend. (Someone else I talked with told me that Prime Time was also released on cable.)

The "Tits - you can't get too much of them!" sketch was a parody of some commercial from that era, but my informant couldn't remember what the original commercial was about.

The National Lampoon segment seems to have been an adaptation of some article in the magazine itself, and the sketch was not actually made by National Lampoon itself.

Director Bradly R. Swirnoff is still around, but is pretty much out of the business.

(My deepest thanks to my informant, for telling me the preceding information.)

UPDATE 2: William Norton revealed to me that Prime Time wasn't just confined to the Detroit area:

"Prime Time actually had a ad in the newspaper here in Seattle in 1980, and played as a one time preview showing!  But one showing is all this film got. Cannon was a New York based company and had trouble releasing films in the West. Similar to West coast companies having trouble in New York theatres."

UPDATE 3: Chris O'Neill had this information on the movie:

"I live in Ireland, and I thought you may be interested in a bit of info about Prime Time. In 1981 Prime Time was released on video in the UK as American Raspberry by Rank Video. On the back of the cassette the film was copyrighted to Cannon, so I guess they sold it to some territories (the other Cannon "classics" mentioned on your site were released at the same time)."